In football - and beyond – we all too easily bung labels onto people that aren’t fair. Just look at how many people on Twitter rush to label managers a ‘fraud’ after one defeat. Actually, don’t. Those people really don’t need your attention.🏠 #WelcomeHomeMartin#NFFC are delighted to confirm the appointment of Martin O’Neill as the club’s new manager. https://t.co/yXCtHY7Qvx
— Nottingham Forest FC (@NFFC) January 15, 2019
The new Forest manager has always struck me as being a clever man, a pragmatist and someone who is good with people.
His cerebral character was, famously, the source of much ribbing from Brian Clough in his time as a player at the City Ground. I find it hard to believe that a smart cookie such as O’Neill is either incapable of changing with the times or analysing and understanding the tactical intricacies of modern football.
He might be 66, but that’s only three years older than Marcelo Bielsa – a man who attracted much attention this week for his fascinating and amusing insight into his tactical analysis of Frank Lampard’s Derby County ™. O’Neill doesn’t have the hipster allure of an overseas innovator like Bielsa but, then again, he’s got more silverware to show for himself. Tactics are important but they aren’t everything and they aren’t new.
In an interview with the Telegraph – conducted between his departure from the Republic of Ireland and arrival on Trentside – O’Neill addressed this criticism. He said:
“When you don’t talk about your philosophy or use words like project, you get labelled old fashioned. I’m certainly not that.
“Let's put it this way, the game has changed. There's some aspects that have changed greatly, but there are also some aspects that remain the same.
“We all know these buzzwords, but they seem to be necessary to be fashionable. The fact that I didn't project those words, because I felt that the football language should be reasonably simple [counts against me].”
Perhaps, as with Bielsa this week, it’s all in the presentation.
No-one knows what makes a good Forest manager any more. We’ve tried just about every sort of boss you can think of in recent times and a combination of poor performance, excessive expectation and impatience have put paid to all of them without the desired result. Just reading the list of incumbents in the last decade or so shows the lack of strategic thinking at the club – this hasn’t been somewhere with a clear idea of what it wants and the type of manager that can deliver on it.
It’s impossible, therefore, to know whether or not the O’Neill appointment will work. There are, however, signs that O’Neill is a decent pick – and better than plucking a Paul Clement or Gary Rowett off the Championship managerial carousel.
I won’t claim to know everything about his recent role as Ireland boss – but I can’t help thinking he’d have been judged differently if he’d have walked away after Euro 2016, where his side beat Italy before going out in the knockout phase to hosts France. Even then, he still managed to engineer a victory away at a Wales team before a humbling defeat by Denmark in the play-offs for the Russia World Cup. Also, I can’t help but feeling that we’ve hardly earned the right to dismiss managers based on their performance at the Euros or the World Cup, especially after 20 years away from the top flight.
Sunderland started well for O’Neill before quickly fading – a fate befalling many managers at the Stadium of Light in recent times – and spells at Villa, Celtic, Leicester and Wycombe all brought success.
But CVs and credentials are only one way you can ever judge someone for a job. Ask a decent recruitment consultant and they’ll tell you that it does matter that someone is a good ‘fit’ – that they’ll buy into the culture of the workplace and that they’ll work well with the people in the organisation.
His playing career in the Garibaldi might not matter for the task in hand, therefore, but his natural affinity for the club and strong understanding of what makes it tick will be useful. O’Neill won’t be cowed by the history of the club. For him, the images on the walls aren’t pictures, they’re anecdotes and stories he can use to inspire.
But nostalgia and romance are only a part of why O’Neill might be a good fit. His pragmatism and people management skills will also be extremely handy for the challenge ahead.
He’s already spoken clearly about his remit. He’s got 18 months in the job and needs to get promotion. If it doesn’t happen in that time, he’ll go. He doesn’t seem worried by that – and accepted the short termism that now persists in the game.
People talk about his ‘style’ as Ireland boss, but there’s a case to be made that he was playing the hand he’d been dealt. At Forest, he’ll have the opportunity to use the transfer window, but you also get the impression he’ll look to use the tools as his disposal and fashion success from the blueprint left by Karanka. With Joe Lolley’s wingplay, the solid midfield foundations of Jack Colback and Claudio Yacob, the subtle skill and vision of Joao Carvalho, finishing of Lewis Grabban and the defensive nous of Michael Dawson, Tobias Figueiredo and Jack Robinson, there’s the makings of a useful side. You also feel that O’Neill will love the energy of Matty Cash and the hard work and flexibility of Ben Osborn.
In international football he had little time to work with the players on style, and in some respects it’ll be the same here as he has to hit the ground running mid season. As Ireland boss, he’ll no doubt have seen plenty of games at this level so should also have a decent understanding of the state of the league. In both respects, his last job might be more relevant than some appreciate.
O’Neill’s people skills have helped to forge himself a good career as an insightful pundit, but they’ll also come in handy in trying to get the most from his new charges. He’s already got a good sense of the fact that his players have been phased by the pressure of needing to find a performance to match the expectation and sense of occasion surrounding a full house at the City Ground. Confidence and mindset have, probably more than tactics, held us back at home this season. Maybe Martin’s man management can help the players to overcome that?
Maybe I’m just trying to look on the bright side here. I do accept that success is not guaranteed and that there are challenges for Martin O’Neill to overcome. Yet, the ‘perfect’ manager – if they do exist – wouldn’t be coming to a Championship club mid season. Every appointment carries risk.
Some use the example of Stuart Pearce as a cautionary tale and evidence that nostalgia doesn’t work. Yet, O’Neill doesn’t have to work under the Fawaz regime – and his pedigree is better than either Pearce or Frank Clark, an ex-player who did enjoy success in the role.
It’s also possible to feel disappointed and uneasy about the premature nature of Aitor Karanka’s departure while still finding positives in the appointment of his replacement. Not that Twitter affords you the ability to think two things at once.
The sad fact is that the average tenure for the last ten Forest matches has been just under 35 games. We should all be worried about that. O’Neill has given himself 65 – in the league at least – to see if he can work a minor miracle to follow the major one already on his resume as a player.
O’Neill deserves the support he’ll undoubtedly get – but also deserves to be judged on his actions rather than preconceptions. He spent a playing career trying to prove Cloughie ‘wrong’ (given Ol’Big ‘Ead’s reverse psychology) and has confounded critics as a manager. His character, skills and record stand him in good stead for doing so again.
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