Bournemouth will make stance clear on Spurs replacing Postecoglou with Andoni Iraola
Spurs are big fans of Andoni Iraola, who has won many admirers this season, but the North London club’s former scout, Mick Brown, explains why the Lilywhites may not find it easy to bring him in.
Ange Postecoglou does not appear to be under any immediate danger of the sack right now, with Tottenham choosing to persevere with the Australian through their horror run of form, which was partly down to the club’s injury crisis.
However, a number of reports over the last few weeks have suggested that should they decide to part ways with the Australian at the end of the season, Bournemouth’s Andoni Iraola will be the man Tottenham turn to.
It is easy to understand why the 42-year-old is such an attractive option for the North London side, given the style of football he has implemented at the Vitality Stadium and how much he has overachieved, with the Cherries currently battling for Champions League qualification.
Andoni Iraola has been mentioned as a potential future Spurs manager
Under normal circumstances, you would expect a manager to jump at the chance of swapping Bournemouth for Spurs, but Brown believes that the South Coast club will do everything in their power to keep hold of the Spaniard.
The former Tottenham scout, who remains well connected with many who work in the game, asserted that the Cherries have already started efforts to tie down their head coach and to convince him that he can fulfil his ambitions at the club.
When asked about Tottenham’s interest in Andoni Iraola, Brown told Football Insider: “Bournemouth will do everything in their power to keep him. Not just because of any possible interest from Tottenham or Madrid, but more widely for the club. Andoni Iraola has done a fantastic job there since he arrived and they’ll want to keep that going.
“A club like Bournemouth, when you’re in the Premier League and you find yourselves able to push a bit higher, you’ve got to try to maintain that. That means keeping continuity there with the manager and the players.
“If as soon as you get to where you’re aiming to be, you lose your manager and have to start again, it can be a really difficult situation. From top to bottom, the club have to decide where they want to be.
“Everybody would say ‘we want to win games and be competitive’, so then the question is what are you willing to do to make that happen? In their case, that means keeping hold of their manager for the long-term future.
“I expect they’ll already be speaking to him and working behind the scenes to reach an agreement because it’s such an important deal for them to get done.”
Tottenham likely to assess managerial situation at the end of the season
Postecoglou’s future at the club depends very much on how Tottenham do in the Europa League this season.
The Australian has to take the club to the final four of the competition at the very least and finish in the top eight to have any chance of being in the job at the start of next season.
If he fails to deliver that, Iraola would be the obvious choice to replace him, but if the likes of Real Madrid come calling for the Basque-born coach, Tottenham may have to consider other options like Andoni Iraola.
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