The Martin O'Neill thread (with added sacking #2188)

[PaulTheVillan]

What's all this "hindsight" rubbish.  It was clear to see at the time he was a very limited manager blowing the once in a generation war chest on mostly dross.     

Well said.  There was no need for hindsight to see that signings like Harewood, Heskey, Reo-Coker, Knight and a few others were not what we'd been led to expect and were not going to transform us into CL standard performers.  Or that MON's transfer policy was incredibly blinkered, and his playing style dreadful to watch with no plan B. All of which was stated by many at the time.

I'll never forgive him for Heskey. Absurd signing.

You know you was buzzing when he scored on his debut

[peter w]

Before the end of his final season I was calling for O'Neill's head. Put to one side the money side of the story for one second, the issue was his managerial ability. The players that he had at his disposal warranted better than another tired limping home in 6th place. For 3 seasons running were collapsed around March onwards. That suggests something was wrong either coaching wise or concerning hisownmanagerial ability.

Anyway,the way he left loses any credits that he had.

[Villadroid]

Before the end of his final season I was calling for O'Neill's head. Put to one side the money side of the story for one second, the issue was his managerial ability. The players that he had at his disposal warranted better than another tired limping home in 6th place. For 3 seasons running were collapsed around March onwards. That suggests something was wrong either coaching wise or concerning hisownmanagerial ability.

Anyway,the way he left loses any credits that he had.

Do you think his squad was too big?

[bertlambshank]

Before the end of his final season I was calling for O'Neill's head. Put to one side the money side of the story for one second, the issue was his managerial ability. The players that he had at his disposal warranted better than another tired limping home in 6th place. For 3 seasons running were collapsed around March onwards. That suggests something was wrong either coaching wise or concerning hisownmanagerial ability.

Anyway,the way he left loses any credits that he had.

Do you think his squad was too big?

His fucking head was!

[pbavfckuwait]

But what would we give for a sixth place finish now, MON had come to the end of his time with us, much bigger reputation than he ever deserved, the way he left was awful and no never forgive him for that, but above him in the club people were responsible for allowing him movement he should never have had, people like the General who were put forward as the clubs representative to us , the cap doffing supporters and now when the first rose buds die , have fucked off to be some smiley face for some yank uni, Pube head got it wrong but what worries me is the people who should have been pulling his strings, but obviously did not are still in total control of our club, but what we can do about it now, is hope when he gets fed up, he sells and fucks off , because the longer it goes on the more convinced I am that Randy is the problem,

[ROBBO]

Harewood signing should and did have severe warnings written all over it. I seem to remember when the rumours started it seemed so ridiculous that it was laughed off as the journos making it up. An owner more experienced in the ways of the premiership would have pulled him up very quickly and saved us all the grief, but hey ho Martin is doing the exact same thing at Sunderland buying overpriced British players on huge wages, they are my favourite for relegation and although i have nothing against Sunderland Supporters i would love it.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

What's all this "hindsight" rubbish.  It was clear to see at the time he was a very limited manager blowing the once in a generation war chest on mostly dross.     

Well said.  There was no need for hindsight to see that signings like Harewood, Heskey, Reo-Coker, Knight and a few others were not what we'd been led to expect and were not going to transform us into CL standard performers.  Or that MON's transfer policy was incredibly blinkered, and his playing style dreadful to watch with no plan B. All of which was stated by many at the time.

I'll never forgive him for Heskey. Absurd signing.

A lot of people have cited the Stoke or Moscow games as the beginning of the end, for me it was the Heskey signing.
We were crying out for a goalscorer and the Bicycle faced bastard signed him on a mega waged contract.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Harewood signing should and did have severe warnings written all over it. I seem to remember when the rumours started it seemed so ridiculous that it was laughed off as the journos making it up.

And how the Harewood dissenters on here got a bit of a cyber kicking.
This after everybody was talking the piss when it was rumoured that The Blues were in for him.

[Monty]

Harewood signing should and did have severe warnings written all over it. I seem to remember when the rumours started it seemed so ridiculous that it was laughed off as the journos making it up.

And how the Harewood dissenters on here got a bit of a cyber kicking.
This after everybody was talking the piss when it was rumoured that The Blues were in for him.

Harewood was a classic example of how MON thought about the squad. Once he had his eleven, he almost never bought players to upgrade the team, let alone anything as nuanced as to challenge for a spot and see who was in the best form or, heaven forbid, to provide a variety of tactical options. No, he bought back-ups - players who would only play through injuries and suspensions, or come off the bench for ten minutes every now and again. All a bit 1970s really.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Not letting Lerner off the hook, but such is O'Neill's arrogance, I can imagine that he'd be speechless with anger by the suggestion that he should rein in the spending.
Remember he was schooled by Clough whose belief was that all club owners are know nothing, ungrateful, schmoozing bastards.

[Risso]

But what would we give for a sixth place finish now, MON had come to the end of his time with us, much bigger reputation than he ever deserved, the way he left was awful and no never forgive him for that, but above him in the club people were responsible for allowing him movement he should never have had, people like the General who were put forward as the clubs representative to us , the cap doffing supporters and now when the first rose buds die , have fucked off to be some smiley face for some yank uni, Pube head got it wrong but what worries me is the people who should have been pulling his strings, but obviously did not are still in total control of our club, but what we can do about it now, is hope when he gets fed up, he sells and fucks off , because the longer it goes on the more convinced I am that Randy is the problem,

When I read one of your posts I subconsciously translate your name into pbavfcfuckwit.  Sorry about that.

[SoccerHQ]

What's all this "hindsight" rubbish.  It was clear to see at the time he was a very limited manager blowing the once in a generation war chest on mostly dross.     

Well said.  There was no need for hindsight to see that signings like Harewood, Heskey, Reo-Coker, Knight and a few others were not what we'd been led to expect and were not going to transform us into CL standard performers.  Or that MON's transfer policy was incredibly blinkered, and his playing style dreadful to watch with no plan B. All of which was stated by many at the time.

I'll never forgive him for Heskey. Absurd signing.

A lot of people have cited the Stoke or Moscow games as the beginning of the end, for me it was the Heskey signing.
We were crying out for a goalscorer and the Bicycle faced bastard signed him on a mega waged contract.

Around that time Bent was missing open goals that Sandra Redknapp would've scored. I wonder if had we'd bid for Bent in that transfer window if Spurs would've accepted given they signed Defoe and Keane again around that time.

Certainly him on board at that time and I believe we would've finished 4th that season and certainly the season after that if we'd just signed him in the summer when he went to Sunderland.

[tomd2103]

After watching him play for Reading against us last week, I was trying to remember how much we paid for Nicky Shorey.  Looked up his Wiki profile and came across, "Shorey was at fault in Villa's back four against Middlesbrough in November, making an error that helped hand Boro a 2–1 victory at Villa Park. He was dropped for a good part of the season, with Luke Young switching to left-back; Carlos Cuéllar, Craig Gardner, Nigel Reo-Coker and James Milner all operated as right-backs to cater for Young's switch to the left".  Ah yes, the old central midfielder at right back tactic he still seems to employ.

[Percy McCarthy]

Fucking hell, are we still on about these cyber-kickings all these years later? People make less fuss about getting an actual kicking.

[Mister E]

Harewood signing should and did have severe warnings written all over it.

Yep, remember it well, and I recall thinking at the time (after it had become reality, not some sick joke): "he must be a make-weight for the NRC signing. We cannot possibly be buying him on his own (limited) merits."
Which maybe showed not only what I thought of Harewood but also the expectations for our Nige.

From day one, he was referred to as Marlene Deadwood; and rightly so.