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Small, but very, very mighty – that was Bournemouth’s reputation under Andoni Iraola. In his three years managing the club, the Spaniard took them to 12th in the Premier League – their highest-ever position – beating Arsenal and Manchester City along the way and qualifying for the Europa League for the first time, too. That kind of success as a football manager usually means being handed an even harder job – and so Iraola is now head coach at Liverpool, winning his first game, a pre-season friendly against Sunderland, 4-2 on Sunday.
Before Bournemouth, Iraola’s managerial CV was AEK Larnaca in Cyprus, Mirandés in Spain’s second division, and Rayo Vallecano, Madrid’s third club. You can see that in his demeanour: proper man-of-the-people energy rather than lofty Premier League kingpin. This extends to his choice in watch – the same one, as you might have guessed, from his Bournemouth days. Because while he shares a touchline with managers that go for Rolexes and Richard Milles and Patek Philippes, Iraola has a Mido Multifort.
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Mido is a no-nonsense, well-respected Swiss watch brand owned by the giant Swatch group, and it makes pieces which are reliable, good-looking and excellent value. (Including some excellent Nautilus lookalikes, if that’s your bag.) Iraola’s Multifort is a Chronometer 1, with a rounded dial that’s not overly designed, plus day and date indicators. All you need, really, and all for under £1,000. Which isn’t to say there’s no personality there: it’s got a black dial, case and leather strap, with bright orange detailing in the form of the hands, hour markers and stitching.
It’s quite a sporty, distinctive colour scheme – stealthy and low-key, but with an edge. Which isn’t far from how you’d describe Iraola’s approach with Bournemouth, which doggedly held its own against far better resourced opponents while occasionally having its own flashes of quality.
But with Liverpool, Iraola is in a different ballpark now – bigger budgets and far greater expectations. An interesting question to be answered this season is whether he sticks to the ethos that made him successful or changes tack. That applies to watches too: will Iraola be grabbing a fancy timepiece with a tourbillon some time soon? We can’t say we’d love to see it. It’d be a shame for him to ditch a watch that, while excellent in its own right, is also one of the only football manager’s watches many fans on the stands can afford.