Aston Villa, Premier League
Did O’Leary do a better job than O’Neill?
Prior to the win over Bolton on Saturday and according to Gabriele Marcotti from The Times’ The Game podcast, Martin O’Neill had been in charge for seventy-seven matches and had gained 108 points. He also compared this to David O’Leary’s managerial reign during the same number of games and Martin O’Neill, according to Marcotti, comes out [...]
Prior to the win over Bolton on Saturday and according to Gabriele Marcotti from The Times’ The Game podcast, Martin O’Neill had been in charge for seventy-seven matches and had gained 108 points.
He also compared this to David O’Leary’s managerial reign during the same number of games and Martin O’Neill, according to Marcotti, comes out worse by four points.
Now, I’m not looking back and counting the results from the first seventy-seven league matches but these statistics don’t look good. But if you cast your mind back to David O’Leary’s first season it was a very good one, Villa finished sixth in the league, behind Newcastle on goal difference on one of the rare occasions that sixth position wasn’t good enough for European qualification; 2008 being another.
These times though were a little easier for managers; sixty points got you Champions League football and the top half of the Premier League boasted the delights of Charlton, Fulham, Bolton and Birmingham City.
Whereas now we have more genuine contenders trying to break into the elusive top four in Everton, Pompey, Man City, Blackburn and possibly Spurs.
I do however believe Villa have the best chance of them all with Martin O’Neill. David O’Leary moved the opposite way in his second season and led the club to 10th position, unlike under O’Neill where Villa finished inside the bottom half in his first season but look pretty certain to finish between fifth and eighth in his second, a move in the right direction.
You now need nearer seventy points for Champions League football and the only way of getting there and getting there successfully is to do it slowly, building on your position year by year.
Everton are the only team to break that big four monopoly in recent years and their run in the Champions League didn’t exactly set the world on fire, also resuting in a bottom half finish the following season.
With five games left and the transfer gossip already starting, Uefa qualification is a must next season with Champions League qualification beckoning in 2009/10 season, and maybe even European champions 2011, thirty years after our first win (well, I can dream).
This year though, it does seem that our best bet is a top six finish and entry to the Intertoto Cup, which at the end of the day is only two matches and an aggregate win in order to qualify for the Uefa Cup.
So here’s to European football at Villa Park next season - and a bright future under Martin O’Neill.
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Here Here. Were definatly going in the right direction with o’neill. O’leary inherited a very decent squad and after the honeymoon first season we nosedived where as MON inherited the decaying corpse of a team low on morale low on confidence and lets be honest, low on talent, which he has turned around and is going in the right direction. Less than two seasons ago if i was offered 7th and an intertoto spot in two seasons time i would have taken it without thinking twice. Keep the faith, in MON we trust!
M o’neill finished just inside the top half of the table in his 1st year didnt he??