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Your Shout: Martin O'Neill - Why?
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Newcastle-Online.com reader and forum regular 'Andrew Flintoff'
writes in championing Martin O'Neill as the ideal man to replace Graeme
Souness while also taking a look at the other contenders such as Ottmar
Hitzfeld, Sam Allardyce and Alan Curbishley.
The moment Souness was sacked, everybody began to draw up their own
shortlists. There were names bandied about left right and centre –
Hiddink, Hitzfeld, Allardyce, Curbishley, even Kevin Keegan. But one
name stood out for me, and seemed the glaringly clear choice – Martin
O’Neill.
I’ll start by looking at the other leading candidates as I speak –
the celebrated Ottmar Hitzfeld, the Northern steel of Big Sam Allardyce
and cockney wheeler-dealer Alan Curbishley.
First off, Ottmar Hitzfeld – a born winner, a proven manager at the
top level and an experienced “European” coach who has done it everywhere
he has been. A stunningly obvious choice, n’est-ce pas? Well not necessarily.
My major gripe with Hitzfeld is that although he has done it at Bayern
Munich, I tend to think that the English style of play is vastly different
to that of any other country.
Would the players accustomed to the English style adapt to a change
in tactics? Would Hitzfeld change his approach to fit the English
game? No-one knows for certain the changes he would bring about, but
what is guaranteed, is that his success certainly isn’t that – guaranteed.
Moving along then to Sam Allardyce, a British manager thoroughly accustomed
to the British way of football who has managed near-miracles with
a relatively lowly club such as Bolton. Spent nothing, achieved a
hell of a lot.
Why then, would Big Sam not be top of my shortlist? With Big Sam,
it’s a spot of pot luck I’m afraid. Sure, his approach is particularly
scientific, he has a great set of staff behind him, but his approach
in the transfer market worries me – old player, past-it stars pulling
together but taking home a huge whack in wages. Would the Toon fans
take to this type of squad building?
I doubt they would. Secondly, I worry about his tactics – extremely
direct, long ball football. The type that saw the back of Graeme “hoof-it
up-to-the-big-man” Souness. Again, playing devil’s advocate, it could
be argued that Sam would change his style to fit in with his squad,
but, having spent nigh-on seven years at Bolton, this is the way he
plays, despite having been able to mould his squad the way he sees
fit.
Why not, then, one of the best up-and-coming managers in the Premiership,
Charlton’s Alan Curbishley? The thing with Curbishley that worries
me is that his ability to motivate teams worries me. When was the
last time Charlton ended the season with a great run? Seems a good
confidence manager, but when the chips are down, can he pull it out
of the bag? Also, some of his high-profile signings have been far
from impressive – Jason Euell, Franny Jeffers for a couple.
Once more, the devil’s advocate in me says look at how he rebuilt
the career of Danny Murphy, Luke Young, even Darren Ambrose? They
are all well and good, but I personally doubt he has the ability to
push Charlton any further than they are, and if he was to come to
Newcastle, I doubt he’d have the ability to motivate our over-paid
wasters into a team capable of pulling up trees in the Premiership.
So then that brings me to my favourite – Martin O’Neill. Starting
at Wycombe, O’Neill set the path for the rest of his career by bringing
Wycombe to heights they had never seen before. O’Neill guided Wycombe
from the Conference to Division Two in successive years. O’Neill briefly
tried his luck at Norwich in 1995 before resigning as a matter of
principle.
Then-chairman Robert Chase reneged on his promises over cash for transfers
and Martin walked before he managed to stamp his authority on the
club. It was then that he joined Leicester where he made arguably
his biggest achievement as a manager.
"He achieved great success at the club, gaining promotion via
the play-offs to the Premiership in the same season as joining the
club. Leicester finished in the top half of the Premiership in every
season O'Neill was manager. They also won the League Cup under O'Neill
in 1997 and 2000." Source
+
Finally, at Celtic, O’Neill won seven trophies in five years and took
Celtic to their first European Final in thirty-three years. Celtic’s
points totals in those five years were astonishing, finishing on 97,
103, 97, 98 and 92 points. What makes O’Neill stand out, to me, is
his ability to motivate and make the players feel they can achieve
anything.
“O'Neill set his own standards at the club via player discipline,
match preparation and his seemingly endless hunt for better players,
taking him on one occasion to literally beg at the front door of Glenn
Roeder, then manager of Watford.”
Source +
According to Keith Ryan, a player brought to Wycombe by O’Neill in
1991, “One quality he has above a lot of other people is that he knows
the character of people. He knows how to get the best out of them.
His motivation skills were brilliant; you'd want to tear the dressing
room door off to get on to the pitch. He would make you feel like
a great player even when you knew you weren't."
It is this type of motivation I feel could take Newcastle onto the
next level. This is an attribute that cannot be taught, it is a natural
phenomenon which O’Neill has down to a T. As many of our players (Boumsong,
Bramble, Ameobi) seem to be players who rely massively on confidence,
what better than a man who could inspire that in them?
“What O'Neill's success teaches all who try to manage and motivate
others is that the initial effort you put in with people pays long-term
dividends far greater than money alone can buy.”
Source +
By 'Andrew Flintoff'
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