Before their arrival at Liverpool, Tommy Elphick and Shaun Cooper forged a strong coaching partnership behind Andoni Iroala at Bournemouth that helped shape one of the most impressive recent Premier League success stories. 

Few people know their methods better than Joe Partington. The former defender played with both coaches and experienced first-hand the standards, leadership and attention to detail they brought to the training ground every day, whilst also working as a summarisr for the Cherries in recent times.

With Elphick and Cooper now beginning a new chapter at Liverpool, Joe reflects to us on what makes the duo so effective, how they complement each other, and why he believes they have all the qualities needed to make a positive impact at one of the world’s biggest football clubs….

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On Elphick the player: “Tommy, when he joined Bournemouth, he stepped into a leadership role pretty quickly, to be honest. I know that he had made his debut at Brighton at a young age, and I think he played a lot of games for them and suffered an injury that, for whatever reason, took him away from Brighton. And obviously he ended up joining Bournemouth in League One. As I mentioned, stepped into that leadership role and led by example. To be honest, for the whole duration of the time that he stayed at Bournemouth from then on in. I can actually remember a time; it was pretty soon after he joined, we’d struggled, we’d gone to Sheffield United away and got beaten pretty heavily. I think the game was four-one in the end. I actually think I came off at half-time in that game, which is probably what sums up my Bournemouth career, but we were on the bus after the game, and actually the bus had broken down as well. It was a pretty sad day, and Tommy had only been at the club, I think maybe a few weeks; that may have even perhaps been his first game and, um, and he sort of just held a meeting on the bus. Like even still to this day, I remember it because I was a bit taken aback by the fact that he had just come in and started to, to lead the lads straight away. Then that was it from then on in really; he stepped into that role.”

On Elphick the coach: “He leads even now as a coach; he leads huddles in warm-ups before games. I know the atmosphere at Liverpool is different to Bournemouth, but you always hear his voice on the side of the pitch continuously in the game. I think that it’s a dying breed really of a leadership kind of role, who doesn’t mind putting himself out in that position and demands obviously a lot from others. He’s obviously played a historic role in Bournemouth. Many people see him as an absolute legend. He’s got a mural in Bournemouth of him holding the Championship trophy up. So yeah, Bournemouth fans will miss him a lot. Life at Liverpool is somewhat completely different. But I’d like to think that he’s going to go there and have a good impact.”

On their methods: “I’m not on the training pitch every day. I don’t know what they’re doing behind closed doors, but certainly get an insight as to his matchday routines and the impact he has on a matchday. But, I mean, both Shaun and Tommy are from the school of Eddie Howe. So Eddie Howe historically demanded a lot from his players in training. That time that he spends with the guys, obviously behind closed doors and away from a matchday, is super, super important. I know that Shaun and Tommy share those share those values as well. So the impact that they have on the players is enormous in terms of every day in a training environment. He’s an intense guy; obviously, he demands a lot. As you mentioned, just gets the respect of everybody just how he carries himself. He’s very well spoken. I mean, it’s, it’s an amazing opportunity for Tommy to step into such a monumental environment. I’d like to think and, and hope and predict that they step into that environment and do well, because Andoni Iraola is the manager, and he’s going to be the spearhead. He’s going to be the guy that everybody listens to and sees. He’s been very well supported by Shaun and Tommy during the last two, three years. So as a team, I hope it goes well. I think everybody hopes it. I hope it goes well for them. The way that they approach the game, the way they approach people in general. I can see it going pretty well.”

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On their impact: “I mean, the impact of both of them leaving is huge; everybody loves Tommy and Shaun. Shaun in particular, obviously, has been there for a long period of time. Probably not as visible in terms of the success of Tommy is because he obviously captained that team through from League One up to the Premier League, but Shaun had an enormous impact. But when the club was in League One, League Two and was always one of the most intelligent people in the game that I knew from a football perspective, I actually, you know, used to look up to Shaun a lot actually, um, as, as a person, as a player and probably doesn’t get the credit that his career deserves because he was probably injured for, for more of it than he would like to have been. And that probably hindered his, his ability to play consistently. But he ended up, he played in that like defensive sweeper holding midfielder role that very much is, is, I guess, connected to intelligent players. And he also played that role. People have always hoped that they do well and only included.”

On their legacy: “They’ve obviously done such a good job over the last few years. Left Bournemouth in such a wonderful position. Obviously the new manager is coming in, which makes a change because most of the managerial changes come when something is wrong. Because they’ve had such a positive impact on the club, everybody wishes them well. It’s a different situation that they feel. like they’ve sort of left them behind kind of thing. I think they’ve left with a lot of respect and certainly a lot of respect, which is odd because when you get a club, obviously in Europe for the first time, then you’re leaving it and everybody says, thank you. It’s a little bit of an odd situation, but I guess it goes to show the impact that all of them have had on the club and, and even on the players. That’s one of the best things that I can say is that over the last couple of years of watching Bournemouth gets the best out of the players that he’s got. I think at the moment at Liverpool, and obviously you know I’m just looking from the outside in, you’ve got like probably one of the most expensive squads in the world. Certainly the best players. Tommy and Shaun will go a long way to get the best out of those guys, which is why you’re seeing Bournemouth players going for millions and millions of pounds. I mean, the last two years, the last two or three or four transfer windows, they’ve sold players to Real Madrid. Man City obviously gone to Liverpool. PSG, one of the players went to Arsenal. It’s pretty wild in terms of the impact that they’ve had on the players. So yeah, fingers crossed. I’m hoping that all goes well for them. If there’s anything, yeah, from my own perspective of watching for a long time, I’d be pretty excited if I was a Liverpool fan.”