Is O'Neil overhyped?

Is the fuss over the managerial prowess of Martin O’Neill really worth mulling over or are we just being taken on a ride by a much hyped and overestimated and over glorified manager?

During the aftermath of Nottingham Forest’s 1-0 European Cup Final win over Hamburg in 1980 Brian Clough could easily have been describing the efforts of the Ulsterman when he announced: "We beat them for application, determination, and pride - all the things that portray our football." ( http://football.guardian.co.uk/Champions_League/Story/0,5764,88927,00.html )

O’Neill, a ‘good’ manager at best became the fourteenth manager of Deadly Doug Ellis’ supremacy in the Villa Park corridors of power.

For me, the man from Kilrea, Co Derry’s greatest display of tactical nous was when he utilised the Swede Pontus Kaamark to shackle and mark Juninho out of the League Cup Finals saga of 1997 against Middlesbrough, winning the replay at Hillsborough after a bore draw at Wembley. Being a fan of ole football I never quite forgave Mr O’Neill for orchestrating the defeat of a luckless Boro team containing amongst others; Nigel Pearson, Gianluca Festa, Emerson, Craig Hignett, Juninho and Fabrizzio Ravanelli.

At the least, O’Neill’s Villa appointment has allowed football fans like me to start breathing again. We should all really be used to the proceedings by now. The very second a managerial vacancy arises, he is always first on the list of potential candidates, yet for usually unknown reasons, things never really progress any further.

There has always been speculation, nothing more. He was seen as the sure fire bet to replace Fergie at Manchester United, heralded as the new Brian Clough, who would bring back the glory days at Nottingham Forest, Tottenham, his beloved Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Part time Northern Ireland boss whilst at Leicester, Ireland boss after Brian Kerr’s failure to reach the 2006 world cup, the next England boss. The Times also named him as the preferred choice to take over at Man City after the Keegan merry go round in 1995. He was also said to be on the shortlist to take over at Anfield as Gerrard Houllier’s replacement before the .
Before the Villa breakthrough I actually thought that he would be snatched away by the football mad Soceroos down under, where his eye bulging, vein busting facial expressions and Kangaroo leap routine from the dugout would have been a surefire winner.
During his tenure at Celtic O’Neill achieved the insurmountable task of winning three league titles in a poor domestic league as well as 3 cup successes to go with th2001 League Cup win. Credit is due as he did take Celtic to a eufa Cup Final against Porto, their first European final since 1967.

When he joined the hoops from Glasgow things could not have been worse than already was. John Barnes had dismally failed to turn Celtic into Brazil and after Inverness Caledonian Thistle, the announcement of Eddie the Eagle as Celtic gaffer would have been with hysterical aplomb.

However the Premiership is a different battleground altogether. O Neill’s negative tactics will not go down well in the Premiership and he may lack a plan B. I’m serious when I write that the only difference between Graeme Souness and O’Neill is that O’Neill is a better motivator and comes across as well spoken and very intelligent person, who spends a lot of time studying the intricacies of the game. Martin O’ Neill has made a name from grinding out results, to such an extent that at Leicester he was in danger of becoming a mirror image of George Graham.