Martin O’Neill: I am full of contradictions
I’m full of exaggerations and there are plenty of contradictions, too, so please try and keep up, says O’Neill
TWHERE are lies, damned lies and context, so it helps to set things straight. When Martin O’Neill was the manager of Aston Villa, Ashley Young scored a last minute winner against Everton at Goodison Park. It’s over five years ago now but he uses it as a reference point when discussing how praise can be sometimes manipulated. ‘Ashley Young was absolutely world class. He is a magnificent footballer and he put his chances in the net superbly,’ O’Neill said at the time after the winger netted twice in the 3-2 victory.
‘I did say “world class”,’ he accepts. ‘And then I heard some people in a TV programme say “but you said he was as good as Messi?” Well I don’t know. What he did that day was world class. It was an unbelievable goal. The game had gone back to 2-2 and in the last minute he bent the ball around… brilliant.
‘But then I heard someone say I described him like Messi. No I didn’t! I don’t describe too many players like Messi so it’s something that was lost in translation. I certainly did not say that Ashley Young was like Messi. Not that it matters now.’
Only, he did in 2008 when he was asked directly if Young, now with Manchester United, was as good as Ronaldo and Messi. ‘Yes, in my opinion.’
The Derryman does admit he has a penchant for the odd bit of hyperbole – holding his hands up to once declaring that another of his former wingers, this time Didier Agathe, was worth £50 million. ‘You see the exaggerations I use. I am full of contradictions.’
So, not everything should be taken at first glance. While there were plenty of misunderstandings and easily avoidable controversies during Giovanni Trapattoni’s reign as a result of the language barrier, at least his successor can explain the nuance of his language and humour.
Perhaps it was the time of year or the fact there’s almost 10 months before the Ireland manager takes charge of a competitive fixture, but O’Neill spoke as if he hadn’t a care in the world. He happily labelled Aiden McGeady a ‘cantankerous git’ and almost split his sides as he recalled FAI chief executive John Delaney regaling him with the tale of Joe Lapira – the Irish-American college student who became the first amateur to represent Ireland in almost 50 years when Steve Staunton pulled him by his long red hair and threw him into friendly action against Ecuador in 2007.
‘Absolutely brilliant. Joe Lapira: “reporting for duty sir”. Straight out of college. Absolutely classic,’ O’Neill bellowed. HILE his one liners came thick and fast it was this caustic warning which resonated. ‘I still can go headon. When I speak about it here, I use humour. But believe me; if a player is driving me insane, he will know all about it. But I can be a bit humorous with players that I’ve got a lot of time for.’
This was illustrated as such by his genuine surprise and deadpan reaction when informed James McClean had become a father for the first time on Thursday.
‘It’s extraordinary.’ And when pressed if he thought this might lead him down a path of maturity.
‘James? Do you really want a long time me talking about James? Great kid, great kid. Daft as a brush.’
So as he attempted to explain the context in which many of his musings should be examined, it was heartening to see him show some compassion towards Paolo Di Canio when discussing the manner in which managers have lost their jobs this season.
Four Premier League managers have been sacked, one has resigned, and Cardiff City boss Malky Mackay looks set to follow suit shortly.
Di Canio was allowed buy 15 players but a bad start and he gets sacked
‘With respect to Di Canio, whatever you say about him, and I’ve said a lot about him just recently, he’s allowed to buy 15 players and then is gone within six or seven games. It doesn’t make a great deal of sense so some people have got to question themselves at the end of it. And I’m talking in general.
‘The money situation is almost intolerably big and they [owners] don’t want to lose [face]. I think you’d really have to ask them but in essence they start to panic if they think they are going to drop out of the League and then they make the changes. And then that changes.
‘The game has changed so much it’s untrue. Even ordinary managers a way back 30 years ago were getting time to do the job. Hence it was a massive surprise that Brian Clough lasted 44 days at Leeds. But that was self-inflicted and he knows that himself because he came in to criticise and ridicule one of the best sides in the country who had just won the League.
‘To turn around to tell some of those players to throw their medals in the bin, because they had cheated. I tell you what, if I had have been Johnny Giles… That is not the point. That is a different issue,’ he says, returning to the more recent topic of West Brom sacking head coach Steve Clarke.
‘Would you have said that Steve Clarke, who this time last year was winning games…. They [owners] can make all sorts of excuses. Now suddenly it’s a calendar year. It is not season by season anymore. If it suits their purpose, now it will be a calendar month, and then a calendar 15 minutes. I swear, it will be “we didn’t score, we didn’t force a corner in that last 15 minutes”. It’s crazy, it’s crazy. Does Roy [Keane] want to get back into that? Of course he does!’
THIS is another of those comments that requires O’Neill to provide a bit of context to prevent a little bit of panic. Sheffield Wednesday owner Milan Mandaric had made plain his interest earlier this month in speaking to Keane about taking the reins at Hillsborough.
‘I think Roy is committed here. If Roy had not been in here at the time – of course he wants to get into football management. That is obvious. But he has made a commitment here at this stage and it seems strange for Mandaric to say now that he wanted someone who he might have had before he got into the job here with Ireland,’ O’Neill says.
‘I spoke to Roy and he has not had contact with Sheffield Wednesday. So when it comes around, if it ever comes around, I will deal with it. But I would be surprised now if, at this minute, Roy went. I think he’s very committed here. Does he want to manage on his own at some stage? I would be wildly disappointed if he
I think Roy is committed here. I’d be surprised if he left right now
didn’t. But this here is a great opportunity for Roy at this minute and I think he wants it.
‘I didn’t spend hours and hours talking to him about it. He told me if any call was made that I would be the first one to know. I’m hoping I’m going to be right at this time. It is not something to get overly concerned about.’
He has more to worry about, most pertinently using the friendly with Serbia in March and ‘three, possibly four’ summer games to figure out his strongest starting XI before Euro 2016 qualifying begins in September.
‘I don’t know what the best side will be. September is the be all and end all for me and I have to try and use some of these games. Would I know what the best side is? I don’t think any of us sat around here know what the best side is at this minute. I think, “if the game was tomorrow, from using the players that I have used, would I have a fair idea of what the team would be?” Yes. But it’s not tomorrow. I’d have a better than fair idea but not comprehensively.
‘You think to yourself, “well, if Shane Long gets a bit of consistency into his game then, you know, that would be brilliant”. But he needs to be a bit more consistent in front of goal, to be playing pretty regularly in the side, all of those type of things, these things have all got massive influences.
‘I think at this minute, some of the players who are “definites” are young enough so unless they’re out with serious injuries they’d have a fairly decent chance. Séamus Coleman is excellent, a really excellent young player – one of the best fullbacks going and young [James] McCarthy is improving again – and they are playing for Everton, playing top class football. It’s great so you think there is a fairly decent chance at this minute that they would muster a place in the team.
‘Séamus is playing with so much confidence at this minute. He would be the first one to say that, defensively, he would like to make improvements, get out to players quickly, engage them and don’t let them get turned with the ball. But he is improving.’
No need for further context there.