IRAOLA BEARING PREM FRUIT FOR LOYAL CHERRIES

AFTER losing 3-0 at Everton and with Bournemouth floundering in the bottom three after their worst start to a topflight season, it had seemed that Andoni Iraola’s Premier League adventure would prove short-lived.

It was early October and Iraola (right) had become the bookies’ favourite to be first managerial casualty of the season.

But a glance at his CV proves why owner Bill Foley stuck by the Spaniard – and now Iraola’s Cherries are the hottest ticket in town. The change has been impressive, with Bournemouth lording it in the top half of the table following six wins and a draw in their past seven league games – no other club has matched that.

You could say that the 41-year-old coach is Basqu-ing in the glory – it’s an amazing fact that the tiny Basque province of Gipuzkoa has now produced four Premier League managers.

It’s an area smaller than Dorset, but Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta, Aston Villa’s Unai Emery and one-time Wolves boss Julen Lopetegui were also born and raised there. In fact, Iraola and Arteta, who left for Barcelona aged 15, played together in the same Antiguoko junior side. Although Iraola never hit the same heights as Arteta as a player, he spent 15 years with Athletic Bilbao, earning seven Spain caps before moving to New York City where Patrick Vieira was manager.

That is where he brushed up on his English, which has helped him transform the Cherries’ fortunes – especially those of Dominic Solanke, who is now shaping up to be one of the division’s top strikers.

Iraola was eyed as a future Vitality Stadium boss after Bournemouth admired his work at Rayo Vallecano, which included masterminding their first win over giants Barcelona in 19 years. Former Bournemouth and now Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe was already an admirer, taking time out after leaving the Cherries to travel to Madrid to study training at Rayo Vallecano under the emerging Iraola.

Around the same time, Leeds United sounded him out, but he decided to stay with Rayo in La Liga until the end of his contract, which ran until last summer.

That is when Bournemouth made the move to get their man – and now as his reputation soars it’s fast becoming a case of trying to hold onto him.