Having lost 4-0 at home to West Ham United last Sunday, Cherries went to Southampton on Thursday night, coming away 1-0 victors. Cherries’ head coach then held a press conference a few hours later, on Friday morning, to preview the visit of Leeds United. Following a comfortable 4-1 victory over the Whites, O’Neil revealed he had also spent Saturday night in hospital, with his six-year-old daughter Mila Bleu. Asked how he would be celebrating the win over Leeds, which he feels secures Cherries’ place in the Premier League next season on 39 points from 34 matches,
Gary O’Neil said: “I was in A&E last night with my youngest daughter. She had an accident, nothing too serious. So I’ll get home, see how she is. I’ll probably just spend the evening in the lounge. Maybe a beer, maybe a tea and some chocolate. There’s some Easter eggs left. I’m just going to enjoy it with them. I just want to spend some time with the people that have supported me. They’ve seen some dark evenings in the O’Neil house! Let’s enjoy this one with them.”
Asked how he feels himself about the job he has done as boss at Cherries,
Gary O’Neil said: “The main thing is relief first. Even when you’re on 36 points and Leeds are coming and Leicester and Everton play each other tomorrow, you still think because of our goal difference, we don’t want to go to Everton three points in front on the last day. It could still have easily gone the other way. So today is relief that we put in a big performance and we achieve what I think will be Premier League safety. I’m just going to enjoy this evening with the family. There’s been a lot of late ones this week – a few 11 o’clockers in there. I haven’t seen much of them. So looking forward to this evening, celebrating with them and looking forward to getting onto Chelsea.”
