Martin O'Neill: Ten years on

[dave.woodhall]

Of all the Villa managers I've spoken to, given the choice I'd most like to listen to Sir Graham, talk football with BFR and go for a pint with McLeish.

[kippaxvilla2]

Billy McNeill
Billy McNeill (such a massive wanker that he takes the top 2 spots)
Mr Fickle
MON
Billy McNeill (he takes 4th as well the massive wanker)
Bruce

Is my top 6. Anyone who was around back then and doesn't have Billy 'I don't want to be here and don't care what happens here, but may as well pick up a paycheck until I go back to Celtic at the end of the season' McNeill in top spot needs to have a serious word with themself.

Bingo.

[The Man With A Stick]

MON was on Prime tonight and I almost felt sorry for him.  He genuinely seems to regret walking out ("about 15,000 times a day" was the quote I think) and admits it was a mistake.  Must be a sickener to see the whole place rocking again and think what might have been.

[Rory]

MON was on Prime tonight and I almost felt sorry for him.  He genuinely seems to regret walking out ("about 15,000 times a day" was the quote I think) and admits it was a mistake.  Must be a sickener to see the whole place rocking again and think what might have been.

I'll be honest, I liked MON. I really enjoyed being a Villa fan with him as manager, and I have fond memories.

Doesn't mean I agree with everything he did, far from it, but I do think what we saw was 'it'. There was no way we were improving from the 2009-10 season, and even if we'd sustained a Europa push in 2010-11, the money had run dry and I honestly think it was downhill from there, no matter what.

I'm of the opinion that, even if we'd made CL in 2009 or 2010, the infrastructure just wasn't there to sustain it, and we'd have come crashing down at some point.

With competent running of the place and good appointments, the decline needn't have been as dramatic as it was, but the 'good days', such as they were, were over.

I like to think we're on much more solid ground, with professionals running things these days.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Rory, what you really loved was Randy Lerner's money. MON was a one trick pony with no Plan B. He was a shit (SHIT) manager/Coach who winged it with his massive budget. The day he was told he had to get rid of the highly paid players he signed but wasn't using he knew his reputation was shot and dumped us like a turd on his shoe.

If we'd dumped him after two seasons I may have a slightly different opinion but for me, he's right up their with Meghan Markle as the biggest grifter who somehow still has some respect in certain quarters.

[KevinGage]

Agreed.

There was the usual Sky 4 and then a club reasonably well run (Everton) or a club spending big darts (ourselves between 2007-09) pushing them close.  New money could make a bit of a difference then.

A few years later lowly Fulham brought in a highly rated manager (Magath), spunked £40 million and still went down.

O'Neill couldn't scarper away quick enough when he thought he might have a shot at the Liverpool job.

I wish he'd got it.

[Rory]

Rory, what you really loved was Randy Lerner's money. MON was a one trick pony with no Plan B. He was a shit (SHIT) manager/Coach who winged it with his massive budget. The day he was told he had to get rid of the highly paid players he signed but wasn't using he knew his reputation was shot and dumped us like a turd on his shoe.

If we'd dumped him after two seasons I may have a slightly different opinion but for me, he's right up their with Meghan Markle as the biggest grifter who somehow still has some respect in certain quarters.

I respectfully disagree, Rudy.

I do not think MON's spend was quite as big as is made out - it's not as if we're talking the sustained dodgy investment of Chelsea or Man City. He took us from 16th to 6th with 18 months of £8-12m signings, and if you include the money we got back for Young, Downing, Milner, our net spend was considerable but not ridiculous.

I also don't think that he left us out of spite. I think he realised the senior management didn't know what they were doing, and I think the subsequent five years backed that up.

I'm not claiming nobody could've done better, but I do not think Lerner's investment and commitment was as it appears. I think Lerner is a prat who pissed away more money than he could afford, and either way, by 2011, he'd be trying to claw it back.

[AV82EC]

I could start a very long rant here but suffice to say he’s not worth the effort anymore. The future is more exciting.

[astonvilla82]

Can't stand the bloke, brother summed him up,he throw his dummy out the pram when he couldn't get his own way

[dave.woodhall]

Rory, what you really loved was Randy Lerner's money. MON was a one trick pony with no Plan B. He was a shit (SHIT) manager/Coach who winged it with his massive budget. The day he was told he had to get rid of the highly paid players he signed but wasn't using he knew his reputation was shot and dumped us like a turd on his shoe.

If we'd dumped him after two seasons I may have a slightly different opinion but for me, he's right up their with Meghan Markle as the biggest grifter who somehow still has some respect in certain quarters.

I respectfully disagree, Rudy.

I do not think MON's spend was quite as big as is made out - it's not as if we're talking the sustained dodgy investment of Chelsea or Man City. He took us from 16th to 6th with 18 months of £8-12m signings, and if you include the money we got back for Young, Downing, Milner, our net spend was considerable but not ridiculous.

I also don't think that he left us out of spite. I think he realised the senior management didn't know what they were doing, and I think the subsequent five years backed that up.

I'm not claiming nobody could've done better, but I do not think Lerner's investment and commitment was as it appears. I think Lerner is a prat who pissed away more money than he could afford, and either way, by 2011, he'd be trying to claw it back.

He left out of spite, at a time calculated to cause most harm, and much of the following five years was down to him.

[Rory]

Rory, what you really loved was Randy Lerner's money. MON was a one trick pony with no Plan B. He was a shit (SHIT) manager/Coach who winged it with his massive budget. The day he was told he had to get rid of the highly paid players he signed but wasn't using he knew his reputation was shot and dumped us like a turd on his shoe.

If we'd dumped him after two seasons I may have a slightly different opinion but for me, he's right up their with Meghan Markle as the biggest grifter who somehow still has some respect in certain quarters.

I respectfully disagree, Rudy.

I do not think MON's spend was quite as big as is made out - it's not as if we're talking the sustained dodgy investment of Chelsea or Man City. He took us from 16th to 6th with 18 months of £8-12m signings, and if you include the money we got back for Young, Downing, Milner, our net spend was considerable but not ridiculous.

I also don't think that he left us out of spite. I think he realised the senior management didn't know what they were doing, and I think the subsequent five years backed that up.

I'm not claiming nobody could've done better, but I do not think Lerner's investment and commitment was as it appears. I think Lerner is a prat who pissed away more money than he could afford, and either way, by 2011, he'd be trying to claw it back.

He left out of spite, at a time calculated to cause most harm, and much of the following five years was down to him.

You almost certainly know more about the timing of his departure than me, Dave, so I'll yield on that one, but I disagree that our subsequent troubles were down to him.

We had plenty of opportunities to put things right and made a balls of it every time.

Even if you subscribe to the theory that he came in, wasted all of Lerner's money out of vanity, then stormed off, sabotaging the club for the next five years, there's no way he should've been allowed the power and influence to wreak such havoc.

Anyway, my initial point was supposed to be that he could never have built this squad and delivered the results and performances that we're seeing now; and any sense of 'what might have been' that he may feel about leaving us is misguided because there's no way we were breaking that next level under his management.

[dave.woodhall]

He had unlimited funds and power. The first time he had either reduced he was off. That left a power vacuum as well as massive debts and an unmanageable wage bill, which impacted on us until Lerner left. It wasn't all his fault but he was the catalyst.

[Rory]

He never should've been given either. Allowing one man the power to hobble your club for the next five years is a poor way to run anything.

Emery is the best manager we've had in my lifetime, but I'd find it troubling to think that were he to leave tomorrow* we'd still be feeling the impact in 2028.

*he won't, of course, because he's going to be here forever

[Risso]

He never should've been given either. Allowing one man the power to hobble your club for the next five years is a poor way to run anything.

Emery is the best manager we've had in my lifetime, but I'd find it troubling to think that were he to leave tomorrow* we'd still be feeling the impact in 2028.

*he won't, of course, because he's going to be here forever

It's different now because we are well run with owners who have the cash to back us whatever happens. If Emery were to flounce out tomorrow, of course it would be a huge shock but we wouldn't be left with an uninterested, skint owner who couldn't afford all the over priced tat that O'Neill had saddled us with.

[Ian.]

You wasn’t alone Rory, I thought when we signed MON it was a masterstroke and I believed in the hype that surrounded him and him being the next Clough. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two years and carried on believing in him for longer than most. I think it started to sink in during that last season and there was too many questions asked regarding his transfers. The way he left us really showed us his true character.