Bournemouth owner Bill Foley says he brutally sacked Gary O’Neil to ‘give the club a new identity’

Bournemouth owner Bill Foley has insisted Gary O’Neil was sacked to give the club ‘a new identity’, as he outlined his plans to take the club into Europe under new coach Andoni Iraola.

Despite guiding the Cherries to 15th last season, O’Neil was relieved of his duties earlier this month and replaced by highly-rated Spanish manager Iraola.

Speaking of the decision on TalkSport, Foley Said: ‘I’m a big fan of Gary O’Neil, he did deliver after starts and stops in January, and then the team started building from there.

‘It wasn’t about Gary, it was about an opportunity to give the club a new identity.’

‘Gary will land on his feet. We weren’t happy to do it, it was just something we felt we had to do for the benefit of the team. The team comes first.

Gary O’Neil was sacked as Bournemouth manager despite keeping the Cherries in the top flight

Owner Bill Foley claims he replaced O’Neil with Andoni Iraola (pictured) in order to give the club ‘a new identity’

‘We just felt to change the style of football we wanted to play, we had to change the management.’

He also claimed that Iraola had been a target for the club before, and that they had to act quickly after the former Rayo Vallecano boss received ‘significant offers’ from elsewhere.

‘His contract ran out and we felt if we were going to do something, this was the time to do it,’ he continued. ‘Give him the chance to add players we need in certain positions based on his decisions.

‘Our plan is to go with this coach, back him, and if it means we end up relegated at the end of next season and we made a mistake.’

Foley has experienced success elsewhere in his sporting ownership portfolio this year after his NHL team the Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup.

It came right on schedule, six years after the American had pledged to win the tournament within six years.

When asked if Bournemouth could make it to European football, Foley added: ‘I am convinced of that, but we have to be patient. 

‘Last season we finished 15th, I thought maybe we could have done a little bit better if we hadn’t lost the four games.

Foley (left) plans to take the Cherries into Europe over the past few years

He felt they could have done better than their 15th place finish last year

‘We have a terrible start to the schedule, people will have to be patient because we have some tough games to start.’

Bournemouth face Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea, Brighton and Arsenal in the Premier League before he end of September 

He went on: ‘If we can move up a few places every year, and then we can be pushing for Europe. We can do it. Its going to take more infrastructure. We have to so something with our stadium, whether its building a new one or improving the current one.’

The owner went on to discuss a new training facility that will be available in 2024, but made it clear there would also be investment in the playing staff as he claimed the club would sign ‘players you don’t associate with little old Bournemouth.’