American dream for Cherries
Potential owner in town for crucial win
‘SO this is what the Premier League is all about?’ Bill Foley must have wondered as the full time whistle blew.
The American billionaire was on his feet applauding as Bournemouth pulled off a second-half comeback against Leicester to make it five games without defeat under caretaker manager Gary O’Neil, since their 9-0 thrashing at Anfield in August.
Foley, 77, had flown in from Las Vegas to the south coast to sign the paperwork for his £150million takeover of Bournemouth, which is expected to be approved in the coming weeks. And the turnaround from O’Neil’s side certainly put a smile on his face.
It may not be the American dream just yet and Vegas is a far cry from Dorset but Foley recognises the investment potential of the Premier League and the Cherries are all but set to be the latest top-flight club with owners from America.
If this was an audition for the full-time job O’Neil passed with flying colours as Bournemouth changed the course of the game in a four minute spell midway through the second half against the Premier League’s worst defence. He has brought bravery and resilience to this side and surely it would be detrimental to Bournemouth’s ambitions of staying up if they look elsewhere.
‘I hope he (Foley) enjoyed it. It made no difference to me or the boys. There’s a bit of noise around the place’ said O’Neil. ‘He popped into the changing room at the end to see the boys and say well done.
‘I’m really proud. Five unbeaten in the Premier League for a newly promoted side — I couldn’t dream it would go that well.’
The previous two league games here had been 0-0 draws but with Leicester in town, this game was always going to have goals. There’d been 36 goals in eight league games involving Brendan Rodgers’ side before this match.
Less than ten minutes had gone when Patson Daka, in the Leicester side instead of Jamie Vardy, picked up from where he left off on Monday night against Nottingham Forest to give the visitors an early lead. Harvey Barnes’ strike hit two Bournemouth defenders and fell to Daka who spun on a sixpence before finishing tidily in the bottom corner for his third goal of the season.
VAR checked for a potential offside but all that did was give the thousand or so away fans tucked at the opposite end of the ground another chance to celebrate. It was Leicester’s ninth first-half goal of the season in as many games. Only Manchester City have more.
Bournemouth huffed and puffed in the first half without causing any real danger to Danny Ward, though they had every right to be aggrieved at the interval after Ryan Fredericks was denied a penalty by Michael Salisbury.
Chris Kavanagh on VAR duty decided it wasn’t worth sending Salisbury to the monitor to check, when replays showed Evans made contact with Fredericks. Instead the right back was booked for diving on his first Cherries start.
Bournemouth came out determined not to make that decision count and their persistence was rewarded halfway through the second half with a Leicester mistake. Dominic Solanke snatched the ball off Wout Faes and his blocked attempt fell into the path of Philip Billing who volleyed home in style.
It was Bournemouth’s first home goal in over two months and just a few minutes later, the turnaround was complete. Billing found Solanke in the box, who headed the ball into the path of the oncoming Ryan Christie to finish past Ward for his first Premier League goal. What a time for it.
As much as this was a game of two halves, the subplot was the tale of two managers and while one may be looking for a job, his counterpart will be worrying about his.
The pressure will only pile back on Rodgers despite Monday’s win and yet another defeat leaves the Foxes in the relegation zone. It’s now 19 goals conceded in five away games this campaign.
‘I’m taking it very seriously (this run of results). We were too safe, too happy to play backwards.’ said Rodgers. ‘I’ve got no doubt (I can turn this around),’ he added.
One of Foley’s big calls will be to decide whether O’Neil gets the job permanently. Surely he has done enough in the six weeks since the sacking of Scott Parker to show that he is the right man.
Bournemouth are now eighth and there’s a sense of optimism around the club after a tough start to the campaign, as shown by the togetherness between the players and the fans at full-time.
What happens in Vegas may also be happening in Bournemouth, in the very near future.