O’Neil’s performance as interim head coach saw him handed the reins on a full-time basis in November. But the 39-year-old had a long wait to record his first win in permanent charge. A run of nine games without a win saw Cherries knocked out of both the FA Cup, Carabao Cup and slip to 19th in the Premier League table. They arrested the slump with a vital 1-0 triumph at Wolves on Saturday, a result which lifted Cherries out of the bottom three. During the poor run of form, some fans have expressed their dissatisfaction with the direction the team was heading in with O’Neil in charge. Asked if he had been given any assurances by those above him that they were happy with the job he was carrying out during the recent struggles,
Gary O’Neil said: “I speak to Richard Hughes (technical director) more regularly, but Neill (Blake, chief executive) as well. I haven’t had any discussions or I haven’t asked for any assurances. I’m doing the job as asked, as I was before the transfer window and as I was before the break. It’s just head down and try and win the next football match.”
When Jonathan Woodgate was drafted in as interim boss at Cherries in 2021, a move which eventually became permanent, he revealed he leaned on the vast experience of Harry Redknapp for advice to help him during the early stages.
Asked if there was anybody he had turned to during Cherries’ tough spell,
Gary O’Neil replied: “There are people that I trust and whose opinion I value. I do think it’s difficult sometimes, you hear opinions sometimes of people that aren’t close enough to it to know what is actually going on. You need to make sure you take the right opinions of people that have a knowledge of what’s going on in the football club. But I’m happy to take advice from people I value.”
Quizzed on if his remit when taking the job on a permanent basis was just based around avoiding relegation this season,
Gary O’Neil explained: “There’s a few things attached to it. I won’t go into too much detail, but there’s a few things that needed progressing at the football club. We’re working hard, everybody, not just me as the head coach, as you saw in January with the type of players we tried to recruit, the age of them, the profile. It wasn’t just a short-term transfer window where we were trying to fix things for the here and now. There was a lot of planning that went in. Obviously new ownership as well with long-term plans. As always with football there are short-term needs and there are long-term plans. You need to blend the two. You need to do well enough in the short-term to make sure you see the long-term. But my work is always around both, making sure the club is in a good place, long term. And in the short term, trying to make sure we win every Saturday.”
