Martin O’Neill Feels Undervalued Tenure with Ireland Was Unfair
Martin O’Neill, former manager of the Republic of Ireland, expresses his belief that his work alongside Roy Keane with the team was insufficiently appreciated. O’Neill took over the Ireland job in 2013 with Keane as his assistant, guiding the team to the knockout stages of Euro 2016. However, following a disappointing World Cup qualifying campaign and relegation in the Nations League, O’Neill and Keane departed in 2018.
O’Neill, a native of Northern Ireland, feels he was never fully accepted in the role due to his background. He believes that some members of the media were hoping for his downfall and that he was treated like an outsider.
‘I don’t know why,’ O’Neill stated, ‘but I said in my book I was made to feel like an outsider. I was called the Ulsterman. It does hurt me, of course it does. Deep down, at the end of it all, I honestly felt, from pretty early on, they were almost looking for the team to lose so they could have a go at me.’
O’Neill also criticized the ‘Stephen Kenny experiment,’ which he believes has demonstrated the difficulty of the Ireland manager job.
‘I think they have started to realize the job is a lot more difficult than they thought it was,’ O’Neill said. ‘They had an experiment with a manager (Stephen Kenny) that didn’t work, whatever they say, it didn’t work.’
O’Neill’s last management role was with Nottingham Forest, an experience he deeply regrets. He acknowledges that his management career has likely come to an end.
‘I had no idea when I left Forest that it would be my last job in management,’ O’Neill stated.
