Gary O’Neil’s sacking by Bournemouth has been described as ‘brutal’ after he guided them to Premier League safety.
That is according to Martin Keown and Simon Jordan, who believe that the Cherries must have ‘someone special’ lined up to replace the 40-year-old.
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O’Neil took charge of Bournemouth in August with the club one of the favourites to be relegated to the Championship.
But the south coast side defied the odds to finish 15th in the table under O’Neil’s tutelage, with the ex-West Ham midfielder winning ten out of his 34 top-flight matches.
Still, Bournemouth owner Bill Foley decided to wield the axe on O’Neil in a decision that has shocked talkSPORT host Jordan and Arsenal legend Keown.
Giving his immediate reaction on the White and Jordan show, the ex-Crystal Palace owner said: “It doesn’t feel like there is very much reward for Gary giving the job that he has done.”
He added: “This is a very considered statement, it talks about, ‘this has been a difficult decision has been made with great consideration to best position ourselves ahead of the coming season.’
“It goes on to talk about what is best for the club, now I can’t quite work out why Gary O’Neil, who has done a very good job, would be in a situation where he would find himself on the other side of this.
“They go on to say he’s going to be a great manager somewhere else…”
Interjecting, Keown stated: “It seems brutal doesn’t it? When you think of the job he did.”
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He continued: “Maybe there’s a bigger name coming to the club, maybe there’s somebody who is not in work right now that is coming to the club that they’ve identified.
“He’s become available and precipitated this move, because it’s quite a shock. This might be because somebody special has come to the table.
“So let’s watch and see if an announcement is imminent.”
Keown added: “I’m pretty certain he will be devastated today, but he’s given himself a platform where he has demonstrated he can be a very good manager.”
Commenting on the job that O’Neil did at the Vitality Stadium, Jordan remarked: “He’s turned a circumstance into an opportunity.
“People will remember the fact that he kept the team in the Premier League. He did that job, it’s his work.
“We don’t know whether the reality of some highfalutin name, I hope it’s not some crank American appointment that’s based upon the perception of maybe somebody worked very well at RB somewhere [Leipzig or Salzburg] along the line and can subsequently do that at Bournemouth.
“And by that I mean I hope we’re not going to see the second coming of Jesse Marsch.
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“It looks like they have made a directional change based upon a name, you never know with these guys, there’s influence down there.
“People like [former boss] Harry Redknapp in people’s ears, next thing you know, Frank Lampard might pop up and be part of the equation, you never know.”
Jordan added: “I just don’t think there’s any sentiment being deployed here, I think they’re looking at the picture saying, ‘does he have the lure of being a big name manager if we’re going to go for it?’
“Reading in between the lines and thinking about it logically, I don’t think there’s been a huge fallout, I think he’s [Foley] gone, ‘that’s wonderful, you filled a gap, I’ve given you an 18-month contract, you’re now a manager in people’s eyes, here’s some money, and I’m going to look at someone else that I think can bring some money in.’
“And we’ll see, the moment we see who the appointment is, we’ll know precisely what happened.”
Having the final say, Keown commented: “I do feel that Gary O’Neil can bounce back from this, ends up with a very good opportunity and comes back and proves that Bournemouth made a mistake.”
