Bournemouth chairman Bill Foley hopes first team head coach Gary O'Neil stays in charge for a long time to come.

O'Neil took over early this season from the sacked Scott Parker with the club looking near certain relegation candidates.

However, he has successfully kept them in the Premier League and moved them clear of the drop zone.

Talking to the matchday programme, Foley commented: “He's done a great job.

“We got a lot of criticism when we made the decision but I'd spent time with Richard (Hughes) and Neill (Blake), and we looked at Gary and what he had accomplished after the change and while we started stumbling a bit in November and we were certainly stumbling after the break, we always felt with the new players coming in, once they assimilated, they would take us to a different spot.

“I feel Gary has the talent and the tactical finesse to allow this team to win and he's proving it and he's got the team with him, which is the most important thing as a coach, to have the confidence from the players that they want to support you and want to win for you.

“I hope Gary is around for a long time, he's the right kind of guy, he's the type of coach that I really like, that I get on with."