Why Xabi Alonso is the manager Chelsea need (& Andoni Iraola isn't as bad as people think)

Alonso is the standout choice, Iraola is just one acceptable alternative..

This week three Spanish managers have been linked with Chelsea. Xabi Alonso, formerly of Leverkusen and Real Madrid, Cesc Fabregas of Como, and Andoni Iraola of Bournemouth. Matt Law has made clear Alonso and Iraola’s representatives are being approached by Chelsea (convenient, as they have the same agent), and Chelsea will have discussions with them about their plans, and the Chelsea job.

I could write a whole article on how Cesc Fabregas is an ideal candidate for the Chelsea job (in fact I have, its in my drafts), but right now he’s not even named on the list, and his potential appointment looks unlikely. I’m aware there’s another manager we’ve been linked with, Marco Silva, who I’ll mention briefly later. But for the sake of this article, I’m going to focus on Xabi Alonso and Andoni Iraola.

A lot has been said on the merits or otherwise of both. I think they’re both valid contenders for the Chelsea job. The people who’ve said Iraola is “unproven” or “an experiment” respectfully, are just way wide of the mark. Some have equally said Xabi Alonso’s “failure” (it wasn’t a failure) at Real Madrid makes him unsuitable for big clubs. So I’m going to look at both today.

Before I really get going, I think its important to emphasise that in reality, there is no perfect candidate. All the candidates have flaws.

For example, Cesc Fabregas - one of my top choices for the job - has only two years experience and has never managed two games a week. Frank Lampard’s football wasn’t liked by some and his last permanent PL spell wasn’t great. Sebastien HoeneB, a favourite of mine, finished 9th the first time he had European football. Not to mention our fanbase is always divided by the style of football - some want Pep’s positional play, akin to Enzo Maresca’s style, others want a more physical, power and pace style (Ironically, that’s not dissimilar to Iraola’s style).. In truth, whoever we appoint, there will be some fans who are unhappy. Its the nature of the best, unfortuntely.

So on to Xabi Alonso. There’s a LOT of plusses and frankly he’s probably been my number one choice since the position became available. I know its very unlikely, I’m not getting my hopes up, but I do believe if we commit to changing our structure, bringing in a new Sporting Director involving Alonso in the project, it’s not impossible.

The Liverpool job seems to be unavailable and could be for at least a year or more, so there is a window of opportunity.

Xabi Alonso had years of Premier League experience as a player with Liverpool. He’s played for some of the biggest clubs in the world, and won all the big trophies, at club and international level. He’s a natural leader, with presence and personality, and would command respect the minute he walks in the door.

As a coach, he won the Bundesliga unbeaten with Bayer Leverkusen, as well as the German Cup, also reaching the Europa League final, then was runner up in that league the next season. In what’s basically a one club league, this achievement cannot be underestimated. So again, for the likes of Enzo Fernandez, Alonso ticks all the boxes in terms of credibility, proven ability and mentality as a coach, as well as as a player.

His style of football is also well suited to Chelsea’s current squad. He plays a possession based, technical, controlled style of football, but also encourages players to move the ball forwards quickly rather than just pass it sideways, a style which I think a lot of Chelsea fans would likely enjoy.

As Granit Xhaka, a key member of Alonso’s Leverkusen title winning team, said:

“The coach wants us to keep the ball, but ball possession doesn’t mean you have to keep going from right to left. We have to look for our strikers and we know how much quality we have in front.”

Alonso took over at Leverkusen in late 2022 when they were 17th in the Bundesliga, and took them to a 6th placed finish, qualifying for Europe, as well as reaching the Europa league semi final. Then in his second season it really took over. That year, his Leverkusen team won the Bundesliga undefeated, won the German cup and reached the Europa league final, winning every game in the group stage. In his final season they finished 2nd in the Bundesliga and won the German SuperCup. Then he left, to become head coach at Real Madrid,

Alonso lost his job at Real Madrid after only 8 months, but frankly, Real Madrid is the most impossible job in club football. Even more than Chelsea, for me.

He actually won 24 of his 36 games in charge, a 66% win percentage, which is still very good, and to me, the firing was to do more with the toxic player power which runs that club, rather than football or coaching. In fact, the Real Madrid experience could actually serve as good preparation for Chelsea, as PSG was for Thomas Tuchel.

Put simply, Xabi Alonso is the best candidate currently available in my view. He’s without a club, knows the PL and is a proven winner. In my view, Chelsea should be going all out to get him. I would personally then go and get Simon Rolfes, the Director of Football from Leverkusen, who worked with Alonso to build his title winning squad, as our new Sporting Director. Then, let them work together with David Fallows, already at Chelsea and one of the men behind Klopp’s Liverpool, and rebuild the Chelsea squad and the club for the long term.

It’s blindly obvious. Which means that in all likelihood, it won’t happen. We’re just not competent or flexible enough to get it done. But who knows, maybe they might read this completely obvious idea, wake up and do something right for a change. We can only hope.

This brings me very to the the other candidate listed this week, Fulham’s Marco Silva. I’ll be brief. Marco Silva is a proven PL manager, who’s done an excellent job at Fulham, and full respect to him for that. But, to my mind, he should not even be a candidate for the Chelsea job, yet alone get it.

The Sporting Directors’ endorsement of him is yet another of the multitude of reasons they need to go immediately, and should have no say in the appointment of our next manager. Enough said.

So, on to Andoni Iraola of Bournemouth, who is interested in the Chelsea job according to Fabrizio Romano, and its been reported we’re speaking to his representatives this week (again, they are also Xabi Alonso’s representatives).

However, Iraola has been getting absolutely murdered on the timeline this week and I honestly don’t get it.

He’s not remotely my first choice to manage Chelsea, to be clear. But to say he’s an experiment, not proven, or another Graham Potter / Liam Rosenior type is, respectfully, a simply ridiculous, ignorant and completely incorrect perspective in my opinion.

Iraola’s track record is actually very good given the clubs he’s worked for. He took Mirandes, a team from the Spanish second division, to the semi finals of their domestic cup, beating Villereal and Sevilla along the way. He won promotion with Rayo Vallecano, then took them to the semi finals as well. He beat Barcelona in the league twice in one season and three times overall, as well as beating Real Madrid once, all with a vastly inferior team and a tiny budget (Net spend of £12m over three years).

At Bournemouth, he’s spent about 20% (at best) of what Chelsea have and lost almost all his key players last summer. Yet currently, they are above Chelsea in the PL table and highly likely to qualify for Europe for the first time ever, having already broken their PL points record, which he set last season.

In his time at Bournemouth he’s beaten Arsenal three times, Man Utd twice, as well as beating Man City and Liverpool.

Not to mention, he’s worked with some elite players at Bournemouth, who’ve all improved under his coaching and gone on to join top clubs, showing he can command the respect and loyalty of top players. Antoine Semenyo joined Man City in January, and has spoken highly of Iraola’s coaching and his respect for him. Iraola’s players play for him, respect him as a coach and believe in him. He’s maintained their respect, belief and support even through bad runs of form, and come through to begin winning matches consistently again.

Another important factor, is he’s shown tactical flexibility. Bournemouth lost Semenyo in January, and as a result, Iraola changed to a more possession based approach. They’ve not lost a PL game since, and are now on a 13 game unbeaten run, the longest in the league at time of writing. He’s been a manager for 8 years, since he was 35, and has been building his career slowly, improving as a coach every season, and in my view, is ready for the next step.

Iraola also has a calm personality which can lower the temperature in a dressing room, build unity in the squad and bring a bit of stability. He’s an excellent candidate and a realistic one for the Chelsea job, and he’d do a good job if given the opportunity, in my view.

Cesc Fabregas, who many of us would love to manage Chelsea, watched Iraola’s training sessions when with Rayo Vallecano, and said to the BBC:

“I really liked the session. I could see exactly what he was trying to do, he communicates really well with the players. He has, really well, a structure. I really like the setup of the training session, he built it from a lower intensity to a higher one. I’m not surprised where he is or what he is doing, as the style is very very clear.”

(Source, BBC).

So its clear, Iraola is highly regarded in the game, by players and fellow coaches alike.

Yes, there’s weaknesses to Andoni Iraola’s coaching, absolutely no doubt about it. His lack of experience at a big club, never having won a trophy or managed a club in European competition, never having coached games twice a week and the intensity of his training. That’s why he’s not my number one choice for Chelsea, and probably won’t be their number one option (even if they say he is).

But he would be a good choice, someone who could stabilise us in the top three or four, get regular CL football and maybe win some cups, which is all an improvement on the last few years, frankly. Then we’d see in 2-3 years if he was capable of taking us on to challenging for and winning the PL and CL.

So to land this article, its clear that we have two good candidates for the Chelsea job here. However, despite Iraola’s merits, I think its clear Xabi Alonso is the standout candidate for the job, and Chelsea should be doing everything in their power to bring him to the club. He’s a proven winner, an elite coach, with a winning mentality, who knows the pressure of playing for and managing big clubs. He’s the one we need to go for.

If Chelsea were to land Alonso, it would be a significant moment in this ownership and a hugely positive development for the club overall. If we need to make some compromises and change the structure and strategy to do it, do it. Simple as that. Competent, well run, elite clubs just get this stuff done.

The only valid excuse for not going hard for him is if Liverpool are changing managers, which doesn’t look like happening at this point. Without Liverpool, Alonso would then potentially be without a club going into a season, so the right offer might tempt him.

It’s such an obvious move, so of course, it probably won’t happen. I’m not getting my hopes up whatsoever. Honestly, how sad is it that we can’t even have hope of Chelsea doing something any competently run elite club should be able to do anymore, eh?

In the case Alonso doesn’t happen, then Andoni Iraola would be one of several strong alternatives. A highly talented, constantly improving coach who improves players, is trusted and respected by all the players he works with, knows the PL, has managed abroad, knows how to beat elite teams, plays entertaining football and is willing to adapt to win.

He’s a realistic candidate, wants the job, and is on our shortlist. He’s not an experiment, Clearlake manager, or any of that nonsense. He’d be the most qualified manager we’ve hired since Mauricio Pochettino, and more qualified and experienced than Graham Potter, Enzo Maresca or Frank Lampard (first time) were when we appointed them. If he does come in, we should back him and give him every chance to succeed.

Oh and just to reiterate to anyone from the club who might be reading. Don’t even try to appoint Marco Silva or Eddie Howe. They aren’t remotely Chelsea level, and it really shouldn’t take us fans to tell you that.

The club should go all out for Xabi Alonso, whatever it takes. And if they still can’t get him or Cesc Fabregas, then go for Andoni Iraola, Sebastien HoeneB or Oliver Glasner - another PL proven coach who has won trophies domestically and in Europe. Those are all candidates who are, in my view, of the standard we need.

The club cannot mess this up again. So my advice, is to go out and appoint the best manager available, and build the club around him.

In other words, appoint Xabi Alonso.

The Score