Sport
Bournemouth have looked at the bigger picture with Iraola appointment
Bournemouth’s decision to sack Gary O’Neil last week came out of the blue. So much so, according to reports, even the man himself wasn’t expecting the news.
There certainly wasn’t any suggestion of it before the news broke, but once it did, nobody had time to digest it before the club announced its contingency plan. As of next month, the man in the dugout at the Vitality Stadium will former Rayo Vallecano boss Andoni Iraola.
So many immediately claimed it was an outrage. The Premier League is no stranger to shock and perceived unfair managerial changes, but this one felt different. O’Neil had stepped into a steady an incredibly tumultuous ship last season; Scott Parker had been sacked for his blunt assessment of Bournemouth’s chances of Premier League survival after a 9-0 defeat to Liverpool in September. It wasn’t the done thing to air dirty laundry in public, but Parker wasn’t alone in his doubts. The Cherries were almost universally written off by fans and pundits alike in pre-season, with little by way of obvious improvement to the squad made in the summer.
When O’Neil took the job on until the end of the season, his lack of experience, coupled with that of his players at the top level, only served to solidify the consensus that Bournemouth would be making a swift return to the Championship. That he proved plenty wrong and managed to steer them to safety with incredible ease by the end is proof that money isn’t everything in football. Suddenly those who weren’t sure about him were championing him for a Manager of the Year nomination. Perhaps the best way to illustrate the left field nature of his departure is by Bournemouth’s own Twitter account making clear they believed he deserved recognition in that list weeks before the club sacked him.
It can’t really be argued that O’Neil’s exit is harsh and undeserved. He did everything he was asked to do and more. But that being the case, it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t the right call, either.
Football isn’t always fair. It is a business after all and, while results are the currency that matters, the big picture does too. It is patently clear now that O’Neil was never the long-term plan for the current American owners at Bournemouth, and acting now may have saved a lot more heartache in the future. The reality is even many of the club’s fans can understand the decision because, despite the strong season on paper, plenty of the cracks were still there. Bournemouth still conceded 71 goals and only scored 37, and watching them it felt like their upturn in fortunes was down to their attitude and desire, certainly a reason to praise O’Neil, rather than a depth of tactical understanding or identity. Were Bournemouth going to struggle again next season? The truth is they probably were.
Of course they may well again under Iraola. But the hierarchy need to be applauded for looking at the bigger picture. Fairness isn’t just if an opportunity arises for wider improvement, and in that sense the club have followed a well trodden path of successful clubs.
Just months after guiding Southampton back to the Premier League in 2012, Nigel Adkins was discarded with the club going strong; the reaction was not dissimilar to what followed for O’Neil. Mauricio Pochettino came in with a clear identity as a disciple of Marcelo Bielsa, playing a high-pressing, energetic and entertaining style of football. Southampton became the envy of the Premier League as they laid foundations for a very successful period, while Pochettino went on to manage Tottenham and starts as Chelsea boss this summer.
It was a similar story at Brighton. In 2019, Chris Hughton had guided them to two successful survival campaigns in the Premier League and gone far in the FA Cup. Nothing about his work suggested he deserved to be moved on, but the club were at a cross-roads. They were surviving on fight and very little else; there was a shelf life to their progress under Hughton and that was just the reality. They took a risk and hired Graham Potter, and after a bedding in period with some relegation flirtation, he managed to set them on an exciting path before moving on to Chelsea last season, again with a really positive style of play. Now Brighton, under Potter’s successor Roberto de Zerbi, will be playing Europa League football for the first time come September.
Both took risks to hire unproven and exciting young managers and it paid off. Bournemouth are looking to go in the same direction with Iraola, another who subscribes to Bielsa’s way of working, who was wanted by Leeds last season precisely because of that reason, given his mentor’s recent work at Elland Road. The ceiling is higher because he has already shown, at Rayo, that he can implement his way of working without a huge budget in a very high quality league, finishing 11th last season in La Liga.
Liverpool won the Premier League and Champions League thanks to Jurgen Klopp, who replaced Brendan Rodgers in October 2015; there was nothing to suggest he deserved his sacking. Sometimes an opportunity for better arises and clubs have to act.
Iraola may work out, he may not. But what Bournemouth have done is looked at the bigger picture. As harsh as it is on O’Neil, it needs to be applauded.
