Football Daily | British managers abroad: will Gary O’Neil sink or swim at Strasbourg?

17 hours ago 5

RACING TO THE TOP?

Some British managers who have chanced their arm on the continent have won trophies and the adoration of supporters. Others have at least provided the Daily with plenty of content. For every Bobby Robson, there’s a Tony Adams, or to meet somewhere in the middle, Steve McClaren – who can deliver you a league title while still making an arsche of himself in TV interviews. What fate awaits Gary O’Neil, quietly ushered into the vacant hot seat at Ligue 1 Strasbourg after Todd Boehly called up Liam Rosenior for the real job? Like Rosenior, he starts his tenure with a tricky away day in the cup; hours before Chelsea play Charlton, O’Neil will take the reins for a Coupe de France tie at fourth-tier Avranches.

The Normandy outfit play their home games close to Mont Saint-Michel, a mazy tourist hotspot that has often befuddled English visitors. It’s a daunting start for a manager whose last competitive game was more than a year ago. Like Rosenior, O’Neil is a relatively young English coach with ambition, experience and a harsh sacking on his CV. Still, he feels like an odd fit in the BlueCo machine – a tracksuit manager unlikely to discuss performance ceilings and marginal gains. “I don’t like the word ‘philosophy’,” O’Neil told Big Website back in June. “In the jobs I’ve gone into, we’ve had to be incredibly adaptable.”

Having been linked with pretty much every vacancy in the Championship this season, he also pulled out of a return to Wolves in November, a decision nobody could hold against him. Leaving England for the first time since a brief loan spell at Cardiff in 2004, O’Neil is finally joining a club on a relatively stable footing, seventh in Ligue 1 and Tin Pot’s top seed. In his first interview, he tried his best to reach out to the fans. “Every decision I make won’t be about me, it will always be about Strasbourg,” he claimed – words most supporters might struggle to believe, given this week’s other events. Fans already unhappy with their 120-year-old club being absorbed into the BlueCo pipeline were left incensed by Rosenior’s departure – “another humiliating step in Racing’s subservience to Chelsea,” according to the supporters’ federation.

There is a huge risk-reward element to O’Neil’s unexpected move; on one hand, immediate expectations are high and he cannot count on fans’ support. On the other, he may be a couple of half-decent seasons away from becoming the next Chelsea manager. He would be wise to heed the tale of Emmanuel Emegha, the RSC captain bound for Stamford Bridge next summer, whose comments about the club earned him a suspension and drove a wedge between Rosenior and the team’s hardcore followers. Emegha, who may now face an awkward reunion with his former manager in six months’ time, also told reporters he had thought Strasbourg was in Germany. By at least knowing which country he has moved to, O’Neil is off to a better start than some.

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QUOTE OF THE DAY

“People have worked tirelessly, given everything to the club since the reformation to build it up to where it is now. The people make it really, really special. It’s a football club that puts its arms around the players and the community” – Macclesfield forward Danny Elliot tells Sam Dalling what makes his club special in this behind-the-scenes look at preparations for the lowest-ranked FA Cup side’s plum home tie with holders, Crystal Palace.

Macclesfield’s manager John Rooney, assistant Francis Jeffers and kitman Ged Coyne

RECOMMENDED PLAYING

Big Website has kicked off a new chapter in puzzles with the launch of its first daily football game, On the ball. It’s now live in the app for IOS and Android … so what are you waiting for?

Back on a cold December day in 2001, I sat at Hillsborough and watched in despair as Sheffield Wednesday got absolutely shellacked by Norwich City, losing 5-0 at home. A couple of days after the game I sat down and wrote a letter (ask your parents, kids!) to our manager, Terry Yorath. I wasn’t rude, just desperate: I said I thought he ought to know that I’d been watching Wednesday for 17 years and that was the worst I’d ever seen us play. And you know what: he wrote me an actual letter back. He said he was sorry, that the club valued my support, and that he was trying hard to change things. He didn’t really change things (though we escaped relegation to League One by a point), but he did care enough to write to me, and I’ve never forgotten that. A gentleman” – Adam Gutteridge.

Terry Yorath in October 2001 during his tenure at Hillsborough

Re: yesterday’s Football Daily. OK, my Kevin Keegan story. I was working as a roving hotel reviewer with a license to bill at Chewton Glen, that pompous, overrated, ridiculously expensive gaff in Hampshire. On completing my monkfish tail with – can’t remember what, precisely, and my notes are for some reason illegible, but I’m pretty sure there was pig involved and it was more than somewhat splendid – I spotted our man on another table. So I sent him a note via waiter, a thing I hadn’t done before or since. ‘Fulham. Great getting there, less fun being there. Thanks for all the fun.’ Because it was. Receiving the note, he asked the waiter and looked over. ‘So often the way.’ Such wise words. That’s it. Get well Kev” – Mark Dawson.

Re: yesterday’s Memory Lane (full email edition). Back in 2003, Pompey were winning 1-0 (Sheringham), when Robert Pires dived. Thierry Henry scored the resulting penalty. Dejan Stefanovic later had his yellow card rescinded – replays showed no contact but it finished 1-1. This was Arsenal’s ‘Invincibles’ season. They owe us and Sunday’s FA Cup tie is as good a time as any, to make good. We definitely need cheering up” – Ben North.

Your photo of that Arsenal v Middlesbrough match (yesterday’s Memory Lane, full email edition) reminded me of one of the truly great match reports published in the Irish Times on 12 September 2005. It was a case of a spell-checker gone rogue that led to descriptions of players ‘Cyst Fibreglass’, ‘Alexander Help’, ‘Jose Eyes’, and ‘Solo Tour’ doing their best to overcome Mark Scrawnier in goal. I think all at Football Daily can appreciate the joys of not having an editor around!” – Patrick Fahy.

If you have any, please send letters to [email protected]. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’ the day is … Patrick Fahy. Terms and conditions for our competitions, when we have them, are here.