From Athletic Bilbao to Rayo Vallecano, Iraola’s journey has been shaped by clubs that represent more than football…
Even though I’m far from being an Andoni Iraola expert, there are things I like about him already.
I like that he’s from the Basque region of Spain. These things, geography and background, are important.
I love that he managed, and is adored by, Rayo Vallecano. As a Rayo-curious man, I love any club with integrity and soul. Supporting teams like that, like us, carries a heavily implied statement. I know what a Rayo fan is before I meet them.
Even before a ball is kicked or a decision made, this seems like a tremendous start.
A right back at Athletic Bilbao, Andoni Iraola knows all about representing a city which sees itself as separate from its country. The Basque territory is an autonomous region of northern Spain and the club prides itself on having players only from that area. It’s a local club in every sense of the word. It represents the area first and foremost.
I wonder if Curtis Jones and Jayden Danns have considered this. Local support tends to lean harder into the connection with Scousers in our team. It doesn’t always mean they get an easy ride, but they pull more focus.
Rayo Vallecano are also fiercely attached to their community or ‘barrio’. Along with Real, Atletico, Getafe and Leganes, they make up the Madrid contingent, though their support, humorous, incredibly left wing and identity led, differs markedly from the others.
Rayo still don’t sell tickets online or over the phone, which, having dealt with our Ticket Line over the years, might be an idea.
Iraola took them from the Segunda División to La Liga. Now they’re reaching European finals. The Vallecas region of Madrid loves Andoni Iraola.
In 2023, his Rayo side beat Almeria 2-0 to edge closer to European qualification. Los Bukaneros, their ‘ultras’, sang, ‘Next year – Rayo, Liverpool.’
They sang that not only because they see us as the pinnacle, but because they see the similarity in the support. Their area is also predominantly working class and views their moneyed neighbours with a healthy suspicion.
I love that. Furthermore, I know that Iraola will also see that link and will warm to it.
His first interview was interesting. He cited emotion as a key factor. Sometimes too much emotion can be damaging, but I’d always prefer it to the soporific.
There’s been a lot of talk recently about identity, both in terms of play and who and what we are as a fanbase. I’ve pretty much fallen out with every single element of the club over the past few months, barely recognising it as something I’d love to be a part of. The board, the owners, the manager, the players and, yes, the fans seem to have worked together to push away my underlying adoration of what Liverpool is. I just don’t recognise it. Its hand has somehow lost mine.
But a manager from clubs with identity, of separatist ideology (I’m not sure who England have even got in the World Cup, never mind support them) and a full-in commitment to the notion that the club works for us rather than a board or individual wealth or status can work wonders for the soul.
I’d rather fail with something I can get behind than win with something I can’t. Maybe that’s pig headed, but you can only follow your own path.
I never got the Alonso stuff. He too is of Basque stock, but he’s also dropped us twice for Madrid and has now taken the Chelsea coin. Nah. Great player and all that, but there isn’t anything I can pin my hopes to.
Maybe we’ve got something here. Maybe we haven’t. I’ll take any start because, as things stand, I miss my club and never want to be apart from what it can do to me.
I don’t like getting excited about new managers and players before they’ve faced an opponent, but the background is a hell of a start.
