AFC Bournemouth: Premier League club sack manager Gary O’Neil

Bournemouth have sacked their manager Gary O’Neil. He was appointed as interim manager following the removal of Scott Parker from his role and was then made the club’s permanent manager in November. He narrowly avoided relegation this season.

The club has said: “We can confirm that we’ve parted company with head coach Gary O’Neil. We’d like to place on record our thanks to Gary and wish him all the best for the future.”

Bournemouth owner Bill Foley said: “Gary’s achievement last season is one I will always be grateful for. This has been a difficult decision. It has been made with great consideration to best position ourselves ahead of the coming season. Gary will go on to have a long career as a head coach, or manager, but we feel that, at this moment in time, a change is in the best interests of this football club.

As a club, we have put plans in place for long-term success with improvements being made to infrastructure, most notably the development of a new state-of-the-art training facility and the ongoing discussions around upgrades to our stadium.

‘We have also identified a number of significant targets in the transfer market this summer and believe this change in direction will provide us with the best platform from which to build

O’Neil won 10 of his 34 Premier League games in charge this season and after a turbulent relegation battle, the Dorset-based team finished in 15th place.

The Cherries have also added to their statement that they will name their replacement ‘imminently’.

Who will replace Gary O’Neil?

Here are the early odds for who could replace the 40-year-old former Cherries boss:

• Sean Dyche 2/1
• Chris Wilder 10/1
• John Terry 12/1
• Michael Carrick 12/1
• Thierry Henry 12/1
• Wayne Rooney 16/1