The Managers: Martin O’Neill, 1995-2000

[s_mac1997]

A giant of a man. Very unassuming and humble, but with the tenacity of a lion.

 

He made average players believe that they could reach up and pluck the stars out of the sky.

[sm1]

4 hours ago, smr said:

My fav manager. And I think that's because of his success with us and just as importantly his charisma and personality. I like the way he speaks, very thoughtfully and intelligently. He's got a nice charm about him. A very clever man, a clever manager, and he seemed great at man-management. 

 

I missed out on 92' against blackburn but went to all the wembley games since and that's mostly thanks to MON. Strangely though, despite saying this. I remember as a kid being more pissed off about Little going to Villa than MON going to Celtic. 

Very true.  I was disappointed Little left,  angry when McGhee left,  but wished MON  all the best when he left. Infact I wish him well at Forest and hope he gets them promoted. Great manager. 

[The whole world smiles]

Anyone in their 30s like me who went to school in Leicester will remember that there was nothing worse than going to school on a Monday taking sh*t of glory supporting, Leicester born, Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool and even Newcastle fans after their adopted team had beat our local one.

 

How ever Martin O'Neil's sides beat all of them! One by one and then beat most of them again! and I got to bowl into school on a Monday with my head held high ready to make the glory boys lives hell for a couple of days. And I'll always be eternally grateful to him for that!

 

Although we take bearing the big boys for granted now and we seem to beat at least 2 a season in those days and in the 11 years since it was unheard of

 

Up the city!

[Gamble92]

3 hours ago, Vacamion said:

 

For that magical moment against Crystal Palace at Wembley, which is the only time in that I've ever experienced real life pass in slow motion, and which was followed by about 30 seconds of utter screaming mad gutteral joy, when I ended up a few rows away from where I'd started, Martin O'Neill and his team have my eternal gratitude. 

 

 

I don't even care that he now manages Forest.  I hope he gets them promoted. 

 

My God I've mellowed with age.  

Loved that post until the last bit. Are you ill?

[Durnerz]

My favourite manager and probably the best years until the title win that I've ever experienced as a Leicester fan. The distraction technique of bringing on a 6'7 Aussie was enough to allow Claridge to send us to the Prem. His teams were always hard working with talent in the areas that mattered. Brilliant manager.

[Lionheart10]

I bet most would have nothing but good things to say about MON but lets not forget there were a lot of people calling for him to go in the early days!Just goes to show that they need time to build.

[Guest Markyblue]

Always be a legend to me ,will remember the tears at Hillsborough not able to believe we had won a trophy.  But keep forest in the championship martin.

[Muzzy_Larsson]

Loving this thread. 

 

Just shows the measure of the man the adulation and legend status he has at two clubs.

 

He’s the best Celtic manager I’ve ever seen in my lifetime and I reckon I’ll still be of that opinion 50 years from now.

[whetstonefox]

The period 1991( probably from the great escape v Oxford) to MON leaving was an unbelievable time to follow the club. I know it encompassed 3 managers and not just MON but so much happened and some fantastic away days. 

[Fox92]

70 today! Happy birthday to a legend.

 

 

 

[mod hero]

On 06/03/2019 at 15:11, RoboFox said:

Seems strange to say it, but still to this day, after everything that's happened - probably my favourite manager. 

 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I'm looking back through adolescent blue-tinted specs... But he had an aura about him that I loved as a kid.

 

And f**k me that team he built was good.

 

Same mate 👍🏻 
 

it was a glorious time 💙🦊

[thursday_next]

I remember going to an FA Cup tie at home against Southend which was fairly disastrous - we lost 1-3, but I couldn't stop smiling, because I'd seen the future of Leicester City in the shape of Emile Heskey who came on as substitute in the 70th minute. He didn't score but Southend just couldn't handle him, and it was reasonably obvious that he was going to spread panic among the majority of defenders. We hadn't had a player like him before, not for years. O'Neill was fortunate to have him, and together with the other players he brought in, in particular Neil Lennon (I couldn't believe that he didn't go somewhere else, like every other player that we were going to sign but didn't) and Muzzy Izzet. He has to be my second favourite manager of all time next to Pearson, who is God 

[pkonline]

Happy 70th Birthday to MON!

 

He's still got his wit and charm - anyone hear him in 5 Live Monday Night Club few weeks ago - he was brilliant 👏🏽

[Sampson]

On 06/03/2019 at 16:35, Jobyfox said:

 

When I think about it now I realise that we haven't yet been able to manage what MON did. That's 4 consecutive top half finishes and never looking in danger of relegation. That's quite some going and was pretty hard to achieve then as it is now.

 

Not arguing about MON, but…

 

2017-18 - 9th

2018-19 - 9th

2019-20 - 5th

2020-21 - 5th

 

The previous 4 seasons are a better record of league finishes than we had under MoN

 

Edit: Just realised this is an old thread and that was from 3 years ago. Never mind….

Edited 1 March 2022 by Sampson

[Fox92]

2 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Not arguing about MON, but…

 

2017-18 - 9th

2018-19 - 9th

2019-20 - 5th

2020-21 - 5th

 

The previous 4 seasons are a better record of league finishes than we had under MoN

Although O'Neill also got us to three cup finals, winning two, and took us into Europe.

 

Plus he wasn't spending 20m a season on players, he was signing players from the football league, and reserve teams, and making them into good PL players.

 

I don't know why we have to compare everything.

[Sampson]

9 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

Although O'Neill also got us to three cup finals, winning two, and took us into Europe.

 

Plus he wasn't spending 20m a season on players, he was signing players from the football league, and reserve teams, and making them into good PL players.

 

I don't know why we have to compare everything.

I wasn’t. I was responding to a post which talked about league finishes only. However I didn’t realise it was a few years old.

 

I think you took it completely the wrong way and got defensive. No one was comparing the prices and transfers. Though I’d argue the gap of spending between the big spending 4-6 clubs and a club like our size is way bigger now than it was back then.

Edited 1 March 2022 by Sampson

[Fox92]

6 minutes ago, Sampson said:

I wasn’t. I was responding to a post which talked about league finishes only. However I didn’t realise it was a few years old.

 

I think you took it completely the wrong way and got defensive. No one was comparing the prices abs transfers. Though I’d argue the gap of spending between the big spending 4-6 clubs and a club like our size is way bigger now than it was back then.

Apologies.

 

Yes I dug up and old thread.

[Jobyfox]

46 minutes ago, Sampson said:

Not arguing about MON, but…

 

2017-18 - 9th

2018-19 - 9th

2019-20 - 5th

2020-21 - 5th

 

The previous 4 seasons are a better record of league finishes than we had under MoN

 

Edit: Just realised this is an old thread and that was from 3 years ago. Never mind….

I’m left wondering what I could post now that could be dug up in 3 years time and be proven wrong. Maybe:

 

“Brendan Rodgers hasn’t won the Premier League and qualified for the Champions League like Ranieri did. An astonishing achievement then as it would be now” 

[HankMarvin]

Looked back by many as one of the most favourable times in the Clubs recent history.

 

I wonder how much of this has to do with the fact that Internet football forums were not around. Collective bias, negative stories and opinions were limited to match day fans and local journalists reporting on the games before we were promoted.

 

 

5 draws 

2 defeats 

In his first 7 matches 

 

3 wins and 4 defeats in the following 9

Obviously it’s well documented there was discontent by match 16 with Sheffield Untitled.

But would MON have survived that period had fan forums had been around?

 

 

Maybe collectively it was the perfect storm, of the desire to be in the relatively new Premier League again, the fact that it was totally unexpected given the results and form prior to promotion a real rollercoaster ride with low expectations that were constantly exceeded.

It’s hard to look back retrospectively and remember underperforming players, 

My memories are of teams of overachievers and a likeable charismatic Manager.

 

 

[los dedos]

3 hours ago, Sampson said:

I wasn’t. I was responding to a post which talked about league finishes only. However I didn’t realise it was a few years old.

 

I think you took it completely the wrong way and got defensive. No one was comparing the prices and transfers. Though I’d argue the gap of spending between the big spending 4-6 clubs and a club like our size is way bigger now than it was back then.

I'd argue the opposite and say we are much more competitive in the transfer market and definitely more of a pull these days .

Plus give O Neil a " Vardy" and that alone would've have given higher finish than we could've ever imagined in those days  .

[foxfanazer]

On 06/03/2019 at 15:11, RoboFox said:

Seems strange to say it, but still to this day, after everything that's happened - probably my favourite manager. 

 

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and I'm looking back through adolescent blue-tinted specs... But he had an aura about him that I loved as a kid.

 

And f**k me that team he built was good.

 

I know what you mean about those adolescent blue tinted specs. It took me ages to finally admit that Vardy was my favourite ever Leicester player replacing Izzet and Walsh

[Sampson]

9 minutes ago, los dedos said:

I'd argue the opposite and say we are much more competitive in the transfer market and definitely more of a pull these days .

Plus give O Neil a " Vardy" and that alone would've have given higher finish than we could've ever imagined in those days  .

Strongly disagree. We might be more of a pull but absolutely are nowhere near as compeitive.

There's an objectively far bigger gap between the top 4/6 teams in terms of wages and transfer fees now than there was in the 90s. The league structure is far less competitive now.

Buying players from the lower leagues and other teams reserves was also standard fare for pretty much every club in the 90s who weren't ManUtd or Arsenal. The likes of Chelsea, Spurs, Newcastle and Blackburn were all littered with players signed from the lower leagues and other teams reserves, despite the money the likes of Blackburn and Newcastle were spending then (and the gap between them was nothing like the gap between us and Chelsea, Liverpool, ManCity or ManUtd and us now).

Not downplaying MONs achievements, but saying the competitiveness of the transfer market compared to today is just a weird angle to put MON's achievements into. 

Edited 1 March 2022 by Sampson

[coolhandfox]

Can't believe he is 70! 

 

Happy Birthday to a legend.

[davieG]

Sacked in the Morning
Martin O'Neill

Released On: 23 Nov 2022Available for over a year
Legendary Celtic and Leicester manager Martin O'Neill joins Amy and Craig as he takes a look back over his career. Martin goes back to the start to talk about how it started at Wycombe Wanderers, he discusses his amazing time at Celtic including the one big regret of his career plus what it was like to win not one but two European Cups with Nottingham Forest. Read less

 

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0dhx5jl

 

Podcast.

Not listened to it myself as I can't so might be rubbish.

[volpeazzurro]

On 01/03/2022 at 10:34, Sampson said:

Not arguing about MON, but…

 

2017-18 - 9th

2018-19 - 9th

2019-20 - 5th

2020-21 - 5th

 

The previous 4 seasons are a better record of league finishes than we had under MoN

 

Edit: Just realised this is an old thread and that was from 3 years ago. Never mind….

O'Neil had far far less to work with than Rodgers who had an excellent squad of players in situ when he first arrived from Celtic. 

Also, relatively speaking, Rodgers has spent far more in the transfer market and relatively speaking again, has not bought as wisely as O'Neil did who's achievements on paper look a little lower, in reality were far better for what he had at his disposal just imo.