When Martin O’Neil left Aston Villa on August 9th 2010 it was because the club and its owner, Randy Leaner, were not ambitious as the Northern Irish manager. Now almost two years on, the most entertaining sideline spectacle has returned to Sunderland, a club that holds a special place in his heart. But after the January transfer window closed, I was felt bemused by O’Neil’s and Sunderland’s activities and ventures. Many premier league clubs didn’t spend big after the disasters of the spending sprees of last season have hardly paid fruition.
Yet, I would have thought that it wasn’t mere sentiment alone that drew O’Neil back into the game but also the promise of greater investment to turn The Black Cats into a serious force in the league. The loan signings of Bridge and Kyrgiakos will hardly fill the fans with confidence but they are reliable players for injury ridden defence.
The Kevin Davis saga was the one that caught my eye. Sunderland severely lack an out-and-out striker and Davis is the sort of forward that O’Neil clearly likes to have in his teams. Sadly for him the deal never materialised and yet they put three past a good Norwich side and managed a win away to Stoke. So how has O’Neil done achieved so much by spending so little?
Well first he has a very good squad to work with. Steve Bruce may have had flaws during his time in the North-East but he has assembled an excellent group of players including premier league proven footballers like Larsson, Gardner and Vaughan while also bringing in the sensational Sessegnon and McClean.
This team just needed to find its feet and there aren’t too many managers better at than O’Neil. Stick a top motivator with a talented team and the results won’t be hard to predict. O’Neil and Sunderland have proved that success isn’t entirely dependent on spending astronomical amounts of money to buy success.