Martin O'Neill Exclusive Interview

What a blithering idiot!

"What's the point in entering if you don't try and make it" - Blithering, inconsistent idiot!

all about getting match fitness for the season, he does say he hopes to get some of the international players fit and in.

Villan of the north,You are the idiot mate,The bloke is a premier league football manager what have you done in the game?

ok guys, lets not go down this personal route...

Must admit liked that interview, it is REALLY difficult not to stumble and stammer a little when being interview, in my limited experience of doing the tv and radio stuff, no matter how hard you try to concentrate, you don't always come out with what you are trying to say as clearly as you want!

As for that interview, think it is a good one, covers plenty of topics, had a good funny moment when MON tells Jonny Gould 'I completely disagree with you... sorry, I meant completely agree with you, your phone ringing put me off...!' Just emailed Jonny to take the St Michael!

I reckon all those who have made up their mind that MON isnt' the right man should sign a pledge to give him at least ONE month this season to see where we are heading... can anyone take the challenge!?

I agree Fear. Plus that was a great interview, the final section was really interesting. "we are not running our business like that." That is a great quote, indictating what many of us have thought for a while. O'Neill is choosing not to blow 200 mil in one season at the chance of making top 4 in one season. HE is not saying that it is ue to lack of cash he is saying it is a choice. A plan!! I totally love MON. Legend and so glad he is our manager. Villanofthenorth I think the northern air is turning you into a Toon fan.

Why give him a month, I've already done this on more than one occasion(in fact more than a month) and if you are honest, so have you Fear.

Simonbigron, keep your comments to the topic.

MON IS the right man for us i wish people would get off his back any guy is going to make a few mistakes but he has changed us from a relegation threatened side to a team playing in europe we must not forget what an outstanding job he has done here and i for one have 100% confidence in him sure the transfer window is frustrating but he will get the job done and we will have another successful season UTV

This season is having the same feel about the previous season and the one before - MON sells average players, fans start to lose faith in MON, think he has not got a clue in the world what he is doing, start to turn against him, players start arriving, small % of Villa fans still not happy - roll on 9/10 months. Villa have qualified for Europe (again - im starting to enjoy consecutive seasons in Europe) and fans still not happy that Villa are progressing and are a solid top 6 team as opposed to a yo-yo team!

MON is The Man - no doubt about it.

the end of the day VOTN, he is the Villa manager, he'll remain the Villa manager and so I'd just love for people to take a step back now and lets see how the season develops. If it goes badly then I'm sure things will be re-assed!!

Re-assed?? A prophecy perhaps Mr Fear! Personally, I'm stuck in a kind of limbo, because I am in no doubt that O'Neill isn't right for us, and that he is no longer good for us (where, arguably, he once was). But on the other hand, I don't see Lerner sacking him. Ever. And I'm not convinced that dissatisfaction amongst the Villa faithful will be strong enough for O'Neill to be sacked. I see us being in about the same position we were under John Gregory with O'Neill, and unfortunately, I think that kind of mediocrity is good enough for most Villans.

I understand that Fear and do partially agree but in the same token, did you do that or feel that way with HDE? No, because you believed he was wrong for the club.

yup, true VotN, just with Doug it was far longer than 3 seasons! I know what you mean, just things aren't going to change for now, so I just can't find the energy to stress over it and do want MON to have the time to succeed or fail without any 'what ifs' like we had with JG. What if Juninho had been bought etc.. so close and then....

Let's hope we don't pick up any injuries eh? But if MON wants to pick up any Real Madrid players that are going spare, that will be most welcome. Not holding my breath however.

Again he mentions gambling on Downing because the competition next January from clubs with increased funds - does sort of indicate that he's operating on a bit on a shoestring.

I know what you mean about the "what ifs" Fear. There is a part of me that still wants JG back to finish the job, in many ways he is one of my favourite Villa managers and I honestly believe that we started to play boring football under him because of the pressure he was under from HDE. I am aware that to go back to him is probably not such a great idea but the man is so thoroughly C&B that you know that no matter what he did it would ALWAYS be what he believed to be the best for the club. I also think that he has failed since leaving VP for the same reason that the Moore brothers have, that VP was all they really wanted and lost their apetite afterwards. I'm beyond the "what if" stage with MON and there is the biggest difference between us.

yup, when JG first came, it was super football, certainly turned dour but then as he said when he left, he was in fear of his job every day due to Douglas!

i'm amazed that so many ppl have turned against MON. He is ALWAYS slow off the mark in transfer windows. Spending 12M on a player because he will be cheaper now that he will in January doesn't suggest shoestring to me. it suggests the opposite. If MON had limited funds there is no way he would spend them on a player who won't even be fit until christmas. 6th place 2 years running and players that the rest of the league would love in their side. We haven't had it this good since the 2 season when HDE temporarily left at the start of the 80's. Our drop in form at the end of last season was unfortunate because we were absolutely cr*pping on arsenal and everton until that point and we showed top 4 form for 2/3rds of the season. MON will spend, he will bring in some good players and we will have another good season. That is why he is widely regarded as one of the best managers in the league. Anyone who has lost faith in him is simply unrealistic. We have a good owner with money but he isn't Abramovic and he isn't an oil rich sheikh. We don;t have 100M to spend in one year and building a dynasty takes time. So calm down and be grateful for the fact that this is the best time to be a Villa fan in over 25 years

I agree with UTV, the transfer the window is always a nightmare, but i have faith in MON. I think we will all be suprised. I must say, *gulp* , i really think some fans turn on the manager way too easy and look past the development we have made since MON. However, its kind of MONs fault as he has raised expectations so high!!!! after last season its so hard not to get excited about top 4 and gutted when we missed out!

How can people not understand frustration amongst some fans? We currently have 18 senior players, with strong rumours that Gardner and NRC will leave this week. That will take us down to 16 (including Downing who is out for a while), 15 players at present including two centre backs, 3 full backs. 5 Defenders!!! 5!!! Its ludicrous, hopefully he will bring in 2-3 more defenders, but I am not holding my breath. Apart from Milner, A Young, L Young, Carew and finally Petrov, he signings have been poor to average. So to hope for 5 good signings when he has only made that many in 3 years is unrealistic in my eyes. I am very very very worried for next season. :-(

While I still have faith and belief in MON and the way he is rebuilding the club, I also have to admit to having concerns as each day goes by without any new arrivals. We are cutting it very fine again, and I just cannot see how leaving our incoming transfer dealings to the very last, can be of benefit to the team and our chances for the campaign ahead. The most frustrating part is that as the new faces begin to trickle in, mid to late August, you can be sure that they will be players that we could have brought in during June and July, thus having them settled in at the club in plenty of time before the lads returned for pre-season training. Apart from that moan, a good interview there with MON, made for very interesting listening.