'Very honest' O'Neil will not 'pull any punches'
· Yahoo Sports
Ipswich Town reporter for the East Anglian Daily Times, Alex Jones, believes Gary O'Neil will not "pull any punches" as he looks for a successful start to his tenure in charge at Portman Road,
The former Wolves and Bournemouth head coach has big shoes to fill after Kieran McKenna announced his departure to spend some time away from football earlier this summer.
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However, Jones thinks that by bringing O'Neil in, there will be some continuity for the team and the relationship with the players already appears to be "really good".
Speaking on BBC Radio Suffolk's latest episode of The Blue Hour, Jones said: "I got to speak to him for the first time after the Osasuna game and he's really good.
"He's a really good talker and communicator. I noticed that especially at Colchester, where the press box is, you are near to the dugout and you can see how he's constantly communicating with the players, especially after a flat first half, the second half was a big improvement.
"From my experience of talking to him, he's very honest, very down to earth. He's not going to pull any punches but he makes sure you're up to date. If you ask him questions, he'll give you the extra context and backstory. It all bodes really well. He's a strong communicator."
On O'Neil's relationship with the players, Jones added: "They really seem to like him. I think the relationship seems to be really good.
"I think there's an element of continuation from McKenna. Obviously there are differences and we'll see those on and off the pitch but I think there's not a huge differentiation from what McKenna was tactically but also as a person - someone to talk to and get advice from.
"They could've maybe gone down the route of getting someone not so involved with a reputation but what they have done is gone and got someone who you can tell is really involved on the training pitch and with tactical ideas. I think players benefit from that."
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