by JBG » Sat May 29, 2004 6:33 pm
I kind of agree with Stu that if we had a choice I would go for someone like Benetiz over O' Neill, but I think that the likes of The Hustler, Owzat and Stu (and all those other people who don't like O' Neill) are kind of missing the point.
I'm a big supporter of O' Neill but I can't say for certain that he would be a success at Anfield. I think he would be a huge success, but I wouldn't put my house on it.
If the minimum preequisite for success was to sign someone that has a proven record you would never see Ferguson, Wenger, Benetiz, Mourinho in their current jobs. For example, plenty of people describe Scotland as a mickey mouse league, so Ferguson's achievements up there should be discounted in some people's opinion. Likewise Wenger's achievements in France.
Past success is no guarantee of future success: Louis Van Gaal failed miserably at Barcelona despite having amazing success at Ajaz, Marcello Lippi failed at Inter Milan despite an unblemished record at Juventus, Ferguson failed as Scotland manager, Cloughie lasted a month at Leeds, Venables has failed almost everywhere since he has left the England job, Tony Cottee bombed at Everton when they broke the bank to sign him, Gary Birtles scored one goal for Man UTD after they spent £1million on him 25 years ago.....I could go on and on for ever.
There are many different criteria for selecting a manager, and perhaps the most important criteria is past achievements. But there are other criteria as well, such as hunger, mentality, intelligence, charisma, contacts, personality, temperment etc.
As for Martin O' Neill I think people are being extremely unfair on him. He has done about as well as he can with the resources available: his achievements in Europe are remarkable. Yet begrudgers always point to Celtic's elimination to Villareal, being knocked out in the 1st stage of the CL etc. Remember the guy has had to work with second rate cast offs from the Premiership and has somehow moulded a team.
One last point: those people who claim Martin O' Neill likes the long ball obviously don't watch Celtic that often. Sure, they occasionally hit the ball long to Sutton and Hartson and they like to release the ball early, but they certainly don't hit as many long balls as we did under Houllier.
Jolly Bob Grumbine.