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'Fickle Foxes Fans Wrong To Criticise O'Neill'

WHAT price loyalty, eh? I mean, how could Martin O'Neill desert Leicester City? How could he let us down? Bloody traitor.

That's what I have heard from some Leicester fans since last Thursday when O'Neill decided to take on the unbelievable challenge of making Celtic the premier force in Scotland again.

To be fair, he seems to be getting off far more lightly than did Mark McGhee and Brian Little when they left Filbert Street to manage Wolves and Aston Villa respectively. They sped away amid an explosion of abuse from the fans and when Little returned with his new team it all started again.

"They only went for the money - left us in the lurch. Booooo."

But just hold on a second...

Loyalty goes both ways here. When these managers, or any others, are struggling to produce results, where's the loyalty of the supporters? O'Neill was abused from the terraces and the letters page of the local paper when he first arrived at Filbert Street and Leicester were getting nowhere in the first division. They would have been glad to see the back of him then.

If people want loyalty, they first have to show some. If the fans turn so quickly on managers and players who are having a bad time, why should they be surprised that those same people up and leave when a better offer comes along?

O'Neill, like all managers, will know that the only difference between flavour-of-the-month and verbal tirade is a few poor performances and defeats. Had he chosen to stay and Leicester had found themselves in the bottom three next season, how long would the fans have been loyal to him?

"This is a disgrace, O'Neill. Booooo."

Those Leicester fans (not all of them by any means) who believe O'Neill should have honoured his contract would, I am sure, turn down immediately the offer of a better job with a lot more money and potential to expand because they want to be loyal to their present employer. Yeah, right.

They'd be off in a flash. Of course they would. So why demand different rules for players and managers?

It's the same with chairmen and boards of directors. They want their manager to stay when they are doing well and cast aside opportunities with bigger clubs and bigger budgets, as indeed O'Neill has done with Everton and, very reluctantly, with Leeds. But directors have no problem swinging the axe when the fans start moaning and the results are less than ecstatic. In fact, when the chairman gives a pledge of loyalty, the manager calls the Job Centre. And would those directors stay on the board of their local business if BP or Barclays offered them a seat at the table?

The stench of hypocrisy fills the air.

There is so little loyalty in football anywhere - not from fans (except to the club itself), directors, players or managers. And that's fine - as long as all sides realise that and stop demanding of others what they would not do themselves.

Martin O'Neill owes Leicester City and their fans nothing whatsoever. And vice versa. O'Neill's management techniques have given the club the best years in its history and he's been well paid for doing so. The fans have given the team tremendous support through this same period and been well rewarded, results wise, for doing so. Winners all round. Nothing owed either way.

Celtic are a massive club, albeit in a small pond, and they are probably the biggest challenge for a manager in British football today.

For a man like O'Neill, the temptation must have been irresistible. If he turn things around at that cauldron of chaos, he will show that he is a truly great manager of football clubs. That, I'm sure, was the key incentive that cut the ties with Filbert Street. The challenge of Mission, Almost, But Not Quite, Impossible.

But, again, how loyal will the Celtic fans be to him this time next year if, as is highly likely, it's going to take him three to four seasons at least to get the club in the kind of shape that can consistently threaten Rangers? Their notorious impatience has cost a stream of managers their seat on the bench and, such is the desire to beat Rangers, the attitude of Celtic fans is the finest example you can have of loyalty with strings. At Celtic Park, the manager is either a king or a clown. No halfway house. So Martin, take your crown with you mate and a crash helmet as well. The results against Rangers will decide your headgear.

As for Leicester City, the favourite to take over appears to be Peter Taylor, who did so well with the England Under-21 side and, of course, with newly-promoted Gillingham. I would be more than happy to see him at Filbert Street. But for me the man most suited to Leicester City at this time would be Joe Kinnear. Thank goodness he turned down Sheffield Wednesday and gave Leicester the chance to make him O'Neill's replacement.

If there is one available manager who can maintain Martin's momentum it is Kinnear because he showed at Wimbledon that he has the ability to motivate players at a smaller club to out-desire the top teams and thus transcend any deficiencies in the skill department. He also showed that he can find bargain players who later emerge as outstanding talents.

He would have the Heskey millions to build the side into an even more effective unit and he might be a guy who could keep the Leicester players currently, it would seem, on O'Neill's shopping list. Taylor could well do all of these things too, but Joe's the one I'd like to see on the City bench next season.

As a Leicester supporter for 40 years, I say: 'Thanks for everything, Martin O'Neill.

'It was great while it lasted. Now a new era begins. People come and go, but life and football clubs go on.

Thanks for the memories, Martin. Now, set 'em up, Joe. Or pop in Pete.'


HAVE YOUR SAY...
Leicester fans! Who should replace Martin O'Neill - Taylor, Kinnear or someone altogether different? Celtic fans! Will you be patient with the new boss or can he expect to feel the heat if there is no sign of improvement by, say, the winter break? E-mail your views to

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News 4
Wednesday 07 June 2000

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