Gary O’Neil is cutting a frustrated figure a Strasbourg manager, saying he is ‘angry’ with his players and telling club owners they ‘messed up’ in the January transfer window.
O’Neil moved to France in January, replacing Liam Rosenior as Strasbourg boss as he left for Chelsea, a job he has already been dismissed from.
It was a good start for the former Bournemouth and Wolves boss in France, but it has tailed off and his team have struggled for results of late.
He has not masked his feelings, telling the board that he needs to sign two strikers in the summer and that they got it wrong in January by not strengthening.
Strasbourg are owned by BlueCo, the same company that owns Chelsea, that is fronted by Todd Boehly.
‘We really need to work hard this summer to be better. We’ve already had meetings about recruitment,’ O’Neil said, via L’Equipe.
‘I need two strikers. The owners want to give me the resources to perform next season. But we also need to improve the club culture, the quality of the players, and the squad depth.
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‘We messed up in January, during the transfer window. We weakened ourselves instead of strengthening the team.’
O’Neil’s frustrations have been simmering and boiled over after the 1-1 draw with Angers on Sunday when he had a pop at his players.
‘We didn’t do enough to win, we didn’t have the quality for it. We got what we deserved. Monaco lost and we had the opportunity to close the gap on them. We blew it,’ he said.
‘It’s kind of a symbol of our season. We can do so much better. I’m angry. I hope the players are too. There are two games left and they have to show me they’re good enough to play with us next year. But with a performance like tonight, we won’t achieve anything playing like that.
‘They disappointed me so much, even more than on Thursday. They have to do better. Football is a shark tank, they need to realize that. I told them we were playing a Cup final and we really didn’t play the way we should have.’
BlueCo have a big decision to make in London in the near future, with a permanent Chelsea boss needing to be appointed.
The bookmakers make Xabi Alonso the favourite to be the next permanent Blues manager, ahead of former Chelsea full-back Filipe Luis and Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola.
Calum McFarlane remains in charge until the end of the season but is finding it tough, with Chelsea slipping to ninth in the Premier League table.
With an FA Cup final against Manchester City to come and just two more league matches, there is the very real possibility that Chelsea could not be playing in Europe next season.