European Manager of the Year: Mikel Arteta, Luis Enrique and GOAL’s top 20 coaches of the 2025-26 season – ranked
Bournemouth came into the season having lost their goalkeeper and three-quarters of their starting defence, and subsequently sold their best attacking player, Antoine Semenyo, in January. A lesser manager would have been forgiven, then, for making excuses if the Cherries had fallen into the lower reaches of the table. But Andoni Iraola is no ordinary manager.
Iraola quickly rebuilt his backline while sprinkling in quality elsewhere, and Bournemouth found themselves as high as second in the table after losing just one of their opening nine games. That bright start threatened to become a distant memory, however, as an 11-match winless run dropped Bournemouth back down to the within reach of the relegation battle.
With Semenyo about to be sold, some at the Vitality Stadium feared the worst. However, they need not have worried, as the Manchester City-bound winger’s stoppage-time winner against Tottenham in his final appearance sparked what became an 18-match unbeaten run that lasted through to the very end of the campaign and secured a sixth-placed finish, and European qualification for the first time in the club’s history.
Liverpool are getting quite the coach, presuming Iraola is the man to replace Arne Slot at Anfield.
