Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola joins the Friday Football Social team.

Boss Gary O'Neil says Wolves' display in their 1-0 loss to his former club Bournemouth was "the worst performance of the season so far".

Boss Andoni Iraola says Bournemouth will look to appeal against the red card shown to Milos Kerkez in their 1-0 win at Wolves.

And to think Stuart Attwell was hoping for a quiet week clear of controversy. The referee was again the subject of rage, this time not from a Greek shipping magnate but from Wolves’ irate supporters, after he disallowed Hwang Hee-chan’s second-half equaliser at home to Bournemouth for the meekest of tangles in the buildup. Attwell initially awarded Hwang’s header before the VAR, Darren England, advised him to visit the pitch-side monitor to review a brush between Matheus Cunha and Justin Kluivert. Gary O’Neil placed his hands on his head in disbelief – not for the first time this season –and the fans let Attwell know the rest. “It’s not football any more,” bellowed the South Bank. For Bournemouth, a late red card for Milos Kerkez for a crude challenge on Matt Doherty and Hwang’s disallowed strike undoubtedly overshadowed a positive performance and result for Andoni Iraola, who replaced O’Neil last summer. The Wolves captain Maximilian Kilman had a 100th-minute equaliser ruled out for offside. Continue reading...

Antoine Semenyo scores the only goal of the game as 10-man Bournemouth win at Wolves to move into the top half of the table.

Bayern Munich, Barcelona among those monitoring SpaniardEmery now under contract at Villa Park until summer of 2027 Aston Villa have triggered the one-year option in Unai Emery’s contract to extend his stay until at least 2027, amid interest from Bayern Munich. Emery is on course to lead Villa into the Champions League and, after reaching the Europa Conference League semi-finals, he could deliver the club’s first major trophy since 1996. Villa host Olympiakos in the first leg of the Conference League semi-finals next month. After victory over Bournemouth on Sunday, Emery underlined his commitment to the club. “I am focused here, 100%,” he said. Continue reading...

Manager has sparked a resurgence at his boyhood club and has used everything from Subbuteo to Roosevelt in his coaching career Nigel Adkins is talking about being back where it all started at Tranmere Rovers, recounting the days when, as an apprentice goalkeeper at Prenton Park, he would clean boots, sweep dressing-room floors and even climb on to the roof of the Cowshed Stand to retrieve stray balls. A few years earlier, he was looking on from the terrace when Charlie Lindsay, an avid supporter, infamously whacked the Bournemouth goalkeeper Kenny Allen with his walking stick for time-wasting. Adkins carries fond memories of watching his heroes from behind the goal. “At the end of the game I’d run on the pitch – you were allowed to back in those days – and try and get Ronnie Moore’s tie-ups, or Dickie Johnson’s or Stevie Coppell’s, and then scarper up Woodchurch Lane and down Woodchurch Road to try and make sure I got home in one piece,” Adkins says. “Sometimes if there was a bit of a scuffle, my mum would go: ‘You’re not going to football any more.’ But I’d always go down on a Friday night, because it was my team.” Continue reading...

Former Bournemouth technical director joins Michael Edwards‘Good decisions enhance prospects of having a team that wins’ Liverpool have confirmed the appointment of Richard Hughes as their new sporting director. Hughes, who announced his departure as Bournemouth’s technical director earlier this month, will officially take up his new role on 1 June. Michael Edwards, recently installed as Fenway Sports Group’s chief executive of football, has had a long-standing desire to work with Hughes and they have a professional and personal relationship spanning over 20 years having previously worked together during Hughes’ playing career at Portsmouth. Continue reading...