Marco Rose has managed three different clubs in the Champions League, so it said a lot about Bournemouth’s progress that they were able to hire him as their new manager this summer.
The German is a contender to be regarded as the highest profile appointment in the club’s history, having previously led Red Bull Salzburg to the Europa League semis, then taken charge of Borussia Monchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig in the continent’s leading club competition.
Bournemouth, though, finished sixth in the Premier League last term, so when Andoni Iraola announced in April that he’d be leaving at the end of the season, later joining Liverpool, Rose agreed to take the job.
Bournemouth's new boss makes good impression
Unusually, Rose was able to have a handover meeting with Iraola when the campaign finished, with the departing boss willing to pass on information to help the club continue to thrive without him.
The incoming gaffer listened intently, and made a good first impression on many people during his visit in May.
That included Bournemouth legend Steve Fletcher, who first joined the club in 1992, playing for the Cherries for 19 years and scoring the goal that saved them from relegation to non-league in 2009. He’s since held various off-field roles and is now club ambassador.
“Marco came in right at the end of the season – he met Andoni and they gave each other a big hug, which I thought was lovely, because it doesn’t happen a lot at clubs,” Fletcher told FFT.
“After the last game of the season, he came in for a couple of days, met people and got familiar with his surroundings.
“He met the sporting director Tiago Pinto and some of the important people at the club, but he doesn’t just speak to the hierarchy, he went around the grounds, the accounts department, the media team, the kitchen staff, and spent time with them. It wasn’t just a hello and a nod. He’s a great bloke.
Marco came in right at the end of the season – he met Andoni and they gave each other a big hug, which I thought was lovely, because it doesn’t happen a lot at clubs
Steve Fletcher
“He wanted to find out about the history, and he knew a lot about Bournemouth as well. Tiago came to me and said, ‘He wants to meet you. ’ I was like, 'Well, why would he want to meet me? Surely, there are bigger and better people than me.‘ I think it was maybe the 34 years, the history I’ve got with this football club.
“When I met him, I felt like I’d known him all my life. He’s got an aura, that personality where you just warm to him, and he listens; he doesn’t just do it for lip service.
“He wants to find out about the club, and he’d done his homework, he knew about the history. He knew about where we were, how we nearly went out of existence a few times and built our way up to the Premier League, the fairytale story.
“So anyone who does that shows a big interest and does his homework deserves the recognition straight away.”
A day at the beach
Fletcher was speaking as 'MrQ' celebrated becoming Bournemouth’s new official sleeve partner – to mark the occasion, hundreds of towels were laid down on the city’s beach first thing in the morning to create a giant mosaic, as a nod to the start of an era under a German manager.
“They were there from 4am and put more than 230 towels down in a prime spot, right next to the famous Bournemouth Pier – if you want to get the attention of all of the tourists here in their tens of thousands when it’s so hot, why not make an impact?” he said.
“It was a sight to behold – I don’t think many people have seen so many towels on the beach gathered all together in one hit.
“I hadn’t been down on the beach so early in the morning for a while – since pre-season training back in the 90s, maybe, running up and down the sand dunes!”
MrQ is the new Official Sleeve Partner of AFC Bournemouth. As the casino the UK Loves to Hate, MrQ unveiled ‘Reserved for MrQ’ – a giant towel mosaic on Bournemouth Beach celebrating the new partnership and inspired by the famous tradition of reserving the best beach spot with a towel, to mark the arrival of Marco Rose. For more information, visit www.mrq.com
