Things can always get worse- the proof

[Kevin77]

O’Leary: I’d love to manage Ireland

By Liam Mackey
DAVID O’LEARY smiles as he recalls how Steve Staunton broke a surprising piece of news to him just over a year ago.


“He came up to see me at Aston Villa,” says the former Irish international who was then still manager of the Birmingham club. “I didn’t know what it was about. He came in, sat down with a cup of coffee and said to me, ‘You know what I’m here about’. And, honest to god, until he said it I did not know that it was to tell me he had the Irish job and to speak to me about (Villa reserve team coach) Kevin MacDonald being his assistant.”





O’ Leary confesses that his initial reaction to the news was mixed.

“One thing I was delighted about was that it was one of us, that an Irish man had got the job, not that I’ve anything else against anyone else coming in. But the news also surprised me because I thought, well, he has no youth team experience or any experience. So I just wished him well.”

Staunton’s in-at-the-deep-end introduction to management contrasts sharply with O’Leary’s own rise through the gaffer ranks. Unlike the latter, Staunton is being forced to learn on the job.

“Big style,” O’ Leary agrees. “He’s in the frontline straight away. I was very lucky in that, although I was offered jobs through my association with Arsenal, when I look back I was so delighted that George Graham asked me to go as his number two (at Leeds United). Because in those first few years of learning the game, I made so many mistakes. But his opinion was the one that mattered and it was a great learning experience for me being able to work under him.”

O’Leary reckons that, inevitably, Staunton will be better-equipped for the Irish job by the time the World Cup qualifiers come around but he doesn’t rule out qualification for next year’s Euro finals, despite Ireland’s depressing start to the campaign.

“With the points still available nothing is impossible but they’ve got to start winning games,” he says. “You’ve heard it before, until mathematically it can’t be done, there’s always a chance. You’ve got Duff, you’ve got Keane — there are matchwinners in this team.”

Longer-term, one of the heroes of Genoa admits that he himself covets the top job in Irish football.

“I hope one day to be able to manage my country,” he says. “That would be the icing on the cake for me. That’s what you dream about. But, for me, you’ve got to get day to day club management out of your system first. You even hear Mourinho saying that he wants to manage Portugal eventually. I still feel I have unfinished business at club level and then I see the national job as the senior job after you’ve done your footwork around the league.”

Which is not, O’ Leary hastens to add, an implied criticism of Staunton.

“Everybody is made different,” he says. “Look at Marco Van Basten in Holland or Franz Beckenbauer in Germany who both went straight into international management.”

O’ Leary has had plenty of time to reflect on his future ambitions since parting company with Villa in July. “I’ve enjoyed my break,” he says. “The last year at Villa was very, very hard. It’s all about investment. I was trying to keep it afloat for somebody else to come in and buy it. We all knew what was needed. Money talks in this game. I was hoping that what has happened to Martin (O’ Neill) would happen to me eventually. That was the secret. But Martin is the one, and good luck to him.”

While he awaits the beckoning finger from another club (or country?), O’Leary keeps in touch with the game, regularly attending matches and doing coaching and media work, especially overseas.

But yesterday he was back in his home town on a special mission, helping the Mater Private Hospital publicise their acquisition — the first in these islands — of a cutting edge Dual Source Scanner, which is hailed as a breakthrough in the diagnosis of heart disease. For O’ Leary, there was a personal dimension to the day, because it was in the Mater that his father Christy was treated when taken seriously ill six years ago. “I never thought I’d see my dad back alive and well,” he recalls, “and it was all down to the people at this hospital.”

But even in this setting, the world of football can intrude. While O’Leary was being brought down to be shown the scanner, his old Irish colleague Kevin Moran happened to phone him on his mobile.

“When I told him where I was, he laughed,” O’ Leary relates. “Once, when we were playing Chile, Kevin missed a ball and headed me — and it was in here I came and they looked after me very well.”

Click here for irishexaminer.com stories before this date

[drinkfeckarse]

I'd gladly take O' Leary over Stan at this stage.

[Hibs4Ever]

I'd gladly take O' Leary over Stan at this stage.

Definitely

[lopez]

I'll third that!

[gspain]

so would I and I'd take Kerr back or Roddy Collins too over them.

However I'd much rather none of them were left near the job. O'Leary has failed miserably in club management.

[paul_oshea]

of course he would, he has no job and realises he is crap. Does anyone remember him saying the time was not right before he went to villa?

[galwayhoop]

still can't see why Aldo never got there ahead of Stan. great cup manager which imo is what is needed for international.

then again insert any former international instead of Aldo

[Jamjar]

I like his quote...."Because in those first few years of learning the game, I made so many mistakes." I'm sure there are plenty of Villa fans who reckon it wasn't just in the first few years he made mistakes.

[John83]

still can't see why Aldo never got there ahead of Stan. great cup manager which imo is what is needed for international.

then again insert any former international instead of Aldo

Delaney has apparently said that he was too busy to review Aldo's application. No, really, I'm not taking the ****.

[drummerboy]

O'Leary may make the skin cringe at times, but he did guide Leeds too the semi-final of the Champions League. Not a mean feat. I'd gladly give him a chance to do the job.

[Irish_Praha]

IMO O'Leary is a greedy back-stabbing b@stard that always blames other people for HIS failures. - So he'd fit in well with that other cnut at the head of the FAI.

Having said that I'd rather have him managing Ireland than Stan at the moment.

Like drummerboy says he makes my skin cringe too but that's better than feeling sorry/embarrassed for the guy every time he's in the media spotlight or being totally frustrated with his so-called management skills.

[NeilMcD]

Yeah O Leary is a bit of a cringe merchant but I dont doubt his footballing knowledge and I would have him way before Staunton to be honest.

[Dr. Ogba]

“The last year at Villa was very, very hard. It’s all about investment. I was trying to keep it afloat for somebody else to come in and buy it. We all knew what was needed. Money talks in this game. I was hoping that what has happened to Martin (O’ Neill) would happen to me eventually. That was the secret. But Martin is the one, and good luck to him.”

I've never heard bigger bullsh.it in my life...Basically trying to make out like he was the reason that Lerner invested in Villa in the end, conveniently forgetting that he had lost the dressing-room and half the senior players wanted to leave while he was there....what an ar$e

[paul_oshea]

he has SFA footballing knowledge Neil, he was bankrolled to the cup champs league semis, and then they got well beaten in the end.

he cant do anything with average to decent players, isnt a good cup run manager, makes excuses for himself by always blaming others or putting things into the future, this does not make for a good international manager, where results needs to be pretty instant, and blame needs to be apportioned.

[drinkfeckarse]

I've never heard bigger bullsh.it in my life...Basically trying to make out like he was the reason that Lerner invested in Villa in the end, conveniently forgetting that he had lost the dressing-room and half the senior players wanted to leave while he was there....what an ar$e

Thought that myself. It's amazing how they always paint a glossy picture isn't it!?

[NeilMcD]

To be honest Martin O Neill is achieving the same sort of success with the same players at the moment and O Neill is rightly considered a top class manager. In addition to this Mc Leish achieved what O Neill did in Scotland and possibly more by qualifying for the latter stages of the knockout rounds and Mc Leish is not considered a good managers. I think both Mc Leish and O Leary are harshy treated by most media pundits to be honest especially in comparison to Martin O Neill.

[paul_oshea]

oneill is only 4 - 5 months in the job neil. you cant even start that yet. Villas problem has been scoring, they have had a load of draws

[NeilMcD]

I know and it will only be when O Neill gets in his own players and gets rid of the average players that were bought by Gregory, Taylor and O Leary will villa do well. But a large part of the reason they did so badly was due to the fact they have average players. They were in the market for average players and thats all they ever got. Now O Neill has money he may get a better quality of player but I am not so sure about the 9.75m for Ashely Young.

[drinkfeckarse]

I don't think anybody is sure about that one Neil. Sure the pundits can't even decide if he's a forward or a midfielder.

[citizenerased]

would rather o'leary to stan any day...well to be fair, id rather the manager of my local tesco to stan at the moment.

O'leary is always making excuses...dont forget he had 20 mil to spend in his last season, at time time when the transfer mkt was stagnant, he wasted it however on Baros, Bouma, Aaron Hughes, berger, squandered...