A year ago
The idea of being nominated for manager of the year doesn't interest Gary O'Neil.
With four games remaining, Bournemouth has now tied Chelsea on 39 points, all but securing safety.
Although Gary O'Neil downplayed talk of a manager of the year nomination, he did express his pride in Bournemouth after they essentially locked up Premier League football for another year with a month to spare.
After Jefferson Lerma scored a pair of goals in the first half to give the Cherries a 3-0 lead at the Vitality Stadium, Dominic Solanke and Antoine Semenyo added goals to put any relegation worries to rest.
With four games left, O'Neil's team has now tied Chelsea on 39 points, all but guaranteeing their safety. At the beginning of April, when they were in the bottom three, this seemed unlikely.
The new manager of Bournemouth, who took over for Scott Parker after a 9-0 defeat at Anfield in August, has won 10 games, defeated teams like Liverpool and Tottenham, and dealt with numerous injury issues in his first season in charge.
Jamie Carragher and others have called for the 39-year-old to be considered for Premier League manager of the year as a result.
I'm not interested, but people will make decisions, O'Neil insisted.
"People would have been labelling me the worst manager in the league and nowhere near prepared for what was a big assignment if Mo Salah hadn't converted his penalty (in the 1-0 win) and a few other things had gone another way.
"Good margins and pleased with the group's performance. I'm happy I was able to help them, and I'm eagerly anticipating the upcoming four to see how many points we can score.
"I'm just incredibly proud of a team that I've worked with for a while in various capacities.
"It is a tremendous effort to reach to 39 points with four games remaining after having so many questions about them and being written off by so many people.
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