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Just out of interest, how do people rate him? He is often considered one of teh most promising British managers yet if you look just a little deeper he becomes a bit more of a nearly man. He has been a Villa a while now, they have been comfortable top 6 for a while and yet even after being one of the highest spending managers in the league over the last couple of years he cannot take them further. The year we were taken over he was the third highest spending manager in Europe but we did him a favour by overshadowing him.

I think he is a very good manager who has a knack of finding and acquiring very good players at very fair prices. He also seems to know how to get the best out of his players.

Not sure how he would get along with the superstar players we have though.

King Kev wrote:I think he is a very good manager who has a knack of finding and acquiring very good players at very fair prices. He also seems to know how to get the best out of his players.

Not sure how he would get along with the superstar players we have though.

I wouldn't really want him here to find out. He never seems to maintain form across a whole season. This season, as will the other they are starting to slide. I guess I also get a bit pissed that Villa get away with spending so much money but they are a well run club going about it the right way, yet we spend money but are ruining football.

Bluez wrote:

King Kev wrote:I think he is a very good manager who has a knack of finding and acquiring very good players at very fair prices. He also seems to know how to get the best out of his players.

Not sure how he would get along with the superstar players we have though.

I wouldn't really want him here to find out. He never seems to maintain form across a whole season. This season, as will the other they are starting to slide. I guess I also get a bit pissed that Villa get away with spending so much money but they are a well run club going about it the right way, yet we spend money but are ruining football.

Does someone have figures how much they've actually spent in the last couple of years?

Moonchesteri wrote:

Bluez wrote:

King Kev wrote:I think he is a very good manager who has a knack of finding and acquiring very good players at very fair prices. He also seems to know how to get the best out of his players.

Not sure how he would get along with the superstar players we have though.

I wouldn't really want him here to find out. He never seems to maintain form across a whole season. This season, as will the other they are starting to slide. I guess I also get a bit pissed that Villa get away with spending so much money but they are a well run club going about it the right way, yet we spend money but are ruining football.

Does someone have figures how much they've actually spent in the last couple of years?

In the last 2 seasons they have spent around 85 million. Over the last 5 years only Liverpool, United, City, Chelsea and Spurs have spent more.
You can get numbers here
http://www.transferleague.co.uk/

He's a terrific Boss with brilliant Man Management skills. I also like his eye for the transfer market. Assembling Dunne and Collins as a solid, no nonsense Centre Half pairing was very inspired.

I'd like to see Villa take on the Europa League next season and give it a really good go.

I eluded to this in another thread with regard to Villa's dreadful form through the month of March. Although I've never liked him as an individual, he has done very well in management right from his times at Wycombe. I think he is a natural man-manager who gets the best out of what he has got. The thing that I believe lets him down is his leadership skills. You can get one of the best teams in the league so far up by man-management, but when the going gets tough, you need a natural leader to show the way and get them to push through.

Everytime I see O'Neill after a loss, he either looks like a wounded cat, scathing at everything that went on, or he looks pitiful to the point where you just want to give him a hug. Compare that to the likes of Taggart and Wenger, who although they whinge, they are mostly calm, andwhen you look in their eyes, you can see that they are planning some sort of revenge on the next team they play as well as thinking about what they are going to say to the players.

O'Neill is good for the level he is at, but for me he will not take Villa to the top table unless he changes his own attitude as that reflects on the rest of the team.

Builds basically the same team wherever he goes; hard working, unspectacular, often long ball football, relying heavily on big men, & set pieces. Won't succeed at the highest level until he starts building a better one, which may well be beyond him.

Is immune to the same criticism City's managers get & no matter how much he fucks up, it gets papered over & somehow he gets credit for it from the same kind of people who slaughter our managers for a fraction of the same faults & style of football.

Reminds me so much of Keegan. Excellent man management skills, insipires average players ot over-perform, fans love him etc.

But his teams often get found out as being one-dimensional. This is happening to Villa. Their game plan is get it to the wing, get to the byeline, put a cross in for a big man, little man feeds on any knockdowns.... that kind of football will only take you so far.

Psychologically I also think there is something of the "bottler" about him when it comes to the business end of the season.

Not that I watch Villa a great deal but he doesn't impress me. I don't have him on my City managerial wish list.

Football's a simple game. Unfortunately, Martin, it aint that simple.

I did and still do rate Hughes over him as a Prem manager

Martin O'Neill is a quality Manager...Martin O'Neill with decent backing would be a phenomenal Manager

Wooders wrote:I did and still do rate Hughes over him as a Prem manager

That's a bold statement considering Hughes has won nothing on his management career.

I really rate O'Neill. Yes, his sides play relatively booring football but he gets results and always the best out of players he has got.

Niall Quinns Discopants wrote:

Wooders wrote:I did and still do rate Hughes over him as a Prem manager

That's a bold statement considering Hughes has won nothing on his management career.

I really rate O'Neill. Yes, his sides play relatively booring football but he gets results and always the best out of players he has got.[/quote]

like on saturday ;-)

IanBishopsHaircut wrote:Martin O'Neill is a quality Manager...Martin O'Neill with decent backing would be a phenomenal Manager

With Learner he has decent backing, stability and a chairman that doesn't interfere.

I wouldn't really call someone who is nearly sixty "promising". O'Neill is quite likeable if you can stand his "look at me" bouncing around on the touchline. As a manger, however, he is good but limited. As others have said, he has one plan: 4-4-2 and two wide players to hoof it to a target man. His style is a very physical form of football, and my guess is that that's why his sides fall off every season around this time. In a nutshell: they're knackered (and maybe bored).

Mike J wrote:
like on saturday ;-)

I watched the game. It was just one of those games for them. Everything Chelsea did seemed to lead to goal. And to be fair, they were without their best defensive player, Cuellar, and Dunne and Collins looked like lost puppies. Cuellar for Villa is just like Distin was for us. The most important piece of the defensive puzzle, even if he has more spectacular defenders around him.

If I were Villa fan, I wouldn't be overly upset just like I wasn't overly upset by that infamous Boro game that people still keep going on about. It was just one game and in the end of the day 7 or 8 - 1 gives you just as many points as 2-1, zilch.

Ted Hughes wrote:Builds basically the same team wherever he goes; hard working, unspectacular, often long ball football, relying heavily on big men, & set pieces. Won't succeed at the highest level until he starts building a better one, which may well be beyond him.

Is immune to the same criticism City's managers get & no matter how much he fucks up, it gets papered over & somehow he gets credit for it from the same kind of people who slaughter our managers for a fraction of the same faults & style of football.

Villa since start of 2010 - W4, D6, L1 = Pts 18
City since start of 2010 - W5, D3, L3 = Pts 18

O'neil is under a lot of pressure from Villa fans, you only have to listen to some of the phone ins. The difference is that the pundits usually automatically dismiss the callers as loonies as O'neil does seem beyond criticism in the establishment. The reality is, Villa have had some poor results just the same as we have, however during their 6 draws since the turn of the year, they have played United, Arsenal, Spuds and Chelsea and only lost 1, whilst getting to the Carling Cup final.

Their failure to beat the smaller teams, particularly at home is similar to our run of draws under Hughes, but the key difference will be whether we can beat the bigger sides which they have failed to do. I think Villa fans are concerned that like us, they had the opportunities to put some good points on the board in recent months against pretty poor opposition and failed to do so, which was compounded by not sneaking a win against any of the bigger clubs when they also had the opportunity.

Give him a good centre forward who can score regularly in the summer and Villa will be fighting it out at the top IMO.

johnpb78 wrote:

Ted Hughes wrote:Builds basically the same team wherever he goes; hard working, unspectacular, often long ball football, relying heavily on big men, & set pieces. Won't succeed at the highest level until he starts building a better one, which may well be beyond him.

Is immune to the same criticism City's managers get & no matter how much he fucks up, it gets papered over & somehow he gets credit for it from the same kind of people who slaughter our managers for a fraction of the same faults & style of football.

Villa since start of 2010 - W4, D6, L1 = Pts 18
City since start of 2010 - W5, D3, L3 = Pts 18

O'neil is under a lot of pressure from Villa fans, you only have to listen to some of the phone ins. The difference is that the pundits usually automatically dismiss the callers as loonies as O'neil does seem beyond criticism in the establishment. The reality is, Villa have had some poor results just the same as we have, however during their 6 draws since the turn of the year, they have played U***d, Arsenal, Spuds and Chelsea and only lost 1, whilst getting to the Carling Cup final.
Their failure to beat the smaller teams, particularly at home is similar to our run of draws under Hughes, but the key difference will be whether we can beat the bigger sides which they have failed to do. I think Villa fans are concerned that like us, they had the opportunities to put some good points on the board in recent months against pretty poor opposition and failed to do so, which was compounded by not sneaking a win against any of the bigger clubs when they also had the opportunity.

Give him a good centre forward who can score regularly in the summer and Villa will be fighting it out at the top IMO.

And they are on FA Cup Semis. So they have done well on league AND in BOTH Cups. He is not immune for critism but he does less mistakes (with a team that has been built with considerably less money than ours) than our managers have done.