A POINT TO PROVE
KEITH ANDREWS is surprised that Nottingham Forest are turning to club legend Martin O’neill to spearhead their playoff push.
But he reckons the ex-ireland boss will be motivated to prove people wrong after such a sour end to his five-year stay with the Boys in Green.
Twice a European Cup winner with the club in his playing days, O’neill is poised to agree an 18-month deal to succeed Aitor Karanka at the City Ground.
And Roy Keane is heavily linked with the assistant’s job having starred at Forest as a young player before joining Manchester United.
Andrews was a vocal critic of O’neill in the latter stages of his Ireland days and feels the 66-year-old will have to change his ways to be a success.
“His reputation has taken a dent but it’s a very good opportunity and a very good job to get,” he said.
“But it goes back to the point of what players need – millennial players – in the build-up to games.
“Will they get that off Martin? I don’t know. He certainly didn’t give it to our players, so will he give it to those players on a daily basis?
“Will he flourish more in a club environment, being involved day-to-day, building up those relationships? Time will tell.”
Andrews continued: “They’ve got big finances at that club, they’ve spent heavily on the squad, they’ve got a really good squad which should be in contention for the play-offs.
“I find it strange, the appointment. There’s the obvious historical link with Forest but I wouldn’t have thought the current owner would have bought into that.
“When you look at the squad, it’s got quite a continental flavour – a lot of Portuguese came in during the summer for big sums of money.
“I thought (Slavisa)
Jokanovic (right) would have been more of a natural fit, coming from Fulham where in a similar way they buy the players rather than the manager.”
While O’neill’s reputation in Ireland took a battering after a grim 2018, his stock in England is viewed differently.
There, he is deemed to have worked wonders with a limited bunch of internationals having secured Euro 2016 qualification before reaching a World Cup playoff.