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Woodgate’s departure from Bournemouth confirmed

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Jonathan Woodgate’s whirlwind four-and-a-half months as an employee will come to an end at the end of the month the former Real Madrid and England defender has confirmed.

Posting on his personal Instagram account, Woodgate wrote…

My time at @officialafcb will come to an end this week, and I’d like to thank everyone connected with the club for making me so welcome during my short time there.

It was a real experience for me personally and I can’t thank the staff who were absolutely incredible and the people of the town enough for the support they gave me.

I’d also like to thank the players for all their hard work. They were a great group to work with and it was gutting how the season ended for us all. They deserved better than how it ended at Brentford.

Disappointment aside, I’ll look back on my time there as a privilege to work for such a special football club and I wish #AFCB every success for the future 🍒 #UTC

Woodgate was offered a role as first team coach under Jason Tindall back in January, however within 48 hours of his appointment, Jason Tindall had been sacked as manager and Woodgate found himself in caretaker charge with Stephen Purches remaining as assistant boss.

The move was supposed to be a temporary one whilst “…the club’s board of directors identify and conduct full and thorough due diligence on suitable external candidates ahead of an interview process, with the aim of confirming a new permanent manager as swiftly as possible.

18 days later, it was actually Woodgate, who hadn’t been interviewed, who was given the role until the conclusion of the 2020/21 campaign.

Many will claim that the mandate that Woodgate was given was to get AFC Bournemouth into the play-offs, something Woodgate achieved with three games to spare, off the back of seven consecutive victories.

But the three-game slump ahead of the play-offs many will argue put the Cherries on the back foot in the play-offs. Finishing sixth meant the hardest fixture of all in the end-of-season lottery, a two-game tie with Brentford.

With 75 minutes of the tie remaining, the Cherries held a two-goal lead, but would conspire to lose the tie and miss out on a Championship Play-Off Final at Wembley.

Overall Woodgate oversaw 24 fixtures in all competitions, including 2 FA Cup tie’s and 2 Championship play-off fixtures. From those 24 games, the Cherries won 13, drew 2, lost 8.

AFC Bournemouth chief executive Neill Blake told afcb.co.uk

“I cannot thank Jonathan enough for the job he has done over the past four-and-a-half months,”

“He came into the club at a difficult moment, was asked to take charge of the team very soon after arriving and did so with great maturity, providing the stability we needed at such a crucial time.

“Jonathan is a man of real integrity, whose passion for the game shines through, and it has been a pleasure to have had him as an AFC Bournemouth employee, even for a short time. I know we will keep in touch and he is always welcome back to Vitality Stadium.

“I am sure this experience will stand him in good stead for the next step on his managerial journey and Jonathan leaves the club a stronger place for the impact he has had on all the players and staff.”

Your say…

Garbo wrote…

Sounds a genuine guy who probably deserved to be given more time…I wish him well and hope he has a good managerial career somewhere in the future.
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