Wow, I knew he’d be sacked, but I thought he would survive at least a month in the Premier League. Scott Parker is the first manager to fall as AFC Bournemouth sack the Englishman after only four games into the Premier League season.
Everyone knew that Scott Parker was going to get sacked, the only question was when it would happen. You can’t lose 9-0 to a team, even if its Liverpool, and expect to stay in your job (unless you’re Ralph Hasenhüttl). Though, it wasn’t just the results that doomed Parker. It was his attitude.
Yes, Bournemouth losing 3/4 of their opening Premier League games is bad, but was it really a sackable offense by itself? They are a newly promoted side, and those three loses came against Arsenal (currently 1st), Manchester City (currently 3rd), and Liverpool (currently 11th, but will finish in Top-4). As for the argument that they were outscored 16-0 in those games and their players looked as though they already were consigned to relegation, I can’t argue with that.
Bournemouth were horrible and deserved to be hammered in each of those three games, which is a massive indict on Parker’s management skills.
But, like I said, that’s not why he’s been sacked by the AFC Bournemouth. He’s been sacked as he’s openly questioned the transfer policies of Bournemouth’s hierarchy and ownership by demanding more signings from them in the media.
Essentially, Parker gambled big and lost even bigger. There was only two ways his gamble would play out: he would either get the money and signings from Bournemouth’s ownership necessary to compete in the Premier League, or he’d be sacked as more bad results and dressing room toxicity built up. Obviously, the latter happened.
So, where does Bournemouth go from here? Well, I fear Bournemouth fans aren’t going to like my guess as I don’t see how anything actually changes for the Cherries.
This team is a mid-table Championship side at best, who were lucky to get promoted to the Premier League last season. The signings that Parker was able to bring in have not worked out whatsoever as Bournemouth has utterly collapsed since their opening day win against Aston Villa.
In fact, if it wasn’t for that opening day victory, Bournemouth would be bottom of the Premier League, sitting on 0 points, and have the worst goal difference by a country mile right now. Thankfully for the new Bournemouth manager (whomever that may be), the Cherries are currently only in 17th place, one above the Relegation Zone.
But I don’t see them staying there for long. AFC Bournemouth will get relegated this season, and I’d be shocked if they didn’t wind up rock bottom of the Premier League while going down.
Images Source: Featured Image: (Wikimedia Creative Commons License/Author: AFC Bournemouth) (AFC Bournemouth, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)
