The 42-year-old will succeed Liam Rosenior, who has been appointed as the new Chelsea boss this week following the departure of Enzo Maresca.
O’Neill spent 12 months with Bolton before retiring to take up coaching in 2019. He won the club’s Player of the Year award as they dropped out of the Championship into League One and was offered the chance to take temporary charge of first team affairs when the club was still in administration and Phil Parkinson was looking to move on.
Wanderers had also looked to keep him on the books as a player for the 2019/20 season but after the board opted to appoint Keith Hill and David Flitcroft as their new management team in September 2019, the offer was revoked.
Speaking at the time, he said: “It was complicated. There were discussions and I had agreed to stay.
“I kept myself fit and told them I’d be back as soon as it was possible to re-sign. But a few weeks later the management and coaching staff were changed and I didn’t hear anything from then on.
“I was disappointed I didn’t get a call from somebody.
“That would have been nice being a senior pro and helping out as I did off the pitch last year.
“I was on the phone all summer with the PFA trying to sort out the lads who needed money. On holiday I was on the phone all day.
“So, I did all of that and, of course, I understand that they changed their mind and decided to go in another direction – I respect that – but to win the player of the year and not to get a call saying ‘Gary, we’ve decided not to offer you a new deal. We wish you all the best.’ “That would have been nice.”
O’Neill eventually decided to hang up his boots and accepts a role with Liverpool’s Under-20s.
From there he joined Bournemouth and was eventually appointed as manager after Scott Parker’s sacking in August 2022. He remained with the Cherries until a controversial exit in June 2023, when they replaced him with Spaniard Adoni Iraola.
O’Neill wasted no time and moved quickly to Wolves to replace Julen Lopetegui, where he guided the club to a 14th placed finish in the Premier League. A poor start to the following campaign saw him sacked again in December 2024.
Since finishing at Molineux, O’Neill has done some media work, including his first-ever stint on Match of the Day just last weekend.
He turned down the chance to return to Wolves and was strongly linked with jobs at Norwich City and Southampton in the Championship over the last 12 months.
Strasbourg are owned by the same parent company as Chelsea as O’Neill was interviewed by club president Marc Keller and sporting director David Weir about the new position last week.