Martin O'Neill resigns

What a shame about O'Neil. He's done a lot of good work here in Bham for Villa. Hes brought in some very good players and built a good, solid team! Wish him all the best....maybe the England job in a few months when Capello (or should I say those excuses for England players) flop it!

As for replacements...would love to see Alan Curbishly back in the top flight...Sven back in England....hmm...my bet is with Bradley.
 
Laursen was saying in an interview he could essentially see why it happened and supports the theory that he lost the dressing room, basically saying that O'neill likes a first 11 and pretty much tells everyone to look for another club to play for, which isn't a particularly good way to keep a team happy.

Theres clearly a lot of unhappy players there, and O'neill seems to like shipping them out, not happy he can't bring loads more in, and as a owner I'd be unwilling to constantly sign players and let them go cheap because O'neill won't play them, then have the cheek to ask for a load more squad players he'll all but refuse to use.

I know one of the reasons he well, says he left Celtic was his wife was ill, but had Celtic also pretty much stopped their spending and it was clear at that stage they were going to be on a very tight budget for the forseeable future? Some managers really aren't happy if they can't constantly spend cash.
 
martin o'neill has the ability to turn an average player into a well performing player.

as soon as he leaves the club, the same player goes back to being an average player.

their is something about him, which makes players play better. i expect villa to finish a lot lower this season now that he has left and players will return to their normal, dropping at least a few places in the league.
 
he used to crack me up when he used to be a pundit for the BBC, I think the last time was at the 2006 WC, can't remember if he did Euro 2008. He would disagree with anything anyone else said a bit like Eddie Jordan on the F1 Coverage...

Clearly he's a couple of loaves short of a dozen, but in a way that is conducive to doing well as a manager ;)
 
Psycho Sonny said:
martin o'neill has the ability to turn an average player into a well performing player.

as soon as he leaves the club, the same player goes back to being an average player.

their is something about him, which makes players play better. i expect villa to finish a lot lower this season now that he has left and players will return to their normal, dropping at least a few places in the league.
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I don't think thats the case, Heskey got worse, Shorey got worse, Luke Young got worse, guys name who eludes me, came from Rangers, got worse, Davies got worse, Petrov became a far more defensive player and less good offensively, Sidwell was worse. He didn't improve Reo Coker, or really anyone else for that matter.

Milner had an incredibly average season, remove the penalties and its basically no better than any other season, frankly Milner just had a longer season with more cup games than usual, hence a few more goals and assists in total, World Cup + being english took care of the over stating how good he was. THe players who have played very well, Ashley Young, Carew, Collins, Laursen, were simply very good players when they arrived.

Saying O'neill got the best out of them, and no one else can, is just not close to accurate.

It won't be surprising to see them do worse though, unless a team is severely underperforming then new managers usually take time to adapt a team to their own methods, and if they are in a highly competitive area of the league(3-8th) then that will take its toll.

Sven will make them a much much worse team, he's crap, all his buys at City were short term form players, almost every last one of which has flopped and has been or is in the process of being shipped out, with most doing crap elsewhere now. Lets not forget how he also prevented a very good Mexico team qualifying for the World Cup which before him being hired was a virtual certainty, and he was pap and has been told to smeg off from the Ivory Coast aswell, his single spell of success, was when he spent £237mil to buy the league for a already 4th place Lazio.


Bob Bradley however had a not fantastic american squad and did have them performing way beyond everyones expectations, playing good, organised, strong, attacking and good to watch football, not sure why people are down on the guy.
 
^^I agree with the above, O'Neill assembled a good squad, in fact I rated many of his buys as quite shrewd (Reo-Coker, Shorey, Sidwell, L.Young etc) but the idea that he improved them significantly during his time at Villa is nonsense.

Personally I think MON is a good motivator, or at least he used to be (not so sure now with the dressing room rumours). Players like Heskey he used to be perfect for, the big fella just needed to have an arm put round him, be told he was the main main and give him the confidence to fulfil his potential (note I'm saying fulfil HIS potential, not that he the potential of a Rooney).
 
drunkenmaster said:
I don't think thats the case, Heskey got worse, Shorey got worse, Luke Young got worse, guys name who eludes me, came from Rangers, got worse, Davies got worse, Petrov became a far more defensive player and less good offensively, Sidwell was worse. He didn't improve Reo Coker, or really anyone else for that matter.

Milner had an incredibly average season, remove the penalties and its basically no better than any other season, frankly Milner just had a longer season with more cup games than usual, hence a few more goals and assists in total, World Cup + being english took care of the over stating how good he was. THe players who have played very well, Ashley Young, Carew, Collins, Laursen, were simply very good players when they arrived.

Saying O'neill got the best out of them, and no one else can, is just not close to accurate.

It won't be surprising to see them do worse though, unless a team is severely underperforming then new managers usually take time to adapt a team to their own methods, and if they are in a highly competitive area of the league(3-8th) then that will take its toll.

Sven will make them a much much worse team, he's crap, all his buys at City were short term form players, almost every last one of which has flopped and has been or is in the process of being shipped out, with most doing crap elsewhere now. Lets not forget how he also prevented a very good Mexico team qualifying for the World Cup which before him being hired was a virtual certainty, and he was pap and has been told to smeg off from the Ivory Coast aswell, his single spell of success, was when he spent £237mil to buy the league for a already 4th place Lazio.


Bob Bradley however had a not fantastic american squad and did have them performing way beyond everyones expectations, playing good, organised, strong, attacking and good to watch football, not sure why people are down on the guy.
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look just wait until half way through this season, when you see villa's players playing 2/3 notches below last season then you can comment. trust me, all of villa's players will have improved whilst he was there, he does it at every club he goes to.

at celtic, hartson, sutton, lennon, mc geady, and co all came on leaps and bounds, and played 2/3 nothches above normal for their own ability. as soon as he left, they went back to being average players again.

he is a great manager, and a lot of people had tipped him to take over from alex ferguson, who is in charge of 1 of the biggest clubs in the world and has 1 of the best managing records around. so to say he is not good and made players worse is a farce.

if heskey became worse, why did he play in the WC over crouch, defoe and co?
 
HangTime said:
^^I agree with the above, O'Neill assembled a good squad, in fact I rated many of his buys as quite shrewd (Reo-Coker, Shorey, Sidwell, L.Young etc) but the idea that he improved them significantly during his time at Villa is nonsense.

Personally I think MON is a good motivator, or at least he used to be (not so sure now with the dressing room rumours). Players like Heskey he used to be perfect for, the big fella just needed to have an arm put round him, be told he was the main main and give him the confidence to fulfil his potential (note I'm saying fulfil HIS potential, not that he the potential of a Rooney).
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he didnt improve them, he made them play to their full potential. giving 100% in each game, the same players will now look to be at 90% this season, you can bet on it.
 
lol at the newspapers, talksport and even Villa for thinking Moyes would be in the picture for the Villa job. Stupid ********.
 
So who are Villa fans rooting for from the targets that have been touted by the press that actually have a chance of happening?
Sven Goran Eriksson
Alan Curbishley
Gareth Southgate
Jurgen Klinsmann
Bob Bradley
~or the more tenuous:
Martin Jol
Ottmar Hitzfield

Personally, putting the tenuous links aside,I wouldn't rate any of those managers as highly as Martin O'Neill, but I guess people would prefer Klinsmann? He did a good job transforming Germany along with Jogi Loew for the 2006 WC. The thing I have to say is none of those candidates strike me as being ideal :\ Especially when one needs to be chosen quickly as the season is practically upon us.
A sad situation really.
 
My mates would prefer Jol.
The comments from the American owner today about a 'disagreement as to the direction of the club' pretty much confirms it was down to him wanting to reclaim invested cash imo, wouldnt expect a high finish for a few years :(
 
As a casual observer, my take on this is that MON has had a bit of a strop. Everything I've read about Randy Lerner suggests to me he has a sound business mind, and whilst he naturally wants to see Villa do well, he isn't prepared to see them sink to Pompey levels.

Lerner is a self-made man, unlike the Glasiers, he has earned his own money, that type of person is always going to be more cautious with his cash. Villa have performed well recently, and I think MON might have got a bit carried away regarding his expectations for the club.

I dare say it's frustrating to a manager of O'Neill's quality and experience to be told that he has to "sell to buy", and god knows what drama is happening regarding the Milner transfer, but perhaps he might have taken a step back and realised how good he has had it at Villa. He has hardly been hamstrung on transfers, and the owners and board seemed to be fully in support of him.

Meh, it just seems to me a rather rash decision. He'll probably get another good job soon, but I really thought Villa were looking good for the next few years.
 
Azza said:
lol at the newspapers, talksport and even Villa for thinking Moyes would be in the picture for the Villa job. Stupid ********.
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I found it quite funny when his name appeared out of the blue. Not in a million years would he leave Everton for us.
 
Psycho Sonny said:
look just wait until half way through this season, when you see villa's players playing 2/3 notches below last season then you can comment. trust me, all of villa's players will have improved whilst he was there, he does it at every club he goes to.

at celtic, hartson, sutton, lennon, mc geady, and co all came on leaps and bounds, and played 2/3 nothches above normal for their own ability. as soon as he left, they went back to being average players again.

he is a great manager, and a lot of people had tipped him to take over from alex ferguson, who is in charge of 1 of the biggest clubs in the world and has 1 of the best managing records around. so to say he is not good and made players worse is a farce.

if heskey became worse, why did he play in the WC over crouch, defoe and co?
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Hartson was always quality, and O'neill didn't manage to change his "fatty playing footie" ways, Sutton was quality, just had a terrible time at Chelsea was it(been a ruddy long time now), stuggled for some reason, he only got back to where he was.

I think you're also ignoring the pretty simple factor that a lot of these guys moved from well, a much more competitive league, to a two team league, and did better, thats pretty natural, there aren't many players who go to the Scottish league and do worse and giving O'neill credit for that is beyond daft.

As for others, players improve, thats not really news, its also worth noting that several players have commented that they'll get at least a fair shot now, even one of O'neill's best ever players in Laursen said he basically tells anyone not playing every week to pee off(then gets upset and leaves when the board says to sell them aswell?). So what about Sidwell, Reo Coker, Harewood and plenty of others who have all gotten worse because he basically sidelines then ignores those players? Putting all his attention on a smaller part of the squad might get the best out of them, it also left them vunerable to injuries, maybe the next guy will have certain players not playing as well, but the SQUAD playing better, more motivated, more rotation and might not suffer those fairly frequent absolute stuffings they tend to receive now and then, 7-1 for instance.


Villa doing worse will be in no way proof that O'neill is the only person who can get the best out of his players, a team in the top 6-7 that goes through a large change and potentially complete change of style of football is almost certainly going to do worse, its too competitive to allow time for adjustment, which is why uber expensive City with lots of great players didn't win the title, change takes time and practice. If you take over a vastly underperforming Fulham, with Sanchez in charge anyone would make them do better, if Mourinho took over at Utd tomorrow I think they'd be worse for a season or two as they adjust to a completely defensive and different style of football.
 
MoratJG said:
As a casual observer, my take on this is that MON has had a bit of a strop. Everything I've read about Randy Lerner suggests to me he has a sound business mind, and whilst he naturally wants to see Villa do well, he isn't prepared to see them sink to Pompey levels.

Lerner is a self-made man, unlike the Glasiers, he has earned his own money, that type of person is always going to be more cautious with his cash. Villa have performed well recently, and I think MON might have got a bit carried away regarding his expectations for the club.

I dare say it's frustrating to a manager of O'Neill's quality and experience to be told that he has to "sell to buy", and god knows what drama is happening regarding the Milner transfer, but perhaps he might have taken a step back and realised how good he has had it at Villa. He has hardly been hamstrung on transfers, and the owners and board seemed to be fully in support of him.

Meh, it just seems to me a rather rash decision. He'll probably get another good job soon, but I really thought Villa were looking good for the next few years.
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100% agree with that - Lerners being cautious, just overly so from MONs point of view, who seems to think the money should be flowing City style and only in one direction.

Im not happy that hes left, doubt anyone on that shortlist are anywhere near as good (anyone but Sven please!!! Bilic or McLeish would be interesting, not too sure on Bradley though), but it has felt lately that Villa were getting into a rut - Im fed up of seeing the main squad knackered before seasons end due to limited rotation - its just not acceptable especially with the young talent hes bought in and just benched...

Not shocked hes gone - just shocked at the timing, cant see us doing anything but mid-table this year - but even with him I wasnt looking far higher up the table really...

ps3ud0 :cool:
 
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I am quite surprised at the dislike for MON. Correct me if I am wrong but hasnt he improved them every season since he has been there if not in places then in pts. I cant remember a time where they ever went to a lower position in the table. Admitedly he got stuck at 6th but it's a tough job to break into that top bracket.

I am pleased he is going as we might get more pts of them this year ;)
 
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