Walshy and Muzzy on O'Neill

[Clive Redman]

For his latest blog and the second part of his summary of Martin O'Neill's time at the club, Steve Walsh is joined by Muzzy Izzet as the pair give their thoughts on the glory years...

Muzzy:

"Martin was on a different level to what I’d experienced with other managers. With Hoddle I wasn’t an established first-team player and he always seemed unapproachable. Martin had that human element where you could go and speak to him, but Hoddle was this big name, this big persona.

"Martin was more down to earth and I got on really well with him. I instantly wanted to play for him and he created this great team spirit thanks to the players and characters he brought in, players that hadn’t really achieved what they’d set out to achieve earlier in their career. I was one and so was Neil Lennon and the older players were still important and still wanted to achieve, so we had a good blend. He drew us together and we just seemed to click."

For more see...

http://www.soarmagazine.co.uk/2010/07/02/steve-walsh-blog-my-managers-at-leicester-city-week-six-martin-oneill-part-2/

[Houdini Logic]

That scarily sounds like it could come from most of our players under Pearson.

Makes you think

[ArnarGunnlaugsson]

That scarily sounds like it could come from most of our players under Pearson.

Makes you think

I think it shows the importance of man management - for me an underrated aspect of the managerial job description. For me Peter Taylor didn't totally f*** up because of his transfer dealings - more that he tried to be too different to MON, try to be mates with the players but didn't put a boundary in place where boss and mates are divided. Highlighted by a dressing room full of captains and future managers - eventually he lost the dressing room and the cohesion. Taylor could get away with it in the U21s cos he was working with relatively inexperienced players.

Saddest moment for me - not seeing where we could go with with MON and Collymore on top of building that great team!