IT IS hard to envisage a more tumultuous set of circumstances to be thrown into your first game in professional football management.

Going from one day not even second-in-command, but working diligently as part of the coaching staff behind the scenes, to being thrust front and centre to lead the side in a Premier League fixture.

Add to that, the players you’re taking charge of have just suffered a record-equalling defeat, adding to two more heavy losses prior to that, leading to your manager labelling them in public as “unequipped” to compete at this level.

When Gary O’Neil stepped into the hotseat, he also had to do so alongside two more rookies of a first-team coaching world in Shaun Cooper and Tommy Elphick as his assistants, following exits of Scott Parker and his senior coaching staff. Cooper and Elphick, two men clearly with strong connections to the club, but working with the development squad for a game at Brighton’s training ground a couple of weeks earlier.

Away from the pitch, the club were also in the process of completing a takeover and the summer transfer deadline was fast approaching.

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O’Neil had to steady a rocking ship. Whilst he insists his approach was not simply to shore up the defence which had just been humiliated 9-0 against Liverpool, that is how his first game in charge panned out. Cherries dug in and clung on to a 0-0 draw against Wolves, just four days on from the Anfield embarrassment.

Wolves, who came to Vitality Stadium without a Premier League victory to their name in the early part of the season, recorded 17 shots and 66 per cent possession in the goalless stalemate. Holding on for a point, in the circumstances, was a good achievement.

Afterwards, O’Neil admitted he “didn’t enjoy” the 90 minutes on the touchline against Wolves.

He also had a false start in his first press conference as interim boss, having to be asked to move closer to the microphone and answer the first question twice.

When he did get going, O’Neil said: “I set off on my coaching journey when I started doing my badges with the aim of being a football manager. Did I expect my first game to be in the Premier League off the back of a tough defeat? No, I didn’t.”

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Then came a theme that O’Neil has often referred to during his time in charge, going against what Parker had said a few days earlier and constantly insisting this squad were able to compete in the Premier League.

“As a group, they’re the most honest, hard-working, together, relentless group that I’ve ever been involved with, even in my playing career,” he said, after the Wolves game.

“You can throw everything at them and they’ll never quit. I think we have enough to be competitive at this level, yes.”

O’Neil began growing into the role, joking with a journalist he had to refer to him as “interim” rather than “manager”, with his unbeaten start then continuing with a stunning comeback 3-2 win at Nottingham Forest.

Following that victory at the City Ground, O’Neil had a spring in his step, starting his next presser with: “You won’t have to remind me to be close to the mic this time, I’m getting used to this now!”

An impressive draw at Newcastle followed, with Cherries a few weeks later going on to impress in front of the new prospective owner Bill Foley, coming from behind to beat Leicester City.

Things were going swimmingly, unbeaten in six games, before results began to turn sour.

While the performance against Southampton was not of great difference to other fixtures in which Cherries had picked up points, the 1-0 home defeat against a side struggling to pick up wins did not go down well with supporters.

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Three more defeats would follow, with VAR controversies and then two-goal lead capitulations, leaving bigger question marks over O’Neil’s suitability as a long-term successor to Parker.

But fans now go into the World Cup break on a high, following back-to-back big wins over Everton.

The opinion certainly seems split amongst the fanbase. Marcelo Bielsa, an exciting name in terms of his CV and playing style, managing the likes of Argentina, Chile and latterly Leeds United, appears now to be in direct competition with O’Neil for the role.

They are two wildly contrasting options of how the club could move forward under Foley’s ownership.

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Both would be a gamble in their own right, as most managerial appointments usually are.

In a poll run for Cherries fans via Twitter, from more than 400 responses, around 55 per cent wanted O’Neil to stay on as boss.

Among the comments from fans keen to see O’Neil stay were how he has “given me hope we will stay up”, “created harmony and stability”, “got a tune out of a despondent squad that are now firing on all cylinders” and “a change now could damage us”.

On the flip side, some supporters felt “it’s time for a more experienced head to come in”, “we need to move on to a new leader”, “he isn’t quite ready” and “tactically in a few games cost us massively”.

Something labelled at Parker during his time in charge was that he never really ‘got’ Cherries.

During one of his press conferences, ears pricked up when O’Neil mentioned the money-raising efforts at the Winter Gardens, something which obviously occurred a long time before his association with the club.

Asked how much research he did on Cherries prior to joining the club from Liverpool in February 2021, O’Neil told the Daily Echo: “I was aware that Bournemouth had been on an incredible journey.

“But the details of it obviously when you’re not here you don’t really look into or pay too much attention to it, because you’re busy with what else you’re doing.

“But when I arrived, you always speak to people who have been here a long time, fans around the place and other staff and try and get a feel of what the club is about and how the fans feel about it.

“It all adds into and helps decide what your team needs to look like, knowing what the club is built on and what the fans respond to.

“So it’s important that we’re all in it together.”

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With the fans’ response to O’Neil, singing his name during Saturday’s win over Everton, it is clear that connection has been built.

Whatever happens regarding O’Neil and his future, he has done more than just steadied the ship at Cherries. He got the squad all believing they can compete at this level, and can produce some entertaining moments to go with the necessary wily and pragmatic side of the game.

Should Cherries stay up this season, the 13 points O’Neil has accrued, as well as some of the philosophies he has instilled into the squad, will have played a huge part.