Why Not Dave O'Leary for the Sunderland job?

Listen, O'Leary is one of our own for God's sake. Just because Deadly Doug Ellis and the English Premier League have turned against him doesn't mean we have to. Are our memories really that short? Does no one remember that penalty against Romania? Men have had airports named after them for less (O'Hare, De Gaulle- what have they ever done?). Everyone went out and got shitfaced afterwards, having a great time. Not me, I was only seven but I sometimes look back at the video footage from that World Cup. The scenes of the homecoming, the sheer euphoria that swept the country every time Captain Fantastic launched the ball towards the opposition penalty area. It was a great time to be alive.

Not only did O'Leary extend the party by a week but he also brought us our greatest ever victory over Causcescu's Romania and and the mighty Gheorgi Hagi. In my book that actually makes David O'Leary a national hero so I can't understand all this hostility and indifference towards him now. We should at least be defending the man but no one speaks up for David O'Leary and that is a terrible indictment on the people of Ireland. Did we use O'Leary for our own selfish purposes and then toss him aside when we'd had our fun?

O'Leary is never considered for any job that comes up. I don't mind the English media ignoring him but I think his credentials should be given more consideration by the Irish press. For me he's more qualified to take over Sunderland (the most Irish club in the Premier League) than any of the other candidates being touted. O'Leary finished in the top six with Leeds every year and in one of his two years with Villa.

I couldn't believe when I heard that Ally McCoist is even being linked with the job ahead of O'Leary. Not only has he never managed a team in his life but he also has about as much in common with the average Irish football supporter as Queen Elizabeth or Ian Paisley. Politics don't come into football but rivalries do and how Ally McCoist has risen above O'Leary in the pecking order is simply beyond me. It defies logic. If I'm completely missing something totally obvious here, please tell me.

There was a vendetta against him at Villa whether it was justified or not. Deadly Doug refused to give him the money to strenghten the squad probably because he wanted to sell the club and didn't want to invest any more to make the maximum profit. Then he sacked David O'Leary even though he was on the verge of selling the club. Surely that decision should have been left to the new owner.

O'Leary didn't do himself any favours by whining to the media about the lack of funds. I think he wanted the fans to put pressure on Doug to give him some cash but it just sounded like he was making excuses for poor results on his meagre squad. The number of young players he brought through at Villa (or had to bring through) shows how lacking in experience that squad were and what a good a manager he is that he gave these players the confidence and the know how to perform at this level. When they beat Birmingham 3-1 towards the end of his final season at Villa Park Ridgewell, Cahill, Gardner, Davis, Agbonlahor, Samuel and Milner all played. O'Neill quickly swapped a few of these guys for some much needed experience.

I'd nearly give the job to Ricky Sbragia just because he's obviously a good coach and he seems to be playing Sunderland to their strengths which I'm sure will be rewarded with good results. He probably isn't high profile enough for the club if they're looking to attract top players or 'market their product overseas'.

Allerdyce and Curbishly are small club, small mentality managers and both showed that at Newcastle and West Ham. Big Sam couldn't appease the supporters or handle the pressure and Curbishly showed no tact or savvy when dealing with the board. That might be harsh on Curbs but in any case I think O'Leary is a much better manager than him. It could be argued that Allerdyce is more tactically aware (than anyone else in the game) but I don't think the Newcastle fans appreciated scientific analysis of their defeats nor did they care that based on the Pro-zone stats, they actually won.

I still think O'Leary should be considered. I don't know why there is so much opposition or indifference towards O'Leary. He isn't even being considered yet he was able to make Paul Robinson, Alan Smith and Ian Harte (briefly) look like good players. He was a model pro playing 772 games for Arsenal which speaks volumes in itself. He scored the winner against Romania. Like it or not careers and legends are built on such things. Avram Grant might be the best manager in the world were it not for the lottery of penalties.

I think he actually did a good job at Villa, even in the second season. If you saw the game against Birmingham in April that year, Villa needing to win to be sure of staying up against a resurgent Birmingham side, you'd see why. Villa produced a very determined robust performance that day. Villa's players were either rubbish, injured or too young that year and because O'Leary couldn't replace them, they struggled.

O'Leary's teams are organised always and he gets the best out of all his players. See above and note Dacourt, Viduka, Ferdinand, Matteo, Kewell amongst others. I'd even say Baros when he played that last season for Villa looked good. He also bought Bouma, Melberg (I think), Laursen, brought through Cahill, Davis, Gardiner, Whittingham, Agbonlahor and Moore. They didn't all make it but they all looked good for a time under him.

He was also the first one to notice just how bad Ian Harte is. Even Roy Keane took a while to catch on to that one. The problem with O'Leary are the stories about how he is too squeaky clean, no laugh and no good for going on the lash. Unlike Martin O'Neill who is chummy and affable like Tel, Harry and Fergie (sometimes). They're the popular managers with the press and fans alike and it is, in part for that reason. O'Leary just isn't one of the lads but he is a good manager and this is what we should really be focused on.

I think he was made the scapegoat for a lot of the Leeds debacle. O'Leary wasn't writing the cheques (Peter Ridsdale was) and he bought a lot of very good players. Seth Johnson stands out as signing where it all fell apart and it is one which still haunts O'Leary but Johnson got injured not long after that move so we have no way of knowing how good he would have become except to say that other top sides were looking at him at that time as well. Again it was Ridsdale who negotiated the deal and wages, not O'Leary.

The book was a mistake but so what. So many different people were involved, all with vested interests in making sure it got optimum publicity. Publishers, editors, newspapers, it wasn't all his fault. I'm willing to accept he was badly advised. At Villa he had deadly Doug to contend with. With Sunderland, he'd have no excuses only the players at his disposal to work with like the early days at Leeds. He plays the game as it should be played too which would keep Gilesy and the fans happy.

The concern I keep coming back to is his character. For some reason I think he's sly or dishonest. Why do I (and everyone else) think that? Have we been brainwashed by the British media? Of course we have but what I mean is have we been brainwashed on O'Leary? "O'Leary is dour". So what, his teams aren't and he scored that goal!

He has been successful for most of his life, he has something to prove and deserves his chance. Quinny and himself have history having played together at Arsenal. This makes it even more bizarre that he is not being linked with the job. Quinny was something of a hell raiser in those days and writes in his (excellent) autobiography about O'Leary being squeaky clean and how he had to try to hide the smell of alcohol off himself when he used to gives him lifts to training.

You don't get to playing all those games for Arsenal unless you're both exceedingly talented and professional. Quinny didn't last that long at Highbury and maybe it's just O'Leary's style of management which is needed now to take Sunderland to the next level and establish that big club mentality which Keane himself so often spoke about.