Exclusive interview with Andoni Iraola: Bournemouth manager on rollercoaster first season and evolving towards progress | Football News

Last summer, when Bournemouth parted ways with Gary O’Neil, many raised eyebrows.

Hastily appointed after the sudden and unexpected departure of Scott Parker, he ultimately managed to keep the Cherries out of relegation trouble during their first season back in the Premier League.

Chairman Bill Foley wanted to freshen things up; take the club in a new direction while putting his stamp on the Dorset club, and so he replaced him with Andoni Iraola on the same day. “With his contract in Spain coming to an end this summer, we wanted to act quickly,” said the American businessman.

The former Spain international, who as a youngster played in the same team as Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta and Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso, had guided Rayo Vallecano out of La Liga 2 before finishing 12th in the top flight in two consecutive seasons, and was in high demand.

Foley backed his man in the transfer market and financed new signings totalling over £110m. But after two months, the project seemed to be rapidly running aground; it took 10 games for their first win and on 4 November, Bournemouth were third from bottom after a 6-1 defeat to Man City.

In hindsight, the poor start could probably be attributed to teething problems. Under pressure from outside, but evidently not from within, the club’s patience with Iraola paid off: on April 28, after a 3-0 win over Brighton, the Cherries reached 48 points, their best Premier League return.

“Everyone talks about the bad start and it’s true that it was a really bad start,” says Iraola, calm and composed – as ever – as he sits in the home dressing room at the Vitality Stadium for an exclusive chat with Vscek.

Now he can smile about it. “Looking back, it was probably the best thing that could have happened to us, but at the time it was really hard!

“I remember playing against the strongest teams at the beginning, in very difficult matches. We weren’t there yet, but later on we were able to play matches where we had more chances, with a more evolved and more ready team.

“It wasn’t the worst thing, looking back now with a bit of perspective, and it’s something that will serve us well, especially for next season. The record points (count) were a really nice reward for the season that the players gave us.”

Instead of returning to his native Spain during the off-season, Iraola remained in the UK as he prepared for his second season in charge. A cycling fanatic, he was glued to the Tour de France and the Olympics when time allowed.

Pre-season took the Cherries to the United States, where they faced Wrexham and Arsenal and, when Iraola returned to action, there were numerous double sessions.

He knows preparation will be key after last year: “We have to get right to the start of the season.” There’s a hint of warning in his voice.

Foley’s lofty ambitions for the club have excited supporters. Talk of reaching Europe within five years of taking over last December is music to the ears of fans whose club was on the brink of extinction less than two decades ago.

Given these goals and last season’s performance, it is natural that expectations are higher this time around.

However, meeting external expectations is not at the top of Iraola’s priority list.

“We can’t control expectations, and I’ve said many times that I don’t put too much trust in long-term goals,” he says.

“Once we play Forest on the first day, if we lose, (people will say) we’ll be relegated and if we win, (people will say) we’ll be in the top 10! After 38 games, the league table puts you, more or less, in your place.

“You have to control what you can control. We have to focus in every game. I know we have the first three games, then there is a break for international games, I don’t look much further.

“We are playing a competition where we know it will not be an easy match; even the ones we win will be very difficult matches and we will have to keep working until the end.

“We also have to know that when we play away against Liverpool or Manchester City we will have our chances. It will be much more difficult, but we cannot say that there are 12 games in the season from which we cannot get anything. We have to try in every game.”

Iraola has the advantage of having overseen minimal squad turnover this summer. Enes Unal’s loan from Getafe has been made permanent, Dean Huijsen has arrived from Juventus to replace Lloyd Kelly and promising striker Daniel Jebbison has signed from Sheffield United for a reported fee of £1.5m.

The £65m move of striker Dominic Solanke to Tottenham last week made headlines, but it was not an entirely unexpected decision and the Cherries have more than two weeks to reinvest that fee in a replacement if they wish.

“We are fundamentally the same and we have the experience of a whole season with ups, downs and games where we learned a lot. Now we can go into more detail in different areas; we know each other, I know where the players perform best.

“Many players in our team are quite young, especially Milos [Kerkez]Ilia Zabarnyi, Alex Scott, Dango [Outtara]A season in the Premier League can make them improve a lot and I expect them to raise their level.”

One of the favourites for relegation last season, at the time of writing, Bournemouth are nowhere near that conversation. Sky Bet currently have the Cherries priced at 6/1 to return to the Championship.

However, Iraola will not give weight to such ideas, even after a positive pre-season.

“We’ve done a good job, but you never really know until the competition starts,” he concludes. “We have a good foundation from last season and we have a good platform to continue building on.

“For me, our second season is very important. We have organization and structure as a team, but we have to improve. Other teams are signing very well and I’m sure they will be very good, better than in previous seasons.

“If we don’t improve, we’ll probably end up in a worse position, so collectively and individually we have to evolve the way we did things last season. Sometimes it won’t be enough, so you have to find new ways to achieve the same things.”

The rollercoaster of last season was undoubtedly the catalyst for Iraola’s growing pragmatism. Inside, though, he’s sure to want more.