Read every word from the broadcast section of Iraola's press conference here.
Mark McAdam (Sky Sports News): It's obviously been a busy week, to say the very least. Obviously there's been so much talk and speculation about you and your future and any potential contract. You've obviously decided now is the time to close the Bournemouth book. Why have you decided now is the time to walk away from this club?
Andoni Iraola: It has been a decision that has taken me a lot of time to take. It has not been a clear decision. Always during this process, this season, I've been talking to the club about the situations. They were very aware that this could happen and there is not always one main reason. I think the decision I've taken is because probably I don't want to risk the feeling I have right now of satisfaction of these three seasons. And you try to envision yourself in a possible fourth season, in a possible fifth season. Everything costs more. We as human beings, we get tired of watching always the same faces. And I suppose I've decided that this was the right moment, to put an end to this journey that for me has been really, really special.
MM: From the outside, it looks like this is a young group of players, so much talent within the squad, ambitious owners, extension to the stadium, new performance centre that's been brilliant. You're playing brilliant football, you're unbeaten in 12 Premier League matches. You could get European football right now this season for the first time in 127 years, but you feel satisfied that you've done everything you can. It feels like a strange time to walk away from what feels like still a really exciting club and a journey that you were a part of?
AI: I agree 100 per cent with everything you said. I have nothing to say against this. I think the club is in a great place, in a great place. I have things in this club that I will not find anywhere else. I come every day to work here with a smile and this is very valuable for me. But as managers, you learn because you have experience as a player, you've had a lot of managers, you have to choose very well when to start, where to start, when to end things. And it's not a decision that I had super clear. Like, I am not going to convince you because it has taken me during this season. Sometimes I've been thinking, oh, I definitely am continuing here. Other times I'm not continuing here. It's a matter of feeling. And there is a moment where you have to take decision. And this is the— the decision I've taken. I think I've supposed I prefer to make the mistake of maybe I could have stayed one year more, but I don't want to make the mistake of it was one year too much and there is a small margin that you are playing with, and this is what it is.
MM: Was it the hardest decision of your life?
AI: I think it's football. At the end, it's football. I've had other decisions that are more important in terms of my life, but it's true that it's a decision that it has cost me a lot and I've had moments thinking one thing and moments thinking the other thing. But there is a moment, and I was talking about these things with the club during the season and we've been very open. And I think it hasn't— no, definitely I know it hasn't been a surprise for them and they are very well prepared for this situation. But it has been difficult, yes.
MM: It's been 15 months' worth of talks about a new contract. What were those conversations like? Because you've got Bill that flies over, he wants to convince you to stay, and Thiago and Simon want you to stay. You know, I did an interview with Tiago and he said the receptionist wants you to stay, everyone loves Andoni. What were those conversations like with the hierarchy and how did they unfold eventually?
AI: That's why I like short-term contracts, because I want to feel these things, you know, and it's not the same situation you had when a year ago than the one you had here. But we really started discussing in, I would say, this December. And I told them, no, it was not about a negotiation. We never negotiated. If we agreed it's going to be this, agree, you know, it's going to be this, the deal. But it's not about this. It's about the feelings we have in that moment or later in the season. We decided to leave the winter market go, to do our job, to do the season properly. And we've been talking all these months and we've decided to say it now because we think it's the best moment. You don't want to say it too early because it can affect the performance of the players. I think it shouldn't. And now we've said it now because I think it's the moment where if you don't say it, almost it's worse because everyone is talking too much and there is a moment we've decided this now. If we had lost against Arsenal 5-0, it was going to be the same day, the same time, and the same announcement. We've done the best we could thinking on the best thing for the players especially because it's in our best interest from my side, from the club side to do the best we can this season because we have a magnificent opportunity. That's why it’s in this moment.
MM: There's been so much talk and speculation about where next for you. I've seen you linked with Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Leverkusen, Athletic Club, and other sides around Europe and the Premier League. Do you know right now where your next job will be, or are you completely open-minded to what may or may not happen?
AI: No, I didn't say it before. It's good that you asked me. The decision was not about any other club. There has been no other club involved, and it was about continuing here or not continuing here. I don't know what I'm going to do next season. I don't know if I'm going to coach a team, a club, I'm going to coach a national team, I'm going to coach in this continent, I'm not going to coach. I have no idea what's going to happen. I don't pretend you to believe me because a lot of people will not believe me, but it is what it is. I will say the truth. And also, actually, I don't have any rush to know it. I've done, I've taken like a big decision for me. Now in this moment. And now I want to focus on, on what we have in these 6 games. I think they are massive for us, and, and there is going to be time to think if we have to think on something else.
MM: Have the club asked you about who you think should be your replacement? You obviously understand the club, the players, the philosophy, the identity. You know exactly what that job takes. Have you recommended anyone at all that you feel could be the next Andoni Iraola?
AI: I don't think it's my job and I don't think I should be involved in those decisions. Obviously I know things because I speak every time here, every day with Tiago, with Simon, but no, I'm definitely not involved in those decisions. But I'm 100 per cent sure that this club is in a very good hands. They are top people, top guys, but the professionals, and they are very ready. They are very ready for this situation, and they will sign a top manager, 100 per cent.
MM: And just finally for me on this situation, obviously a lot of fans will look at this and say Andoni is leaving the club, Marcos Senesi looks to be leaving the club. There's great players that have been sold in the past, and there's great players that may get sold this summer, and they'll be worried about next season, they'll be worried about the future. What's your message to those fans that will say, you know, the manager's going, the players are all going?
AI: No, I think comparing, I would say, to all of the last seasons, probably is the best place that this club has been in, according to the financial fair play, according to the players we have, the experience that a lot of young players have added this season, I think I have no doubts that the club is in a, in an excellent place.
MM: Obviously some team news ahead of the Newcastle game this weekend. You've been quite lucky recently, not too many serious injuries. We know that Justin Kluivert's out, Lewis Cook working his way back. What's the latest with players that may be in or out for the weekend?
AI: Yes, we are in the same situation. We have Justin out and Lew is training partially with the group, has started, but is not still ready for a game, but is very close. So apart from those two, everyone is available and I will have to make tough decisions in the squad. But we are in a good place there, yes.
MM: Up next, Newcastle, St. James' Park. You've got great memories of travelling up to the northeast. You've had some wonderful performances whilst you've been on the spot. Ironically, one of the teams that you've been linked to, they're going through a difficult run at the moment. 6 defeats in their last 10 at home. They've dropped 25 points from winning positions. It feels like there's a tricky atmosphere at the moment. Is this the perfect opportunity for you to go up there and put on another performance like you did against Arsenal?
AI: I think for us it's a very difficult moment to face Newcastle. Because it's true that they've lost the last two games. They were coming from good wins also before this, and they've lost both games in the last minute. Sometimes football is like this, because you lost two games in the last minute, now they are not good. You know, they are incredibly good. I've even checked the bets and this about the game and this, because sometimes you feel like— because we beat Arsenal is— they are clear favourites. You know, it's like, if you think it's gonna be easy, go put some money there, but it's gonna be very difficult for us to win that game. We know the atmosphere there in St. James' Park. For them, after two defeats, it makes them even more dangerous. And they always are a team that starts the game super energetic. They put pressure on you. I remember all the games there, first 10— not our games, every game you watch on TV, first 15, 20 minutes, It's difficult to survive there and we have to be ready for that moment. It's true that I think we are in a good place. We played really well against Arsenal but I think the kind of game is going to be very, very different. I think Newcastle is a lot different from Arsenal. The demands of the game are going to be a lot different and I hope we are ready for those demands.
MM: And just finally, I guess for you, your target now for the remaining 6 games is to win all 6, deliver European football and walk off into the sunset, that's the plan.
AI: Yeah, the plan is always the same in football. Win the next game. It's always the same. It's for every challenge, every goal, every— but it's true that now every result is decisive. And I think we have a great opportunity. I think we have to be very, very good. Whoever wants to get Europe from our position, from the position that we are 7, 8 clubs there around, has to win a lot of games because statistically from 6, 7, 8 teams, someone will win 4 or someone. So everyone will want to be that team that wins 4 games and now at the end, but it's difficult because it's difficult to win 4 games from 6. So it's very difficult, yes.
Paul Belverstone (Premier League Productions): When you arrived, in a very early interview, you said you wouldn't be a manager for a long time. Is that still the case? Have you got a short shelf life ahead?
AI: Yes, I think so. Still is the case. Yes.
PB: Why is that?
AI: It has always been part of the plan. You know, there is more things in life than football, and sometimes you are the priority, and the family sacrifices a a lot of things for you or for your dreams. And I think there will arrive a moment in my life that I will be the one that has to sacrifice things to give, no, the moment to especially to my kids, no. And but still we are not there, I think.
PB: I'm not suggesting you're retiring tomorrow, but do you have targets in mind, ambitions you know, managing in the Champions League, things that you want to tick off your list before you do walk away completely?
AI: No, honestly, I don't have anything. No, no, I think in football you cannot make plans because it changes. You are as good as your last 5 games. It's the truth in football. Doesn't matter what you've done in the past, or— it's like this. So it's a matter of accepting this uncertainty. And I think you have to get used to these things in your life if you are going to be a player, but even more if you are going to be a manager.
PB: You've had so many good times here. Do you have a proudest moment or achievement in your time?
AI: I've had a lot, but I don't want to speak about these things because it looks like I'm leaving tomorrow, you know, and I'm playing a massive game tomorrow against Newcastle and we can speak about those things, I don't know, after the season or the last week. But I said the same to the players, no, I'm not talking like I'm not gonna leave tomorrow, you know, it's like there is a moment where you need to know this information but it doesn't change, you know, like that's why I try not to give the speeches, emotional speeches, not to— because when you start talking about and asking about these questions, I feel like it's finished and it's not finished. We still have a hope, no? We can even make the best— what you ask about the emotional moments and these things, we can still make the best one at the end.
PB: You mentioned the meeting with the players. You have tough decisions every week, tough conversations every week. Was that a tough one, telling the players?
AI: It's a tough one. It's the toughest one. I don't know why, because we get much more, in my case, much more nervous when I have to tell them to the players than when I have to say it here or when I have to say it in other places. I suppose it's because we care a lot about what they think and every time you speak, the players analyze everything you get and yes, I try to be be honest with them, but it was a matter of more giving the information than finding an answer. Or I think we have to keep them as in the, in the place where, where they are, because that's why they are doing very well.
PB: Fair enough. Obviously your first Premier League win came against Burnley, but your first game against Newcastle started the first cracking run of results. And Mark mentioned the trip up there last year when you had an injury crisis. Amazing performance. What is it about Newcastle that seems to bring the best out of your teams?
AI: It's true. I agree. We've played really good games against them and I value a lot those games because I like a lot the way they play. They have a top manager, as you know very well, and sometimes we are similar teams in terms of how we like to play. And they have been quite entertaining games, quite open. I remember even the 3-3 in the cup not a long time ago, and I think we like this kind of open games.
PB: I know you have a good record in the Premier League against Eddie, but what are the biggest challenges he poses you as a coach? Does he come up with sort of tactical surprises and things?
AI: Yes, he is difficult to predict what he's going to do a lot of times. He surprised us in the first round here. They went with a back five. It was a lot slower than we predicted that game. It was a 0-0. That has been strange in our matchups, let's say. Normally they have been the other way. And also they have so many options in every position, especially at the top, that they can change a lot. The team changing one striker for the other, changing one winger for the other. And when they make the subs, they don't drop the level. A lot of times they even put you a more dangerous player. So that's why they've done so, so well these years with Eddy, and they've been this season playing in the Champions League, and the season or the season before, and they've been so good.