Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Gary O'Neil dismisses significance of return to Bournemouth

Wolverhampton Wanderers head coach Gary O'Neil has insisted that Saturday's Premier League fixture at Bournemouth is 'zero about him'.

Soon after the start of last season, O'Neil was promoted from the backroom staff to take charge of the Cherries, initially on a caretaker basis.

However, such was the Englishman's impact in the Vitality Stadium dugout that he was handed the reins on a permanent basis, subsequently keeping Bournemouth in the top flight.

Despite delivering what was perceived to be a successful 2022-23, O'Neil was soon removed from his position, with the Bournemouth hierarchy choosing to appoint Andoni Iraola as his replacement.

At a time when the former Rayo Vallecano boss is still awaiting his first league victory as Bournemouth boss, O'Neil has since been chosen as Julen Lopetegui's successor at Molineux.

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While the 40-year-old cannot claim to have enjoyed an overly positive start at Wolves, collecting four points from games with Manchester City and Aston Villa before the international break has moved Wolves away from the relegation zone for the time being.

Ahead of Saturday's encounter on the South Coast, the return of O'Neil is naturally generating attention, but the man himself has admitted that he only wants to focus on earning more points to help Wolves' cause in the Premier League.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, as quoted by The Athletic, O'Neil said: "It's 0% about me and there's zero consideration for what it means to me.

"It's a game we want to take three points from and one we can compete against. There's nothing extra for me, the players are ready as they always have been for a tough Premier League game.

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"My feelings around the situation, one which was about four months ago is that's football. It's what happens. I'm in a great place in a great football club.

"I don't think it's ever my job to decide whether I've earned the right or not. People above make those decisions and it was deemed I hadn't, I'm comfortable with that. The Bournemouth phase is done and we move on."

In his time at Bournemouth, O'Neil accumulated 36 points from his 34 league games, the 15th best return in the division during that particular period.

Even with victory on Saturday, Bournemouth would still sit two points adrift of 14th-placed Wolves in the standings.