Gary O'Neil

KingKieffer said:
You are probably right, but the post match comments are just an example of the way he conducts himself. If he’s saying these kinds of things to the players then it would obviously be an issue.

I’m not saying they would play out of their skins for Cooper, but I’ve seen a bit of his under 23s sides play. He does at least know how to set a team up to play in a particular shape and with a defined style. He’s at least worth a shot if the only other option was to stick with Gary.
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His post match comments are immaterial and unimportant.

You've criticised every manager we've had for not being able to set up a side to your 20:20 hindsight standards. As if you wouldn't turn on Cooper within minutes then declare that putting him in charge was the worst ever decision that anyone could have seen was a mistake.
 
kirsikka said:
If, and it's a big if, it's true that Foley pushed for GON against the advice can any of our North American correspondents enlighten us how common this kind of appointment is in sport over their? When a team removes a head coach do they check the Little Leagues (or whatever the next tier is called... no disrespect, I genuinely don't know) to see who is doing well? Would it be normal to appoint someone to head up coaching at an elite team who has no previous experience at that level and only limited experience as an assistant to the he'd coach?

Just wondering if the culture of sport over there influenced the choice.
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I wonder if they appointed him for perceived 'stability'. Poor run, but recent Everton results perhaps indicated we were turning a corner. We had shown periods in previous games of looking very good (and the opposite during the 2nd half).

Coupled with Foley being new to the club, perhaps thought O'Neil is fine for now, whilst I install my people at the club and evaluate the competency, trust of others (mainly directors) before allowing them to lead the charge for sourcing a higher profile, more expensive, experienced appointment.

I'm not sure many would have envisaged just how badly things have transpired since the appointment tbh. He may have to act and trust others sooner than he'd hoped it seems...
 
SteveJonesLegend said:
Chances are, since GON was given the manager's role on a perm, a lot of things have changed...

As caretaker he was still the lads' coach, their mate as such... I'm pretty certain they were on first name terms with him, as you'd expect as their 'coach'. GON was steadying things but largely just doing not much more with the team to what Parker did...

Now GON is the perm manager, I imagine there is a 'distance' between him and them, again, as you'd expect... The relationship has changed maybe... GON is now trying to alter things... implement new formations, routines etc. etc. things some players are either not on board with or dont fully understand...

Whatever it is, the dynamic will have changed... So many times you see players playing for the caretaker, bigging them up in the media... When caretaker becomes manager, everything changes...
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More often than not a caretaker gets a bounce when the players are just glad to see the back of the old manager and I imagine GON got that in spades after Parker publicly slagged them off. But given we came 2nd in the Championship they were probably happy with Parker's tactics and maybe aren't so happy with GONs attempts to change things, especially as he doesn't seem sure what's going to work.
 
Johnny Comelately said:
More often than not a caretaker gets a bounce when the players are just glad to see the back of the old manager and I imagine GON got that in spades after Parker publicly slagged them off. But given we came 2nd in the Championship they were probably happy with Parker's tactics and maybe aren't so happy with GONs attempts to change things, especially as he doesn't seem sure what's going to work.
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Yes and these things are usually subtle/insidious. So may not be obviously clueless stuff that annoys them as such, but most people can work out over time if their manager actually has a clue or not.
 
kirsikka said:
If, and it's a big if, it's true that Foley pushed for GON against the advice of the team here can any of our North American correspondents enlighten us how common this kind of appointment is in sport over their? When a team removes a head coach do they check the Little Leagues (or whatever the next tier is called... no disrespect, I genuinely don't know) to see who is doing well? Would it be normal to appoint someone to head up coaching at an elite team who has no previous experience at that level and only limited experience as an assistant to the previous head coach?

Just wondering if the culture of sport over there influenced the choice.
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I don't have actual data on this, but Major League Baseball teams have a "farm system" of affiliated minor league teams. Those players and managers are contracted with the parent club (some exceptions for players.) It is fairly common for MLB teams to promote managers from those teams, but I think most often into a coaching position with the big club before they become the manager. Bill's sports ownership experience is with the NHL, and there I think it's more common to make mid-season appointments from people who have experience in that league.

I would love to know what alternatives were presented to Foley at the time GON was appointed. It seems from the media that there wasn't really anyone else available, but of course that could be wrong. If it's true, I don't think O'Neill's will be the only head to roll in the near term.
 
It's the richest league in the world. Even as a minor player in it we'd offer wages unavailable at all but the biggest clubs elsewhere, along with an opportunity to become a high profile manager. Pochettino went from Southampton to Spurs then PSG, for example.

We may not have presented Foley with many options but there would be many valid and realistic targets out there if we were willing to appoint an overseas manager. Which the Bielsa chase indicates we were.
 
kirsikka said:
It's the richest league in the world. Even as a minor player in it we'd offer wages unavailable at all but the biggest clubs elsewhere, along with an opportunity to become a high profile manager. Pochettino went from Southampton to Spurs then PSG, for example.

We may not have presented Foley with many options but there would be many valid and realistic targets out there if we were willing to appoint an overseas manager. Which the Bielsa chase indicates we were.
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Everything we were hearing about the search for a new manager seemed to indicate it was Bielsa as main target with GON as back-up option No2. You would hope the search would have been cast far and wide for a new manager to take us forward, especially with the potential plans for developing and improving the club over the coming years. Are there really no exciting young managers in Europe who would be a good fit for our club? Is GON really the best we could do? Maybe I'm still p*ssed off from that shower of shite from yesterday, but everything about the club feels like it has been, and continues to be be, run by a bunch of amateurs. If Foley is serious about taking the club forwards he might have to get stuck into this sooner than he expected.
 
I've got a hunch that the Bielsa thing may still be rumbling along. He has stated before that he doesn't take teams on half way through a season and an 18 month contract smacks of temporary as far as management contracts in football go.
I wonder if we are seeing history repeat itself. Employ someone while waiting for the person you really want to take the club forward and build for it's future.
 
Thinking about contracts. With GON I can't see him having much bargaining power, being able to hold the club against the wall asking for high demands. With say. Bielsa he would dictate terms, length of contracts, who he brings in, control of transfers blah blah blah. My point being, it probably wouldn't be too expensive to sack GON.
 
rikki39 said:
would potter be the answer? on a long term project yes but not for the here and now it takes him a while to get the team playing his style
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Yes. Whether we go down or not this season isn't the problem, it was always likely. It's having a man in charge of footballing matters with the vision to build a team that will get us back up and that can succeed (relatively speaking) at PL level.
 
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