Q&ALeanne Kiernan interview: 'It's such an exciting time to be at Liverpool'
Leanne Kiernan is delighted to be staying at Liverpool FC Women as the club begins a new and exciting era.
The Republic of Ireland striker has signed a new contract with the Reds and is heading into her fifth season on Merseyside.
A firm fan favourite, Kiernan is Liverpool’s second-highest goalscorer in the Barclays Women’s Super League era and feels enthused for the future under new head coach Gareth Taylor.
Read Liverpoolfc.com’s interview with Kiernan, conducted at the AXA Melwood Training Centre just after she had inked her new deal, below...
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Leanne, congratulations. How does it feel to have signed a new contract with the club?
It feels amazing and I’m really excited to get going again.
You’ve been here for just over four years now and your family regularly come over to watch you play. How proud a moment is this for them too?
They’re delighted, honestly. It’s like a second home for them as well as me and they love it over here. I could actually see myself, after I finish my career, in Liverpool. I feel like they’re really enjoying coming over to see me.
How important is it that Liverpool feels like home and that you’ve built so many strong friendships here?
For sure. I feel like the Scousers are great people and I feel like we get along quite well – I have a new nail woman, a new hair woman! So, it’s definitely a second home.
With 23 goals, you are second in the club’s all-time top scorers list in the WSL era, behind only Natasha Dowie. Is that something you’re proud of and do you set yourself any targets going into the new season?
For sure, it’s a proud moment to be anywhere near that list with Liverpool and yeah, of course I have targets. Like every striker, they’ll have a set goal of how many goals they want to score every season, and I feel like it’s an exciting time with Gareth and Chad [Gribble] coming in and I’m really confident that they will get the best out of me.
How have the early training sessions under Gareth been?
It’s been brilliant. Obviously Amber [Whiteley] had us there for six months and did a great job, got the group really together. She should be really proud of herself and I think made it a lot easier for Gareth and Chad to come in and start with a good, tight-knit group. It’s been really exciting, the sessions have been very different but different is also quite nice. It’s just [about] learning different ways of playing the game and how creative we can be and what we can do on the ball, so I feel like the fans should be very excited to see our new style of football this season.
Are you looking forward to learning new things individually from Gareth and his coaches too?
For sure, it’s a really exciting time. I feel like he understands the No.9 role pretty well from playing in it, so it’s kind of nice to have a coach that has played in that position to teach you certain things and what way to be more creative and hopefully create a lot more chances and score goals. So, it’s a really exciting time for me.
We’re now well into pre-season and the opening-day WSL Merseyside derby at Anfield is getting closer. How much are you looking forward to that?
I feel like [pre-season] has been really enjoyable and I think everybody is trusting what Gareth and Chad and Amber are trying to do. So, as he says, it’s not about the end result right now, it’s about working on what we have and getting there. I feel like we have another few weeks to work on what we have and we’ll be ready. We’re excited to play at Anfield in front of all the fans, we’re excited to show our new style of play, our new coaching style. So for sure, we’ll be ready.
You now have the opportunity to create more great memories for the supporters. What have they meant to you since you have been here?
They have been unbelievable – really supportive throughout injuries, really supportive by sticking with us and I feel like they’ve been there for the good times and the bad. But yeah, hopefully we’ll be able to celebrate with them a lot this year.
And how invaluable will their support be as the club begins a new era?
I think one of the most important things is the fans, in any club. If there are no fans it’s very hard to play football and get the excitement back and everything, so I feel like they have been massive for us, especially in my last four years. It’s just nice to hear your name chanted and everybody has an individual song. Yeah, that’s one thing about Liverpool: we’ve always had the best fans in the world.