AFC Bournemouth have announced that Gary O’Neil has left the Cherries and the “appointment of a new head coach will be announced imminently”.
Whilst O’Neil has proven to be a very popular coach amongst the AFC Bournemouth players, O’Neil’s appointment as head coach has always divided opinion amongst the Dean Court faithful.
Initially, following on from the departure of Scott Parker, O’Neil’s ability to galvanize the squad saw an upturn in performances and crucially results.
The Cherries went from losing 9-0 away to Liverpool under Parker, to going six games unbeaten under O’Neil, including a memorable comeback victory away to Nottingham Forest and a comfortable home win over Leicester City, in front of a visiting Bill Foley, who was in the midst of completing the takeover of AFC Bournemouth.
However, things began to turn around 7 weeks into O’Neil’s temporary stint as head coach with four consecutive defeats. Back-to-back victories over Everton saw AFC Bournemouth head into the December break for the FIFA World Cup, the Cherries supporters in the apparent vast majority were expecting a new manager to be announced when the Premier League would resume, but O’Neil was handed the job on a permanent basis.
6 consecutive defeats would great the Cherries for Christmas and New Year, before a second victory in a run of 15 Premier League games was found against Wolverhampton Wanderers in February.
That victory would end up being the first of seven in a 12 fixtures, a purple patch that would secure, against the odds, AFC Bournemouth’s Premier League status for 2023/24.
The campaign was rounded off with another four consecutive defeats.
AFC Bournemouth owner and chairman Bill Foley told afcb.co.uk…
“Gary’s achievement last season is one I will always be grateful for. This has been a difficult decision, but it has been made with great consideration to best position ourselves ahead of the coming season.
“As a club, we have put plans in place for long-term success with improvements being made to infrastructure, most notably the development of a new state-of-the-art training facility and the ongoing discussions around upgrades to our stadium.
“We have also identified a number of significant targets in the transfer market this summer and believe this change in direction will provide us with the best platform from which to build.
“Gary will go on to have a long career as a head coach or manager, but we feel that, at this moment in time, a change is in the best interests of this football club. I would like to place on record my thanks to Gary and wish him all the best for the future.”
O’Neil’s full record (including his temporary spell as head coach) in the Premier League was P34 W10 D6 L19 (1.059 points per game).
With a record of 35 goals scored (1.03 per game) and 55 goals conceded (1.62 per game).
Your say…
Rodmorg said…
Unexpected, but can understand. I’d rather have him gone now than 10 games into the season with 10 losses. Right move. – To join the conversation, click here.
