O'Leary was right

[LeeB]

Actually Martyn, don't worry about it, I've just read the 'what's wrong with you' thread, I feel I need to cut you some slack

[Monty]

Milner scored that day. Mental that he's still playing.

[LeeB]

I will say this for O'Leary.

O'Neill still splits opinion a bit but is generally still held in pretty high regard, but he never bettered O'Leary's first season with us despite having much, much greater resouces to work with.

[brontebilly]

Didn't we finish that first season under DOL really strongly? Seem to remember JPA being a real threat at the back post from crosses from likes of Solano (maybe my mind is playing tricks on me!). The way DOLs reign ended ensured he never got near a PL job again!

[KevinGage]

With the progress Leedzzz made on his watch (admittedly throwing money at the thing from the midway point onwards) and his first year with us there was a decent coach/ manager in there somewhere.

He just kept on talking.

Naused out his own players and fans at both clubs by the end.

[Clampy]

From memory, he gave off a 'you ought to be grateful i'm here' vibe although I'm sure that wasn't the case. Think he managed over in the middle east after us and that was it.

[LeeB]

Didn't we finish that first season under DOL really strongly? Seem to remember JPA being a real threat at the back post from crosses from likes of Solano (maybe my mind is playing tricks on me!). The way DOLs reign ended ensured he never got near a PL job again!

We did, and if we still had an outside chance of finishing 4th at the last game of the season. Only didn't qualify for Europe because Middlesborough won the league Cup and bloody Millwall got to the FA Cup final

[dave.woodhall]

The one thing I could never understand with O'Leary is why he went out of his way to alienate so many people. Ellis was so unpopular that all he had to do was keep quiet and he'd have been excused just about anything. Instead, he became loathed by everyone except Chris Smith.
 

[LeeB]

The one thing I could never understand with O'Leary is why he went out of his way to alienate so many people. Ellis was so unpopular that all he had to do was keep quiet and he'd have been excused just about anything. Instead, he became loathed by everyone except Chris Smith.
 

Chris showed a stoicism rarely seen in the face of such hostility

[eamonn]

Didn't we finish that first season under DOL really strongly?

We finished 6th, what more did you want?

[maidstonevillain]

Nothing to do with being fickle he simply wasn't up to the job. Remind me...how many jobs has he had since ?

Is that the same O'Leary who took Villa to 6th, with a worse team, and spending a fraction of the money, O'Neill had.

[ChicagoLion]

I was at an event with a load of ex-pros and was told by an ex pro that no one in football had a good word to say about O’Leary, he was disliked by every one because he was an arrogant prick.

[paul_e]

Nothing to do with being fickle he simply wasn't up to the job. Remind me...how many jobs has he had since ?

Is that the same O'Leary who took Villa to 6th, with a worse team, and spending a fraction of the money, O'Neill had.

and then made us worse 2 seasons in a row.

[Bad English]

I've got 99 pages in the sweep. Good luck all!

[Risso]

The second half of his first season, and the first half of his second season were top 4/5 form. The wheels came off spectacularly after that though. It's a weird one, he was clearly a decent to good manager, and there have been far worse in terms of ability who have kept on getting jobs time after time (step forward S Bruce esq) but he was such a monumental wanker that clearly nobody wanted anything to do with him.