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

[pauliewalnuts]

I think you are right about the League Cup, Bren. Had all that money resulted in silverware we might be a little less harsh in our condemnation.

Its still bloody difficult to get past the timing of his departure mind.

I think the Wembley appearances were both the height of his success and the biggest indicator he wouldn't be taking us further, in that it was great to get there, but over 180 minutes of football, we must have managed at most 3 shots on goal.

Things may have been different had it not been for Phil Dowd, true, but even so, those two matches really showed up our limitations, I thought.

[Risso]

I've been trying not to join in with the "I told you so" fest, as tempting as it is, but I did enjoy this particular post from Chris Smith, "Randy seems to have come to a similar conclusion to those in the former camp and that is why MON will be our manager this coming season.".  Four days before O'Neill walked out!

[Chris Smith]

I've been trying not to join in with the "I told you so" fest, as tempting as it is, but I did enjoy this particular post from Chris Smith, "Randy seems to have come to a similar conclusion to those in the former camp and that is why MON will be our manager this coming season.".  Four days before O'Neill walked out!

You must have even more time on your hands than I have. My point being that, contrary to expectations among some of you, he wasn't about to get sacked. None of us could have predicted what looked like an emotional reaction to events.

[pauliewalnuts]

I don't think anyone thought he was going to get sacked. There might have been those who thought he should have, but he'd hardly done anything to warrant getting the bullet.

But there will have been absolutely nobody who expected him to walk out with the timing he did. I disagree with it likely being emotional. MON strikes me as someone who is very careful with how he plots out his career. If I had to put my money anywhere, it would have been on "calculated".

[N'ZMAV]

He didn't do enough to get sacked, sacking someone after a 6th place finish would have been harsh. But at that point he was no longer over acheiving, unlike like the previous season perhaps. He had his chance to push on, I think he failed with that.

[WarszaVillan]

I've been trying not to join in with the "I told you so" fest, as tempting as it is, but I did enjoy this particular post from Chris Smith, "Randy seems to have come to a similar conclusion to those in the former camp and that is why MON will be our manager this coming season.".  Four days before O'Neill walked out!

You must have even more time on your hands than I have. My point being that, contrary to expectations among some of you, he wasn't about to get sacked. None of us could have predicted what looked like an emotional reaction to events.

Jesus I think some of us are going to get shi

I've been trying not to join in with the "I told you so" fest, as tempting as it is, but I did enjoy this particular post from Chris Smith, "Randy seems to have come to a similar conclusion to those in the former camp and that is why MON will be our manager this coming season.".  Four days before O'Neill walked out!

Jesus it feels as though some of us are going to get shifted off to the gulag and have show trials where we admit to wildy celebrating the 5th goal against the Blues and singing Martin give us a wave.

[pauliewalnuts]

I've been trying not to join in with the "I told you so" fest, as tempting as it is, but I did enjoy this particular post from Chris Smith, "Randy seems to have come to a similar conclusion to those in the former camp and that is why MON will be our manager this coming season.".  Four days before O'Neill walked out!

Jesus it feels as though some of us are going to get shifted off to the gulag and have show trials where we admit to wildy celebrating the 5th goal against the Blues and singing Martin give us a wave.

Yes, that's exactly what it is like, isn't it?

[cheltenhamlion]

It wasn't all bad under him by any stretch of the imagination. His record in derbies was exemplary. Some of the games we featured in were great. Our away record was second to none.

He was just too blinkered, stubborn and set in his ways to change anything to take us any further.

[dave.woodhall]

I don't know about anyone else, but what I dislike most about him isn't what he did (or didn't) do here, how or when or why he walked out or his bad taste in matchday apparel. More than anything I can't stand what's happened since he left, with the media bemoaning us for not showing him enough respect, generally reckoning it serves us right for driving him away and the re-writing of history that makes it appear to the casual observer that we got rid of him after years of under-investment which would have seen us in the Conference were it not for his genius. 

[WarszaVillan]

I've been trying not to join in with the "I told you so" fest, as tempting as it is, but I did enjoy this particular post from Chris Smith, "Randy seems to have come to a similar conclusion to those in the former camp and that is why MON will be our manager this coming season.".  Four days before O'Neill walked out!

Jesus it feels as though some of us are going to get shifted off to the gulag and have show trials where we admit to wildy celebrating the 5th goal against the Blues and singing Martin give us a wave.

Yes, that's exactly what it is like, isn't it?

Doh

[pauliewalnuts]

I've been trying not to join in with the "I told you so" fest, as tempting as it is, but I did enjoy this particular post from Chris Smith, "Randy seems to have come to a similar conclusion to those in the former camp and that is why MON will be our manager this coming season.".  Four days before O'Neill walked out!

Jesus it feels as though some of us are going to get shifted off to the gulag and have show trials where we admit to wildy celebrating the 5th goal against the Blues and singing Martin give us a wave.

Yes, that's exactly what it is like, isn't it?

Doh

If you look through the thread, you'll struggle to find anyone who has a low opinion of MON but doesn't also acknowledge the good things he achieved here.

[Percy McCarthy]

It is funny to see Sunderland fans say "I still have faith in him" - "I still have confidence in him" even after reading about all his faults - fully detailed and essayed for them on their forums by learned viila contributors.

It is also curious that how many villa still hold a candle for the man despite now being in full possession of the facts. 

A true enigma.

It is funny to see Sunderland fans say "I still have faith in him" - "I still have confidence in him" even after reading about all his faults - fully detailed and essayed for them on their forums by learned viila contributors.

It is also curious that how many villa still hold a candle for the man despite now being in full possession of the facts. 

A true enigma.

Thats what happens with fanatics, they can never accept that they got it wrong.

The only facts are the results, everything else is conjecture, speculation and opinion.

So you'd better admit to having got that wrong hawkeye, or it makes you a fanatic.

[rob_bridge]

I wasn't that bothered when he went. I thought a competent replacement would do well. In my mind he was inheriting a good first team and some squad players who would be straining at the leash to prove their worth at last. He would address all the issues that we had been debating seemingly forever - specialised full-backs, rotation, passing football etc, we had the players didn't we?

Instead we got Houllier, who couldn't get the best out of Gabby and Ireland, played Young out of position, already had his mind made up about Carew, and alienated Dunne and Collins. Friedel and Petrov, being the brilliant pros they are, carried on as normal, and he got some decent performances out of Heskey.

A good manager would have massaged the egos of all the wankers and players he didn't rate until such time as they were comfortable in the table or he could actually do something about shipping them out and replacing them.

Then we followed that clown with T-fucking-S-fucking-M. Unbelievable.

Careful Percy people will think me and you are the same person

[TonyD]

It wasn't all bad under him by any stretch of the imagination. His record in derbies was exemplary. Some of the games we featured in were great. Our away record was second to none.

He was just too blinkered, stubborn and set in his ways to change anything to take us any further.

Add to that "tactically limited" and that pretty much sums up it all up.

[PaulWinch again]

I don't know about anyone else, but what I dislike most about him isn't what he did (or didn't) do here, how or when or why he walked out or his bad taste in matchday apparel. More than anything I can't stand what's happened since he left, with the media bemoaning us for not showing him enough respect, generally reckoning it serves us right for driving him away and the re-writing of history that makes it appear to the casual observer that we got rid of him after years of under-investment which would have seen us in the Conference were it not for his genius. 

I think that's my biggest issue as well. Although at the time I did get massively frustrated by his inability to have a bit of imagination in the transfer market, combined with his inflexible tactics.