He's done nowt yet and I liken much of Villa's early season form to that of ours under Roeder just after Souness got sacked. Basically Souness going was the big lift, same with O'Leary who had a similar effect on Villa that Souness had on us, minus the money spent. Lets see if he can do to Villa what KK did to us or Sir Bobby even. I'm not so sure, although it does seem like he'll get lots of money to spend so he might.
Either way we'll find out whether he really is as good or as great as many make him out to be.
Agreed. He might be good, but you can't say he is yet. If he, say, repeats what Bobby Robson was for Newcastle then we can rank him alongide that as being a good appointment, if not then he isn't, its pretty straightforward.
Worth noting, is also that O'leary, when he went to Villa was touted as the next big manager just like O'Neill is supposed to be now, and he got to the semi Final of the European Cup, far superior than the UEFA Cup Final. But time will tell.
O'Leary took an already top 6 team, spent 100m pounds, nearly bankrupted it, got it to a CL semi final, but won nothing.
MON took a shit squad in a shit league to the UEFA cup final. I'm a Villa fan, and DOL was the worst manager we have ever had. Worse than Billy McNeill, worse than Tommy Docherty. He created a situation whereby, last summer, most of the squad wanted to leave. He constantl talked the team down, alienated the supporters, turned good players into bad ones, and created an atmosphere of doom throughout the club, from top to bottom. I pity the next club who employ this man
MON has, in a very short time, turned the team around beyod belief. Don't forget, he took the job less than 2 weeks before the start of the season, and the transfer window closed before the Lerner take over was finalised, so he has had no money other than that spent on Petrov. He's also lost Milner (considered our best player last year), and De La Cruz, so strictly speaking, he's got an even smaller squad than DOL had.
We're now still unbeaten, along with Everton (not forgetting the fact that we've had away games at Arsenal and Chelsea, whereas Everton have barely been tested). He's turned things around entirely, in pretty much no time. I don't expect us to qualify for the CL this year, but UEFA qualification is a possibility. This is with a squad which most people had written off last year as "shite".
I honestly would not swap MON for any other manager you care to mention, working anywhere. He has instilled a buzz, a confidence, and a feeling that we can be great again in every part of the club, from top to bottom. He took the job and *immediately* understood what the fans wanted, got a feel for the history of the club, recognised what the problems were, and talked about how he was going to solve them. Belive me, this man is a great manager, and an extraordinary motivator. I find it amusing that you suggest achieving what SBR did for Newcastle as the benchmark of a good appointment - he's going to do a lot more than that
Isn't it funny how one finds so many doubters of MON's ability on the boards of teams who he was linked with but rejected / not appointed for whatever reason?
