collapse collapse

Please donate to help towards the costs of keeping this site going. Thank You.

Recent Topics

Villa Park Redevelopment by AV82EC
[Today at 11:16:36 AM]


Gordon Cowans by Nunkin1965
[Today at 11:01:49 AM]


All aboard the shuttle bus. by Nev
[Today at 10:25:19 AM]


FFP by thick_mike
[Today at 10:19:47 AM]


Other Games - 2023/24 by Baldy
[Today at 10:14:15 AM]


Aston Villa v Wolverhampton Wanderers Pre Match by Ian.
[Today at 10:01:07 AM]


Please Donate to Keep This Site Going - Link on Left & Top of Page by Bad English
[Today at 06:57:08 AM]


Muppet Donations by Bad English
[Today at 06:56:08 AM]

Recent Posts

Re: Villa Park Redevelopment by AV82EC
[Today at 11:16:36 AM]


Re: Villa Park Redevelopment by kippaxvilla2
[Today at 11:11:04 AM]


Re: Villa Park Redevelopment by Clampy
[Today at 11:07:39 AM]


Re: Villa Park Redevelopment by langleylions
[Today at 11:05:52 AM]


Re: Gordon Cowans by Nunkin1965
[Today at 11:01:49 AM]


Re: Villa Park Redevelopment by Richard E
[Today at 11:00:08 AM]


Re: Villa Park Redevelopment by PeterWithesShin
[Today at 10:58:06 AM]


Re: Villa Park Redevelopment by ChicagoLion
[Today at 10:54:17 AM]

Follow us on...

Author Topic: Return of O'Neill - divided opinion  (Read 162408 times)

Offline Gareth

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 5659
  • Age: 49
  • Location: Redditch
  • GM : 25.02.2025
Re: Return of O'Neil - divided opinion
« Reply #15 on: April 11, 2012, 09:33:46 AM »
I look forward to booing the gutless quitter....he showed how he had absolutely no respect for us with his act of petulence five days before the season, a calculated act that he has no doubt revelled in the after effects of.






Offline eastie

  • Member
  • Posts: 19940
  • Age: 58
Re: Return of O'Neil - divided opinion
« Reply #16 on: April 11, 2012, 09:41:58 AM »
People say mon was vindictive in timing his departure but for all we know he could have just been told he wouldnt get the milner cash to spend and maybe that was the final straw for him- his statement said the ambitions were no longer shared and i feel he may have just had enough and snapped.

I do not believe he planned to quit at the time he did to cause maximum damage.

Offline Gareth

  • Member
  • *
  • Posts: 5659
  • Age: 49
  • Location: Redditch
  • GM : 25.02.2025
Re: Return of O'Neil - divided opinion
« Reply #17 on: April 11, 2012, 09:48:45 AM »
People say mon was vindictive in timing his departure but for all we know he could have just been told he wouldnt get the milner cash to spend and maybe that was the final straw for him- his statement said the ambitions were no longer shared and i feel he may have just had enough and snapped.

I do not believe he planned to quit at the time he did to cause maximum damage.

The alternative is he could have shown a bit of backbone and got on with job

Offline Concrete John

  • Member
  • Posts: 15175
  • Location: Flying blind on a rocket cycle
  • GM : Mar, 2014
Re: Return of O'Neil - divided opinion
« Reply #18 on: April 11, 2012, 09:54:44 AM »
I do not believe he planned to quit at the time he did to cause maximum damage.

Fully agree.

I just can't see him sitting in his office in early June checking the calendar as saying "Yep, that'll be about the right time - 5 days to go and that'll really screw 'em up!"

What I blame for the timing was the inability of the three men involved, MON, Randy and Faulkner, not te realise the situation wasn't going to work earlier and acting in the best interests of the club.  OK, you could argue they tried to make it work, but ultimately it was a mess that cost us.

As to his record while here, the money will always be the sticking point.  Should he have done more with it?  Maybe, but my own criticism, once you can analyse it after the event, is that he could have done the same with less, as evidenced by the amount of players not getting a game and the youth hardly featuring.

A good manager with faults.  I'll be joining the applause for him. 
« Last Edit: April 11, 2012, 09:58:17 AM by John M'Zog »

Offline berneboy

  • Member
  • Posts: 4061
  • Age: 223
  • Location: Wakefield
  • John 3:16
Re: Return of O'Neil - divided opinion
« Reply #19 on: April 11, 2012, 09:55:09 AM »
I just want Villa to beat Sunderland. It's one of our winnable games and Sunderland have gone off the boil.

Offline PeterWithesShin

  • Member
  • Posts: 67463
  • GM : 17.03.2015
Re: Return of O'Neil - divided opinion
« Reply #20 on: April 11, 2012, 09:56:06 AM »
I'll give him pelters for this game. But deep down, I know who will be happier at the end of the season.

Online AV82EC

  • Member
  • Posts: 10237
  • Location: Macclesfield
  • GM : 22.02.2024
Re: Return of O'Neil - divided opinion
« Reply #21 on: April 11, 2012, 09:59:50 AM »
He wasted a massive opportunity.  To add insult to the injury of him walking out 5 days before the start of the season he's somehow managed to walk away with his reputation intact and a wodge of cash as there seem to be precious few in the media willing to expose the profligacy of his time here.
 
As someone else said an above average Manager who did some good stuff whilst he was here particularly on the motivational front.  However the return on the money spent was substandard though and IMO he should have delivered top 4.

I can forget most of that but I'll never forgive him for the way he left. He may have had an issue with the direction of the club but most of us had bought into what he was doing and whilst cracks were starting to show to turn away from the club and all of us who'd shown a lot of faith in him were the actions of a spiteful egotistical little man with no respect for us and our club.

I will be displaying the maximum amount of indifference and ambivalence to him as I can muster.

Offline N'ZMAV

  • Member
  • Posts: 9637
  • Location: Peckham
Re: Return of O'Neil - divided opinion
« Reply #22 on: April 11, 2012, 10:16:27 AM »
It'll probably give him unrivaled satisfaction basking in the abuse. I will just say nothing. He doesn't deserve that effort from me.

Offline luke25

  • Member
  • Posts: 2177
  • Age: 39
  • Location: Wolverhampton
Re: Return of O'Neil - divided opinion
« Reply #23 on: April 11, 2012, 10:17:33 AM »
It'll be pretty much like Milners return, a quarter clapping, a quarter booing and half sitting in silence.

Offline Villanation

  • Member
  • Posts: 1775
Re: Return of O'Neil - divided opinion
« Reply #24 on: April 11, 2012, 10:35:42 AM »
I do not believe he planned to quit at the time he did to cause maximum damage.

Fully agree.

I just can't see him sitting in his office in early June checking the calendar as saying "Yep, that'll be about the right time - 5 days to go and that'll really screw 'em up!"

What I blame for the timing was the inability of the three men involved, MON, Randy and Faulkner, not te realise the situation wasn't going to work earlier and acting in the best interests of the club.  OK, you could argue they tried to make it work, but ultimately it was a mess that cost us.

As to his record while here, the money will always be the sticking point.  Should he have done more with it?  Maybe, but my own criticism, once you can analyse it after the event, is that he could have done the same with less, as evidenced by the amount of players not getting a game and the youth hardly featuring.

A good manager with faults.  I'll be joining the applause for him.

Most of this....I don't believe for one minute MON sat there thinking right I'll wait for the right time whereby I can cause maximum disruption and then I'm of.

For me its obvious Randy Lerner and others moved him into a position where he couldn't stay, call it conspiracy or whatever you like but put the picture together and everything points to a set of manipulative individuals in the background trying to bring about someones downfall, phucking evil if you ask me and generally in life what goes around comes around and I think its fair to say Lerner and Co are getting there just deserts, then you look at the award given to MON in the case afterwards, didn't we end up paying him, we don't know the intricacies of that but its fair to say MON was found in the right.

So as for MON coming back to Villa, I hold no grudge in fact we had 4 great seasons under MON, not the best football, but dam site better than now, that only now we are seeing just how good they was, of course you'll get the  banging the head against the wall mentality that will only want to see one side of the story, in which case MON will always be in the wrong even if Lerner came out and said "actually it was all my fault", but there you go.

Offline Le Lapin

  • Member
  • Posts: 1223
  • Location: Costa del Carlow, a hamlet of romance and culture.
  • GM : 14.10.2022
Re: Return of O'Neil - divided opinion
« Reply #25 on: April 11, 2012, 10:37:34 AM »
People say mon was vindictive in timing his departure but for all we know he could have just been told he wouldnt get the milner cash to spend and maybe that was the final straw for him- his statement said the ambitions were no longer shared and i feel he may have just had enough and snapped.

I do not believe he planned to quit at the time he did to cause maximum damage.

The alternative is he could have shown a bit of backbone and got on with job

Totally agree Garreth, threw his toys out of the pram when he was asked to cut back. Proper managers like Moyes just get on with the job. MON done well for us, he's an okay manager, but not this fantastic manager that people think he is. I don't know why garners such praise ...for what?.... for winning a few Scot leagues, Neill Lennon has won one, it's not very taxing up there if you manage Rangers or Celtic.
It was good while he was here, but remember how we always fell away after Christmas...why he played Heskey contantly....bought players on huge contracts and then didn't play them......
We are still paying the price for the way he walked out...the club still hasn't got over the shock of that ...three managers since and we still don't seem like a settled club. I will never forgive him for the timing of his departure....on the eve of the season. He knew what he was doing.

Offline mal

  • Member
  • Posts: 943
  • Location: Bath
Re: Return of O'Neil - divided opinion
« Reply #26 on: April 11, 2012, 10:38:00 AM »
As good an example of a cheque book manager as you will ever see - and even then we could only just about hit sixth in a very mediocre league

Please explain reversal of form at Sunderland?
A little reading on this site should tell you that MON+chequebook  = disaster around the corner. If anything he's the very definition of a non-chequebook manager and would surely suit a partnership with the right director of football...

Offline not3bad

  • Member
  • Posts: 12119
  • Location: Back in Brum
  • GM : 15.06.2022
Re: Return of O'Neil - divided opinion
« Reply #27 on: April 11, 2012, 10:42:10 AM »
I won't be really feeling any emotion seeing him.  He's a rival manager now.  He had some good results while he was here and he made some mistakes.

I must admit something that makes me chuckle though - those people who were trying to illustrate MON's weaknesses by singing the praise of Rednapp in comparison.  I chuckle when I watch Spurs dropping like a stone.

Offline Irish villain

  • Member
  • Posts: 8526
  • Age: 37
Re: Return of O'Neil - divided opinion
« Reply #28 on: April 11, 2012, 10:42:36 AM »
I was one of those who was highly critical of O'Neill while he was here, particularly from January 2009 and the Uefa Cup fiasco. I think it all began to unravel from then on. Also, I detested him for walking out on us before the start of the season. Had he gone that May there would have been no complaints. There was a general feeling he had reached the end of the road on the final day of the 2009/10 season.

However, the actions of the board since his departure have changed my mind somewhat. Maybe MON had been backed into an impossible position? We talk about his financial legacy to this club, but who sanctioned those deals? It was the board. Besides, and this is a key point for me, the board allowed Houllier buy Bent and Makoun just a few months later for big money so it wasn't as if MON had been responsible for leaving us bankrupt. There still was enough in the kitty.

My gut tells me MON walked over Stephen Ireland. It was clear that deal did not have his support. He wanted cash for Milner, the board interfered and  we ended up accepting a player MON didn't want in part exchange. I reckon tension had been bubbling away for months and that was simply the final straw.

This is where I stand. Originally leaning towards an anti-O'Neill position, with each fuck up this board have made I have become more sympathetic to MON. He had to work with these people and look how inept they are.

O'Neill isn't just a chequebook manager either. There were some dreadful deals and the wages involved were a considerable drain on the club. But look at the profits we made on Young and Downing. Look at the way he got Gabby and others playing. He got Carew in a swap deal for Baros! It wasn't all bad.

He doesn't deserve a good reception after the way he walked out on us. He doesn't deserve a bad reception either.

Offline villanic

  • Member
  • Posts: 627
  • Location: Soon to be leaving Kingstanding. Thank F**k.
Re: Return of O'Neil - divided opinion
« Reply #29 on: April 11, 2012, 10:46:57 AM »
I don’t think he deserves any respect from us after the total lack of respect that he showed towards the club and the fans by the way he walked out.

He wasted millions on some dross players and then threw his toys out of his pram when he was told that he would not be allowed to waste anymore.

I don’t place all the blame for the state we’re in at MON door but he is definitely partially responsible and to add insult to injury he got a pay out even though he dropped us in the shite.

The bloke is a shit and I hope he gets roundly booed.

 


SimplePortal 2.3.6 © 2008-2014, SimplePortal