‘If we can’t get up, I will hand it over for somebody else’
MARTIN O’NEILL could have become Nottingham Forest manager on numerous occasions in seasons gone by, the offer of building on his legend with the club made by more than one regime. But now in position, he appreciates sentimentality is of little consequence.
‘The target is to get promotion,’ he said. ‘I’m here for 18 months and if we can’t get up then I’ll hand it over for somebody else to try.’ It is a short-term contract for a man long in years but listening to him at the City Ground yesterday, the stadium where he helped bring miracles as a player for 10 years, was to hear the essence of enthusiasm.
‘I love football, that has never waned,’ he said. ‘I’ve reached a certain age where somebody could step in here, do really well and stay, and I’d have to retire and go off into the sunset and never have this opportunity.
‘I have a lot of very fond memories here. To go from promotion to the league title, to League Cups, to European Cups, for a provincial club, was extraordinary. Those were heady days.
‘But don’t live in the past. I’m trying to carve a niche here for the current players. I am really looking forward to it. I have had a number of chances before but I wasn’t sure if it was the right time. Maybe there was some sort of destiny attached.’
O’Neill would like to extend that sense of fate to Roy Keane, another favoured former player who is in discussions to join as assistant, reprising their partnership with Ireland.
‘He was a great asset to me at Ireland. He was tough to handle, no doubt, but it’s what makes him special. He drove Manchester United for 10 years, and he didn’t win those things by just sitting around.’
It has been six years since O’Neill, 66, managed a club and his finish at Ireland after success at Euro 2016 came with criticism of his methods.
He accepts the landscape has changed since he was at Sunderland in 2013, but he made a compelling case for fitting well with Forest’s continental model under owner Evangelos Marinakis. In the main O’Neill will leave transfers to others and he believes his motivational skills, used on the squad he has, can close a gap of four points to the play-offs.
‘I was asked to take ownership for the clubs when I went to Celtic, Leicester, Aston Villa. There are sporting directors now,’ he said. ‘I think it’s more collective. You have to remember who runs the club. I have to work within the parameters I will be given. I have to talked to some of the players I’ve dealt with over the years and I think I’ve changed, adapted, and adjusted.’
If O’Neill does inspire promotion, he expects the contract to be reassessed. ‘Surely that’s something that is to be looked at if that’s the case,’ he said.
‘I feel very young.’