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Author Topic: Was the General right to comment on O'Neill  (Read 42586 times)

Offline sfx412

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Was the General right to comment on O'Neill
« on: August 16, 2010, 01:11:19 PM »
I'm a believer in RL if not in O'Neill, but I do not feel his style of management wins many media types over to the Villa cause. He's not the most outgoing of characters, and does not promote in Faulkner a prolific media talker. When you also allow that Mon during his reign contained every word uttered within his sphere of influence, on the pain of instant dismissal, its hardly likely that the only one the media appreciate is O'Neill.
When he ran away, the following days media was full of I love Mon, and its all Randy Lerner's fault. General K addressed this somewhat with his comments concerning 4 peoples ego's and how the club should be bigger than all.
That comment in his thread has been marked out on here as  'Randy's dirty work', and some media people, especially via Sky have openly criticised his comments, possibly in the knowledge they are safe from his reply, and I wondered how many here, especially ex Mon fans agree with them.
Personally I applaud the General and wish he did more such.
I'd also prefer a Chair with higher media profile to promote Villa's cause to break away from this theory the West Midlands is the black hole of Football. We need to promote ourselves and its something the club has never been any use at, even in the heady days of the European Cup and I feel it would be nice to change that.

Offline Namaste

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Re: Was the General right to comment on O'Neill
« Reply #1 on: August 16, 2010, 01:23:26 PM »
Yes. If the General had not of commented then many would believe the spin put accross in the media.
It seemed the media and the footballing world bought into this self-importance of O'Neill, yet he never really warranted the accolades at all. MON was a failure in my opinion and stuck in the past due to his inability to see the wood for the trees!

Anyhow we need to move on know and forget about the self-important fool...

Offline olaftab

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Re: Was the General right to comment on O'Neill
« Reply #2 on: August 16, 2010, 01:26:11 PM »
Yes

Offline SO Villa

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Re: Was the General right to comment on O'Neill
« Reply #3 on: August 16, 2010, 01:27:42 PM »
Absolutely. The manager had dumped us in the shit and he was putting across the opinion of the club.

Offline Concrete John

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Re: Was the General right to comment on O'Neill
« Reply #4 on: August 16, 2010, 01:29:21 PM »
I do think it was a mistake on the General's part.

The media were largely backing O'Neill, but in the football world it's probably a good thing to ingore what they are saying as it's mainly driven by their own agendas.  The best way to deal with their words is by our actions.  Also, Martin himself has said nothing, so it looks like a one way muck racking battle for the Genral to say something like he did.  Much better to remain quiet/dignified, as our ex-manager has done, and move on.

We won't win a war of words with the media, so lets concentrate on proving them wrong by our managerial appointment and transfer dealings.

Offline pablopicasso_10

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Re: Was the General right to comment on O'Neill
« Reply #5 on: August 16, 2010, 01:36:24 PM »
he needed to redress the balance from the media morons and their agenda filled nonsense...

Offline TheTimVilla

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Re: Was the General right to comment on O'Neill
« Reply #6 on: August 16, 2010, 01:36:31 PM »
I think the deeper lying question is whether the General should even post on here in the first place. I am happy that he does. Once that's been accepted then he must give the Club's point of view, otherwise what's the point of having him here?

Offline Pete3206

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Re: Was the General right to comment on O'Neill
« Reply #7 on: August 16, 2010, 01:48:42 PM »
I don't give a monkey's about the media. Villa could do the treble and the red tops/Sky would still go on about Spurs.

As for a dignified exit from MON, do me a favour. He skulks off like a spoilt child and lets his PR machine do the talking for him. He'll have plenty to say in time, believe me. Probably with Oliver Holt as his ghost writer.

As for The General, yes I believe he has every right to put across his point of view. If the hacks want to trawl this site with their mucky fingers, so be it.


Offline Lee

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Re: Was the General right to comment on O'Neill
« Reply #8 on: August 16, 2010, 01:51:57 PM »
he needed to redress the balance from the media morons and their agenda filled nonsense...

This....

Online Rudy Can't Fail

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Re: Was the General right to comment on O'Neill
« Reply #9 on: August 16, 2010, 01:54:37 PM »
When you only get one side of the story, as was the case when MON left, it's only right that the other side have the right to defend themselves. The level of talking down of Aston Villa, Randy Lerner and the investment made to date was ridiculous, not to mention "sell to buy" assault had to be addressed. I think the General made some very clear points regarding what our economic policy is, why it is necessary to offload players on high wages that are never to be included in the team and most importantly how that money should be going to the players that actually deserve it.

As for the quote about MON thinking he's bigger than the Club, fair play to him, if that's how he sees it, why not call it. O'Neill has done us no favours in the way he left, not just abandoning the team 5 days before the season starts but taking with him his coaches, fitness coach, goalkeeping coach and Head Scout. It wasn't an attack on Randy Lerner, it was an attempt to destroy Aston Villa and dare I say, enhance his reputation when everything fell apart.

Finally, any potential manager reading the press over the last week would have probably thought Aston Villa were in a mess and as a few pundits pointed out, a terrible place to manage. Maybe we could have sat back and let the football do the talking but sometimes it's necessary to stand up and defend yourself when somebody tries to give you a kicking.

Offline placeforparks

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Re: Was the General right to comment on O'Neill
« Reply #10 on: August 16, 2010, 01:58:55 PM »
I'd also prefer a Chair with higher media profile to promote Villa's cause to break away from this theory the West Midlands is the black hole of Football. We need to promote ourselves and its something the club has never been any use at, even in the heady days of the European Cup and I feel it would be nice to change that.

couple of points.

1. in doug ellis and gold/sullivan/brady - the west midlands had the 2 of the most vocal owners in football of the last decade. only ken bates could rival them.

2. the negative image of the west midlands transcends football and why would a man from new york care as to how the west midlands is portrayed in the media? it is not his fight.




Offline Concrete John

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Re: Was the General right to comment on O'Neill
« Reply #11 on: August 16, 2010, 01:59:24 PM »
I have no issue with him defending the club from the unfair criticism ill informed journalists were throwing our way, but having said that:-
1.  We're better showing they are wrong than telling people they are wrong.
2.  With the manager himself staying quiet I thought the 'bigger than the club' bit was unnecessary, whether true or not!

Offline Risso

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Re: Was the General right to comment on O'Neill
« Reply #12 on: August 16, 2010, 02:03:38 PM »
The General was quite right in what he said.

Offline dicedlam

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Re: Was the General right to comment on O'Neill
« Reply #13 on: August 16, 2010, 02:05:49 PM »
When you only get one side of the story, as was the case when MON left, it's only right that the other side have the right to defend themselves. The level of talking down of Aston Villa, Randy Lerner and the investment made to date was ridiculous, not to mention "sell to buy" assault had to be addressed. I think the General made some very clear points regarding what our economic policy is, why it is necessary to offload players on high wages that are never to be included in the team and most importantly how that money should be going to the players that actually deserve it.

As for the quote about MON thinking he's bigger than the Club, fair play to him, if that's how he sees it, why not call it. O'Neill has done us no favours in the way he left, not just abandoning the team 5 days before the season starts but taking with him his coaches, fitness coach, goalkeeping coach and Head Scout. It wasn't an attack on Randy Lerner, it was an attempt to destroy Aston Villa and dare I say, enhance his reputation when everything fell apart.

Finally, any potential manager reading the press over the last week would have probably thought Aston Villa were in a mess and as a few pundits pointed out, a terrible place to manage. Maybe we could have sat back and let the football do the talking but sometimes it's necessary to stand up and defend yourself when somebody tries to give you a kicking.

Top post Mr Kelly.
To be honest, I'm glad that he took all his dross coaching staff with him anyway.
And as for is Head Scout...
« Last Edit: August 16, 2010, 02:07:30 PM by diceman »

Online Brend'Watkins

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Re: Was the General right to comment on O'Neill
« Reply #14 on: August 16, 2010, 02:06:33 PM »
I think we should draw a line under it now.  MON has gone and we have moved on, results on the pitch and improved attendances is all that will be needed without another word having to be said on this issue.

 


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