Gary O’Neil's sacking at Bournemouth stunned most of the football community. Having led the Cherries, who were favourites to be relegated before a ball was kicked, to 15th place in 2022-23, many thought his job was safe for the summer.
Bournemouth’s own Twitter account even posted last month how he should have been one of the nominees for the Manager of the Season award, and based on the job he has done it is difficult to disagree. However, this seemingly harsh sacking is not the first of its kind.
Chris Hughton got Brighton and Hove Albion promoted to the Premier League and then secured a 15th place finish and survival in their first season up. The following season he also kept them up, in 17th. Job done. However, Tony Bloom decided to part ways with the experienced manager as the club moved in a different direction. Bloom was battered by many in the community for this decision, with a consensus of ‘be careful what you wish for’ the underlying feeling behind Hughton’s sacking.
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In his place Graham Potter came in. The style of play improved and after two seasons they broke into the top half. Then, when his stock rose so high Chelsea decided to pay big money for him, Roberto De Zerbi took things onto the next level. Now they are in Europe. None of this would have been possible had Brighton played things safe.
Hughton was eventually sacked after a poor second half of the season saw them finish just two points above the bottom three. Similarly, after securing survival Bournemouth lost their last four games, scoring just one goal. Their underlying statistics are also not that positive. The Cherries had the fewest shots per game this season, even fewer than Southampton, and their xG per game (0.94) was the joint lowest.
They simply haven’t been creating enough high quality chances, while their players have performed above expectation for the majority - with their forwards converting 46.9% of their big chances - the sixth highest total in the Premier League. O’Neil has done a wonderful job keeping Bournemouth up, especially given the circumstances Scott Parker left in, but if this season was repeated next year, they would likely find themselves in the bottom three.
It was also difficult to define his style of play. It may have got them 39 points on the board, but that’s not a wonderful total in truth, despite being enough to keep them in the Premier League. Change is sometimes needed, even if it feels harsh at the time.
Southampton fans were left heartbroken when Nigel Adkins was sacked with the club outside the relegation zone, given he had taken them from League One to the top flight. However, Saints were looking forward and replaced him with Mauricio Pochettino, a man who will return to the Premier League with Chelsea this summer.
It was an excellent, if ballsy, decision from the Southampton board. This could prove to be the same for Bournemouth, who have now appointed Andoni Iraola. He was linked with the Leeds United job while at Rayo Vallecano but had since decided against renewing his contract in Spain. Now, Bournemouth have acted decisively and quickly to appoint the Spaniard, who outperformed all expectations over the last two seasons with 11th and 12th place finishes respectively.
This shows there has been a good level of thought behind this decision. Far better they replace a manager before pre-season begins than a couple of months into the campaign. It may turn out to be a complete disaster for Bournemouth, but it feels like we’ve seen this before. It worked out for Brighton, and for Southampton in the short-term. Will the Cherries also land on their feet, having taken a big risk?
*18+ | Be Gamble Aware
