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

[Greg N'Ash]

He got 3 top 6 finishes spending more money than any previous manager, and more time than any manager since Saunders.  If Lerner handed him 80 odd million and asked him to make us a top 6 team then he was a success. My guess is Randy was expecting a bit more return for his money, i know i would be.

Last year Deloitte quote the following incomes for our competitors:Man U £268m,Arsenal £216m,Chelsea £199m,Liverpool £178m...............ours? Around £80m, so our income annually is £100m less as a minimum, than allof our top four rivals, excluding Man City who have spent over £200m in the transfer market, which puts MON's net spend into perspective.

Yes some money was wasted, yes his use of it was baffling at times, but the end result, the best consecutive three season top flight finish of any post WW2 manager is a matter of record.

we've always been miles behind the income of big clubs though, but we certainly didn't spend like we were miles behind them during MON's reign. the likes of Little, BFR and GT got us higher or won us trophies with far less to spend. That is also a matter of record.

[Chico Hamilton III]

Back on topic, Greg

What's your best MON memory?

[DANNYG]

That is a matter of record but the prices paid for top class players has grown since them times ....signings are on the whole are more expensive then they were in them days apart from Bosko Balaban lol
times change ...fees are dictated by the market really ....I thought Draper for what was it around 3.65 million was a big big signing a few years ago you would pay that for a squad player these days

[Concrete John]

You always need to balance the comparisons with other manager's spend and achievements with scale of fees and funds of those times.  BFR bought both Townsend and Saunders for over £2m at a time when the record transfer in the UK was £3-4m.  Our spending now needs to be viewed alongside the spend of Man City and the CL clubs.  Simply ignoring this and saying 'he spent more than anyone else' is idiotic and does not win any arguments.

 

[Greg N'Ash]

You always need to balance the comparisons with other manager's spend and achievements with scale of fees and funds of those times.  BFR bought both Townsend and Saunders for over £2m at a time when the record transfer in the UK was £3-4m.  Our spending now needs to be viewed alongside the spend of Man City and the CL clubs.  Simply ignoring this and saying 'he spent more than anyone else' is idiotic and does not win any arguments.

 

even taking into account inflation, he's still spent more than any manager. No other manager EVER had that luxury

[garyfouroaks]

we've always been miles behind the income of big clubs though, but we certainly didn't spend like we were miles behind them during MON's reign. the likes of Little, BFR and GT got us higher or won us trophies with far less to spend. That is also a matter of record.

None of those managers achieved, or bettered, three consecutive six finishes.

The income gap in cash terms, and percentage terms is far greater now than in the 90's. You are not comparing like with like. Yes there have been one off finishes higher, but MON deleivered a consistency we have not achieved for over 65 years. The Cups? we were a dodgy reffing decision away from winning the LC Final against the third richest club in the world, and lost an FA Cup semi Final to the Double Winners.

[garyfouroaks]

even taking into account inflation, he's still spent more than any manager. No other manager EVER had that luxury

Equally, no Villa manager has ever had to compete with a greater financial gap to our rivals both in terms of ablity to pay top transfer fees, and wages.

[Greg N'Ash]

Back on topic, Greg

What's your best MON memory?

His resignation :0)

[Greg N'Ash]

even taking into account inflation, he's still spent more than any manager. No other manager EVER had that luxury

Equally, no Villa manager has ever had to compete with a greater financial gap to our rivals both in terms of ablity to pay top transfer fees, and wages.

I'd say both GT and dol had a far greater gap between what we could pay and what our rivals could.

[Concrete John]

even taking into account inflation, he's still spent more than any manager. No other manager EVER had that luxury

Little broke our transfer record twice in one summer and Gregory had a big spending spree with the floatation money.  Direct comparisons aren't easy as the inflation can fluctuate dramatically and although nobody can argue MOn wasn't backed well by Randy, to say you'd expect more than 6th with our present spend compared to our rivals is wrong, IMO.

[Chico Hamilton III]

His resignation :0)

Predictable response

Somebody starts a thread about positive memories of O'Neill and in less than 1 page you've hijacked it. There are plenty of parallel threads running on here where you can indulge your hatred of MON, why try and ruin the 1 thread that simply invites people to post their good memories?

[garyfouroaks]

I'd say both GT and dol had a far greater gap between what we could pay and what our rivals could.

With Dolly, and GT ( this time around) i would agree. And neither produced MON's level of results.

[Greg N'Ash]

His resignation :0)

Predictable response

Somebody starts a thread about positive memories of O'Neill and in less than 1 page you've hijacked it. There are plenty of parallel threads running on here where you can indulge your hatred of MON, why try and ruin the 1 thread that simply invites people to post their good memories?

it was a flippant remark chico, not to be taken terribly seriously. His first two seasons, and some of his early transfer dealings - i'll give him credit for that. Unfortunately its a bit early for me to view his reign as any more than a mistake. But by all means praise away - I'll say no more.

[Bent Neilsens Screamer]

The Arsenal game at home was a cracker, we battered them but somehow found ourselves 2-0 down, enter Zat Knight and his last gasp equalizer.

[kippaxvilla2]

I find it ironic that MO'N is considered to be a satanic figure for resigning leaving the club in quite a healthy state (on the pitch) yet BFR is still utterly revered in most quarters.  The difference being, the latter was sacked by the 'maniacle' Doug, despite only securing 43 points from his last 42 games in charge of the club and leaving it in a worse state with 7 or 8 over 30 has beens in the side.