Gary O’Neil
GARY O’Neil refused to confirm whether Cherries’ squad would be training on Christmas Day this year, ahead of their trip to Chelsea next week. There will be no Boxing Day fixture for Cherries for the third year in succession, with O’Neil’s charges travelling to Stamford Bridge on December 27. Looking ahead to the festive period,
Gary O’Neil said: “I love Christmas. The family side of it, I obviously have kids so they love it. But I also enjoyed the fixture schedule as a player, I really enjoyed it. It always had a nice atmosphere at the games, a lot of fans are having time off work and having a good time with their families. There’s always a nice atmosphere around the festive fixtures. When I was playing, I used to just train and go home, so it is slightly different now.”
Asked if Cherries will train on Christmas Day,
Gary O’Neil added: “We haven’t decided officially yet. We will see where we are as a group, how much good work we can get done between now and then. My only focus is making sure we’re ready for Chelsea. I’ll review it after we’ve done some more work and see how much the boys need. It’s funny, because when you were a player, you were like ‘I don’t know why he doesn’t just do this’. But then when you’re sat there you’re like ‘yeah, I’m definitely not doing that!’. It’s a big difference. When you’re sat in the head coach’s seat, you just can’t see anything but making sure the group are ready come 5.30pm on the 27th. Yes it’s Christmas, so will try and show some understanding and not be too much of a killjoy. But hard to see past we need to be ready at 5.30pm, massive game, another opportunity to put points on the board.”
