Pulis: More will follow O'Neil out of Bournemouth

Former Bournemouth boss Tony Pulis believes that hiring Gary O'Neil may put the jobs of those above him in jeopardy.

Puslic, an experienced coach who was also in charge of Stoke for several years, believes O'Neil may be too inexperienced to keep the Cherries in the top flight.

O'Neil has come in for criticism in recent weeks, as Bournemouth look in danger of going down.

He told BBC Radio Solent: As soon as I became a Premier League manager, quite a few years ago now, first thing I went to do was go and get Gerry Francis.

Now Gerry had played and captained England, one of the youngest captains of England, played loads of Premier League (First Division) games.

Managed QPR, managed Tottenham great experience in the Premier League. Gerry used to come in two days a week, do a little bit, have a look around. He was the fresh voice for me, if I needed to cover something.

But he had experience.

David Kemp worked at Wimbledon, Crystal Palace, clubs that again have been in the Premiership. Older than me both were older than me, they were wiser and were more experienced than me at that level. I gained so much from their experience, and looking at Nathan (Jones) and Gary (O'Neil), I don't know what their staff is like, or what it is not.

I've finished, I've had my go I've had a fabulous career in that respect, a very, very lucky boy. They (Jones and O'Neil) need people at times when they're in the firing line, they need people to sit them down and talk to them.

Point them in the right direction to get out of that trouble. Gary probably needs the same."

Gary's got to get on with it," he added.

He's a great lad, I gave him his debut when he was only 16.

He knows the game. You look at the games he's managed, he's probably a little bit nave. But, who ever appointed him, they've got to stick with him and try and guide him through.

If Gary goes, the people that appointed him and made those massive decisions, they should be looking over their shoulder, and not thinking 'oh, we're looking at the next one to come in'.

The owner, the chairman he should be looking at them and thinking 'they've selected this'.

It's important they understand that Gary is not only trying to keep things going for himself and the football club, but also for doing it for (themselves), because (they) picked him and backed him."