196 - Gary O'Neil Departs As Andoni Iraola Arrives!

On June 19th at 12:30pm, it came as a surprise to AFC Bournemouth and the wider footballing world that Gary O’Neil had been relieved of his duties as AFC Bournemouth head coach, just over a month after Cherries confirmed their Premier League survival. He was replaced, almost immediately, with Spaniard Andoni Iraola. O’Neil, who fell in to the job, had a remit to keep us in the top flight - he fulfilled that, and he did it with four games to spare. He took a side mentally shattered after a 9-0 at Liverpool, went on a long unbeaten run, and despite a blip in January - he enabled us to get over the line after a superb April which took the Premier League by surprise. But after 37 games in charge, the stats weren't pretty - he lost 20 games, with a 29% win percentage. Do these stats tesselate with Foley’s vision? Cherries fans, despite the elation of survival, have still been unsure what the identity is! In some games we went 3 at the back, some we went 4 at the back, and in other games - we were constantly shifting formation during the game - so does Iraola's arrival perhaps give the recruitment team a little more "meat on the bones" ahead of what could be a busy summer of transfer activity for the Cherries? Thank you to everyone who has contributed to all our platforms. If you’re enjoying this show, you can help support us by buying us a coffee at https://www.afcbpodcast.com/coffee – we really appreciate it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices