Who Could Be the Next Manager

I also don't think it's just a case of 'he played for them' - he loves them and has publically stated that he's a Pompey fan now.

It wouldn't just be an ex Pompey player managing us, it'd be an actual Pompey fan managing us in a game at Fratton

Got massive ****ing disaster written all over it.

 

Some quotes from him:


Fratton Park’s an amazing place. As I haven’t been there for so long, you actually forget how special it feels.

I’m definitely going to get back as much as I can now, I loved it against Oxford – and I don’t feel like that when I go anywhere else.

I was a Millwall fan as a kid, I used to love going to watch them, but as soon as you start playing you can no longer do that and it takes a big part of it away.

‘So I turned into a Pompey fan because I was there for so long and they treated me so well.

‘I didn’t really want to leave, so was always looking back at the results and sort of converted into a Pompey fan, so I’ll be down there as much as I can.


That bit in bold rather sounds like he considers it his 'spiritual home'. Sound familiar?

 

Gary O Neil if you take away his connections isnt a bad shout for where we are.

But... he is a skate and it would be a massive massive gamble by SR at a time when they really shouldnt. The fans will give him no leeway, he will need to get us winning instantly and have absolutely no deviations in form all season. If it doesnt go absolutely perfectly then St Marys will be entering the most toxic phase of its existence.

 

Yeah ****ing no chance. Would be a terrible appointment

 

I'm not that keen full stop tbh as I hate this obsession with possession football and it's not even working as well as it has in the past. Last season Wolves fans were making all the same complaints about him that we were Martin.

But as you say the bigger issue is he'll get no leeway whatsoever as lots of people won't have him right from the off, lose one game and the crowd will turn big time. And even if he came in and did well initially a loss at Fratton and he'll be done and won't recover.

Again I really don't feel 'connections' accurately describes it, to me connections means a passing relationship with a club.

He came through their academy, played 174 times for them, captained them, publically describes himself as a Pompey fan.

That's more than connections, he's a full blown skate. It's irrelevant to me that some people are happy to look past that as many many people won't so he won't get a real chance.

To take that sort of gamble in our situation would be a madness of the highest order. Especially at a point where a lot of fans are already starting to turn against the owners.

 

Just hire the best man for the job.

 

Who'll get a proper crack at it, agreed.

 

Tbh if SR hire him then I will probably reevaluate them as deliberate sadists, who took over a club with the sole purpose of making suffering a performing art. They wanted pain and they wanted to inflict pain.

 

Anyway for me the bigger issue with O'Neil is I don't want to see 462 passes between the keeper and CB's per game.

 

Been a few of us who've said we don't think a skate purposely trying to sabotage us could have done a better job of it tbf.

 

Whats more they have actually spent money to do it.

 

Ah, I just read that the season he was at Bournemouth, they registered the second lowest average possession of the twenty Prem clubs. So there's that at least.

Link: https://learning.coachesvoice.com/cv/gary-o-neil-wolves-bournemouth-tactics/

 

We had an actual Pompey fan come through our academy and play for us and he turned out all right.

 

And Bobby Stokes of course.

 

Fair enough, I was just going on what a lot of Wolves fans were saying last season, must admit I never watched his Bournemouth side.

 

Yeah but he came through the academy so was never involved with them professionally, and even then there's not an insignificant amount of fans who still never took to him due to him being a skate!

A bit different when it's someone who's already had success there imo, especially when it's a manager.

We also actually hired a manager once who loved them and had success there, halfway through a season where we were both near the bottom of the league with the Fratton fixture still to come...

 

O’Neil is now 11/8 favourite for the job

 

I'm sorry but I think you're overplaying this a bit. O'Neil has never managed the Skates. Completely different scenario to Redknapp. Also O'Neil is at a very early stage of his managerial career, unlike Redknapp. If he is offered and accepts the Saints job, he will put his fishy connections to one side and get on with the job.

 

Are we trying to say

Oh Gary, Gary. You used to be a Skate, but you’re alright now.

 

I know he didn't manage them but he had success there as a player. Completely different situation to JWP coming through the academy and having no professional involvement whatsoever. Like I say I think a manager is very different to a player too.

I'm not saying he's not capable of putting his connections to his side, not once made that argument. I'm saying there'll be a large portion of the fanbase who will never take to him and he'd therefore have a very short length of rope.

If he didn't hit the ground running the toxicity at St Mary's will make the Preston game look like nothing, and then we'd be looking for our third manager of the season for the second time in three seasons.