Found this on a blog I get now and again, canny read if you've got 5 mins Within days of arriving at Sunderland Martin O'Neill left his new public slightly disappointed. By untucking a tracksuit bottom from a sock before rolling it up a shin the new manager revealed that his right calf was not adorned by the Wearside club's crest after all. The notion that Steve Bruce's successor sported such a tattoo had gained considerable currency among those overjoyed that a boyhood Sunderland fan was finally fulfilling what he describes as his destiny but its absence represents the solitary letdown of an otherwise vibrant opening month in the north-east. After debunking the body-art myth, O'Neill joked that a dislike of needles was the only reason he had resisted indulging in such decoration above an ankle. Fortunately this squeamishness does not extend to a resuscitation technique which has seen him breathe new life into a team who won only one of their last eight games under Bruce. In marked contrast, O'Neill's seven matches in charge have produced five victories, a draw and a defeat. Along the way, the 59-year-old has accomplished the tricky feat of displaying a decidedly human touch while retaining an invaluable air of mystery. "Martin O'Neill has something special," says one Sunderland player before Saturday's trip to Chelsea. "No one is quite sure what it is but he has it." The Northern Irishman's ability to distance himself at the right moment and keep people guessing is leavened by excellent communication and motivational skills. Whereas Bruce routinely ignored players not involved in the first team, O'Neill believes in treating everyone equally. Accordingly, the former Leicester, Celtic and Aston Villa manager has made a point of holding a series of private, individual chats, paying special attention to professionals seemingly stuck in the reserves or recovering from injury. With Bruce making 30 signings in two-and-a-half years and a staggering 79 players â more than by any other Premier League club â having been fielded by Sunderland since August 2007, the Stadium of Light had become a bastion of turbulent instability. O'Neill's mission has been to create a renewed sense of inclusion, belonging and shared purpose. James McClean, the exciting young left-winger bought from Derry City by Bruce and, it appeared, promptly forgotten about until O'Neill thrust him into the first team, describes this change. "The new manager's lifted everyone around the club," the £350,000 signing says. "He's given us a new lease of life. He's a remarkable man." Not one to underestimate the impact of, literally, putting his arm around someone and whispering in his ear, O'Neill is also adept at keeping players, not to mention club staff, on their toes. Always liable to ask a thought-provoking question, he enjoys challenging orthodoxies and received wisdoms. It is all part of the process of retuning Sunderland's collective mindset. A key element of this has involved persuading the squad to regard their well-equipped training ground as primarily a place of work rather than an emporium of boys' toys filled with PlayStations, comfy chairs and plasma screens. The message is that players are there to earn livings rather than get their cars valeted or play computer games. Roy Keane, Bruce's predecessor, indicated that priorities had become a bit muddled when, guiding a group of schoolboys around the complex he arrived at a senior changing room and, voice laden with sarcasm, cautioned: "Careful now, lads, don't trip over the hair gel containers." Like Keane, O'Neill was instructed not to collect needless bookings for dissent while playing for Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest. He appears to have passed a similar "respect referees" message on to his new charges who have been significantly better disciplined, reducing their foul count and accruing fewer yellow cards. Suddenly Lee Cattermole, the sometimes less than angelic captain, resembles the midfielder Liverpool once coveted rather than a booking-prone liability. "The gaffer has taken all the players to one side, put his arm round each of us and made us feel good about ourselves again," says Cattermole, who tellingly resisted Nigel de Jong's repeated invitations for an altercation when Manchester City lost on Wearside. "He's very intelligent and has massive passion." Roberto Mancini's Manchester City team came undone on the counterattack by a Sunderland side now spending less time in possession as they cede the ball to the opposition for slightly longer periods before hitting back on the break. Although his latest squad lack Villa's breathtaking pace, such tactics â frequently involving McClean and the gifted Stéphane Sessègnon countering with alacrity â are very much an O'Neill managerial hallmark and something he and his assistant, Steve Walford, hone in training. Whereas Bruce and Keane delegated coaching duties, Sunderland's new manager has been out on the practice pitches working technically with the players virtually every day. At his past clubs O'Neill was often rather less hands-on but this time his erstwhile sidekick John Robertson is not part of the staff. The manager appears to be relishing a new mud-on-boots incarnation and his deployment of two midfielders, Craig Gardner and Jack Colback, at full-back in response to an injury crisis has proved a masterstroke. Continuing to think laterally he is pondering planting a screen of fast-growing trees to shield the club's exposed practice pitches from disruptive North Sea winds. "Training sessions have been shorter and sharper with more tempo," the midfielder David Vaughan says. "The gaffer's got everybody enjoying their football again. He's approachable, he's the same with everyone and he's someone you want to play for." Intense, earnest, bespectacled, highly articulate and, in assorted turn, also self-deprecatory, whimsical and forensic, O'Neill is a far cry from your more conventional, sometimes slightly laddish, British manager. It comes as no surprise that he is not especially clubbable. Too quirky to conform to the cliquey camaraderie enjoyed by many peers, he remains content as a loner. "I'm not in any little cliques," the former law student says. "There are one or two managers I regard as friends but that wouldn't cover the majority." Invariably happiest spending free time at home with his adored wife, Geraldine â now finally free of the cancer that for a few years blighted their lives â O'Neill is wary of admitting newcomers into his inner circle. One recent exception has been Sunderland's new fitness coach, Jim Henry. A former judo champion of Scotland and a firm believer that the devil really is in the detail, Henry worked with O'Neill at Celtic and at Villa, where the England midfielder James Milner was among those queueing up to praise him for "giving me that extra little edge". Apart from specific fitness work, Henry concerns himself with players' overall lifestyle, reviewing diets and sleep patterns while also conducting hotel reconnaissance ahead of away trips. He has instructed Sunderland's squad to report to the ground later than in the past before home games, thereby reducing the prospect of individuals tensing up. In many respects a pragmatist, O'Neill refused to become, publicly at least, over-exercised when, early in his tenure, Cattermole and Nicklas Bendtner were arrested on suspicion of causing criminal damage to cars in Newcastle. Similarly he seemed unfazed about restoring the hitherto disgraced Titus Bramble to the first-team picture despite the defender facing a crown court trial on sexual assault charges. He is rather less relaxed about players' recoveries following serious injuries. Last season there was a feeling that Bruce rushed players including Bramble and David Meyler back from knee surgeries only to see them suffer complications, but O'Neill appears unlikely to follow suit. "I'm a football manager and of course I want a player back 10 days early if it's possible," he says. "But not to the detriment of his health. I'd never overrule a medical expert. If someone needs another two weeks' rest, they get it. "I'm absolutely happy with our medical set-up; we have top quality people who care greatly for the players. I've great faith in them." Big on loyalty, he hopes his players will repay him by raising their collective bar. A manager who says his long-term aim is to see Sunderland performing in the manner of Barcelona deconstructs Bruce's assertion that Wearside fans are unrealistically demanding. "I don't have a problem with expectations," he says, firmly. "A club of Sunderland's calibre should have ambition." O'Neill's almost evangelical zeal suggests he does not require a tattoo to demonstrate his determination to fulfil such an aspiration. After all this The Mackems went to Chelski and lost 1-0!! Sunderland played with enough courage to ensure Chelsea were anxious about the outcome until the final whistle. The visitors mustered three late efforts that suggested they would not have been unlucky with a point. "A blundering full-back from four divisions below could have stuck a couple of those in," said O'Neill. "When you consider Chelsea were overwhelmed at the end, we should try to press on. It just gnaws away we didn't get something from the game."
Excellent read, full of positives. A manager who says his long-term aim is to see Sunderland performing in the manner of Barcelona deconstructs Bruce's assertion that Wearside fans are unrealistically demanding. "I don't have a problem with expectations," he says, firmly. "A club of Sunderland's calibre should have ambition." Perhaps that sums up the difference between MON and his predecessor.
"Whereas Bruce routinely ignored players not involved in the first team," Didn't Angeleri say exactly this and get fined for it? What a morale-booster that must have been!
