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Guest elbee909

I actually want someone like Martin O' Neill to make them a bit more competitive.  For a while now they've been, frankly, a bit boring.

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Dave makes a good point (can't be arsed to go back a page to quote it).

 

He's a good manager who gets good results. There's no getting away from that. They haven't appointed Avram Grant.

 

On the flip side, that stuff from the bloke in Leicester is so spot on, i almost nodded my head clean off my shouders. He's very far from being any type of messiah. He'll get them to 8th to 10th, I reckon, which for Sunderland is quite the achievement.

 

Actual fact does not bear comparison to some of the media fawning. Henry Winter the other day described him as "a stellar manager". Not wanting to sound snooty, but if he's that, having been out of work for over a year, why on earth is he about to take over at Sunderland?

 

My advice to you lot is to marvel at the forthcoming press fawning, because it is going to make you vomit. It made me vomit even when he was with us, the suggestion being that we were Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa, that we were lucky to have him, and that should overrule any complaints we might have about the awful football or the profligate wasting of money. Had I known we'd still be getting it today (and we are), I would have opted never to have had him here at the first place.

 

I have personally never had a problem with Sunderland. Sure, RTG is the mongiest place I've ever seen on the internet, but on the flip side, my best mate at uni was a mackem, i watched them with him a lot in the third division. 

 

Now MON is going there, however, and thnking back to how he shat on us gigantically, and wanting to see how his press fan club would react to it, I wish them absolutely nothing but ill.

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The odd good cup run and a finish above us and the mackems will be dancing in the Wear though so MoN need not worry about else tbf.

 

Aye, as long as they get to brag about being the "NETD", that'll do them. No pressure about long term progression and all that.

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He's a good man manager and can see this improving Sunderland, they've obviously had issues under Bruce, however as said in article his disregard for tactics makes me wonder if their lack of any kind of identity playing may continue.

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Dave makes a good point (can't be arsed to go back a page to quote it).

 

He's a good manager who gets good results. There's no getting away from that. They haven't appointed Avram Grant.

 

On the flip side, that stuff from the bloke in Leicester is so spot on, i almost nodded my head clean off my shouders. He's very far from being any type of messiah. He'll get them to 8th to 10th, I reckon, which for Sunderland is quite the achievement.

 

Actual fact does not bear comparison to some of the media fawning. Henry Winter the other day described him as "a stellar manager". Not wanting to sound snooty, but if he's that, having been out of work for over a year, why on earth is he about to take over at Sunderland?

 

My advice to you lot is to marvel at the forthcoming press fawning, because it is going to make you vomit. It made me vomit even when he was with us, the suggestion being that we were Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa, that we were lucky to have him, and that should overrule any complaints we might have about the awful football or the profligate wasting of money. Had I known we'd still be getting it today (and we are), I would have opted never to have had him here at the first place.

 

I have personally never had a problem with Sunderland. Sure, RTG is the mongiest place I've ever seen on the internet, but on the flip side, my best mate at uni was a mackem, i watched them with him a lot in the third division. 

 

Now MON is going there, however, and thnking back to how he shat on us gigantically, and wanting to see how his press fan club would react to it, I wish them absolutely nothing but ill.

 

Those bits instantly reminded me of Big Fat Sam. Four years on it's still our fault despite the fact he was inevitably going to take us down, and I know that if he had he wouldn't have been to blame somehow. I'd like to hear the journo meetings where they decide which managers to deify and which to denigrate and why. Poxy gets.

 

Oh, and for the last seven words, welcome aboard! :thup: :clap:

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Its funny how fans and pundits, including neutral ones, have come out saying things like "Sunderland will now finish above Newcastle" or that they will next season.

 

I don't remember us ever appointing a manager and talking about Sunderland.

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Its funny how fans and pundits, including neutral ones, have come out saying things like "Sunderland will now finish above Newcastle" or that they will next season.

 

I don't remember us ever appointing a manager and talking about Sunderland.

have they, where ?
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He's a good man manager and can see this improving Sunderland, they've obviously had issues under Bruce, however as said in article his disregard for tactics makes me wonder if their lack of any kind of identity playing may continue.

 

He's a good man manager of player he likes.

 

With us too often he'd sign players, then soon after decide he didn't rate them, and treat them like they didn't exist.

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Its funny how fans and pundits, including neutral ones, have come out saying things like "Sunderland will now finish above Newcastle" or that they will next season.

 

I don't remember us ever appointing a manager and talking about Sunderland.

have they, where ?

 

On the phone ins, on forums, Stan Collymore, on some forums with neutrals i've read.

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Dave makes a good point (can't be arsed to go back a page to quote it).

 

He's a good manager who gets good results. There's no getting away from that. They haven't appointed Avram Grant.

 

On the flip side, that stuff from the bloke in Leicester is so spot on, i almost nodded my head clean off my shouders. He's very far from being any type of messiah. He'll get them to 8th to 10th, I reckon, which for Sunderland is quite the achievement.

 

Actual fact does not bear comparison to some of the media fawning. Henry Winter the other day described him as "a stellar manager". Not wanting to sound snooty, but if he's that, having been out of work for over a year, why on earth is he about to take over at Sunderland?

 

My advice to you lot is to marvel at the forthcoming press fawning, because it is going to make you vomit. It made me vomit even when he was with us, the suggestion being that we were Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa, that we were lucky to have him, and that should overrule any complaints we might have about the awful football or the profligate wasting of money. Had I known we'd still be getting it today (and we are), I would have opted never to have had him here at the first place.

 

I have personally never had a problem with Sunderland. Sure, RTG is the mongiest place I've ever seen on the internet, but on the flip side, my best mate at uni was a mackem, i watched them with him a lot in the third division. 

 

Now MON is going there, however, and thnking back to how he shat on us gigantically, and wanting to see how his press fan club would react to it, I wish them absolutely nothing but ill.

 

...Sunderland appears to be a perfect fit for the Northern Irishman - an under-achieving team crying out for the shot of energy, enjoyment and self-belief that O’Neill injects into moribund clubs.

 

O’Neill is keenly aware of the club’s rich history and its core of fanatical support and will revel in the team’s current underdog status compared to their fiercest rivals, Newcastle.

 

Nor is it thought that O’Neill will be in any way dismayed by suggestions that he will not have much money to spend at the Stadium of Light.

 

In fact, in some ways he is relishing the task of trying to revive Sunderland without significant financial backing.

 

Some have sought to damage his reputation with a drip-feed of criticism about his spending at Villa and the wages that were paid to players during his reign there.

 

But since he left, Villa have sold three players that he bought - Ashley Young, James Milner and Stewart Downing - for massive profits; profits that put O’Neill’s expenditure in an entirely different light.

 

It is also worth pointing out that when O’Neill was manager, Villa finished sixth in the Premier League for three successive seasons.

 

Without him, they finished ninth last season and currently lie eighth, although they appear to have been cut adrift of the top seven.

 

Their ambitions of qualifying for the Champions League disappeared when O’Neill left.

 

So, even though Sunderland are only two points above the relegation zone, they are also just five points behind Villa.

 

O’Neill’s admirers would back him to not only close that margin but overhaul it this season.

 

One of football’s great characters has been out of the game long enough.

 

If Sunderland close the deal, it will be good to have him back.

 

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/opinion/blogs/mirror-football-blog/Why-Martin-O-Neill-is-perfect-fit-as-next-Sunderland-manager-and-why-they-are-perfect-for-him-Oliver-Holt-opinion-article837324.html

 

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Oliver Holt is the most revolting of all MON fanatics in the media.

 

"drip feed of criticism" my fucking arse.

 

He's not even signed his contract, and already I'm getting wound up. I think I shall retire to bed.

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Why Martin O'Neill and Sunderland are a perfect match

 

Page last updated at 14:18 GMT, Friday, 2 December 2011

 

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By Pat Murphy

BBC Radio 5 live sports reporter

 

The Sunderland job is a perfect fit for Martin O'Neill. He loves a cause and now has the chance to galvanise the fortunes of a club that desperately wants to dine at a higher table than it is currently occupying.

 

O'Neill will play the underdog card and tap into Sunderland's history, reminding anyone who cares that he genuinely did support Sunderland, as well as Celtic, when he was growing up in Northern Ireland.

 

He will talk all day to the supporters about his particular idol - Irish defender Charlie Hurley, who played for the club for 13 years in the 1950s and 60s. He knows about other club legends such as Stan Anderson, George Mulhall and Ambrose Fogarty - plus a player who eventually influenced O'Neill's own playing career after playing in Sunderland's red and white - Brian Clough.

 

O'Neill knows that past allegiances don't add up to much if you're not winning matches but he genuinely respects the history of clubs.

 

He will not be found wanting on that score at Sunderland. He will charm the respective supporters' associations with his memories of their former ground Roker Park - and that will at least give him a head start.

 

O'Neill understands the passion of supporters and not just because he appears to be one of them as he goes through the varying emotions in his technical area.

 

He is sharp enough to appreciate the socio-economic problems associated with life on Wearside and understands the unifying force of football. It is as you would expect from someone who grew up in divided Ulster at the time of the Troubles - when sport provided a welcome antidote to so many tragic social ills.

 

Transfer acumen

 

O'Neill also has something to prove. He is still a driven football man who loves nothing better than proving his detractors wrong. He will be apprehensive initially about returning to club management after 16 months out of the game since leaving Aston Villa. He will also be aware that he needs to strike the right note with his new squad. He has only worked with two of them - Phil Bardsley and Craig Gardner - in the past but is acute enough to rely on his own methods.

 

Satisfactory results early on are crucial. He will never decry the previous manager and will happily work with what he has. He is no stranger to limited budgets - as at Leicester and Celtic - and will be intent on proving he can mould whatever he has to work with into an acceptable product.

 

Those who have pilloried O'Neill for the money he spent at Aston Villa might care to do the sums. He bought Ashley Young from Watford for £9.65m, James Milner for £12m from Newcastle and Middlesbrough's Stewart Downing for the same amount. Since then, the club have sold the trio for a combined £30m profit - after enjoying a highly satisfactory yield from their services.

 

And they might ponder the scenario that, if O'Neill had been allowed to buy Scott Parker from West Ham for £6m in the summer of 2010 to replace Milner, he might still be Villa's manager.

 

In need of a challenge

 

O'Neill can on occasion be insecure. He knows how short-term the football world can be. He has at times been concerned over being out of the game for more than a year, aware that younger contenders from overseas do appeal to foreign owners of Premier League clubs.

 

He needed a challenge and it has turned up at the right time. Next March he will join the sixty-somethings of Premier League management. But Harry Redknapp, Roy Hodgson, Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger aren't lagging behind in nous or results - and there's no reason why O'Neill won't join them near the top of the Premier League.

 

Rest assured he will have thought deeply about his mistakes at Aston Villa - and the key areas where he felt he was right. But he won't be haggling with Sunderland owner and chairman Ellis Short.

 

Survival the minimum

 

Sunderland's next fixtures are against Wolves and Blackburn. They are the sort of muck and nettles encounters that O'Neill loves. If he can't manufacture safety from 25 matches, he will be hugely disappointed with himself.

 

Sunderland may be only two points ahead of the bottom three but they're only five adrift of Aston Villa in eighth.

 

Who will finish ahead of the other in May?

 

When Villa host Sunderland on Saturday, 21 April, I doubt if O'Neill's new club will be staring at relegation with four games to go. And the Villa fans who lambasted O'Neill for his abrupt departure - never yet explained by him - might reflect on the words of Joni Mitchell in her classic song Big Yellow Taxi: "You don't know what you've got 'til it's gone".

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/15999771.stm

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O'Neill will play the underdog card and tap into Sunderland's history, reminding anyone who cares that he genuinely did support Sunderland, as well as Celtic, when he was growing up in Northern Ireland.

 

:lol:

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