WOLVES boss Gary O’Neil is backing his successor Andoni Iraola to turn Cherries’ fortunes around, saying he really hopes the Basque boss is a success at Vitality Stadium.

O’Neil returned to the south coast for the first time since his dismissal from the Cherries hotseat in June.

Iraola’s winless start to life in the Premier League continued as O’Neil led his Wolves side to a 2-1 win.

It is now nine games without a win for Cherries, their longest run without victory to start a campaign in their history.

But despite the fact that Cherries are languishing inside the relegation zone, their former head coach believes they will be “absolutely fine” come the end of the season.

Asked if he learned much from the experience of facing a former side as a manager, O’Neil told the Daily Echo:  “Obviously done it a little bit as a player as you'd expect, but I was just keen for there to be no noise.

“I mean, there's just nothing in it for me.

“Managers go back to their old clubs all the time.

“It's going to happen.

“The fact I get to come back here is good because that means I'm working in the Premier League.

“So that's a really good thing.

“I really hope Andoni and the staff, a lot of them that I know, do really, really well.

“I hope the football club manages to progress from what we did last year, because there was a lot of hard work that went into last year and making sure that that they get a Premier League season.

“They had a good window to sign some good players and I'm sure they'll be absolutely fine.

“They've got a good manager. I'm sure they’ll manage to progress.”

Asked if belief in Cherries’ ability to steady the ship came from seeing them up close, O’Neil replied: “I've watched every game and they've played tough teams, so it's been hard for them.

“Like I said earlier, the fixture list, us and them, we've had the hardest fixtures.

“So it's been a tough start.

“(It) was a big game for them.

“Of course, I think they were probably favourites, so it was a big game for them.

“But the Premier League is tough and you're going to go through it.

“We'll go through tough runs.

“We only managed to draw at Luton, we lost at Ipswich and everything was negative around our place.

“So we've managed to address that.

“But you suffer some some bumps and we did last year.

“I mean when I came back from the winter break here last year, unbelievable injury crisis, we had Jack Stacey, who's now moved on to Norwich, was playing then (Siriki) Dembele was coming on.

“Dom (Solanke) was injured, Kieffer Moore was starting every game. So you go through tough runs and I'm sure AFC Bournemouth will come out of theirs.

“And when ours comes, because it will, we'll be ready to fight it.”