We've not had a Martin O'Neill argument in ages...

[Dave]

When he calls anybody 'fucking divs' then he'll be told to stop it.

He has a ridiculous argument, but one that is hardly undermined by people throwing around insults that a ten-year old would find immature.

[LeeB]

When he calls anybody 'fucking divs' then he'll be told to stop it.

He has a ridiculous argument, but one that is hardly undermined by people throwing around insults that a ten-year old would find immature.

I apologise for the choice of insult. I offer 'contemptible buffons' in it's place.

I trust this matter is now closed.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

I offer 'contemptible buffons' in it's place.

Good keeper. Did MON attempt to sign him too ?

[ROBBO]

Randy has to be applauded for the money he spent trying to bring success but he has not made one successful appointment in the time he has been with us. His lack of football savvy is and always has been at the root of all our problems. Alarm bells should have been ringing loud and clear when we bought Emile Heskey.

[LeeB]

I offer 'contemptible buffons' in it's place.

Good keeper. Did MON attempt to sign him too ?

Ha!

[peter w]

We have a party line? Ace! Anyone for more beer?

Sorry, I had the line. I'm now in the back room with the crack pipe.

Anyway, haven't read a few pages - looks like I'll have to. Sounds like fun.

[passport1]

The fact we only had £7m to spend this summer despite an income of nigh on £100m is down to the legacy MON left us. He bankrupted Celtic too

I think we have now gone from the sublime to the ridulous

And Leicester if I remember had money troubles when he left

He's like a Harry Redknapp with glasses.

[passport1]

The fact we only had £7m to spend this summer despite an income of nigh on £100m is down to the legacy MON left us. He bankrupted Celtic too

I think we have now gone from the sublime to the ridulous

And Leicester if I remember had money troubles when he left

He's like a Harry Redknapp with glasses.

I'm wondering whether he was behind the global banking crisis aswell

[silhillvilla]

Quite ironic that as the global economy went into meltdown with toxic debt rearing it's head around the same time MON emerged down B6 and constructed his own mini whirlpool of economic woe. We had some great days on him but it came at one hell of a price.

[supertom]

'Thoroughly decent'? And, again, 'held in high regard' - by whom? By Robbie Savage and Steve Claridge?

He is remarkable in one way. There aren't many managers who are so good at one thing and so bad at another. MON is, or at least was, quite amazing at motivating players, creating a club mentality or even a siege mentality, and inspiring loyalty in players and individual performances of a level higher than they often should be. However, he was a good candidate, even while with us, for the title of League's Least Progressive Tactician, along with training methods, player diets, squad use etc. He would have been a brilliant manager in the 1970s, but he was an inadequate one in the 2000s.

In regards to our training and fitness I think O Neills injury records compared to each of our managers since speaks volumes. Also whilst his rotating policies should have been better. We kept a high tempo for 90 minutes far better under O Neill than the last couple of managers.

I think there's some fallacy that O Neill had this lazy bunch of booze guzzling, fag smoking wasters at his disposal who couldn't last the season. I don't care how fit you are if you don't rotate your squad a bit, or make substitutions, even the fittest squad would struggle by March-April as we annually did. But in my view, on the seasons on a whole under O Neill our squad looked in much better nick than it does now. Players didn't drop like flies. And they always gave 110%
Compare Gabby now to back then. Fitness, attitude but mostly work-rate. It's like a different player.

If I had a squad of players I wanted fit for Prem competition and to be looked after. I'd be asking O Neill to do it long before I'd ask Houllier, Lambert, or TSM1.

He really should've learnt from 08/09 in regards squad rotation.

I still think of the two seasons 09/10 was our best opportunity to finish top 4 (clearly it had to be with the money Man. City were spending) and yet in March 2010 we had results like Villa 2 Wolves 2, Villa 1 Sunderland 1 and Chelsea 7 Villa 1 which knackered our GD compared to Spurs anfd Man., City.

We didn't change the team enough. It wasn't impossible to win with below par 11s, christ early on in the season we won at Anfield with Shorey and Beye as our full backs.

That reminds me, Habib fecking Beye. What was the point of signing him when Luke Young was already at the club and in the end he just decided to play Cuellar at RB for the whole season, what a waste of a signing.

He did some good things for the club I'm not going to deny, 6th was about par for what we were spending but we did mess up some great opportunites.

I always look at that game with Man City toward the end of O Neill's final season. It just set the course and path for two sides to go in wildly different directions. We were ahead of them at the time. 1-0 up and fairly good value for it. They won the game 3-1, finished the season ahead of us, got Milner that summer and the rest is (painful) history.
To think within a year we went from competing with the likes of City, Spurs, Liverpool to push the established top 3 of that time, to squeeky bumming it in relegation scraps.

I think often not using very energetic players like Sidwell or Coker enough to freshen things up was to his detriment. They may not have been brilliant but to rest a Barry or Petrov etc, in that middle and try and inject some energy in the spring decline. Some players didn't get enough of a look in either. Routledge, who's proved useful at this level since with a bit of faith in him, and wee Shaun. It's not just that he bought a few duffers. He bought useful squad fillers and didn't use them and they ultimately became duffers.

But as we know, O Neill never learned from mistakes and never had a plan B. And what we've been left with in the last two appointments is two poor mans answer to O Neill.

[Chris Jameson]

Hang on a minute, what happened to the clique? Is it a party line now?

[not3bad]

The fact we only had £7m to spend this summer despite an income of nigh on £100m is down to the legacy MON left us. He bankrupted Celtic too

I think we have now gone from the sublime to the ridulous

And Leicester if I remember had money troubles when he left

He's like a Harry Redknapp with glasses.

I'm wondering whether he was behind the global banking crisis aswell

I wish you'd learn to use the quote thingy correctly.

[Richard E]

Hang on a minute, what happened to the clique? Is it a party line now?

Yes, were you not at the covert planning meeting on Thursday?

[Dave]

When he calls anybody 'fucking divs' then he'll be told to stop it.

He has a ridiculous argument, but one that is hardly undermined by people throwing around insults that a ten-year old would find immature.

I apologise for the choice of insult. I offer 'contemptible buffons' in it's place.

I trust this matter is now closed.

*flicks through handbook*

Fine, much better choice of words.

[Chris Jameson]

Hang on a minute, what happened to the clique? Is it a party line now?

Yes, were you not at the covert planning meeting on Thursday?

What? I was never in the clique in the first place, is that what you're telling me?