Gary O’Neil will lead AFC Bournemouth into a crucial second half of the 2022/23 season as his role as caretaker head coach becomes permanent as manager
Just before our players returned to training, after a two-week break during the recent World Cup, AFC Bournemouth announced Gary O’Neil’s appointment as Head Coach on a permanent basis.
After Scott Parker was relieved of his duties back in August, Gary – ably assisted by myself, Tommy Elphick, Shaun Cooper and Gareth Stewart - did a fantastic job coming in as caretaker Head Coach. He demonstrated his ability and calmness in getting our players ready for an important Premier League match against Wolves just a day after his appointment. We got a goalless draw that night which, other than a win, was the best result we could have got after the 9-0 defeat at Liverpool in the previous match.
Gary went six Premier League matches unbeaten at the start on his tenure, an incredible achievement by any manager in this division, let alone one starting out. That run included victories over Nottingham Forest and Leicester City and draws with Newcastle United, Brentford and Fulham. We had a bit of a sticky patch thereafter in terms of results but, encouragingly, we were still performing well. Even in the four matches we lost, we still scored five goals and created many more chances. We got our season back on track with back-to-back wins over Everton in both the Premier League and the Carabao Cup prior to the World Cup break.
Given how well we did in the 12 games when Gary was in charge on an interim basis, he clearly deserved the opportunity to show what he can do on a permanent basis.
Gary initially joined AFC Bournemouth’s coaching team when Jonathan Woodgate was head coach, and the players instantly warmed to him. However, if you’d said to Gary at the start of the season that he would be offered an 18-month contract as head coach of a Premier League club by the November, he’d have been very surprised. Now he’s got that chance, he’ll grab it with both hands. He has very much caught the ‘manager bug’!
Gary has great knowledge of the game, and he’s a very good tactician. The players have said in the press that under his watch they go into every game knowing exactly what they need to do; that is testament to Gary because he leaves no stone unturned in the preparation for a match. His planning, detail and knowledge of the opposition is as good as anyone I have seen in the game. He watches match after match to see the ways in which we can impact our opponents and nullify their threat.
When you’re appointed in a role such as this on a permanent basis, expectations rise and performance and results matter even more. The second half of the football season is always the ‘business end’ of the campaign of course. So, a lot of hard work is going to be put in both on and off the pitch over the coming months to get the right results.
It’s an exciting time for the club with the new investment from a new chairman. Gary was in touch with Bill Foley, the American business man who is now AFC Bournemouth’s new owner, prior to taking the manager role on a permanent basis. So, Gary will already know what is expected of him, as well as what will be made available to him in terms of potential new recruits in the January transfer window. Watch this space!
As we move forward as a club, it’s very much a case of ‘in Gary we trust’.