Guardian apologises to ex-manager

[TheTimVilla]

"Constructive dismissal is when an employee is forced to quit their job against their will because of their employer's conduct." - Directgov website.


*cheery whistling emoticon*

Six weeks away and look what brings you back....

He would have been forced to wait an awful lot longer for something good to happen at Villa!

[KevinGage]

You only have to look at the calibre of clubs he is now linked with to see that his stock has plummeted.

From Liverpool (whilst still with us)   to the Porn Barons, then Fulham, Blackburn.  And more recently the likes of Forest and Leicester.

If monetary constrictions, not being able to push for top 4, or perceived boardroom interference were reason enough for him to bail on us, I'm not sure why he wanted the West Ham job.  But Brady and co believed they had him in the bag-  Keane even joined on that basis.  It was only when they handled the situation with their customary tact and decorum -and word got out in the nationals that he was eying up a position not actually vacant- that he distanced himself from it.

Some half decent jobs have come up in the period he's been out of the game and he hasn't even been in the running.  In this day and age it's virtually impossible to keep a secret, so if Newcastle, Fulham or Blackburn had approached him -and he'd said no-  it would be all over the back pages.

[AV82EC]

As with most things in life, an evaluation of the MON eras will never be a black-or-white, good-or-bad appraisal. Bloody hell he had shortcomings - an inability to learn from mistakes about team selection leading to tiredness, a style of football that was probably never going to take us further than where it did, training methods Ron Noades would have found a bit dated, the least imaginative and occasionally downright wasteful transfer policy imaginable - but he certainly helped galvanise the club at the time, and got a lot out of players whose true level we're probably seeing now. For all the shit he's helped land us in, he gave us some great memories at a time in the club's history sorely lacking in them. It probably wasn't worth it, but I can't help but wish it was.

Spot on, and a very balanced view, you want to like him but you just can't bring yourself to.  If there's two things we miss its his personality and Leadership.

[lovejoy]

I'd settle for 6th this season to be fair to him. Throw in a couple of Wembley appearances and I'd be well chuffed. A lot of this revisionist thinking is down to the perception of the manner of his departure. It;s a little fickle ((c) DOL) to forget all the pluses during his reign.

[KevinGage]

"Constructive dismissal is when an employee is forced to quit their job against their will because of their employer's conduct." - Directgov website.


*cheery whistling emoticon*

Six weeks away and look what brings you back....

I spotted Legion's tweet and was hoping to read your mea culpa on having been mistaken about O'Neill's constructive dismissal.

O'Neill LMA statement

The League Managers Association (LMA) is able to confirm that Martin O’Neill OBE and Aston Villa have finalised all issues in relation to his departure from the club in August 2010.

The matter was placed before the FA Premier League Managers’ Arbitration Tribunal, but was resolved during the course of the hearing.

Premier League managers' contracts contain a clause requiring the parties to mediate their differences in the event of a dispute, and, if the dispute cannot be resolved at mediation, that the case moves forward to the Premier League Managers’ Arbitration Tribunal.

The Tribunal is ideally placed to resolve disputes of this nature, combining the skills and experience of prominent individuals from football and the law.

Commenting after the hearing, Martin O’Neill said:

"It has taken a long time to deal with this matter but I am pleased that all issues have now been amicably finalised. I am very proud to have managed Aston Villa and I wish the club all the best for the future. I would also like to thank the LMA and my outstanding legal team, led by Paul Gilroy QC, and Geldards, solicitors, for their support and hard work in bringing my case to this very satisfactory conclusion. I am now looking forward to the future and getting back into football management.”

Care to point out in where constructive dismissal is mentioned here?  As I must have missed it.




Compare and contrast with this

"We can confirm that Alan Curbishley and West Ham have finalised all issues in relation to his departure from the club. The Managers' arbitration tribunal of the FA Premier League previously had unanimously upheld Alan Curbishley's claim of wrongful dismissal against West Ham United Football Club.

"He resigned at the beginning of the 2008-09 season after the club sold Anton Ferdinand and subsequently George McCartney to Sunderland against his wishes.

"The tribunal upheld Alan Curbishley's right to have ultimate sole authority in relation to the sale and purchase of players, found that the conduct of the club amounted to a fundamental breach of contract and that Alan Curbishley was therefore entitled to resign."

Surely if - as you seem desperate to maintain-  O'Neill was badly wronged by the club, lost the authority to dictate transfer decisions or had his position undermined by Faulkner that was in breech of his original terms of employment this would have all come out in the wash?

Or are you arguing that the club paid him off?  If they did, what does that say about the bloke when he accepts a cash windfall rather than clearing his name?

It was said - by RL and the General- that the reason he left was he wasn't willing/ able to get a handle on the wages situation.  It was also around this time that his longterm summer target McGeady joined Spartak Moscow.  Coincidence?  Possibly.  But with three wingers already on the books, a spiralling wage bill and a player who -lets be honest- doesn't come into the top class category, the balance of probability still rests with him sulking off when he didn't get exactly what he wanted for a change.

Any payment from the club might be down to the specific monetary details of his contract with us, either relating to notice (or lack of)  or the ever contentious image rights.   The club might have been (understandably) reluctant to give extra money to a guy who walked out on us, but in the end a compromise was reached. For all we know, the settlement might have been a lot less than what he was initially requesting.

[Villa'Zawg]

I simply read the opening post on this thread.

[Lizz]

Any payment from the club might be down to the specific monetary details of his contract with us, either relating to notice (or lack of)  or the ever contentious image rights.   The club might have been (understandably) reluctant to give extra money to a guy who walked out on us, but in the end a compromise was reached. For all we know, the settlement might have been a lot less than what he was initially requesting.

Agreed that it's a possibility about the settlement. One of my observations on life in general is that certain people, regardless of the facts, have the gift of the gab. I know people whose input into certain things has at best been limited, but to hear them tell it, they ran the whole show.

[taylorsworkrate]

Oh great, another thread to bash Martin O'Neill.

We don't come across as a jilted lover.

NoSireeBob

[dave.woodhall]

"Constructive dismissal is when an employee is forced to quit their job against their will because of their employer's conduct." - Directgov website.


*cheery whistling emoticon*

Six weeks away and look what brings you back....

I spotted Legion's tweet and was hoping to read your mea culpa on having been mistaken about O'Neill's constructive dismissal.

And yet nothing else has happened that you consider worthy of comment. It's also interesting that you seem to be pleased a former employee apparently 'won' a case which cost the club you support a large sum. 

[taylorsworkrate]

Martin, top tip for you.  If you are so sensitive about an incorrect 'net spend' figure in an article from March, then don't force a correction to be published six months later which reminds everyone how much cash was lavished on you for a 6th place finish.

The man lacks class, and isn't a patch on Sir Graham, Sir Brian or Big Ron in terms of character or results.

MON isn't a patch on Ron Atkinson, a racist, in terms of character?

What utter shite.

[dave.woodhall]

Oh great, another thread to bash Martin O'Neill.

We don't come across as a jilted lover.

NoSireeBob

As opposed to bashing the current manager.

[Risso]

Martin, top tip for you.  If you are so sensitive about an incorrect 'net spend' figure in an article from March, then don't force a correction to be published six months later which reminds everyone how much cash was lavished on you for a 6th place finish.

The man lacks class, and isn't a patch on Sir Graham, Sir Brian or Big Ron in terms of character or results.

MON isn't a patch on Ron Atkinson, a racist, in terms of character?

What utter shite.

I'm not going to defend Ron for what he said, because it was offensive, stupid and racist, but I'm not going to write him off as a [complete] racist though.

[KevinGage]

I simply read the opening post on this thread.

It's an odd constructive dismissal claim that doesn't mention constructive dismissal either prior to or at the conclusion of the tribunal, wouldn't you agree?

As for the Guardian's new slant on things - who knows- maybe they just ran with what MON told/ intimated to them.  Or got the wrong end of the stick.  Going from one extreme t' other.  It wouldn't be the first time they got something wrong, as they admit themselves. 

[pauliewalnuts]

It takes a somewhat odd Villa fan to turn up on this thread and gloat over this. Especially when - yet again - he's actually entirely wrong in his odd interpretation of facts.

I'm not even remotely surprised to see which Villa fan it is.

[cdbearsfan]

O'Neill loves cock. If I'm wrong let him sue me.

(My real name is Adam Drew)