Jonathan Woodgate is set to join AFC Bournemouth as their new first-team coach.
According to John Percy of The Daily Telegraph, a deal has been finalised and Woodgate is set to be announced in his new role on Monday.
Woodgate has been out of football since being fired as Middlesbrough manager. He replaces Graeme Jones who recently left Bournemouth to join Newcastle United’s coaching staff.
Bournemouth Close to Appointing Jonathan Woodgate as First Team Coach
Woodgate Set to Pair Up with Jason Tindall
Woodgate’s appointment comes at a critical time for Bournemouth. Having only won one of their last seven Championship matches, they currently sit sixth in The Championship, well off the pace for automatic promotion. The pressure is starting to mount on boss Jason Tindall who is expected to secure promotion back to the Premier League at the first time of asking.
Tindall will hope to draw on the defensive expertise of Woodgate, who during his playing career played for some of Europe’s and England’s largest clubs. In a career blighted by injury, Woodgate went on to achieve eight caps for England.
Woodgate Looking to Bounce Back After Middlesbrough Failure
Woodgate was appointed Middlesbrough manager back in June 2019. Managing his hometown club provided him with the dream scenario for his first managerial role. Backed by notoriously patient owner Steve Gibson, it was hoped that Woodgate would be the man to lead Middlesbrough back to the Premier League.
Instead, the dream turned sour, and a little over a year later Woodgate was sacked.
Speaking in an interview with Jamie Carragher in The Greatest Game podcast, Woodgate revealed that the pain of his sacking had still not left him.
“It’s not nice. It’s difficult when you’re managing your hometown club,” he said. “You have a lot of responsibility to take on, and then when you get the sack after a short period of time it’s not a nice feeling.”
Speaking of potential future challenges Woodgate added: “It takes time to recover but you’ve got to evaluate the situations and then move on.”
It appears that after a period of self-evaluation and reflection, Woodgate is ready for a new challenge and has decided that trying to get Bournemouth back into the Premier League is the perfect way to bounce-back from his previous disappointments.
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