A muppet or a visionary: What is Scott Anthony?
Thursday, 16 August 07, 02:24 AM · Comments (23)
I read The Fiver every day because it makes me laugh. If something makes me laugh I like it and if it's connected with Aston Villa it's my duty to make you laugh too.
Yesterday morning the Guardian published an article about Martin O'Neill, written by a certain Scott Anthony.
Now, they've put in the Sport blog section, so can probably get away with saying it wasn't edited or checked for fact and is just the opinion of one person, but surely a newspaper that runs a website like this have a certain responsibility to offer up some good reading.
Now, I've asked you to tell me if this Scott Anthony is a muppet or a visionary because everyone is entitled to an opinion, but we really are a blog not a national newspaper looking at generating content under any guise possible to increase hits to the site.
Now I wasn't actually going to point you to the article but when I re-read it the bit about our previous incumbent doing better in his first season wound me up.
How can anyone talking about football management use our previous incumbent as a benchmark? The man was a true muppet and only did well in his first season on the back of 'new manager syndrome' and the fact it took the players a season to see through him.
There are also so many parts of this article that don't make sense. He says that 'Villa were simply painful to watch last season'. That's simply not true. We were painful under the previous manager but does this Scott Anthony think a new manager comes in and it all changes instantly?
It takes time for it all to come together and last season it wasn't painful to watch, at times it was as expected and at other times it was actually quite pleasant and refreshing.
If this Scott Anthony spoke to any Villa fans or knew anything about football before writing this he'd know this already. I could go on and on about the football improvements seen last season, but I won't.
He also says of a Martin O'Neill team; 'he has never produced a team that you'd willingly pay to watch'. This is just not true. Yes the club have sold the season tickets this season rather than expect them to be bought but it's still higher than under the previous incumbent.
It's a fact that people are actually paying to see a Martin O'Neill team, just like they did at Leicester and Celtic.
But what really surprised me and why I had to read it two or three times was the very first sentence. 'Martin O'Neill is arguably the most highly praised manager of his generation'. No he isn't. Does Scott Anthony know anything about football?
The article is titled On Second Thoughts: Martin O'Neill. Go read it here and them come back and vote muppet or visionary in the comment box below.
You can't question a manager after one season and one game. Okay, I did about the previous incumbent but, well, I can and he truly was a muppet, Martin O'Neill isn't.
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23 Comments · Add yours
Muppet - writing this article shows that he's worried that Villa will do well this season. when u look at it not many managers have ever achieved what o'neil has, especially with teams that are not equivelant to the big four were its easy to achieve. yes we have lots of money now, but the top fur managers only succeed because they have the money and the team trend to win trophies, so is ferguson, mourinho and wenger really that good of mnagers?
Is the previous incumbent like "he who shall not be named" on this blog. In any case, that guy is a muppet. It's absolute tripe, from a guy who is trying to be controversial, going against the grain, with pretty weak arguments. He's talking to the rest of the league, who can easily swallow what he's saying, forgetting that we know more about how well O'Neill has done than anyone else in the last year. He was talking about how we "shinned, scuffed and set-pieced" our way to 17 draws. I can barely remember scoring more than half a dozen goals from set-pieces last year personally. He says how all of O'Neill's previous clubs thought that he couldn't take them further. What a load of arse. I don't know about Wycombe, as i don't know any wycombe fans, nor care, but Leicester and Celtic fans were despondant about losing MON, and we were ecstatic about getting him. I personally wouldn't have any another manager, other than Arsene Wenger. I think for our club, he is the perfect man. And as long as we win, I'll pay to watch thuggery. Muppet.
Read the guardian by all means for jobs and political comment etc, BUT DONT VENTURE INTO THE SPORTS PAGES, ABSOLUTE DRIVEL!! You only have to read the Guardian Guide to the Premiership to see that their sports writers are some of the worst!!
villa!!!!!!!!
He has to be a bluenose or a rangers fan what an idiot.
I read this article too. He clearly didn't watch any of our games last season. In fact, it seems to be a common misconception amonge pundits that Ashley Young plays up front for us (I think he played 3 games there?) "Where Villa now have John Carew and Ashley Young, Celtic had Chris Sutton and Henrik Larsson, Leicester Emile Heskey and Tony Cottee."
He writes "Dogged defending saw them shin, scuff and set-piece their way to 17 draws". Apart from penalties, and Maloney's free kick at the end of the season, I thought we were quite ineffective from set pieces. In fact, set pieces were often our undoing!
He also says "surely he couldn't be seamlessly replaced by Gordon Strachan". Apart from the fact that Gordon Strachan has a very good managerial record, he took over a winning team and there is not the gulf between Celtic and Rangers that there was when O'Neill was there.
This particular author seems more at home trying to use as many words as possible to make his article nice and long than judging football.
i read it too. he is just trying to stir the pot of you know what, see what comes up. nobody could question o'neills record before villa. we played well last season apart from the december and january and quite frankly the only concern in any villa fans mind is the mysterious approach to transfers.
Muppet,
I instantly picked up on that fact that the porto game was a 2-2 draw goign into extra time celtic finsihed with 10 men, and the Porto side in question went on win the Champions league final the year after.
Also managed by one of the most sucessful managers at the moment, I have a feeling the writer of this peice has done it just to evoke a reaction, its clearly worked.
I have more faith in O'neill than I have had in any Villa manager for a long while, not blind faith just more faith.
To be fair I agree with a lot of what he has said.
In terms of season tickets. The only reason so many have been sold is cause we were told big things were happeneing, class sisgnings were coming in etc. I know a number of Villa fans that certainly would not have bought there season tickets if they had known how the summer would have gone.
MON may want Villa to play attractive football. And there was the odd occassuion last year when we did, sheff utd being one, but in genereal we still dont play good football. We pass it sideways all the time!! Leicester certainly didnt play attractive football and nor did Celtic so the guy def has a fair point with that.
I believe and it was shown Oneil was a great manager for a club like Leicester taking them to a position of being a consistent top 10 premiership side. We wont settle for that and it remains to be seen if he can be a great manager with a club with greater ambitions than that. I am v aprehensive about the season ahead and based on the summer activity i think it is understandable why some poeple are doubting whether he will prove to be that good a manager for us.
Only time will tell tho.
He writes for The Guardian, I think that in itself explains pretty much evertything. He probably wears sandals, washes little and only eats organic food. Fool.
Thats not journalism, its a personal attack on Martin O'Niell. His accent, his glasses etc....what a p***k. Sam Allardyce, Steve McClaren and Alan Curbishley have all been hailed as 'Messiahs' but I don't see anyone giving them grief in the press, and they haven't achieved anywhere near what O'Niell has. He must be a Celtic or Leicester fan who is bitter. Opinions like that are best kept for the pub and not to be put into writing, because it will only come back to haunt him. O'Niell is a good manager, he's no Ancellotti or Cappello, but then again he's never had the team or the money to match them either. football is a results business and if he gets us results, I'll be happy.
To be fair tone, his resources at Leicester where more limited than they are at villa, and without sounding like a sound byte, we are supposed to be preparing for bigger things, I prefer the way we are doing it than, West Ham and even Man City even though I accept Man City have got off to a great start.
In Reo Coker, Young et al we are building a great side for many years, I think people are forgetting how bad we were under O'Leary I for one was never going to visit Villa Park again while he was there, O'Neill is respected throughout football for his achievements by many Fans, who if told that he was coming top four aside would be just as ecstatic as we were and still should be.
I hate the fact that after 1 Season and O'neill not acting like his playing Champ Manager some villa fans have decided to start with the nagging doubts, don't accept everything the club say thats for sure but we are improving on and off the field and long may it continue.
The guardian , isnt that the supposed left wing paper owned by capitalist (new labour)sorry . the football down the villa last season was better than it had been for a few seasons, the fans are starting to believe that we do have ambition , but its toearly days to say if mo'n is going to be the one to fill the ground , that i suggest is a marker on improvement.
people are forgetting its a 5 year plan the club have made. personally i think we do have a good team of players at the moment who play well but when we get injuries IE: taylor, laursen, sorensen.. we're f**ked!) *IF* we get any more players.. dont expect them to be "world class" they will most likely be backup players like harewood
At Wycombe, O'Neill, "refined his tactical template" which is "high energy kick and rush" with a "big man little man combination" - is he talking about Benitez and Liverpool, or Chelsea? Anyone could come up with some trite criticism and say there's more than a hint of truth in it - imagine Liverpool without Gerrard (one man team?) or ManU without Rooney and Ronaldo? This article reeks of jealousy. We have a man at the helm who wants the best for Aston Villa. Villa fans never shy away from the truth, we know where we are really at and are positive about the future.
I think the fact that everyone wanted O'Neill for England manager says enough about his pedigree.
This bloke didn't watch any of the last 7 or so games of last season because we were quiet something at times.
It's a provocative article to get hits for the site.
Definitely a muppet :D
article is pure crap, but its the comments below that just show how stupid some people are
One word - Muppet.
MUPPET:
a person who defies explanation with regard to common sense and logic, exhubing an air of confidence that is mutually exclusive to that of their accomplishments or ability
Yep he is one of them alright!
"Halfway down the stairs is a stair where he sits"
Can I say Tosser?
This guy bemoans the fact that Celtic "huffed & puffed there way to losing in the UEFA CUP FINAL."(coincidentally, one of the best UEFA cup finals on record).
Claims all his teams employ a "Kick and Rush" style tactic playing to the big fella, little fella combo! Do I have to remind fans that it was such a combo that won Villa our last league title and claimed the European Cup (Shaw & Withe anyone?)
Claimed that MON wheels out average teams and forces them to over-achieve! (Can anyone see the Negative part of that sentence? Cos I can't!) Claims that you'd never willingly pay to watch a team managed by him ! (I didn't seem to recall too many empty seats during his reign at Celtic and weren't too many available on saturday either!) but fails to notice that season ticket sales have gone up this year! Claimed Villa were painful to watch last season! Actually we were the last team to remain unbeaten in the league and played fresh, exciting football but alas only injuries and suspensions really stopped us progressing throughout the middle third of the season and we remained unbeaten for the last 11/12 games of the season playing very exciting football indeed. MON has never been in my opinion a "media messiah". To prove this, Who gets the most column inches in the sports pages? Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger, Alex Ferguson and Rafael Benitez. Lets get this straight MON has never at any point been given the type of budget that the above mentioned are given year in year out to improve their squads but he still hangs in their with them. I'd like to see Jose Mourinho do with Wycombe what MON did with them, that would be at true test as to who was most overrated!
Scott Anthony is a Class A MUPPET! Who wouldn't know football if MON knocked on his door and smacked him in the face with one! >:(
The man is a muppet.
As a villa fan when O'neill was in charge of Leicester I was often left bemused by the fact that we couldn't beat a side that on paper we were far better than, even on one occasion when we were 4-1 up at home and still only drew.
He would improve the results of almost any side he managed, and I still believe he is the man to bring glory back to Villa Park