#PLStories- Gary O’Neil on first days as interim boss after sudden sacking of Scott Parker #AFCB

GARY O’Neil has held the ambition of being a football manager for some time – but even the former Bolton and Norwich midfielder did not think his first game in management would come at the top table of English football. No stranger to the Premier League thanks to his 215 games in the top-flight, O’Neil led Cherries to a 0-0 draw in his first 36 hours as interim boss of the south coast club, following the departure of Scott Parker. Still playing Championship football as recently as 2019, O’Neil has been a first team coach at Cherries since February 2021, when he joined as a part of then interim head coach Jonathan Woodgate’s backroom staff. Reflecting on his first days as Cherries boss, O’Neil shared: “I set off on my coaching journey when I started doing my badges with the aim of being a football manager. Did I expect my first game to be in the Premier League, off the back of a tough defeat? “No, I didn’t. “But I think I had 36 hours probably to think about it and I think I used all 36 hours thinking. “So there was a lot that went into trying to get the boys into a place to be able to go out there and give a performance this evening. “The underlying feeling is proud of what they’ve produced and hopefully we can improve certain bits.” Joined in the dugout for the Wolves clash was development squad duo, and former Cherries favourites, Shaun Cooper and Tommy Elphick. The pair stepped into the breach alongside O’Neil, after numerous members of Parker’s coaching team followed him out of the door at the Vitality Stadium. “They’ve given me as much help as they can,” O’Neil shared. “It’s obviously a whirlwind for everybody, such a short period of time to get ready for a game. “But everybody around the club that could help me has helped me. “It’s nice to try and pull together in a tough moment and to manage to hang on at the end when they had some big chances and we had to put bodies on the line. It would’ve been a tough blow for everybody to concede one late on. So just really pleased and the staff have been great. “If I’m analysing the game from watching it on the touchline, it didn’t look exactly how I wanted it to look. “We lost control a little bit in moments and they were the dominant force for spells. But I think we could’ve hurt them more with our moments. “Some of our moments were big moments, so I think we need to improve that. “We need to have more of those moments, we need to be more of a threat, but to put in a performance like they did with the togetherness, the organisation, the determination to keep the ball out of your goal and trouble a very good Wolves side on a few occasions was a good start.”