Ferguson believes it is "absolutely ridiculous" for anyone to question O'Neill after his previous success. "Martin O'Neill has won three titles with Celtic and taken them to the Uefa Cup final," he said. Martin O'Neill's managerial CV Wycombe Wanderers (1990-95): Football Conference champions (1992-93); FA Trophy winners (1990-91, 1992-93); Third Division play-off winners (1993-94). Leicester City (1995-2000): First Division play-off winners (1995-96); League Cup winners (1996-97, 1999-2000). Celtic (2000-2005): Scottish Premier League champions (2000-01), (2001-02), (2003-04); Scottish Cup (2000-01), (2003-04), (2004-05). Scottish League Cup (2000-01). Uefa Cup finalists (2002-03) "He's been at Aston Villa, he's been at Leicester City. "He was asked a question last week which was absolutely ridiculous, about whether he still had self-belief. "It was a silly question, an absolute insult because he is an outstanding manager." Meanwhile, Ferguson has described the reaction of Sunderland fans on the final day of last season as "disappointing". Having beaten the Wearsiders 1-0 at the Stadium of Light, United looked as though they would be champions as they waited on the pitch, only for Sergio Aguero's injury-time goal to earn Manchester City the title. That prompted cheers from thousands of Sunderland fans. "It was a disappointing reaction when you think of the number of players we've given (loaned) Sunderland over the years," said Ferguson. "Jonny Evans and Danny Simpson got them promoted a few years back. "It's just fans. It wasn't malicious, it was them enjoying the moment. "Revenge won't come into anything on Saturday. "Winning the game is more important to us because after the impetus we got from [defeating Manchester City] last week, it's time for us to really kick on." United start the weekend with a six-point lead, but Ferguson says his side cannot afford to relax. "It's not such a healthy lead," added Ferguson. "The key is whether we can keep all our players fit. If we do that, with the squad we have, I will be really happy. First of all we've got to get through this heavy Christmas programme. "If we are still top of the league when we've navigated that we will be delighted."
I personally don't think previous achievements are everything. Some great managers have done poorly at certain clubs. It just depends. I personally think MON will keep you up.
I agree with Fergie here. mON is the best manager we will ever have and he needs time to get his own team together. I am sure he is astute enough to know that there are 6 or 7 players in the team who are not up to premier standard. I hope Ellis Short backs him in January but I have never doubted his ability
Of course past achievements aren't everything, but if your club is going through a rough patch (a bit like both of ours atm) then I'd rather have a manager who has achieved things in the past in charge than someone who hasn't.
I would rather that experienced manager didnt get us in the **** to start with, but we are Sunderland, nothing is ever easy/plain sailing for us.
He makes it sound like Man U didn't benefit from loaning players to us, the likes of him & Rooney seem to forget football & the Premier league aren't all about Man U, there are other teams in the league that have the same right to do as well as everyone else, also he forgets that results like ours against Man City last season kept his team in the title hunt, we didn't take the title from them, they lost it!
I don't want MO'N sacked, but I am sick of us grubbing along in the bottom third of this league for yet another depressing season. x
