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Guest ObiChrisKenobi

Yup, I called him a chequebook manager, and I still think that. Spends to fix issues with a team, rather than coaching through them (example - Pardew coaching our team into a tough defensive unit, rather than spending money on a whole new defensive unit). Plays one style of football. Doesn't change his approach when its not working.

 

He's another backseat manager, that doesn't get involved in the coaching and relies heavily on a coaching staff to cover all aspects of training. Its not a BAD thing, just a pet hate I have when a manager doesn't get involved at any level other than picking a team.

 

These are thoughts towards MON I've had even before he took over at Sunderland.

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What the hell does marra mean anyway?  I presume it's mate but just looks so daft.

 

Met quite a few mackems and never heard one say it.  They seem to love it on messageboards.

 

Only been to Wearside for work, in and out as fast as I could and never heard it then either.

 

It's used a lot by Geordies too, or least was when I lived there.

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Can't say I've heard many Geordies using marra. Seems exclusively a smoggie/mackem type thing.

 

Might be a generation thing, but it was everywhere when I was growing up, I was a Jesmond/Gosforth lad when I moved to the Burradon area, and I could barely understand a word other kids were saying to me when I first moved there, marra was used a lot back them in the late 70's early 80's.

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Guest ObiChrisKenobi

http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=647861&page=22

 

Hi Sunderland fans, a Villa fan here, saw this thread and wanted to add my thoughts on our former employee, Mr O'Neill.

 

How can i sum him up? Well, achieved marginal success at Villa but not without the problems. On the outside, i can see why other fans would think he was a total success at Villa. 3 top six finishes, a wembley final ( which we were hard done by) and another semi final at Wembley. We also made good profits on Gareth Barry, James Milner, Ashley Young and Stewart Downing. We were in Europe regularly, but i'll touch on that later.

 

He gets the best out of normally average players. That's how i look at it. Villa's team did well but with the exception of one or two players they were all very solid players, nothing to shout from the rooftops about. When Randy came in to Villa, him and the rest of the board were new to English football and Martin totally had control of the club, no lie. The training ground was redeveloped to make it one of the best in the country, which clearly the players benefitted from. Onto his signings. Out of all the signings he made there was a few decent ones but a lot of dud ones too.

 

Stiliyan Petrov- £6.5m. £60k a week.

Didier Agathe- Free. £35k a week.

Chris Sutton- Free. £30k a week.

John Carew- Swap for Baros- £52k a week.

Ashley Young- £9.65m- £50k a week.

Shaun Maloney- 1.5m- £40k a week.

Moustapha Salifou- Free- £15k a week.

Zat Knight- £3.5m- 45k a week.

Marlon Harewood- £4m- 48k a week.

Nigel Reo-Coker- £8.5m- 40k a week

Wayne Routledge- £1.5m- 35k a week

Curtis Davies- 10m- 25k a week.

Steve Sidwell- 6m- 50k a week.

Brad Friedel- £2.5m. £55k a week.

Brad Guzan- 1m. £20k a week.

Nicky Shorey- 4m. £40k a week.

Luke Young- 5.5m. £60k a week.

Carlos Cuellar- 7.8m- 50k a week.

James Milner- 12m- £55k a week.

Emile Heskey- 3.5m- £65k a week.

Stewart Downing- £12m- £60k a week.

Fabian Delph- £6m- £35k a week.

Andy Marshall- Free- £20k a week.

Stephen Warnock- £8m- £55k a week.

James Collins- 5m- 50k a week.

Richard Dunne- 6m- £60k a week.

Habib beye- 3m- £50k a week.

 

Now Randy Lerner backed him really well. Out of all those signings i could say only Brad Friedel, James Milner, Ashley Young, Stewart Downing, Petrov and John Carew turned out very good signings. The rest were all very mediocre and on a huge amount of money. Worst of all he never played them.

 

O'Neill's teams played on the counter with pace. Sat very deep and tried to pick teams off on the counter. Trouble was, MON never had a plan B so if ever a team like Wigan came to Villa Park and parked the bus, we could never ever break them down and game ended up in defeat or a draw. He used to pick the same 11 every single week. Used to drop players for no utter reason with no explanation and they wouldn't get a look in again for 6 months. Towards the end of his reign he used to criticise Villa fans for ever daring to have a different opinion to him and became very paranoid over what people thought about how he was managing the club.

 

The Moscow europa league thing was a debacle. How we had gone so far in that competition and then waved the white flag with a whimper, that's where it started going downhill for O'Neill. During his final season, a man called Paul Faulkner was appointed as Villa's chief executive. Randy Lerner, having been in charge for five years had seen how players like Nigel Reo-Coker, Heskey, L.Young, Shorey, Guzan, Beye, Davies etc who all weren't playing were crippling the club and decided the club needed to cut their cloth accordingly. If this hadn't have happened, i am convinced under O'Neill we would have ended up like Leeds United. So Paul Faulkner's job was to cut the wages down. 88% of Villa's revenue was going straight back out in player wages. Villa's wage bill was higher than Spurs's and we hadn't realistically come close to finishing in the top four. It wasn't good enough.

 

So Martin was told how the club needed to cut back. These fringe players needed to be let go of until new players were brought in. O'Neill didn't like this, planned his exit well, and departed to cause maximum disarray at Villa Park. Villa have been in transition ever since. We appointed Kevin MacDonald who took an age to decide whether he wanted the job, decided he did and then the club gave it to Gerard Houllier. Houllier fell out with a number of players and until the final 6 games, we were in relegation trouble. Then he had his heart problems and we appoint Alex McLeish, despite controversy surrounding his last employers, its hoped he will bring some much needed stability to the club. But the problem still lies. Until Villa get rid of Collins, Dunne, Warnock, Petrov, Heskey, Beye, Guzan, Cuellar they will struggle to finish higher than 10th. Its quite clear that although some good times then, O'Neill's reign at Villa has come back to haunt the club. The way he walked out too still makes my blood boil. He planned it down to maximum effect and despite what the press said about Villa fans booing, he was the most supported manager i have ever seen at Villa Park and to me, he totally disrespected the supporters who stuck by him when he walked out like that. I lost all respect at that moment, and i honestly, pray that you don't employ this vile person. He might give you some good times during the 4/5 years he stays with you but you will be looking back with regrets as you have ageing, expensive players on your books. A club like Sunderland does not deserve it, as Villa didn't, but we are counting the cost.

 

Yes, the club is in transition, yes we have the rivals ex manager but the club is being stabilised. Wages have come down and will keep coming down, Villa will be top ten, will learn from the O'Neill mistakes and will hopefully try and kick on again when the books have been balanced.

 

All the best for the season guys, i hope for your sakes, you don't get O'Neill. Be careful what you wish for.

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Guest BlacknWhiteArmy

He'll get abuse for being a Mag, just you watch.

 

If anyone says something negative towards MON or they oppose the appointment, basically. :lol:

 

"Fuck off you kernt"

"Fucking mag"

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Yup, I called him a chequebook manager, and I still think that. Spends to fix issues with a team, rather than coaching through them (example - Pardew coaching our team into a tough defensive unit, rather than spending money on a whole new defensive unit). Plays one style of football. Doesn't change his approach when its not working.

 

He's another backseat manager, that doesn't get involved in the coaching and relies heavily on a coaching staff to cover all aspects of training. Its not a BAD thing, just a pet hate I have when a manager doesn't get involved at any level other than picking a team.

 

These are thoughts towards MON I've had even before he took over at Sunderland.

 

He definitely is a chequebook manager.

 

NB that that is not necessarily a bad thing, but the fact is, his transfer policy is unbelievably UK focused - we had NO scouting network under him, zero - and UK based players cost money.

 

Take the money away and he struggles.

 

I am pretty convinced that when he left us, he really thought he was protecting his reputation - his first concern was Brand O'Neill, and having agreed on work to sort the wage bill with Lerner, he randomly changed his mind five days before the start of the season and decided he didn't want to.

 

That was entirely about protecting his own brand. He didn't want a season of transition on his CV, and I reckon when he walked out, he thought he'd be in line for a bigger job next - England (gone, thanks to Redknapp), Man United (not a fucking prayer, Martin) etc.

 

The problem is that a year and a bit on, he looks a less impressive manager than he did back then.

 

I also really think that a lot of people have looked at the cause of his strop and flouncing off and the way he dropped us in the shit and realised it doesn't paint him in a good light.

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The thing is the villa fann says all this but his club still finished 6th 3 years on the bounce, I would take that as a NUFC fan, for a Mackem it would be progress beyond anything they could dream of.

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Incidentally, the Guardian said this

 

Steve Bruce was a manager who refused to move with the times

The former Sunderland No1 paid little attention to modern coaching methods, technology or tactics – and now he looks like man whose era has passed

 

Unfortunately, MON is the worst of the lot for not paying attention to modern coaching methods, and tactically he is utterly hopeless.

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Can't say I've heard many Geordies using marra. Seems exclusively a smoggie/mackem type thing.

 

Add the more rural areas of County Durham to that. Christ.

 

Apologies oh great one.

 

I lived in the midlands - Swadlincote, and "marra" was used more regularly than up here from what I've experienced.

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Very interesting read and very similar to what brummie's thoughts were.

 

It's exactly what brummie is saying on here. In fact, wouldn't be surprised if it was brummie.

 

It wasn't me

 

You'd be surprised, though, at how much agreement there is amongst Villa fans on O'Neill.

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Incidentally, the Guardian said this

 

Steve Bruce was a manager who refused to move with the times

The former Sunderland No1 paid little attention to modern coaching methods, technology or tactics – and now he looks like man whose era has passed

 

Unfortunately, MON is the worst of the lot for not paying attention to modern coaching methods, and tactically he is utterly hopeless.

 

 

MON is trapped in the Day Brian Clough dropped him for a European Cup final.

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