Bournemouth owner Bill Foley has insisted there was a purpose behind the sacking of Gary O'Neil.

Many fans and neutrals were stunned when the announcement came of the young coach losing his job.

Against all the odds, O'Neil kept the Cherries in the Premier League when he took over from Scott Parker earlier in the season.

Going on talkSPORT, Foley said: “I'm a big fan of Gary O'Neil, he did deliver after starts and stops in January, and then the team started building from there.

“It wasn't about Gary, it was about an opportunity to give the club a new identity.

“Gary will land on his feet. We weren't happy to do it, it was just something we felt we had to do for the benefit of the team. The team comes first.

“We just felt to change the style of football we wanted to play, we had to change the management."

O'Neil has been replaced by Andoni Iraola, who was previously at Rayo Vallecano.