Let’s give him time

This has certainly been an exciting week in the history of SAFC and given the current circumstances, most fans agree that Martin O’Neill probably represents the best possible appointment for this club.

Given that he gave up a law course at one of Ireland’s finest universities to become a full-time footballer, it’s certainly no surprise that he also presents himself with intelligence and eloquence, so untypical of many of our recent incumbents.

It was encouraging that he made no attempt to make a big deal of his lifelong affection for the club but even more pleasing to hear his comment that this well publicised support would only earn him a couple of games grace, after that it’s results that count and nothing else. Here is a man who is under no illusions whatsoever about the enormity of the task he has taken on.

This could be the most important managerial appointment for a long time and really could herald the start of a golden era for the club. However it won’t be a quick fix and some of his decisions may have us scratching our heads.

Here’s a man who will no doubt have picked up a few tips from Cloughie’s style of management, so I am sure he will make some contentious decisions in his early days and we must be prepared for the odd controversial signing/departure, starting with the first window in January.

Don’t be shocked if we see Heskey / Carew lining up in January or one of our current ‘favourites’ on the way out.

We may not understand the logic of his decisions, but if this fella is to be given the chance to move us up a notch or two, then he must be given the benefit of doubt in his managerial decision making.

SAFC fans can’t ever be accused of lacking patience, as a quick glance at our honours board will testify so I sincerely hope that the fans who are currently acclaiming his arrival have a level of staying power and energy to match that of our new man, because we could be in for the journey of a lifetime.

 

If we dont stuff Blackburn we should turn to Mark Hughes as our next manager.

 

Hughes? do you have no ambition?

Real Madrid are leading the lige 1 at the moment, I am sure Mourhinio (spelling?) is getting bored so lets get him in....

 

I think O'Neill will get more time than Bruce ever would have - simply because of his roots (not a dig at anyone just stating an opinion)

It's scary how fickle our fans are - It took me a long time to turn against Bruce - but once I had he never lasted 2 weeks.

O'Neill is an astute capture for us and it seems like he wanted to do the job. Let's hope he gets the best out of our squad over the next few games then adds what is needed after that.

I think he needs to give Bendtner a kick up the backside - he looked excellent in his first couple of games - against Villa he was awesome - but he has been pathetic over the last couple of weeks - no drive. no desire and just keeps coming out of the box so our wingers have nothing to hit except 5' 2" Sessegnon.

If O'Neill gets him busting a gut for us and putting himself about then great - if not then he can go back for me but his attitude needs to change - he doesn't seem to care enough when we're losing which is something we need at the moment.

 

After watching Chelsea last night, brought home to me, how having a manager willing to make drastic tactical changes isn't always a bad thing. IE. having a plan B.
I never saw Chelsea play so defensively before, even under Jose.
But it worked!
Kudos to Villas-Boas, that was the type of game you would have thought Lampard would have excelled in, but he benched him.

MON will have no fear of making big decisions no matter who he upsets.
Plus he will have a Plan B too.

 

Rather than FICKLE how about INTELLIGENT?
Some of us said from the start Bruce wasn't a very good manager nothing to do with his roots.
Yet we all gave him a very long time to prove us wrong.
He didn't!
All he did was compound how bad of a manager he was.
Therefore we were right to question his appointment and his still being in charge at our great club.

 

I meant some of not all of MR - apologies for not clarifying that - and I also know that some said he wasn't very good regardless of his roots - but there are some that simply would not accept him because he's a black and white geordie!

Some of our fans are extremely fickle - we didn't ALL give him time to prove us wrong - I actually thought he did OK in previous roles and always seemed to succeed (relatively speaking) when not in a war with the board.

He finished 13th and 10th in successive seasons - if you call that failure then you haven't been watching Sunderland very long!! He succeeded in the 2 full seasons he got - I am not saying I am behind him but the end league position is all that matters in football - this calendar year, however, has been an "annus horribilis" (to quote a famous english patron) in footballing terms - and for that I believe Bruce is to blame (and maybe his staff as well as Black made exactly the same decisions at the weekend and they didn't work!!)

 

I wasn't having a pop mate, just saying.
It's going to take someone attacking my family to even come close to wiping the smile off my face.

To me, far to many of our wins were pretty damn lucky, nothing to do with any tactical genius by Bruce.
We were having the same inept substitutions and tactics then, but getting away with it, usually by the skin of our teeth.
Same as 10th last year was by a gnats whisker, and results going for us elsewhere.

Cest said on another thread MON is the best proven managerial appointment since he has been watching SAFC.
I can top it, he is the best manager I have seen come to SAFC in 50 years.

 

One good reason for sticking with O'Neil, MONoB does not sound right.

 

MartinOutBrigade does though.

The MOB vs the MIB's.

 

MIB!!!
Like I said in previous threads - after listening to Martin o'Neill speak about SAFC, Whilst I said he wasn't my first choice, he is quickly turning me around - he has to be the best proven manager in my lifetime - or at least my footballing lifetime - although Laurie Mackemenemy was "proven" at Soton and took us to a lower ebb than we've ever been!

I am now truly excited about this after listening to his comments and think it'll be an excellent appointment for us.

 

do you still get arrested for being in the MOB

 

No you silly sausage, you end up in bed with horses heads.

 

BEST BE A MiB THEN

 

Wasn't that Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones?

 

He'll get the same amount of time as any new manager does, who comes with high expectations.. Results in the following seasons will dictate the mood of the fans..