WHEN a club makes a managerial change, it very rarely sees just a straight swap of the man at the helm.
Head coaches nowadays have a team of people behind the scenes they like to work with at every club they are employed at, often only agreeing to take a job if they can bring those staff members with them.
But that was not quite the case when Andoni Iraola replaced Gary O’Neil at Cherries, a year ago this week.
There were some tweaks. Tim Jenkins followed O’Neil out the door, going on to rejoin him at Wolverhampton Wanderers. Meanwhile, there were some changes on the fitness staff side, with Pablo de la Torre arriving with Iraola.
In an ideal world, Iraola wanted to also bring his assistant Inigo Perez to Cherries. How that would have impacted the rest of the coaching staff is unknown, but Perez was denied the chance to move from Spain, due to work permit issues.
As such, Shaun Cooper and Tommy Elphick retained their roles as assistant first-team coaches.
It is worth noting that less than a year earlier, the pair were coaching the club’s development squad.
But after playing a key role under O’Neil, having been propelled up into the senior set-up, the pair were deemed good enough to stay in those roles under Iraola. They have impressed enough that Iraola is not looking to find a different coach to bring into the group, despite missing out on Perez.
“For me, it was very difficult at the beginning, because obviously I trusted Inigo a lot,” Iraola told the Daily Echo.
“He knew exactly how we wanted to play and it was much more difficult.
“But I was lucky with Tommy and Shaun. I have been working with them very well.
“I think now we know each other much better. We know, even during the games, everyone is looking at different things and I think we are working well.
“We will continue the same. We will not add any other assistant. I am very happy working with both and we will continue working the same way.”
While the pair have the same job title, Elphick often takes the limelight between the two, stepping in for some media duties when required, perhaps unsurprising given his heroic captaincy of the club.
Cooper, of course, is also a former Cherries player, the 40-year-old having played close to 250 games for the club between 2005 and 2012, competing in League Two and League One.
That proved to be the highest level he would play at, apart from a few games in the second tier with Portsmouth right at the start of his career.
Cooper eventually left Cherries to join Crawley Town, before then dropping into non-league with Sutton United and Poole Town ahead of his retirement in 2017.
Cooper, who takes charge of organising offensive set-pieces, remains close friends with Darren Anderton, one of his teammates at Cherries.
And the former England international gave an insight into what Cooper will be bringing to the club.
He told the Daily Echo: “Firstly he’s a great guy.
“There’s always got to be that link between manager and team and I think Shaun fits that perfectly.
“He’s very level-headed, good fun to be around.
“He was a wonderful footballer. One of the best that I played with down there, for sure.
“I still talk to him about it that it was such a shame he didn’t get that opportunity at a higher level, because I actually think the higher level would’ve suited him better, because he was such a talented footballer and had a good football brain.
“That’s why, for me, it’s no surprise to see him doing what he’s doing now, being at that level in his coaching.
“From people I’ve spoken to at the club, he is so highly thought of, in terms of his coaching.
“He’s obviously doing wonderful things at the moment, but who knows where his career could end up?
“I think he’s very happy in Bournemouth. He loves Bournemouth. He spent most of his career there.
“Who knows what will happen? But one thing is for sure, I know he is very happy at the moment with the way things are going and the opportunity he’s been given.”
Anderton added: “Gary O’Neil did such a good job and a few eyebrows were raised because of bringing in the new man.
“But the owner has been proven right. I think the club have gone to another level.
“Obviously I had conversations with Shaun and a few of the boys last year when all that was happening.
“Of course you worry for your mates and I was delighted to see he was given the opportunity to continue in the role he had done so well in and the club are benefitting from that now.”
Another one of Anderton’s friends, Alan Connell, replaced Cooper as development squad boss, moving up from the under-18s.
“Without that happening, I would still have a real affinity with the club, but to see mates who are doing well is always nice,” said Anderton, who is now based in California and was speaking on behalf of freebets.com
“I’m able to watch that from afar.
“But we’re all in touch constantly. I always find out how they’re all doing and everything else and it’s very nice for them.
“They work really hard at it and that coaching thing is not easy and not for everyone.
“It’s a tough road and they’ve both done it now for a few years.
“From what I hear in terms of the coaching aspect, they are great coaches. It is nice to see that get recognised.”
During Anderton’s time at Cherries, the squad was littered with players who would later move into coaching, including Eddie Howe, Jason Tindall, Stephen Purches, Steve Fletcher, Warren Cummings, Brett Pitman, Gareth Stewart, Neil Moss, Ryan Garry, Jason Pearce, Lee Bradbury and Marvin Bartley.
Put to him that suggests it was a real group of leaders, Anderton said: “When I look back at that time, those were tough times.
“You needed real characters to get out of the trouble, we nearly went out of the Football League.
“So in that sense, it doesn’t surprise me, so many players from that era that have gone on to coaching.
“Most, if any, never played at the very top level. So to see them all doing so well at that level, it is great for them and it does show you what can be achieved with hard work.
“And a genuine love of the game and appreciation of being at a club like Bournemouth.
“It’s a special football club. Once you play there, you know what it’s all about. It’s a club that likes to play good football, in the right way.
“It’s great to see that they’ve all come through that.
“It was probably also down to Sean O’Driscoll as the manager.
“He actually left a few days after I joined, but I think he created that environment of coaching and understanding, wanting his players to understand the game, whilst he was coaching them.
“It’s great to see them all doing so well.”
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