Middlesbrough FC eyeing reunion with 42-year-old to succeed Rob Edwards as manager | OneFootball

Gary O'Neil has reportedly emerged as a prime target for the North East side

Former Middlesbrough FC midfielder Gary O'Neil has reportedly emerged as the club's prime candidate to take over from Rob Edwards, who departed on Saturday afternoon in rather controversial fashion.

In a bizarre managerial saga which saw its fair share of twists and turns, Edwards is expected to be announced as the new boss of Wolverhampton Wanderers in the coming days, with Middlesbrough eventually granting the 42-year-old permission to speak with the ownership group of his former club after initially rejecting a formal approach.

Such developments came after the winless Premier League side dismissed Vitor Pereira from his position at Molineux after a 3-0 defeat to Fulham on November 1st, with James Collins and Richard Walker subsequently seeing the Old Gold and Black's winless run continue at the hands of Chelsea on Saturday evening.

It was a satisfactory end to the most chaotic of weeks at the Riverside Stadium though, with the Teesside outfit returning to the Championship's automatic promotion places through a 2-1 victory over an in-form Birmingham City side, with the local duo of Dael Fry and Hayden Hackney on the scoresheet for the side chosen by Adi Viveash, Harry Watling and Craig Liddle.

As such, the aforementioned Gibson, Neil Bausor and Kieran Scott have the two-week international break to assess all bases when it comes to Edwards' long-term successor in the North East, with O'Neil, once again, at the forefront of a managerial saga involving the former Boro boss.

Despite being dismissed at Molineux with Wanderers in the relegation zone at the time, O'Neil's stock has remained relatively high in the past 11 months, which has seen him linked with a whole host of Premier League or EFL vacancies.

Indeed, after Pereira, who took over in WV1 after his departure, was handed his P45 by Fosun Group last week, O'Neil entered talks with the Wolves hierarchy over a possible reunion, before it emerged that such negotiations had hit a snag, paving the way for the aforementioned Edwards to take the post, as is expected.

The former West Ham United midfielder was then linked with the Southampton vacancy on Friday afternoon, before Football League World exclusively revealed on Sunday morning that another of O'Neil's former clubs as a player, Norwich City, had made contact with him over the possibility of taking over at Carrow Road following Liam Manning's dismissal on Saturday, with the Canaries sat inside the relegation zone having failed to win since August 30th.

However, it is now being claimed by Football Insider on Monday afternoon that Middlesbrough view the former AFC Bournemouth boss as their ideal candidate to take over from Edwards, with the club opening preliminary talks over the possibility of a Riverside reunion.

Indeed, O'Neil was on Middlesbrough's books as a player between 2007 and January 2011, where he would move to Upton Park just months before West Ham found themselves in the Championship alongside his former employers.

It's fair to say that some Middlesbrough supporters would like an experienced figurehead in the dugout who is capable of delivering promotion, with the club nicely positioned in the table in order to achieve such feats at present.

Despite being just 42, O'Neil earned plenty of praise for his ability to initially preserve Bournemouth's top-flight status after Scott Parker's sacking in August 2022, before being able to do the same in his first season with Wolves following Julen Lopetegui's untimely exit.

As such, a step into EFL management for the first time with such a resume would normally be viewed with excitement and intrigue on both sides.

However, there are bound to be some Boro supporters who are likely to not have forgiven the ex-midfielder for some of his actions on Teesside, which included him later admitting to being booked against Bolton Wanderers in a 4-1 defeat so he could watch the US Masters prior to the club's relegation in 2008/09.