Football is a results business and Sunderland’s results have been rotten for months, so we shouldn’t be surprised that Martin O’Neill was dismissed as manager on Saturday. But he is Martin O’Neill, who appeared to be able to walk on water when at Celtic. What happened?
Martin’s teams played the same football at Sunderland as they did at Celtic and Leicester. Direct and, if supported by excellent players, incredibly effective, but Martin was the antithesis of the tinkerer manager. He had his plan and stuck to it, a fact which Alex McLeish successfully exploited.
Of all the recent dismissals in England his was least surprising. Sunderland thought they were heading for relegation but still have a fighting chance, the right change could produce the short-term boost required. As for our old pal Paulo, I’m in David Milliband’s camp. He and ‘Arry can go the same way.
[calameo code=0003901714557cf2d2048 lang=en page=134 hidelinks=1 width=100% height=500]
949 Comments- Pages:
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- ...
- 25
- »
Hail hail
Bout time too..
Late again….
That’s a second number one spot for me. So happy
Will always remember Martin for the gift that was Seville. H H
from previous thread:
Steinreignedsupreme
fair point re the number of games and squad rotation. Hopefully when the squad is ‘reconstructed’ during the summer it will add some pace and forwards to negate the likes of Madden and to bring some much needed excitement.
However some of our young players should be cut some slack, I’m with you on that.
Afternoon!
HH!!
PAUL67
I agree entirely re Di Canio.
A very good player for us,but a loathesome individual.
Only ex-Celt I have ever met and ignored-though if I ever have the misfortune to meet Joe Jordan again,I will happily double that number.
leftclicktic
12:17 on
1 April, 2013
THE EXILED TIM
I sent an email to SFA asking them to ask compliance officer Lunny to look at incident regarding Stevenson of hearts(was told it would be put in the automatic binned file), but got an Email back to say, it has been passed to the relevant people(I KNOW I KNOW)but Stevenson was cited 2 days later.
Only thing is if the cheat Concalves is pulled up he may miss MULLETS GANG
BMCUW – spill! Whit’s the story on Big Joe?!!
T4
TALLYBHOY
NEARLY a podium for you-fortunately you rise above such trivia.
How’s the auld yin bearing up?
T4
You mean you haven’t heard?
Paul
Are you suggesting MON in a remake of Whatever happened to the Likely Lads ?
FFS
Lets be grateful for small mercies at least we managed to gain a point yesterday from the only premier league team to have won a trophy this season so far
Paul 67,
You also miss the John Robertson factor.
MoN could do very little wrong in my eyes, but , I seem to recall that he was on his second / third managerial role before Robbo joined him & his career really blossomed.
A bit like his mentor Clough, who never scaled the same heights without Peter Taylor.
I also think Martin’s intellect and insight would make a very good non executive director at our club,( recognising exactly what a non exec does) although some may confuse this with a director of football role, which I wouldn’t want to see happen.
mickbhoy1888
I don’t know about you but I didn’t find out about Di Canio’s fascist beliefs until around 2004-05, long after his ridiculous actions with Ferguson. He entertained me as a Celtic supporter and I loved his commitment but on occasion he was an embarrassment.
As for his politics I find them abhorrent.
Martin Misses John Robertson :))
From last thread,
1 April, 2013
Neil Lennon didn’t criticise the refereeing standards from a Celtic perspective.
He was speaking in general terms and with regards to yesterday, he was speaking for both teams.
I agree with the opinion that it will be the SPL vote that decides reconstruction.
The latest SFLposition is a bluff that has been called.
There wil be no “come back next year” option.
Of greater concern is the geographical proximity of PL and Green over the weekend.
However, if there was skullduggery afoot, would they be so public about it?
Watching sky, not sure sir alex chose his words wisely there, “reverberated”is a struggle for most of us mere mortals
BMCUW
Howdy!
Both auld yins bearing up quite well.
No 6 poster on this thread btw! …but as you rightly point out I tend to rise above such trivia!
Pah!
Right what happened with Joe Jordan then?! Did you have a Rino Gattuso type fall-out with him?!
HH!!
lucky cody
12:21 on 1 April, 2013
It could be in Celtics interest to take on the SFA again as it galvanises the support and creates a siege mentality. It’s interesting Lennys comments are on the Club website now , which is official endorsement from Lawwell ( and Dermot ).
Bobby Madden was appalling yesterday for both teams. Ogilvie/ Fleming are in a difficult position. They cannot defend the incompetence of Madden without their integrity being called into question. The only decision that can be changed retrospectively is the ordering of of Victor. This they will need to do as he was pulling out of the tackle.
On Lenny they cannot bring him to task as he only said what every person who watched the game said ( fan, journos, ex player pundits ).
However when it comes to the Lenny the SFA do not think logically. Ogilvie like Peat before him may go after this Fenian nuisance. In this situation I would not mind it, as Lenny is 100% correct ( and has the clubs support , unlike the Norris pos semi final sc behaviour ).
Bring it on Ogilvie, I cannot wait!
Manure Chelski
ITV C853 virgin media..
TTTT
Not really much to it- bumped into him in The Players Lounge at Swindon and was singularly unimpressed by his attitude.
Literally EVERYONE in that place was more than happy to have a mere few words,answer a question-not the autograph/photo type,me-but he was a total p…k.
I went there virtually every home game for three years and he was the only choob in there.
Apart from me….
He has had no Henrik Larrson at his last couple of clubs.
Paul67
I believe that MON has found it extremely difficult to work his mind games with players who are raking it in and don’t really give a toss.
Simple.
Paul,
You rightly state that Martin has one style of play and sticks to it.
He never trusted Lubo as a mainstay.
I fear that Neil, like his mentor, has also one style of play and it is based on Martin’s.
Neil doesn’t trust players like Mc.Court or, even this early, Mc.Geoch.
Doesn’t make him a poor coach, merely one who can’t change his philosophy and his team become easy to play against, when they go forward.
Gordon had much the same outlook.
Pragmatic to a fault.
roy croppie
12:21 on 1 April, 2013
What’s curious about Di Canio’s political views is that no one knew anything about them until he said he was a fascist.
What’s also curious is that while saying he was a fascist he was anxious to deny being a racist.
I’d like to know the substance of his beliefs rather than just the label.
It’s unlikely we’ll ever know though because he seems to have no active interest in politics.
I suspect though his views are a lot less extreme than people imagine them to be.
I’d imagine he’d vote UKIP or Tory rather than BNP.
Personally I think Martin will be offered the ROI job next year when ole Giovanni is carted away to a retirement home on Lake Como.
HH!!
Lucky Cody says ” The only decision that can be changed retrospectively is the ordering of of Victor. ”
=========
I think the diver could be called to account and given an automatic 2 game ban.
There is precedent for such action, I believe.
I doubt if it will happen, of course.
Paul,
I wouldn’t give McLeish too much credit. All he did was copy what Porto did in the away game – getting players out wide into the full-back areas. With a 3-5-2 we had no answer to this – our centre-backs were not comfortable in wide areas. Eventually Martin twigged and went 4-4-2 in the beach ball game and McLeish couldn’t answer back.
I’d imagine he’d vote UKIP or Tory rather than BNP.
That’ll be alright then.
Another issue from yesterday was the the St.Mirren players taking turns at fouling Wanyama, without any sanctions given.
Thompson’s cynical trip from behind was a booking in any other game.
Yet, in virtually Vic’s first tackle, he tapped the snivelling Mc.Gowan on the shin, causing him to play act and launch himself into the air.
Madden did the rest.
Mc.Gowan had the opportunity to it right in the post atch interview, but didn’t.
Di Canio the epitome of everything that’s bad about the game.
His time at Celtic is tarnished by his messy exit based on greed and lies.
notthebus
12:40 on 1 April, 2013
‘Di Canio the epitome of everything that’s bad about the game.’
#####
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS1LuSiRrLI
Di Canio, my view
Was a good footballer, but an erse who was only interested in himself and liked to be controversial. He likes being in the limelight and would do or say anything for this to continue. Self serving eejit who won’t see out his contract at Sundrland by either manoeuvring his way out or being sacked. Loudmouth who you wouldn’t go for a beer with.
Kikinthenakas
ernie lynch @ 12 33 .
Paolo Di Canio.
For what it’s worth —— I heard him talking on Italian radio re politics and he said he abstained from voting . He cited his view that politicians were lying / self serving / pocket lining clowns as justification. .
ernie lynch
He has said he doesn’t feel there is a place for Muslims in Italy; he has a tattoo honouring Mussolini and he gave a fascist salute to ‘his people’. This action was congratulated by a grand daughter of Mussolini. He maybe short in manifesto pledges but I think he’s a bit further to the right than UKIP.
ici agree it should be retrospective punishment and likewise don’t think it will be done.
Ogilivie/Fleming will be trying to figure out a way to exonerate Madden and stitch up Lenny.
Even Ogilvie will struggle to bend the rules that far.
Martin , thanks for everything you did for our club. I will never forget you.
Seville….simply awesome.
Majority domination of Der Hun . In fact one glorious season 100pc record against Deidco.
6-2
Liverpool
The annihilation of the beast.
UEFA cup defeat of Barca
Beachball Sunday.
Complete restoration of respectability after the doleful 90s
I am forever in your debt!