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Details
Title: Martin O’Neill
Author: Simon Moss
Published: 2010
Manager Homepage: Martin O’Neill
Synopsis
Martin O’Neill is one of British football’s true greats. Plucked from Irish club Distillery by Nottingham Forest in 1971, the young Irishman went on an incredible football journey that saw him clash against some of the game’s biggest characters. He twice won the European Cup with Forest under the enigmatic Brian Clough – though the two never saw eye-to-eye. A talented midfielder, O’Neill played for Manchester City in between spells at Norwich before ending his playing career at Notts County in 1985. As the first Roman Catholic captain of his coutry, O’Neill marshalled Northern Ireland’s golden generation, who battled through to the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 1982, knocking out hosts Spain on the way. But football was by no means the only path O’Neill could have taken. His had been a life of choice. Opting for football over Gaelic football as a youth, O’Neill was then forced to curtail a law degree at Queens University Belfast to make the switch to England, although his interest in criminology had not diminished. O’Neill cut his football managememt teeth at Grantham Town and Shepshed Dynamo, and his stock grew as he took Wycombe Wanderers from the GM Vauxhall Conference to the old Second Division in a matter of years. However it was at Celtic that O’Neill would enjoy his most trophy-laden years, winning an unprecedented treble in his first year before narrowly missing out on UEFA Cup glory a year later. O’Neill would leave Celtic, his ‘spiritual home’, to care for wife Geraldine as she was battling cancer. Returning to football in 2006, O’Neill is charged with taking a hugely talented Aston Villa side into the Premier League’s top four.
Review
The trouble with biographies of subjects still plying their trade is that events can soon make them hopelessly outdated. However Martin O’Neill’s sudden exit from Villa Park had no such impact on Simon Moss’ recent biography of the Derry man.
The truth is it was outdated before it even hit the bookshelves.
English journalist Moss is the latest man to have a stab at trying to tell the story of one of the most complex and interesting characters in modern football. From his days as a young northern Irish Catholic plying his trade in Britain at the start of “The Troubles” to his strained relationship with the incomparable Brian Clough and the incredible success as a manager at Leicester and Celtic, O’Neill’s story is intensely fascinating.
When told properly it will be an essential read. Sadly, until Martin decides it’s time to tell his own version of events it appears the best we can hope for is this collection of regurgitated newspaper interviews posing as a genuine biography.
In fairness to Moss his style is readable and his journey through O’Neill’s career covers almost everything you would expect. The problem is that as Moss’ insight into the world of O’Neill comes almost exclusively from second-hand press and media quotes it is quickly apparent that we are not going to learn anything new of this most intriguing of subjects.
While O’Neill’s period at Parkhead is given rightful reverence and coverage as the centrepiece of the book it is spoilt by being littered by the most basic and infuriating of mistakes including a reference to Celtic’s European Cup winning team of 1976. Such frequent errors may not be entirely the fault of Moss but they only compound the feeling that this is a book produced with little thought and even less feeling.
While Moss covers all major events in Martin’s career there is little or no digging to discover the real impact the man and associated events have had on the game. Certainly there is no real sense of the seismic shift in the powerbase of Scottish football as a consequence of his arrival in Glasgow. There is also no sense of the drama O’Neill brought to Celtic and Scotland. Even that wonderful 6-2 triumph over Rangers is told with all the passion and enthusiasm of the shipping forecast.
Moss fails to provide any fresh insight into O’Neill the player/footballer and even less revelations about the world, family and upbringing that made Martin the man he became. Attempts to address the political situation in the north of Ireland and their impact on O’Neill are at best crass and at worst offensive and hugely insensitive. Talking about life at Nottingham Forest in 1972 – the year of Bloody Sunday in O’Neill’s native county – Moss refers to O’Neill being detached from the troubles back home while “..Forest had their own problems on the pitch”.
Moss can clearly write and his fluent style allows you to rattle through the chapters. That’s a definite advantage here as the sooner you finish the book the better. More disappointing than an Aston Villa transfer budget.
Product Details
Hardcover: 288 pages
Publisher: John Blake Publishing Ltd (4 May 2010)
Language English
ISBN-10: 184454950X
ISBN-13: 978-1844549504
Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.6 x 3.2 cm
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