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Pressure mounting on Andoni Iraola after winless start at Bournemouth

2023-10-24 05:18
Andoni Iraola's future as Bournemouth manager will be in doubt if his side do not beat Burnley in their next Premier League game.
Pressure mounting on Andoni Iraola after winless start at Bournemouth

Bournemouth will consider the future of head coach Andoni Iraola if they do not register their first Premier League win of the season this weekend, 90min understands.

The Cherries appointed highly-rated Iraola in the summer after deciding to sack Gary O'Neil, who had kept the club up after succeeding Scott Parker earlier in the season.

However, Iraola's reign at the Vitality Stadium has been a struggle and they currently sit second from bottom of the Premier League. Bournemouth are without a win from their eight games thus far and the pressure increased at the weekend as former boss O'Neil brought his new Wolves side to the south coast and inflicted a 2-1 defeat.

Sources have told 90min Bournemouth are fully behind Iraola, but a failure to beat Burnley on Saturday could yet have severe ramifications for the Spaniard.

While Bournemouth are not actively looking to replace Iraola, there are candidates who appeal to the club. One is former Leeds boss Jesse Marsch, who was of interest to the Cherries during the summer.

New Bournemouth owner Bill Foley decided he wanted to move on from O'Neil and a deal was quickly put in place for Iraola, who had built his reputation in Spain with Rayo Vallecano. He rejected the chance to take over at Leeds United earlier in the year.

But speaking earlier this month, Foley accepted responsibility for making the change, although he admitted the idea of appointing Iraola came from sporting director Richard Hughes.

"First I listened to Richard Hughes and to Simon Francis, one of his top assistants. They were intrigued by Andoni. They convinced Neill Blake (CEO) that this was a move that we have a chance to do, we have a chance to make and if we don't make this move, we're going to regret it in the future," he told American-based podcast Men In Blazers.

"That's really all they had to tell me. I did a little research on Andoni and I was satisfied that he would be an agent of change and that's what I always look for, how can we change, be more effective and constantly improve. I believe he's going to do it.

"People say you may have made a mistake. I said, if I've made a mistake, it's on me, I'll take responsibility, because I was involved in the decision-making process."

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This article was originally published on 90min as Pressure mounting on Andoni Iraola after winless start at Bournemouth.