Ex MON player Spencer Prior in the Mirror....

[Lord Alfred]

Can't say i remember him but he played for O'Neill twice and gives a canny articulation of O'Neill's strengths.

http://www.mirrorfootball.co.uk/news...cle850683.html

“At Leicester, he took a bunch of misfits, basically. We were guys who came from here, there and everywhere, but he only brought players in that would buy in to his philosophy and would buy in to playing for Martin O’Neill, the way that he wanted. He gave everyone the most incredible belief and backed the players hugely".

“I don’t believe Martin is about managing superstars, I think he’s about managing groups of players who play for the team, play for each other, play for the club,” said Prior.

“He’s not about players who have got any personal agenda or self-ambition in terms of anything outside of the club".

Bad news for Bender.....

[cabbage]

Spencer Prior was an average player for Southend Utd when O'Neill signed him for Leicester. Nothing that special but....

[Wise Man Says]

Look at his Leicester team, on paper an ordinary bunch of players but he made them much stronger than the sum of their parts with teamspirit and organisation.

[Lord Alfred]

Originally Posted by Wise Man Says

Look at his Leicester team, on paper an ordinary bunch of players but he made them much stronger than the sum of their parts with teamspirit and organisation.

The article has interesting implications for our transfer activity and the type of player he may sign.......which, given some of the players we have signed these last few years is probably a good thing. Similar to Cloughy in some respects as players who he signed and developed rarely went on to better things when they moved on (Downing and Young spring to mind)

[Lanchesterredandwhite]

This is the Leicester team that he took to win the League Cup in 1997 (they won the League Cup twice, got into Europe, and finished in the top ten four seasons running). Some of the players went on to become well known, but it is worth bearing in mind where he found them, or how they improved under him (some had signed for previous managers but the point about working wonders with available resources stands)

Kasey Keller (£900,000 from Millwall)
Simon Grayson (cost nothing, from Leeds, had played 2 games for them)
Spencer Prior (£600,000 from Norwich)
Steve Walsh (£100,000 from Wigan)
Mike Whitlow (£250,000 from Leeds)
Neil Lennon (£750,000 from Crewe Alexandra)
Garry Parker (£300,000 from Aston Villa)
Pontus Kaamark (£840,000 from IFK Goteborg)
Muzzy Izzet (£800,000 from Chelsea reserves)
Emile Heskey (in Leicester reserves when O'Neill arrived)
Steve Claridge (£1.2m from Birmingham)

So of a team that won two cups, got into Europe, finished higher four seasons running than we have in the last 10 - 15 years - ie all of the things we can realistically hope for - none was a really big buy, and the entire side cost less to assemble than Steve Bruce spent on Craig Gardner.

Now of course there has been inflation in transfer fees then, but not on that scale. The myth that O'Neill can't work within a budget is exactly that - a myth - and always has been.

[FunkyIguana]

I think that bodes very well for our future transfer dealings. We should be able to grab some real bargains given MON's ability to bring the best out of 'average' players.

[tomahawk]

Originally Posted by Lanchesterredandwhite

This is the Leicester team that he took to win the League Cup in 1997 (they won the League Cup twice, got into Europe, and finished in the top ten four seasons running). Some of the players went on to become well known, but it is worth bearing in mind where he found them, or how they improved under him (some had signed for previous managers but the point about working wonders with available resources stands)

Kasey Keller (£900,000 from Millwall)
Simon Grayson (cost nothing, from Leeds, had played 2 games for them)
Spencer Prior (£600,000 from Norwich)
Steve Walsh (£100,000 from Wigan)
Mike Whitlow (£250,000 from Leeds)
Neil Lennon (£750,000 from Crewe Alexandra)
Garry Parker (£300,000 from Aston Villa)
Pontus Kaamark (£840,000 from IFK Goteborg)
Muzzy Izzet (£800,000 from Chelsea reserves)
Emile Heskey (in Leicester reserves when O'Neill arrived)
Steve Claridge (£1.2m from Birmingham)

So of a team that won two cups, got into Europe, finished higher four seasons running than we have in the last 10 - 15 years - ie all of the things we can realistically hope for - none was a really big buy, and the entire side cost less to assemble than Steve Bruce spent on Craig Gardner.

Now of course there has been inflation in transfer fees then, but not on that scale. The myth that O'Neill can't work within a budget is exactly that - a myth - and always has been.

[Lord Alfred]

Originally Posted by FunkyIguana

I think that bodes very well for our future transfer dealings. We should be able to grab some real bargains given MON's ability to bring the best out of 'average' players.

Personally i think the "we never mentioned transfer budgets" quote by O'Neill wasn't an off the cuff remark. I bet he looked at who he had available to him and what was coming through the ranks before he said that and must have thought..."there's a few fucking good players here and a few more in the pipeline"..... £20m over 2 windows could make us into a very, very good team imo.

[pierrot]

All that's great but just wait until he buys some player from Crewe for peanuts, as usual this place will go into meltdown because we haven't paid a huge sum for Carlos kickabout from some no hope European side.we got Maclean for buttons fom Derry city or suchlike and look at the criticism that got.

[Lord Alfred]

Originally Posted by pierrot

All that's great but just wait until he buys some player from Crewe for peanuts, as usual this place will go into meltdown because we haven't paid a huge sum for Carlos kickabout from some no hope European side.we got Maclean for buttons fom Derry city or suchlike and look at the criticism that got.

O'Neill is operating from a position of strength though. Manager of the month in his first month and the notable improvement in quite a few players has given him the luxury of trust from the fans.