SCOTT Malone has fired a parting shot at new Cherries boss Paul Groves after putting the finishing touches to his move to Millwall.

Malone claims Groves has not spoken to him since the end of the season and has offered no explanation as to why he was allowed to leave. The 21-year-old says the first he knew of Groves’s reasoning behind his swap deal with Josh McQuoid was when he read the Daily Echo website yesterday.In the article, Groves said he felt Cherries had “good competition” for Malone’s position, the manager adding that there had been “no falling out” with the player.

Malone started the first six games of Groves’s caretaker stewardship, scoring in a 2-2 draw at Stevenage and again during the 2-0 home win over Huddersfield.

However, he was an unused substitute for the final two matches of the season against Scunthorpe and Preston.

The Midlander, who netted seven times in 37 appearances for Cherries, penned a three-and-a-half year deal at Dean Court in January after his loan move from Wolves was made permanent.

In an interview with the Daily Echo, Malone said: “There must have been a reason why I didn’t play in the last two games of the season. I was clearly not in his plans but have had the last laugh as I am moving up a league.

“Lee Bradbury brought me in and I owe him some of the credit for giving me the opportunity to get this move. But I probably would have gone even if he had still been here so you can’t say a change in manager swayed my decision.

“I had a meeting with the new manager a couple of days after the last game of the season when I was given my programme for the summer. He told me to come back in July and said I was part of the squad. Since then, he hasn’t spoken to me about the swap deal. A phone call would have been nice.”

Malone, who said he had neither asked for a move nor put in a transfer request, added: “There were a few ups and downs during my time at Bournemouth and it wasn’t all plain sailing. There was a time when I wasn’t playing particularly well and could have gone back to Wolves but I stuck at it and have got my reward.”

Malone, who enjoyed an upturn in fortunes after being converted by Bradbury from left-back to left-wing, has signed a three-year deal with Millwall fewer than five months after penning a long-term deal with Cherries.

He added: “It is a step up and I want to get to the top as soon as possible so it wasn’t something I was going to turn down. I wasn’t going to turn down the contract in January either because I didn’t know what was going to happen in the future.”

Meanwhile, Cherries have announced friendlies against Premier League new boys Reading (August 4) and Championship outfits Cardiff City (August 7) and Bristol City (August 11).