Andoni Iraola: master of organised chaos offers Bournemouth new identity
One day during the many months that Bournemouth spent analysing the man who would eventually become their coach, they saw his Rayo Vallecano team run through a routine that looked familiar. If at first they could not quite put their finger on why, when they got the chance to ask him about it, everything fell into place. Yes, Andoni Iraola told them, it’s one of Eddie Howe’s. Iraola, described as a “sponge” by his former coach Joaquín Caparrós, soaking up everything he saw and heard, had learned from the Englishman, just as he had from Marcelo Bielsa, Ernesto Valverde and Patrick Vieira. From everyone.
Howe had learned from him, too, a lot shared. Howe, a frequent visitor to Spain, travelled to Madrid shortly before becoming Newcastle manager to see Atlético and Rayo. Rayo lack the basic resources elite teams consider standard, but there was good reason to go. He watched Iraola train, spent time with him and returned even more impressed. Analysts and sporting directors came from England’s big clubs, too, a quiet chatter commencing; something was happening over there, a coach emerging who was different.
Now Bournemouth have brought him to the Premier League. If sacking Gary O’Neil shocked, in Iraola they see an upgrade. Unable to match other clubs financially, you have to find other ways to compete. Here is an innovative, analytical coach who has done just that, charged with building a team, an identity.
Iraola was not always sure he wanted to be a coach. Born in Usurbil, a town of 6,308 people in the northern Gipuzkoa province, a full-back who gave up a law degree and played 510 games for Athletic Bilbao, he had quite fancied opening a bookshop. Others were more certain and it can appear almost inevitable, a product of his
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