O'Neill talks about Villa

[dave.woodhall]

So what job did Martin O'Neill leave us for? There's a difference between walking out at the start of the season and taking a job in November - espcially when every supporter at your current club knows it's your destiny. It's a bit like if, say, Alan Shearer was manager of a mid-ranking Premier League club. He does well, he goes to Newcastle in due course. That would be no great surprise whenever it happened.

Jol said at the time that he wanted to see how things panned out with Ajax.

Yes, there's a difference.  But what greater impact could a manager leaving have, regardless of timing, than getting relegated, as Leicester were at the end of 94/95?

Jol said that when asked the question in a press conference as I recall - usual thing of 'what else could he say'? 

But this isn't about Martin Jol in particular, but rather how we went about finding MON's replacement.  It was a time to take swift and decisive action and we waited for K-Mac to decide what he wanted to do and who else applied.  That is why we have who we do.  I simply do not and never will agree with the argument that because of when MON left the best we could have done was Houllier. 

Imagine that happened to one of our (at the time) competitor clubs, such as Spurs or Man City, would they have had any hang ups about poaching another teams manager?
 

I don't know, because the situation has never arisen before. The one thing they did wrong was to give KevMac every opportunity to prove himself up to the job, which may have been the wrong thing to do in hindsight but was done for the right reasons.

Little was always going to come to Villa, so Leicester would have been very daft not to have made plans for that eventuality and to have begun implementing them as soon as BFR was sacked. They were struggling thoughout that season so going down was no great surprise.   

Jol was at Ajax, in the Champions League and a much higher-profile club than Villa. Had he been a success there he could have been in the frame for any job in Europe so it's hardly a shock that he decided to see what panned out there rather than joining us. 

[Greg N'Ash]

thats true chris but then they don't normally then come back and try and sponge some money off you. I mean he had the idea contract anyway if the press are to be believed. 1 year rolling contract means any top job was available to him if they came in for him.

Funny, my understanding of "1 year rolling contract" is: each party has to give each other 1 year's notice if they wish to break the contract. It doesn't mean that either party is able to simply walk away (in theory).
The maximum MON can claim is for 12 months' salary, unless he is claiming for unfair dismissal. My memory is that he walked out on the club so I guess he's trying to make an unfair dismissal stick; not easy unless he has documented evidence that the club were undermining him.

yeah but as we know contracts aren't worth the paper they're written on, the reality was, if liverpool say came in for him they would have only have had to find 12months or so compensation - if he'd been on a 3 year contract then the cost would have been prohibitive.

As for the unfair dismissal, god knows what his angle is. As i said earlier i wouldn't be surprised if he goes after the General's or pelty's comments on here as evidence of being undermined by the board

[Lee]

MON knew exactly what he was doing when he resigned when he did and the confusion it would cause. To think otherwise is just naive.
For all the good he did at our club I'll remember him for what he is, a selfish, egotistical scab.

Amen  to that

[Lee]

Yeah its all O'Neill's fault. Ashley Young and James Milner are sh!te.

.. and your point being?

[Concrete John]

As for the unfair dismissal, god knows what his angle is. As i said earlier i wouldn't be surprised if he goes after the General's or pelty's comments on here as evidence of being undermined by the board

You know, if that is the case then I think he may actually have a valid point.

We've had numerous directives here about what we can and can't write on social network sites as it's something of a hot topic.  I know I wouldn't like my boss, or members of his family, commenting on my performance on Facebook, for example.

[Greg N'Ash]

plenty of chairman or board members criticise the performance of the team if it plays badly John. I don't think the General ever over-stepped the mark in that respect. Pelty may have but then he's just a fan in reality with no influence or say and never pretended to speak for anyone.

[Concrete John]

plenty of chairman or board members criticise the performance of the team if it plays badly John. I don't think the General ever over-stepped the mark in that respect. Pelty may have but then he's just a fan in reality with no influence or say and never pretended to speak for anyone.

I haven't, and am not going to, sifted through all their posts to see if they did overstep the line at any point.  But I bet Martin and his lawyers will!

Anyway I'm not saying he's right, just that it's hard to see what the basis of his argument would be, bearing in mind he walked of his own accord, other than something of this nature.

[not3bad]

I think it would be pretty difficult for MON to make anything stick with the General's comments, as they struck me as being a reaction to the manner of MON's exit rather than a judgement upon the job he did.

[Greg N'Ash]

yep, john i reckon you're right with someone at litigious as MON. Have to admit when this all came out, it did cross my mind that the general's self-imposed silence at the time was not totally unconnected

[Concrete John]

I think it would be pretty difficult for MON to make anything stick with the General's comments, as they struck me as being a reaction to the manner of MON's exit rather than a judgement upon the job he did.

Surely what is said after he goes can't be said to have a bearing on him leaving anyway?

[Bosco81]

I can see the advantages to the club in giving out a one year rolling contract, because if they sack him they only need to pay one year's worth of contract.

But what are the advantages to MON in having such a contract, the only one I can think of is if Liverpool for example wanted him they would have only needed to pay one year's compensation.

[pauliewalnuts]

I can see the advantages to the club in giving out a one year rolling contract, because if they sack him they only need to pay one year's worth of contract.

But what are the advantages to MON in having such a contract, the only one I can think of is if Liverpool for example wanted him they would have only needed to pay one year's compensation.

It wasn't about the club giving out a rolling contract, MON has always worked on that basis, same at Celtic.

The main benefit to him is what you described in the second paragraph.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

i think his actions stabbing Avran grant in the back and then running off when it was made public, shows him leaving when he did was not coincidence or bad timing.

Even I am prepared to admit that that one was a bit far fetched, Greg.

It may be far fetched to say it "was not coincidence or bad timing" but it certainly says a lot about his character. Maybe Grant should have protested to the LMA.

In hindsight, the writing was on the wall in big flashing letters when MON went after the Liverpool job. I guess he never got over the disappointment.

[cdbearsfan]

I think O'Neill always had a rolling contract on the "I'm an informal kind of guy, don't worry about it" mantra.

Of course now he's so relaxed about contracts he wants to sue the club for not buying him Aiden McGeady, Robbie Keane and a mansion made out of chocolate.

[jonzy85]

i think his actions stabbing Avran grant in the back and then running off when it was made public, shows him leaving when he did was not coincidence or bad timing.

Even I am prepared to admit that that one was a bit far fetched, Greg.

It may be far fetched to say it "was not coincidence or bad timing" but it certainly says a lot about his character. Maybe Grant should have protested to the LMA.

In hindsight, the writing was on the wall in big flashing letters when MON went after the Liverpool job. I guess he never got over the disappointment.

Come on...all this stuff about managers not acting honourably if they put themselves in line for a job when a manager is already there is a load of rubbish. That's football. It probably happens a lot more regularly than we hear about. Swings and roundabouts.


All in the game, yo. All in the game.