Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer praise Wolverhampton Wanderers man as ‘stupid’ decision highlighted
Source: Molineux

Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer absolutely loved seeing Wolverhampton Wanderers boss Gary O'Neil take revenge on former club Bournemouth.

Wolves headed down to the South Coast on Saturday afternoon with all of the attention placed on boss Gary O'Neil.

O'Neil kept Bournemouth in the Premier League last season but was unceremoniously axed in favour of Andoni Iraola.

Wolves then pounced to appoint O'Neil as Julen Lopetegui's replacement, so this was his first return to the Vitality Stadium.

O'Neil saw his Wolves side battle back from a goal down to eventually win 2-1 with Sasa Kalajdzic bagging a late winner against the 10-man Cherries.

Speaking on The Rest is Football podcast, Gary Lineker and Alan Shearer have now offered their views on O'Neil's return.

Lineker suggested that O'Neil going back to beat Bournemouth was the 'Premier League moment of the weekend'.

Lineker noted that, whilst O'Neil played down his role as the central character for this game, he will absolutely have loved beating his old club - even if only inwardly rather than outwardly.

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Shearer added that he just knows that O'Neil will have been 'hoping and praying' for three points ahead of facing Bournemouth.

Shearer reiterated that Bournemouth sacking O'Neil was 'stupid' and 'harsh' in the first place whilst loving that Wolves sit well clear in the Premier League table.

"We will finish with, I think, possibly the Premier League moment of the weekend, might be Gary O'Neil winning as manager of Wolves at Bournemouth, who kicked him out at the end of last season after he did such a good job keeping them up in the Premier League last season," said Lineker. "His interview after the game said 'no, no this was never about me, nothing about me'. But it was, wasn't it! Ultimately it's about three points for your team but we know that, inwardly he would have been going 'yeah!'"

"That's exactly what you would been saying," said Shearer. "Leading up to the game this week, he would have been hoping and praying to come away from Bournemouth with three points, three massive points. They're sat in 12th position on 11 points, looking down at Bournemouth - the team that sacked him - and yeah, we all thought it was a stupid, harsh decision," he added.

This was a very, very sweet victory though and O'Neil's situation just goes to show how quickly things can change in football.

Bournemouth seemed settled with O'Neil at the back end of last season but then decided to go for Iraola.

The Spaniard is now struggling badly and the pressure is already mounting whilst O'Neil impresses with Wolves.

When O'Neil was axed by Bournemouth, Wolves were hoping to see Julen Lopetegui stick around; he didn't.

In came O'Neil against the backdrop of a worrying summer transfer window, but here we are - he is doing a fine job and just beat his former club.

Let's hope there is more to come from O'Neil and Wolves, as beating Bournemouth isn't the be-all and end-all despite the strong emotions involved.