Martin O'Neill Interview - Mercury

[Edmund]

You know what, says Martin O'Neill, you might have to take that bit out. "Can I go back on that," he winces. "It might sound a bit arrogant in print." Martin O'Neill, The Most Successful Manager in Leicester City's History, has just said that when he was at the helm at Filbert Street, it felt like Leicester City was his club. Like it belonged to him. That he was responsible for it, and had nurtured it from sickness to victorious health.

"I loved it there," he says, in that gentle Irish brogue bristling with sincerity that brooks no argument.

"I put my heart and soul into the club. It was as if Leicester City Football club was my club, my baby."

And that's when he wonders, on reflection, if he should retract that. But we're not taking it out. Because it's the truth.

That's how it was: For those five years – not just any five years either, but arguably the best five years the club has ever had – Leicester City were a team built in one man's image. They were Martin O'Neill's club.

It was the crucial point that rival directors – the so-called Gang of Four (Barrie Pierpoint, Roy Parker, Gilbert Kinch and Phil Smith) – never seemed to grasp. They thought they were fighting one man. Instead, they roused an army of 30,000. It was a fight that cost them their City lives.

So, where do you start with Martin Hugh Michael O'Neill?

Do you start with the turmoil – the boardroom scuffles, the "Don't Go Martin'' campaign, (a campaign that actually worked, he admits later), La Manga, the notorious Sheffield United game.

Or the players he bought? The Lennons and Izzets. The Taggarts and Elliotts; Claridges and Cottees; bargain-basement cast-offs he somehow fashioned into a Premiership force.

The success – the Wembley trips, the play-off trophy, the two League Cups, the successive top 10 finishes and Europe?

Or the mystery ingredient – the whatever-it-is-X-Factor he seemed to inherit from Brian Clough that turned this workmanlike former Forest midfielder into one of the best managers in the modern game?

"I don't know what he had," former City physio Mick Yeoman once told the Mercury, "but whatever it was, he made you want to run through walls for him.

"I was just the physio but by the time he'd finished his team talks I could have gone out there and played. He made you feel like a King."

It started on December 17, 1995 – a Sunday and City were playing Norwich City live on ITV, a few days after Mark McGhee had left City for Wolves because, apparently, they were a "bigger" club with "more potential".

O'Neill should have been at Filbert Street that afternoon as Norwich boss. But he had walked out of Carrow Road that morning after just six months.

In the commentary box was former Norwich boss Mike Walker, trying, and failing, to sidestep knowing suggestions that he was about to be unveiled as City's new manager.

That day, behind the scenes, Walker was introduced to the City Supporters' Club. Meet the new boss, they were told as Walker made small talk, pressed the flesh and charmed them.

To those in the know, it looked like a done deal. If it was, no-one told O'Neill. "I don't know if that was the case or not," he says. "I've heard that said but, at the time, it wasn't what I was led to believe."

O'Neill was appointed City manager three days later, five days before Christmas. He walked into a club split down the middle – half the board had backed chairman Martin George and were happy to see him there. The other half clearly still wanted Mike Walker.

"There was boardroom friction, I could see that pretty early," O'Neill recalls. "And that would make itself apparent later – but on the field, the results hadn't been that great either."

McGhee had made a great start at City that season. But the wheels were beginning to come off and City, although third, flattered to deceive. "I could smell the turmoil, on and off the pitch. I knew it would arrive, eventually, on my doorstep."

After a run of just three wins in 16 games, it arrived on Saturday, March 30, 1996 when City faced Sheffield United at Filbert Street. It became the game that O'Neill would never forget.

United won an abysmal match 2-0 and the crowd – angry at the performance, unhappy as City dropped to ninth place and unsure of this former Forest man now in charge of their club – turned on the new manager. Promotion looked beyond them.

It was an unpleasant experience, says O'Neill. "I didn't start off too cleverly, I admit that," he says, "but things were not right there. I could see that."

What did you find when you took over from McGhee?

"Quite a few of the players were not happy. They seemed to think that he (McGhee) would be back for them and they would follow him to Wolves. There was a lot of disillusionment because many of the players got on so well with McGhee. They didn't want to be at the club.

"And some of them did go. Stevie Corica, for instance. I think there was a myth growing up around him. He had some good games at the start of the season but I think he thought he was a better player than he was.

"He caused a bit of hassle and left quite quickly. He went to Wolves. I allowed him to go – but by then I had Lennon and I was looking to get Izzet."

So, back to that Sheffield United game.

"I was aware that the crowd were unhappy, but afterwards I heard that there was a protest outside and some members of the board had allowed a cross-section of fans into the club and they were discussing things.

"I didn't know about this. But if there was any talking to be done, I wanted to have my say. And I had my say and, I hope, they listened."

What did you say?

"It was a frank discussion. I said I'd only been there for three months. That I needed some time. That things were not quite as rosy as they might have seemed here.

"I said it might not happen this season, but it would happen – Leicester City would be in the Premiership. And then we went on a little run."

City went to Charlton three days later and won. The following Saturday they won at Crystal Palace. Two away games, both in London – never traditionally a happy hunting ground for City – and six points. The team started to grow in confidence.

"I remember going on the local radio phone-in around that time and there were all sorts of comments – and that's fine, people are entitled to their views – but I had a point to prove and I was determined to prove it."

O'Neill started making changes. Lennon arrived from Crewe for £750,000 (O'Neill and John Robertson stayed the night at Lennon's unkempt flat to persuade the midfielder to sign for City ahead of Coventry), Izzet, Claridge were signed and City favourite Julian Joachim was sold. A lot of fans didn't want to see Joachim go.

"I didn't want to see him go, either," O'Neill admits. "But Brian Little wanted him, he offered us £1.5 million. I thought, well, he'd had a tough time with injuries, there was no guarantee he would be the player he once was and, with that money, I could do things."

In an ideal world, he says, he'd have kept Joachim and worked with him on the training ground. Instead, the striker left for Villa and never, it has to be said, recreated the same kind of form which made him an early hero at Filbert Street.

O'Neill was beginning to stamp his mark on the team, strengthening the midfield, explaining that too many sides were beginning to "work City out" and that they had been too reliant on playmaker Garry Parker. Relations between the new boss and the City midfielder seemed frosty, culminating in a widely-publicised tea-cup throwing incident.

O'Neill bristles. Don't believe all that, he says. It was nothing more than a frank exchange of views.

"Don't believe everything you read," he laughs. "A lot was made of that incident but it was all part of the turmoil at the club at the time. No more than that."

Instead, he rated Parker highly. "He was a major player for us. I liked him a lot. I never had a problem with his talent – just, on occasion, his fitness.

"People should never forget what he did for Leicester City. I remember that play-off semi-final against Stoke. He was immense in that game."

Parker was last heard of painting and decorating in the Oxford area but that, it seems, may be about to change.

Parker has recently begun working as a Villa scout. "He should be back in the game. He has a lot to offer," says O'Neill.

A new-look, more confident City won their last four games of the 95-96 season, jumping from eighth to fifth. Inspired by Parker, City saw off Stoke in the play-off semi-finals to line up another Wembley play-off final – their fourth in five years – against Dave Bassett's Crystal Palace.

"They were the big favourites, make no mistake," says O'Neill.

"But we were in form, we were coming in off the back of a great run and confidence was high.

"I remember that day vividly – 40,000 people in blue and white, a tremendous atmosphere. We went a goal behind but we never gave in. We got back into it. And we deserved it, you know.

"Steve Walford, who was the coach at City and is still with me now, still says that of all the great times we had at Leicester that was the greatest.

"It was a fantastic day and, you know what, I wouldn't necessarily disagree with him. It was the start of it all."

Super-sub Spider, the Wembley hero who didn't touch the ball

He was built like a goalie – 6ft 7ins tall, 11 stone wet through and an Australian international – he just didn't really play like one. Zelkjo "Spider" Kalac was a Mark McGhee buy – a £750,000 acquisition from Sydney United.

He played twice under McGhee – a nervy debut in front of the ITV cameras against WBA in the league and then in the Coca-Cola cup against Bolton where three elementary mistakes gifted Wanderers the game.

Under Martin O'Neill, he was a spectator. He made just one brief, but famous appearance – 119 minutes into the play-off final on Monday, May 27, 1996.

It was 1-1 against Crystal Palace, extra-time was nearly over, both sets of players looked exhausted and penalties were looming.

And then, rising from the City bench, was the giant figure of Kalac. Everything seemed to stop.

Kevin Poole, who had barely put a glove wrong all season, looked bemused.

If there was a plan at work here, no-one, it seemed, had told Poole. "My thinking," explains O'Neill, "was that, psychologically, with him at 6ft 7ins tall, and replacing Poole, a great keeper but on the small side, it would distract them a wee bit.

"With the penalties, he only had to get his hand on one or two and that could make all the difference."

As 80,000 supporters and two sets of players watched open-mouthed as Kalac kissed his crucifix and ran on the Wembley turf, Steve Claridge dropped on to a loose ball and shinned in the winner. It was the goal that won City promotion and started it all.

"It was more of a distraction to them than I might have hoped," says O'Neill. Kalac never touched the ball.

"Although I'm sure he'll tell you he would have stopped all of their penalties."

Kalac, who until August, 2009, was AC Milan's keeper, now plays for Greek side Kavala FC.

Could you believe he was Milan's first choice keeper?

"Yes, well done to him," says O'Neill. "But, back then, he was neither mentally nor physically ready to play that level of football."

After a grand party on the evening of May 27, 1996, the night of the Wembley play-off final victory against Crystal Palace, Martin O'Neill and his team started to plan the following season. City were back in the Premiership. Under Brian Little two seasons earlier, the club had spent 37 of that season's 42 games in the bottom three.

This time, things were going to be different. O'Neill was building a new team in his image.

He kept Steve Walsh and Garry Parker. He liked Scott Taylor and former jailbird Jamie Lawrence ("A great character to have around," he says) and, with a limited budget, he bought shrewdly.

Neil Lennon and Muzzy Izzet, Claridge and Julian Watts came first. Then came Kasey Keller in goal, Matt Elliott, Ian Marshall, Spencer Prior, Rob Ullathorne, Steve Guppy, Greek international Theo Zagarakis, Robbie Savage, Tony Cottee, Frank Sinclair, Gerry Taggart, keeper Tim Flowers, Darren Eadie and Stan Collymore.

It's an impressive list of decent players bought, by and large, on the cheap, who all did a job for City and repaid the faith of the man who bought them.

"I look back on the players I signed there and I have to tell you I'm pleased with that. And remember, there was a young lad called Emile Heskey we brought on."

Not every signing worked out though, did they?

"No, maybe not everyone."

Graham Fenton?

"I think he was £750,000 (it was £1.1 million) and, yes, he was a disappointment. He found it hard to get into the team and he blamed everyone but himself. I think he's still probably blaming me now for ending his career. Good luck to him."

And Arnar Gunnlaugssen? There's an audible groan from the other end of the phone. "Yes, I think Gunnlaugssen and Fenton were the two disappointments. But I didn't, and I still don't, buy a player thinking about the ratio, how many worked, how many didn't. I buy them because I think they can do a specific job."

That first season, he says, was tough. Tougher than he thought it was going to be, truth be told. "We played Liverpool at home, sixth game of the season and they beat us 3-0. But it could have been 10-0. It was a real wake-up call."

Lesser teams – indeed City teams that came before and after O'Neill – might have looked around them and given up.

"But the players never gave up. There was a great work ethic, a terrific attitude. You can work on that but it's an elusive quality – you can't just invent it."

At Leicester, he says, they always had it. The team started to pick itself, he remembers. "I remember Savage, Lennon, Izzet in midfield with Stevie Guppy up and down the left flank. There was Walsh, Elliott and Taggart at the back. It was a solid line-up, difficult to beat, but creative, too."

People tended to overlook that, he says. It still grates, too, it seems.

For the next four years under O'Neill's intelligent leadership, City managed four successive top 10 finishes; three League Cup final appearances – winning two of them – and forays into Europe. And yet all the time, behind the scenes, World War Three was breaking out.

The bitter split in the City boardroom – caused initially by O'Neill's appointment ahead of Mike Walker but left to fester as ego seemed to clash with common sense – spilled out into the open. By 1999, chairman Sir Rodney Walker admitted that the divide had spiralled into "open warfare."

At the time, O'Neill called the situation "intolerable" and made several veiled threats that he was prepared to quit over it. A decade on, it's territory he politely and expertly sidesteps.

"If you don't mind, I think I'll steer clear of that. You really don't want to go into all of that," he says, gently but firmly. "I think, ultimately, I proved my point. Martin George proved his point. I look back on my time at Leicester and I had a terrific time there. I loved it, I really did.

"I loved Filbert Street, I see the Walkers Stadium today and it's a fine stadium and I say well done to you. But if you could have kept Filbert Street and built up those two stands to match the Main Stand – which was superb but looked incongruous by itself – what a ground that would have been."

But you used to say that you walked your new signings backwards on to the pitch at Filbo because you were so ashamed of the old East Stand?

"Ha, ha, I did, yes, I know. But there was a very special atmosphere there, an indescribable magic. I loved it. I will always love it."

The new stadium marked the start of a new era for Leicester City, he reckons and that was good. A clean break from what had gone before. The club had moved on. He had moved on.

"I am part of an old era," he says.

How close were you to leaving before Celtic? It seemed that Leeds were very close to signing you?

"Well, there had been discussions. I had the opportunity to go but I didn't really want to go. Then there was that night."

It was a home game, October 19, 1998, against Spurs – and the papers had been full of speculation that O'Neill was about to go to Leeds. The Mercury printed several thousand posters saying simply: 'Don't Go Martin.'

"It was a really poignant night," he says. "I don't want to make too big a deal out of it, but yes, that night the crowd made my mind up for me.

"We'd had our early skirmishes. Then they grew to like me. The feeling was mutual and I felt we were level again."

So how did it feel, after you'd left and you were at Celtic, watching Peter Taylor destroy everything you'd created?

He sounds uneasy at the question. "The most important issue here, I think, is that you have your time at a club and you leave, and hopefully you leave on good terms, and you take with you so many good memories."

So from that moment – June 1, 2000, when Leicester City's loss became Celtic's gain – the dream was over. For the fans and for him.

"The moment I left, I relinquished that ownership. Whether I did that with a heavy heart or not," he says, "I did it. I chose to do it."

Every Saturday evening, he'd scan the results to check City's score. "Of course I did," he says. "They were a big part of my life."

And he mourned like a fan when the club were relegated as, in the same month, he lifted his second domestic title with Celtic.

There's so much more to go through – La Manga, Stan Collymore, Brian Clough, even his early days at Shepshed Dynamo – but there's a training session at Aston Villa's Bodymoor Heath training ground and work calls. The interview is over.

"My two girls had a phenomenal time during our five years in Leicester," he says. "I'm still good friends with many people there. I didn't fall out with everyone there, it just sometimes felt like I did.

"But as JF Kennedy once said, the torch passes on. It's up to someone else. But I loved it there. I had five of the best years of my life there."

I'll never forget 'fantastic' demolition of Sunderland

There were scores of memorable games, great goals and Saturday afternoons during Martin O'Neill's five years at City – but the one that sticks out?

O'Neill barely pauses. He doesn't plump for the Wembley finals or a balmy night at Old Trafford – but a sunny day in late March, 2000, when Peter Reid brought his Sunderland side to Filbert Street.

"That was a fantastic match," he says. "It was Emile's last game for City, a hat-trick for Stan. The side that beat Sunderland that day, that was a powerful, strong side.

"We murdered Sunderland that day but we would have been too good for most sides that day."

The team that day was:

Tim Flowers; Frank Sinclair, Matt Elliott, Gerry Taggart, Steve Guppy; Neil Lennon, Muzzy Izzet, Robbie Savage, Stef Oakes, Emile Heskey and Stan Collymore

[Thracian]

Why do they do this?

It's over. He's gone. He might have loved the club but not enough to stop him moving on because he'd supposedly taken us as high as he could.

For me I think he's had a shallow existence ever since.

Celtic have their games against Rangers and their annual on-a-plate sortie ito Europe. And Villa are just pretenders to other people's thrones - and, indeed, one extra as Manchester City surpass them to sit alongside United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.

I'm truly grateful for what MON gave us - they were superlative times full of marvellous memories - but it's history now and I'm far more interested in what Pearson might do in the future.

[hairy]

I remember the Central TV coverage of Mike Walker strutting his stuff around the ground waiting for the announcement of him being the new manager. Then the time of the announcement passed and they were asking a redfaced Walker what was going on. Then the news came through.

Thracian is right though. Buts its good to remember all of those turning points in his five years with the club.

[Edmund]

Why do they do this?

It's over. He's gone. He might have loved the club but not enough to stop him moving on because he'd supposedly taken us as high as he could.

For me I think he's had a shallow existence ever since.

Celtic have their games against Rangers and their annual on-a-plate sortie ito Europe. And Villa are just pretenders to other people's thrones - and, indeed, one extra as Manchester City surpass them to sit alongside United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal.

I'm truly grateful for what MON gave us - they were superlative times full of marvellous memories - but it's history now and I'm far more interested in what Pearson might do in the future.

I thought it was a cracking read and a great insight into his spell at Leicester. I can't see what's wrong with having an interview with an ex legend. I think your looking to much into it.

Plus the man speaks sense :

"I loved Filbert Street, I see the Walkers Stadium today and it's a fine stadium and I say well done to you. But if you could have kept Filbert Street and built up those two stands to match the Main Stand – which was superb but looked incongruous by itself – what a ground that would have been."

[Simo86]

I thought it was a cracking read and a great insight into his spell at Leicester. I can't see what's wrong with having an interview with an ex legend. I think your looking to much into it.

My thoughts exactly.

[Fosse Boy]

Interesting read. Great insight into a memorable era.

[Bellend Sebastian]

I would have posted about this but assumed someone else would have done so already, being as it was in the Mercury on Friday and Saturday - it just goes to show how few people read actual newspapers now, I guess.

I thought it was a great interview, mainly because it brought back so many happy memories of the time that football gave me the most enjoyment. I laughed about Gunlaugsson - I always thought he was crap as well, but he was one of those players the crowd was always screaming to come on because he'd scored a couple of blinding goals, forgetting the many occasions where he did sod all. Poor old Graham Fenton, ho ho

[Edmund]

I would have posted about this but assumed someone else would have done so already, being as it was in the Mercury on Friday and Saturday - it just goes to show how few people read actual newspapers now, I guess.

No offence but have you read the mercury?

Todays headline "De Montfort hall boss suspended". I rest my case.

[sdb]

Quality read. Nothing wrong with remembering good times - jeez!!

That Sunderland game gives me such mixed emotions when I think about it.

[Sparky]

Good read , great man

[maddog]

Good read , great man

[Bellend Sebastian]

No offence but have you read the mercury?

Todays headline "De Montfort hall boss suspended". I rest my case.

I get it delivered every day. How else would I be kept up to date on the many dreadful things that happen in my neighbourhood that I would be otherwise be blissfully unaware of?

[Rich Fox]

He was right about building the two stands up at filbet st instead of the walkers. Great man.

[Simi]

At Leicester, he says, they always had it. The team started to pick itself, he remembers. "I remember Savage, Lennon, Izzet in midfield with Stevie Guppy up and down the left flank. There was Walsh, Elliott and Taggart at the back. It was a solid line-up, difficult to beat, but creative, too."

[Bellend Sebastian]

He was right about building the two stands up at filbet st instead of the walkers. Great man.

I went past where the Kop was when I was running the other day. Fair brought a tear to me eye, it did.

Just a big block of student flats and some fly tipping now

[ousefox]

Very good read

[lavrentis]

Good read but why are the paragraphs so short?

[jonthefox]

" i had the best 5 years of my life there".

yep, mine too.

[Ozwin]

He was right about building the two stands up at filbet st instead of the walkers. Great man.

Damn right, would have saved us a bit of money too I'm guessing.

[StanSP]

Good read but why are the paragraphs so short?

Who gives a shit?!

[davieG]

He was right about building the two stands up at filbet st instead of the walkers. Great man.

If we'd changed our name to DMU Leicester City the council would probably have ignored the Offside protest mob and granted us permission

[Salieri]

A cracking read. Brought back some fantastic memories, they were truly great times in the main. You learn to appreciate it even more on reflection after going through the dross of the following years. I still regard the man in very high esteem and wish him every success. Was gutted when he didnt get the England job, it would have been the next best thing to him managing Leicester.

But a new, and hopefully successful era is unfolding. And i genuinely hope Nigel Pearson can eclipse what MON did and lay the past to rest so to speak. It's a hard act to follow no doubt, but Nige is his own man and i've every faith he can take us on to bigger and better things.

[Edmund]

If we'd changed our name to DMU Leicester City the council would probably have ignored the Offside protest mob and granted us permission

[Corky]

If we'd changed our name to DMU Leicester City the council would probably have ignored the Offside protest mob and granted us permission

Cracking read. Will always have respect for the man for all he did for the club.

[Hitesh]

Good read!