The Return Of O'Neill

personally will never forgive the man for the state he left us in. No matter which way i look at it i just cant abide by the fact that he threw his toys out of the pram in the worst way possible after huge financial backing from the manager which he was quite happy to squander away on a bench full of questionable talent on multi millions. MON gave us great times short term but at what cost will his actions have long term. Im at the game sat and will either turn my back or boo.

Amen to that. When he was here and we looked like we could challenge the top 4 places it was all gravy, then he got rid of 3 of our best young players, started paying transfer fees for players he never intended to play and used them out of their normal positions. Understandable at times, yes, but once I remember that Reo-Coker moved to right-back from midfield and Luke Young went over to left-back.........Shorey was on the bench!!!!!! The mind boggles. He might be the saviour of Sunderland at the moment but we'll soon see what happens in a few seasons' time. At least Heskey will be happy to see him!

Got no time for the spineless coward at all, but more. Agree with Fear about the spiteful timing of his exit, unforgivable.

Lost of all my respect in the way he behaved when he left. Not all, but a considerable amount of blame lies with him for the situation and future we find ourselves in. I think its ironic he left us for a 'bigger' club, didn't get the Chelsea or Liverpool job, not even the Newcastle or Fulham one. He's ended up at a club where we recently bought their number 1 striker!!! I won't be at the game, but if I was, I'd turn my back, and maybe boo. UTV

he left us in a good state, if they had hired another top manager we would have had plenty of continuity. Cannot believe the animosity towards martin o`neill.

To be honest Fear I think the pole is inaccurate, I think most who voted MON as a hero are blue noses and opposition, granted there are a few Villans that class him a hero but my accusation stands.

I don't think he would take a Liverpool or Chelsea job because there would be massive expectations on him and very few excuses.

We will only know what we think we know as it takes two to tango! After saying that, timing was cack. talking of cack, also he left us with so many over paid, over rated, journeymen.

Carew AV Legend - Massive respect for standing by the hero statement. I, for one though, believe that he placated and patronised us with most of his actions and rested on his laurels until the money dried up, so he got bored and left. How arrogant is it to have a subs bench with players like Sidwell, Routledge, Harewood, Shorey and Reo-Coker (around £24m worth of spending at the time) and then either use them out of position, for 10-20 minute periods or not at all? Also, over 4 years he transformed us into a worthy top 6 side, not a top 4 one, sadly. If we'd hit the top 4 a couple of times I'd back you up on it, but it never happened. I'll admit that we played some good football and had a lot of confidence under him, but even with him in charge towards the end of his reign the defence started looking dodgy. People will rate him still for what he's doing with Sunderland, but he did that with us as well. If Sunderland can reach the top 4 in a few seasons on a similar budget to the one he had with us then he will have learned a lesson. I doubt it though. Keep an eye on which players come in and for how much. When players like Jonjo Shelvey or Paul Scharner start joining for £5-6million at a time, you'll know I was right. Until then, I'm afraid Martin O'Neill the hero = Absolute Hutton!!!!!

Personally - i will remember him for what he did do for the club, rather than what he didn't. 3 6th place finishes, 2 trips to wembley, beating United at old trafford, and never losing to blues. He did rather leave us in the lurch, but we still dont know what exactly happened do we? If we look at what has happened since, i suspect he was ordered to sell milner, and cut the wage bill down. Maybe he was given a little more leway that he should - but randy must ultimately take responsibility for that!

I agree with all that's said about the timing of O'Neil's departure etc etc but at the end of the day Villa had to pay him compensation................why? Doesn't this suggest that Villa were in the wrong?

To those who shouted so loudly that they wanted rid of MoN, I said on a number of occasions that they should be careful what they wish for. How accurate was that!? I hated some of the things he did, and totally disagreed with some of his purchases, selections, tactics, etc., but at the end of the day he was streets better than we have been able to attract since. As for the manner of his leaving, I also strongly suspect he was ordered to sell our best players and refused to do so. As somebody above says - we appear to have paid him compensation, which would not have happened if he did not have a case. I won't cheer (he's the Sunderland manager now) but I won't boo either. Like most people on these forums, I don't know enough facts to do either.