JONATHAN Woodgate admits Gary O'Neil's play-off pedigree was an "important factor" in the decision to bring him to Cherries.

O'Neil was one of two first-team coaches brought in by Woodgate, after the Nunthorpe-born boss was handed the reins at Cherries.

Joe Jordan was the other man to join in February, two days after O'Neil.

Arriving from a position with Liverpool's under-23s, O'Neil has bags of experience as a player in the Championship.

The Beckenham-born coach was promoted four times from the second tier as a player, firstly as league champion with Portsmouth in the 2002-03 season.

After a lengthy stay in the Premier League, O'Neil was promoted again from the Championship almost a decade later, coming up via the play-offs with West Ham United in 2012.

That proved to be the first of three play-off triumphs in the space of four years, also winning at Wembley with both QPR and Norwich City.

The 37-year-old will now be looking to add a first promotion as a coach to his CV, after Cherries confirmed their spot in this season's play-offs next month.

Brentford, Swansea City and Barnsley will also compete for a coveted place in the top-flight, to join already-promoted duo Norwich and Watford.

Asked how much O'Neil's previous play-off glory can help the Cherries squad in the coming weeks, Woodgate told the Daily Echo: "That was one of the reasons why I brought him in to be honest with you, because he’s been there as a player and won four promotions and had play-off wins as well.

"So that was an important factor in me bringing him in, because he’d have that experience in that area.

"Okay, as a coach now, but in that level I think it’s vital to have someone like that in the backroom team, someone who has been there and done it in the play-offs.

"Purchy (Stephen Purches) has done it as well with Bournemouth (in 2003), so there’s two. Joe Jordan’s done it as well when he was at QPR as a coach with Harry Redknapp. So that’s a plus for us."

Discussing the role O'Neil has played since arriving at Cherries, Woodgate added: "I don’t want to really single out any of my coaches. I like to have my coaches as a group and I can rely on every single one of them.

"What I would say is they’re all confident, that’s what I like. They’ll give you their view, especially Gaz, Joe, Purchy, they’ll give you their opinions on what they think. They’re honest with me and that’s all I can ask for.

"Gary’s come in from Liverpool under-23s and brought different ideas to myself and to Purchy and it’s been good working with him, Purchy and Joe."

Quizzed further on O'Neil specifically, Woodgate continued: "He’ll give me his view, he’s honest and that’s all you can ask from a coach, if they’re honest and they give their view and they tell me if I’m doing something that they don’t agree with then that’s fine.

"Then you have the debate and you go with what you think is the right thing to do.

"He’s brought a lot of things to the coaching team. It’s a good balance. I really like the balance we’ve got at the minute."