Shellshocked Gary O’Neil received a 6am phone call to tell him he’d been sacked.
The former West Ham and Norwich midfielder, 40, had been studying clips of potential players when he received the call to tell him his services were no longer required.
It is understood that despite handing him the manager’s job on a permanent basis, the owners had only done so because their first choice was not available. It is believed that that man is now free to take charge.
O’Neil had had no idea the axe had been coming after leading the club to 15th in the Premier League - winning 10 of his 34 Premier League games last season.
He’d rescued the club after his predecessor, Scott Parker, had complained that the newly-promoted side’s squad was not good enough to compete in the Premier League.
His claim came after Parker’s side had been hammered 9–0 by Liverpool - the joint-biggest defeat in Premier League history. O’Neil energised the same squad, bolstered by a number of January signings, to pull off a string of outstanding wins.
A statement confirmed the decision, with chairman Bill Foley telling supporters: "Gary's achievement last season is one I will always be grateful for. This has been a difficult decision, but it has been made with great consideration to best position ourselves ahead of the coming season.
"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.
"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. I would like to place on record my thanks to Gary and wish him all the best for the future."
After effectively securing their top-flight status at the end of April, the Cherries lost the final four games of the season, scoring just one goal in the process. However, O'Neil was confident that slump wouldn't have continued into next campaign: “The four defeats won’t cost us any points next year," he explained.
“We start on zero, as we would have if we would have won the last four. It will have no impact whatsoever. I think everyone around the country generally had us as 20th and we’re 15th. Yes we’ve lost the last four, but we’ve won enough to finish 15th, so a huge achievement from club and players.”
