RETURN FALLS FLAT
O’Neill’s first Forest game ends with defeat Signings needed and McClean is one target
MARTIN O’NEILL was warned twice about straying outside his technical area as the 66year-old showed his passion for management remains as strong as ever.
O’Neill was greeted like a messiah as he took charge of his first game as boss of Nottingham Forest, a club where he won major trophies as a player under Brian Clough.
The performance that followed was underwhelming but the former Republic of Ireland manager was his trademark fidgety self as he tried to rouse the troops and at one point he found himself 20 yards outside his designated area.
‘I didn’t realise how far I’d gone. The fourth official called me back a couple of times and said he was going to report it, so I thought I’d better stay back. After the second warning, I thought I’d better keep my distance,’ he admitted.
‘I was caught up in it, absolutely. When you haven’t realised you have travelled 20 yards more than you should, then there must be something in it.’
Bristol City were worthy of the win, earned by Famara Diedhiou’s close-range finish after 70 minutes, and O’Neill realises the hard work starts now with Forest seven points outside the play-offs.
Previous manager Aitor Karanka preferred patient, possession football whereas O’Neill wants his team to build attacks more quickly and picked two strikers on Saturday.
‘The players have been used to one thing. We played balls back to the keeper when we should have been looking to go forward,’ he said.
‘The players were saying beforehand that sometimes we didn’t have enough bodies in the box [under Karanka]. I thought it was the time to play two strikers so we could get on the front foot early on and establish a proper foothold.’
The masterplan didn’t quite work on Saturday, when a sell-out crowd saw Forest only put their visitors under pressure once they had fallen behind.
Before then, it was 6ft 8in home goalie Costel Pantilimon who was the busier keeper with saves from Jamie Paterson and Andy Weimann. O’Neill will now try to persuade owner Evangelos Marinakis to fund a couple of January signings and has his eye on Stoke’s James McClean, who played under his fellow Derry man at Sunderland.
Bristol City are looking healthy, just one place outside the playoffs under their bright 37-year-old manager Lee Johnson.
He is enjoying pitting his wits against the likes of Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa, QPR’s Steve McClaren and O’Neill and is heading overseas to study training methods in the Bundesliga.
‘I am going to Leipzig on Monday for a couple of days for a bit of CPD [continuous professional development],’ he revealed.
was a confident, outgoing woman. I never told him about the procedures — it just didn’t come up. When we got married in 2007, I didn’t even think to mention it.
A few years later, we were visiting my older sister when she took out her wedding album. And there I was in the photographs with my pre-surgery nose.
When Darius saw the pictures, he was utterly confused — he insisted it couldn’t be me. That’s when I told him.
To say he wasn’t happy that I’d kept it secret for 11 years was an understatement. He screamed at me in front of my family and stormed out of the house. My sister and I then had a huge row.
Darius and I didn’t speak for almost three weeks. He was fuming and felt he’d been duped.
Though I understood why he was annoyed, I was really hurt at how shocked and angry he was. It was such a difficult time, I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. I thought I might have lost him.
It makes me think that had Darius met me before I had my nose job, he wouldn’t have fallen in love with me. DARIUS SAYS: My wife is an attractive woman, but when I saw those teenage photos, I was shocked to discover how different her face was.
It took a while to come to terms with her decision not to tell me. You can’t help but wonder what else you don’t know about. I would have preferred to know. When I first met her, my reaction was: ‘Wow, she’s gorgeous!’ I even told my parents I’d found the mother of my children.
It’s too early to tell whether our children have inherited her large nose. I’ll admit I worry about it; when our sons were born, the first thing I did was peer at their faces to see whose nose they have.
Everyone thinks I’m being awful, but it’s important to me. At least we have sons — having a large nose is much worse for a girl.
I HAD TO ADMIT I’D HAD THREE TERMINATIONS
EARLY years practitioner Mimi Petrova, 38, is married to Alex, 33, a painter. They have a two-year-old son, Martin. Mimi says: THROUGHOUT my 20s, I had no intention of settling down, and went from one relationship to another. But when I met Alex in 2012, I knew he was The One.
We’ve never been curious about each other’s relationship history. We were looking to our future, not our past.
That’s why I didn’t mention the three abortions I had aged 21, 23 and 28. Each of the pregnancies was an accident. On two occasions we didn’t use protection and on the third the condom split.
Looking back, I was young and naive. Ironically, I was studying childcare. But I wasn’t ready for a child of my own, financially or emotionally, and the guys weren’t serious either. Alex and I got married in 2013, and I knew he wanted a family. He was so looking forward to us becoming parents that I didn’t want to put him off by revealing my past.
I walked down the aisle with zero regrets. There was no need to tell Alex — or so I thought.
Then we tried for a baby for a year. But nothing happened. As each month passed, I became more and more frightened by my past actions.
Our GP suggested we undergo medical tests and that’s when I knew I had to confess.
I cooked a meal and after we’d drunk the best part of a bottle of wine, I told Alex the truth. I knew it was a risk; that if I couldn’t give him a family it was likely to be a deal-breaker. He was stunned, but supported me. I’d worried that he’d be angry or judgmental, but he wasn’t.
Then, luckily, the medical team reassured him there was no reason I shouldn’t get pregnant. A year later I found out I was expecting. Now, it’s something we never talk about. But sometimes I wonder whether we’d still be together if I hadn’t fallen pregnant.
ALEX SAYS: Mimi is a really together person, so it’s hard to imagine her not being careful when it comes to contraception.
I understand why she didn’t tell me about the abortions — people do make mistakes. None of us is perfect. Her previous pregnancies happened when she was still in full-time education and enjoying life. Bringing a child into the world with no means to support it isn’t a good idea.
That’s why I didn’t want to dwell on why we hadn’t discussed it before, although I was hurt at first that she’d hidden it from me.
Now we’ve got our son and we hope to have more children.
LOAN TROUBLES LEFT ME BANKRUPT
NURSING assistant Hayley Garbutt, 51, is married to Maurice, 53, an engineer. She has three children. Hayley says: DURING my first marriage, my husband and I were juggling two businesses — a stationery shop and an after-school club. We also had two kids and a mortgage to pay. It was a struggle.
By the time the 2008 recession hit, it was clear both businesses were failing. We closed the afterschool club so I could find paid work. In the end, I took on three jobs, working 70 hours a week while my husband ran the shop.
I agreed to be a guarantor for a €43,000 loan. Meanwhile, the money I earned was paying the mortgage, the loan repayments and running our home.
A year later, our marriage was at breaking point and, to cut a long story short, I had no option but to declare myself bankrupt.
I started dating Maurice, an old school friend, the following year. He thought it was odd that I had left my marriage without a penny to my name, and did grill me about it. But I simply said the bank had taken everything when the business failed, and that was that.
Maurice only found out the truth after we married in 2014.
As soon as we were man and wife, he wanted to put my name on the house deeds. I didn’t want the bankruptcy to impact on him — I feared it could affect his credit rating — so I told him not to and explained why.
He was more than surprised; cross is the word that sums it up. Just thinking about it now makes me feel ill.
Today, Maurice is keen for me to share responsibility for our money. He trusts me, but I don’t trust myself. The experience scared me so much I don’t want any form of debt in my name.
MAURICE SAYS: When Hayley and I started seeing each other, I noticed she had a pay-as-you-go phone and didn’t have any credit cards either. Looking back, all the signs were there.
It’s a horrible situation for her to have found herself in and I understand why she didn’t tell me.
But I wish I had known from the start, if only because I could have helped her financially. I firmly believe that couples shouldn’t have secrets from one another.