O'Neill; the fans & YOUR final verdict.

[Ian.]

He done a fantastic job. He helped turn us a around from a very bad place. I was still glad he was here a few weeks back but now from the atmosphere and all the vibes from the club maybe I was wrong in thinking he was still the man to take us forward.
We will never know now. Maybe he agreed with a lot of our supporters and realised this is as far as he could go, just didnt want to admit it.
Onwards and upwards from now.

[DaveD]

Very good manager for Villa who turned us from unpredictable under-achievers into consistently punching our weight, but had taken us as far as he was able by the end - I won't bother to document why, it's been done to death over the last year.

I think if he'd said thanks and cheerio in May rather than August, then he'd have been one of my all time favourite Villa managers.

[Matt C]

We're a better club for having him but now we're probably better off without him.

[sfx412]

I thought we had to move on as he'd walked away ?
He did a decent job in stabilising a club under the changeover, but never lived up to his billing from most and eventually many, not all, saw that.
Spent more than any other manager and didn't spend it as well as many have or could have done, but still built a squad eventually that had prospects, which he in turn did not turn into the progress his spend required.
On his exit many of his 'advantages' have been shown to be myths, the exit of some players and not others has left the club with some problems, which may restrict or constrain the owners future decisions on manager selection, player funding and who knows what else.
A decent 4 seasons, but his old methods proved more of a limitation than an aid to our eventual success, but overall they were seasons of limited progress and that's good.
How his total control approach, his lack of modern day thinking will eventually affect us short term will depend on RL's next appointment, his departure, the manner of it, especially, tips the balance against him.
Sadly I don't think medium term his influence on the club has yet ended, perhaps in time like other past managers who quit, he may be seen differently, I doubt it.
In summary did well enough but under the circumstances he worked under should have done better, much better if he was as good as many including the media extol, he didn't though.

[hilts_coolerking]

He was an excellent appointment and, together with Randy, really improved the club in many respects.

But he was, and is, a limited manager who doesn't have what it takes to succeed at the very highest level.  His use of the squad, rudimentary tactics, inability to change a game, dictatorial management style, conservatism in the transfer market and ultra-sensitivity to criticism, real or perceived, are all things that are you going to hold you back in the modern game.

[Chris Smith]

The important thing is taht whoever replaces him is working from a very strong foundation. If supported correctly by the board there are no excuses for not pushing on from here.

[Lucky Eddie]

The man is a grade A wanker.

Very, very harsh!


MON had my full support throughout his time here but I'm not at all sorry he's gone.

I expected to be gutted and I guess I too had been making excuses for him for too long.

That said, he brought back the pride in the Villa shirt that had been missing during the dolly days and gave us something to be proud of once more. For that alone, despite his selfish departure, he's no wanker.

[old man villa fan]

Good appointment at the time but didn't live up to expectations the longer he was in the job.  Momentum of progression dropped to almost stagnation, although I would add that it is as much to do with the quality of the clubs at the very top as to his management abilities.

The successes of the players he clearly bought for the 1st team far outweighed his failures but he will be forever judged on the amount he spent on squad players and emergency buys rather than those planned for the future.