Written by NWCherries98
Gary O’Neil is a nice guy, who did his job last season. I like him, I’m very thankful for what he did. I hope he gets another job soon and can have a good career as a manager. He’s conducted himself with dignity throughout, it was up and down but he made me like going to games again. He reminded the footballing world that we have a talented squad that’s here on merit, and he achieved his objectives.
It’s a very harsh decision on paper, but the right one. He would’ve been sacked by November most likely. Our form for most of last season, outside of one off month pockets of form, was dreadful. I’m actually very excited by this bold, cutthroat style of leadership from the very top tbh, as morbid as that might sound.
For too long as a club we’ve accepted “good enough”. We are where we are because of one man, Eddie Howe. The infrastructure around him had been “adequate” at best, with no concrete improvements to any level of the club to show for our last decade of over-performance. The stadium saw next to no touches or improvements, the commercial activity around things like sponsorships has been revealed to be rank amateur recently. Our entire legacy and approach was built around one man; this was an approach that proved to be demonstrably unsustainable.
I believe we’ve had this en-mass attitude of “we’re not REALLY supposed to be here, it’s a fluke, enjoy the ride, we’ll be League 1 again soon” for too long. We’re a top-level Championship to lower-level premier league club now. We have been for a decade. It’s time we start acting like it. That means being harsh.
We enjoyed 9 years with EH, with whom we started the philosophy, “Together, Anything is Possible”. It’s an easy philosophy to stick to when you’re sticking by the special one. A champions league quality manager, the England manager in waiting. It’s not so easy when he’s followed up by the likes of Tindall, Jonathan “Vibes” Woodgate, “It’s every man for himself” Parker, and, unfortunately, meek O’Neil.
O’Neil had a chance to prove he was the man for the future as well as the present. Remember, it was reported to be a Foley decision to keep O’Neil on in the first place. Foley clearly has a vision for the club. A new training complex, a bigger stadium, a team full of winners, players that are as elite as we can possibly attain being drawn to the club. O’Neil isn’t the man for this vision, let’s be honest.
I think he made Foley’s mind up for him when he announced that we were safe with 4 games to spare. We lost all 4. This isn’t the mindset of a winner, he’s not the captain of the new ship Foley’s building. This is the same old, grateful for the opportunity, “the lads did really well to get this far” attitude that’s employed by swathes of our fanbase. We have a PL level squad, that could’ve finished 12th this season. O’Neil settled for mediocrity. Foley, clearly, won’t. And personally, I think that’s quite exciting, to be honest.
Johnny Comelately
I’m pleased he’s gone. He did what was required of him by keeping us up and deserves full credit for that but he made hard work of it at times. The defence was as bad at the end of the season as it was when he took over, especially set pieces, which is something a coach really should be able to sort out. And there were too many players played out of position, Billing at LW, Mepham at RB, which didn’t work. I also thought he sent out the wrong signals in interviews. I wish him well but I always thought the Premier League in not the league to be learning your trade in. It seems that for the first time since EH left that they actually have someone lined up and ready to take over who’s presumably better than GON so at least we know it’s not Scott Parker.
Kudos
I don’t think we should overplay or over-celebrate Foley’s “ruthlessness”. He’s not Ming the merciless or Darth Vader killing everyone who makes a mistake …or Watford.
He stuck with O’Neil for the remainder of the season, it was a brave choice and it was vindicated with our survival. Continuity and culture are as important in football clubs as tactical nous. A new manager bounce doesn’t exist.
I have mixed feelings about the decision. While it’s sad we couldn’t keep GON in some capacity because he felt a good fit culturally it does feel like we need a longer-term plan. The idea with Parker was exactly what I hoped for but the reality after promotion was the opposite.
Cherry_Bozzo
GON did an excellent job in keeping us up given how inexperienced he was in management – but as others have said – I could see him struggling to meet Foley’s ambitions for the club. So more surprised that it has come completely out of the blue rather than that he is being replaced.
At least the timing is good from a club, and even GON, point of view with time for the new coach to assess the players, make changes, and engage in pre-season. Hopefully, GON will also find himself a new position in time for next season – many clubs could do a lot worse than appoint him.
Turkued
I don’t want an aggressive American owner who knows nothing about football making decisions that are football related. It is a plan for a disaster. We are in the PL and the current staff and management have put us here. If he wants to blow it up the first move should have been dumping the management staff. We’ll see who he appoints and who is retained. I don’t like meddling owners. They are the type, once they figure out the limitations of the market…well, MK Dons. In any event, Foley now owns this. I’ll give him all the credit if we wind up in Europe and all the blame if we find us in League Two in three years. And, personally, I don’t care about his Las Vegas hockey team. Other than Bournemouth is not Las Vegas, it is a far nicer place than Las Vegas, and having attended a few Golden Knights games I find their game management repulsive. He owns three American teams: one has been OTT with success, one a complete failure, and one so-so. Time will tell what happens here. O’Neil deserved to start the next year as manager based on merit.
SlowDownDerek
I do feel for GON a bit, but let’s face it, he’s done very well out of AFCB. He was in the right place at the right time and was given a great opportunity that most managers wouldn’t get. He took it with both hands so credit to him. He’s now in a great position, one that he would never have been in without the lucky break. Hopefully, he goes on to achieve great things.
fritter
I have never had as little feeling about a sacking before. It just seems right. GON did the job of keeping us up, but those last 4 games have no sign of a plan, of momentum, or of hope for me. To come in as a PL manager under pressure with no managerial experience is a hell of a thing.
He may well get appointed as a manager with a championship or League 1 team with a track record of keeping us up. If we’d struggled after 10 games he’d have been sacked and that would have been a different story. His stock is relatively high. He will have the chance to show what he can do in different circumstances. I suspect he will do well.
The new bloke might be a disaster, who knows? But I welcome the change.
AFCB_Liam
The PL is brutal and there’s no room for sentimentality. I thought we would go down next season with GON as despite doing a great job to keep us up, we were at times abysmal, lacked a clearly defined style of play, and were a shambles at set pieces all season.
I would have despaired if we’d gone for one of the manager’s merry-go-round favourites, but Iraola has a great reputation as a young exciting coach with an attacking style of football. No guarantees it will work out of course, but it’s a proactive and ambitious move from the club.
Pundits won’t get it because they do zero research on little old clubs like Bournemouth, think we should “know our place” (classic Richard Keys), and therefore believe GON must’ve been an irreplaceable miracle worker.
GON leaves with our heartfelt thanks, but striving for an even better option is what has made Bill successful and hopefully what shakes us out of our inferiority complex as a club. – To join the conversation, click here.
