AFC Bournemouth
Gary O’Neil says he is relishing his spell as interim head coach of AFC Bournemouth and admits he had always planned a career in management following the end of his playing days.
O’Neil presided over a six-match unbeaten run in the Premier League which yielded ten points before tasting defeat for the first time against Southampton on Wednesday.
The 39-year-old enjoyed an illustrious playing career, with 240 of his 542 appearances coming in the Premier League for Portsmouth, Middlesbrough, West Ham and Norwich City.
O’Neil was also capped by England at under-19, under-20 and under-21 level and captained his country at the 2003 FIFA Under-20 World Youth Championship.
Crowned player of the year at Bolton in his final season, O’Neil took up his first coaching role when he was appointed assistant manager by Liverpool under-23s in August 2020.
And after Jonathan Woodgate had taken the reins at Vitality Stadium in February 2021, O’Neil joined the Cherries as first-team coach.
Asked about being in charge of the team, O’Neil said: “I like having to make decisions and I like being responsible for what’s going on.
“You don’t get that same feeling when you’re a coach. It’s very different.
“Being a coach was never what I set out to be, it was just part of the journey. I never planned to be a coach, I always planned to be a manager. The journey took me to being a coach first.
“I’m extremely proud to stand at the front with the boys in every game, even when it was difficult for them against Southampton. I was just really proud to be able to stand there and let them know that we’re in it together.
“We were losing the game and it was difficult but I saw a group of players that were just relentless and keen to just keep going.
“Even if they failed and a final ball let them down, they would arrive again and try again. If they misplaced a pass, they would take the ball and try again.
“When Southampton stung us on a counter-attack, I saw ten outfield players sprinting back as fast as they could and I saw fans that stuck with them.
“I was still very proud we managed to produce that, although disappointed we didn’t take anything from the game.”
Asked for his thoughts on suffering a first defeat, O’Neil said: “It’s the nature of it, you lose a game of football and it’s easy to see it as the end of the world.
“If it was the end of the world every time I played poorly, it would have been more than half of my games so the world would have ended more than 300 times!
“What’s really important to me is the characteristics of how we lose a game and how we perform. Southampton was an acceptable way to go about a performance in the Premier League.”
Asked about facing West Ham, one of his former clubs, O’Neil said: “I’m looking forward to Monday. Going back to an old club was always a bit special when I was playing and I’m sure that will feel the same now I’m managing.
“The disappointment of the Southampton result doesn’t dent or affect what we are as a group. As we always do, we take stock, we re-set and let’s go again at West Ham.
“Most of the time when we go away from home, we’re big underdogs but that hasn’t stopped us in the past few weeks from picking up positive results.”
