Andoni Iraola extends his contract with AFC Bournemouth for another year following the good performance of his squad in his first year as the manager of ‘The Cherries’.
He has only needed one season in charge of the team to achieve what no other manager had ever done in the history of the club: a total of 48 points in the Premier League, Bournemouth’s highest ever score in the competition.
The English side have secured the Basque coach until 2026. This way, they are guaranteed to have a great manager to establish the project that they began this year and hope that he meets the expectations put on him in two years time.
A memorable season:
In spite of having a rough start to the 2023/2024 Premier League, in which they went nine consecutive games without a win and scored three of 27 possible points (thus creating strong rumors that pointed to the manager born in Guipúzcoa being fired), the coaching staff and the squad managed to recover from such a turbulent run.
Ever since they won their first match in the competition (a 2-1 win over Burnley in late October), they started to recover and chained a very positive streak, as they scored 22 points out of the 27 that were in play, allowing them to break away from the relegation zone of the standings in which thay had been for the entirety of the start of the season.
The team’s success comes from the construction of a young squad that stands out as a result of their suffocating press in the opposing half and their offensive and direct playstyle.
In addition, he has managed to get the best out of his players, like the case of Dominic Solanke: a striker that had never stood out in the first division but has scored 19 goals this year, which puts him among the top scorers in the competition.
After beating their previously mentioned points record, Bournemouth currently rank 11th in the standings: they are closer to European football positions than to the relegation zone. A situation that the fans of the club based in southern England had not seen themselves in a long time.
Iraola, an award winning manager:
The feat accomplished by Iraola throughout the season has not gone unnoticed. The Basque has been nominated for the manager of the 2023-2024 Premier League season award along with world-class coaches such as Liverpool‘s Jürgen Klopp, Manchester City‘s Pep Guardiola, Aston Villa‘s Unai Emery and Arsenal‘s Mikel Arteta. In addition, he was already given manager of the month award in March.
In spite of his scarce experience, Iraola has proven to leave his mark in every team that he joins. Although he is making history at Bournemouth, he intends to outdo himself in the coming seasons at Vitality Stadium.
The fans of ‘The Cherries’ are living a true dream from which they do not want to weak up, a very sweet moment in club history that will be remembered down the line. Hopefully, they will be able to enjoy with him for seasons to come.
Translated by Nuño Alonso.
Main image: @afcbournemouth.
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