Andoni Iraola is now in charge at Liverpool, but his management career began with AEK Larnaca in Cyprus and ended in the sack. Seven years ago, Larnaca dismissed him after a winless run in the Cypriot top division.
Iraola learned from that experience and rebuilt his career in Spain with Mirandes. He then impressed at Rayo Vallecano and Bournemouth, which earned him his opportunity at Anfield. For his old colleagues in Cyprus, the rise must be a striking thing to witness.
Were there any believers on that January day when Larnaca drew 2-2 at home to Ermis Aradippou? Ermis went on to finish bottom of the table. The draw extended Larnaca’s league run without a win to six games, and Iraola paid for that streak with his job.
Were there signs beyond the results that Iraola was destined for bigger things, and that he was simply a victim of a trigger-happy firing culture at the club? David Catala, who played under him at Larnaca, including in that final game, believes he saw promising signs.
“He already had very clear ideas of what he wanted,” Catala says. “You saw it and, for sure, all the players were speaking about how he was going to become a fantastic coach. But to reach this level? To say that he would be at Liverpool? That is a big claim.”
A Different Vision in Cyprus
Iraola had spent his entire playing career in Europe at Athletic Club, with a brief spell in the United States at New York City. His first move into management with Larnaca took him outside his comfort zone, although the club had a Spanish contingent.
His early impact was impressive. Larnaca negotiated three rounds of qualifying to reach the Europa League group stage, with wins over Dundalk, Sturm Graz and Trencin. Just as important, the players readily embraced his ideas.
“To be in the Europa League for a club in Cyprus was amazing,” Catala explains. “And the work that he did was good. These were the same ideas that he wants at Liverpool, actually, pressing high and wanting to be very aggressive with and without the ball.”
That approach was rare in Cyprus at the time. “The rhythm of the game there was very slow. I was able to play there until I was 38 years old because that rhythm was not so high.” Iraola had a different view of the game, shaped under Marcelo Bielsa in Bilbao.
Catala says: “Everything was more explosive with him, more rhythm, more intensity. You saw how Marcelo did it with Athletic Club. I remember sometimes it was like that for us. Crazy things like following man-to-man all over the pitch. That was crazy as players.”
Catala now recognises that Iraola was offering a glimpse of the future. “Football has gone in that direction. The way you have to press. It changed the mentality of the players.” He adds: “He changed a little bit the rhythm of the league in Cyprus.”
A Quick Unravelling
For a while, the approach worked. At the start of December, 10 games into the season, Larnaca sat second in the table behind Limassol, the only side to beat them in that period. Iraola’s team was actually ahead of six-time reigning champions and eventual title winners APOEL.
Then it all unravelled quickly. A 5-1 home defeat to Bayer Leverkusen in Europe sat between three away trips on the island that produced no wins. A home defeat by the odd goal then increased the pressure before the brief Christmas break.
A loss away to Omonia, followed by the draw against struggling Ermis, sealed his fate. Iraola made some formation changes, but nothing major. “He did not change too much in terms of his thinking about the way of playing against different teams,” Catala recalls.
The Harsh Reality of Early Management
The lesson was that pressure arrives quickly in football, even in a setting that seemed far removed from the spotlight he knew as a player. “If you are not getting results, it is difficult to have the trust of the owners.”
Catala explains: “Cyprus is very difficult for coaches, and especially for young coaches, because the owners of the football clubs, they are very passionate. And at the moment that you are not getting the results, they sack the coach like they are just peanuts.”
“As soon as you lose games, especially against the lower teams, immediately the fans are speaking with the owner and the owner is going crazy. You cannot have the stability that maybe you need when you are a young coach. This is what happened to Andoni.”
Lessons Carried Forward
Catala, who would later manage Larnaca himself and lasted a little longer than Iraola, has tried to take lessons from his former coach. He believes Iraola also benefited from the experience. “It was still a good choice to start there,” he insists.
“Cyprus is not an easy place for anyone to work but it is a good place for a young coach to start their journey. He had the opportunity to coach a team in the Europa League, for example. Unfortunately, football everywhere is now very unstable for all coaches.”
“It was a short period. But he would have learned many things from his experience in Cyprus about how to manage situations. It was his first job, you have to take something from that. For sure, he has improved a lot since then and he has developed himself.”
Catala has watched that development with pride and some surprise. “I am happy for him. If you look at the last years, you can see that he is obviously a fantastic coach. I cannot say that I did not expect it, but it is a little bit of a surprise.” From the sack at Larnaca to Liverpool, the journey is remarkable.