The English Premier League is undoubtedly the best league on the planet and has been capable of providing significant positive and negative moments since its inception, but this time it delivered a rather bizarre moment for the Bournemouth fans after the news that their manager, Scott Parker, 41, got sacked following the defeat against mighty Liverpool last Saturday.
This British manager is reportedly the first person to be fired in this season’s Premier League despite helping the club to get a convincing promotion from the Championship.
Why did AFC Bournemouth fire Scott Parker at this stage of the league?
Despite only four games into the new season, the Cherries fired the manager who had led them back to the top division and therefore, Scott Parker is the first Premier League manager to be fired in August since 2004, when Bournemouth terminated him following a 9-0 hammering at Anfield against Liverpool Football Club.
He is the first Premier League manager to be fired in the first month of the season since Sir Bobby Robson was fired by Newcastle and Paul Sturrock was fired by Southampton 18 years ago.
Since then, several managers have gone in August: Tony Pulis left Crystal Palace by mutual consent two days before the start of the 2014-15 season, and Martin O’Neill left Aston Villa in 2010.
However, this is the first occasion in over two decades that a top-level manager has been fired so early in a Premier League season, for example: Kenny Dalglish (Newcastle, 1998), Bruce Rioch (Arsenal, 1996), Billy Bonds (West Ham, 1994), and Peter Reid (Arsenal, 1996) are among the other managers who leave in August, in addition, Dalglish, Rioch, and Reid were fired, while Bonds resigned.
Despite firing Parker after just four games in the new season, Bournemouth owner Maxim Demin expressed some pensive thoughts for the departing manager by saying, “I would like to place on record my gratitude to Scott and his team for their efforts during their time with us. Our promotion back to the Premier League last season under his tenure will always be remembered as one of the most successful seasons in our history.”
Having beaten Aston Villa 2-0 on the first day of their return to the Premier League, Bournemouth went on to lose 4-0 to Manchester City and 3-0 to Arsenal and they did beat Norwich City on penalties in the second round of the Carabao Cup following a 2-2 draw at Carrow Road.
Not long ago, Parker expressed his dissatisfaction with Bournemouth’s summer recruitment activities, claiming that his youthful club is “underequipped” to face the Premier League’s difficulties.
