David O’Leary is skating on very thin managerial ice following Aston Villa’s thrashing at Everton who, let’s face it, haven’t been the most free-scoring of teams this season.
David being David, he blamed everything and everybody afterwards for the result except himself.
He moans that he hasn’t been given sufficient transfer funds by Doug Ellis, but the £11 million he’s spent over the past year is far more than Paul Jewell’s had at Wigan or Alan Pardue at West Ham prior to him bringing Dean Ashton in from Norwich. They’ve got 46 and 42 points respectively compared to Villa’s 34, which makes them outside candidates for relegation.
O’Leary’s got three experienced, international strikers – Baros, Angel and Phillips – yet complains about a lack of firepower up front.
What their fans object to, as much as the performances, is this “We can’t expect any better with the resources we’ve got” guff. They’re not in a position to challenge Chelsea or Man U, sure, but a club of their size should be doing a lot better than 16th in the league.
Why hasn’t David spotted the same bargain buys that Paul Jewell, Alan Curbishley or David Moyes have? Part of the modern manager’s job is to set up a proper scouting network that can sniff out a Pascal Chimbonda or an Arjan De Zeeuw.
It’s very telling that when James Beattie left Southampton and had Villa and Everton to chose from, he went for the Goodison Park option because he felt they wanted him more. Whatever vibes David sent out when they sat down and talked were obviously the wrong ones. No player wants to go to a club where the manager has already written off their chances for the season.
A younger, fitter Doug Ellis would have told David to change his tune…or else!
Another manager who could have no complaints if he was sacked is Steve Bruce at Birmingham. The board gave him a lot of money to bring Chris Sutton to St. Andrew’s, and all he’s fired so far has been blanks. You could hardly accuse his other big buys, Jermaine Pennant or Mikael Forsell, of setting the Premiership alight either.
It’s probably too late in the season for either of them to be fired, but I wouldn't be surprised if O'Leary and Bruce find themselves out of a job during the summer.
Another Irishman who’s likely to be looking for new employment come August is Roy Keane. Even if he gets over his injury problems, the SPL doesn't hold enough of a challenge for him to want to remain at Celtic.
What Roy needs more than anything else is a challenge, which you don’t get at the moment even from Rangers. So what if he picked up his first Scottish medal on Sunday? Beating Dunfermline in the C.I.S. Cup and beating Bayern Munich in the Champions League are two totally different things.
He’ll know that unless Gordan Strachan wakes up one morning and finds £30 million on the pillow beside him, Celtic have almost zero chance of making it into the knock-out stages of next season’s Champions League. Childhood Bhoys fan or not, visits to Livingstone and Motherwell won't keep a highly competitive player like Roy Keane fired up.
A man who very definitely was fired up last weekend was Jose Mourinho. Whether it be Leeds, Liverpool or Manchester United, all of the great teams of the past 40 years have been bad losers. If I was a Chelsea fan, I’d much rather see the manager and the players doing their nut than shrugging their shoulders and going, “Ah well, not to worry.” There are far too many £50,000 a week professionals that don’t particularly care if they’re beaten or not, so long as they get their pay-cheque and sponsorship deals.
This “no one likes us” routine of Mourinho’s is very clever because it motivates players who might otherwise become a little too happy with their lot a la Real Madrid.
Real’s caretaker coach said it was squad rotation, but I’ve a sneaking suspicion that David Beckham being left on the bench on Sunday might be the prelude to him leaving the Bernabeu.
There have been reports linking him with Arsenal but, frankly, why would they want him? Beckham loves to deliver balls from out wide, but none of the Gunners’ forwards are particularly good in the air. Assuming that Thierry Henry stays, he’s not going to give up his role as Arsenal’s free-kick taker. What Wenger likes more than anything else in his players is pace, and David doesn’t have that in abundance.
Newcastle are desperate enough to stump up whatever the asking price is, but I think he’d be better off at Tottenham who are only two or three players short of a team that can snap at the big boys’ heels. The thought of Beckham banging balls in for Robbie Keane and Mido is something that’d appeal to Martin Jol, and the Spurs board who’ve displayed plenty of ambition of late.
Finally, it was great to see Scottish football fans put traditional differences aside and give Jimmy Johnstone the send-off he deserved. Unfortunately I never got to meet him while I was at Celtic, but everyone who did said Jinky was a true gentleman and one of the greatest players to ever pull on a green and white shirt.