LIVERPOOL CHIEFS WANT O'NEILL

Villa boss is earmarked as Rafa's replacement

O'NEILL: Man for the job

By Rob Shepherd and Chris Bascombe, 07/11/2009

MARTIN O'NEILL has emerged as the man to replace Rafa Benitez.

American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett have identified O'Neill to succeed the Spaniard if Liverpool fail to qualify for next season's Champions League.

Hicks, Gillett, and managing director Christian Purslow are standing by beleaguered Benitez despite Liverpool's woeful recent run of form.

But behind the scenes the mood of staunch support for Benitez has shifted as Liverpool's season has lurched towards chaos, with six defeats, one draw and just one win in their last eight games.

The club are wary of making a knee-jerk reaction but recognise that unless results improve dramatically - and soon - they will have to consider replacing Benitez during the season rather than next summer.

Kenny Dalglish has been tipped to hold the Anfield fort if Benitez IS sacked before May but he would only be keeping the seat warm for O'Neill (left).

Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Lyon leaves Liverpool's Champions League campaign in a precarious position and five Premier League defeats already this season means their first title since 1990 is a pipedream.

Failing to qualify for the Champions League next season would have a huge effect on Liverpool's already shaky financial position.

The club's budget is based largely on Champions League qualification and an absence from the top four would badly damage any chances of Hicks and Gillett refinancing the club's debt.

That is why Benitez's position is now being discussed by the club's hierarchy and they have come to the conclusion that O'Neill is the best suited and best placed to take the club forward.

Twenty months ago, when things were wobbling under Benitez, the club flirted with the idea of recruiting Jurgen Klinsmann. But the initial interest came to nothing and despite having done a good job as German national manager at the 2006 World Cup, Klinsmann's lack of credentials at club level were exposed last season at Bayern Munich, where he was sacked in April. Since then Liverpool have flirted with the idea of luring Jose Mourinho back to England to take up the one job the 'Special One' has consistently said would lure him back to the Premier League.

Frustrated

Given the current confused state of Liverpool's finances, however, it is unlikely the Inter Milan boss would want to take on the job at this stage of his career.

Certainly he would not be persuaded to leave Inter mid-season. And come next summer, it is more likely that he will be lured by Spanish giants Real Madrid.

O'Neill has always honoured his contracts at previous clubs but has become increasingly frustrated by how quickly the fans at Aston Villa have turned on him.

He took over at Villa in 2006 when the club was in turmoil following the reign of David O'Leary.

And he rapidly revived their fortunes and has led them into European football and even flirted with breaking in to the top four.

To most, O'Neill has done a fine job at re-establishing Villa as one of the country's top eight clubs. And so O'Neill can't understand why he can become so quickly subject to criticism from the stands.

He has worked well under the ownership of American Randy Lerner and the business model that has gone along with it.

O'Neill's ability to manage in that way has further impressed Yanks Hicks and Gillett, who have become increasingly wary of how quickly Benitez blames his inability to push Liverpool to the next level on a lack of transfer funds.

Last year, Benitez won a significant political battle when chief executive Rick Parry was ousted after the Spaniard had complained he should have total control of transfer business.

But it is understood that Gillett and Hicks are now sceptical of Benitez's ability in the transfer market - but have admired how well O'Neill has worked within budgets and in tandem with Villa owner Lerner's requirements.

News of the World

Your comments

This article has 41 comments

keep rafa and i get rid of americans,but if we wanted to get rid of rafa not o'neill (who has won nothing in england with villa) bring MOURINHO

By danny.. Posted November 15 2009 at 12:27 AM.

It's true Villa have an unrivalled history in the history of the game, having given the World league football and having been England's most successful club during the first eighty years of the professional game's exitence.

The challenge of getting Villa back to the top of the tree is a pretty special and unique one, I admit. Even as a Scouser I can see that.

By LiverpoolPat.. Posted November 9 2009 at 11:37 PM.

SACK RAFA !! bring in o'neill rafa spends 2 much time lookin in tha mirra or at the pie stand lol

By louise.. Posted November 9 2009 at 8:59 PM.

It’s true, Liverpool has an unrivalled history and an incredible list of successes, but I still doubt if our Martin would be tempted to join Liverpool, largely due to the current unstable situation of the owners and board. With some decent owners, ones that know how to run a football club, and not interfere in football specific matters, then I am sure Liverpool could attract any one. Good Luck against Blues tonight!

By Villa Mick.. Posted November 9 2009 at 10:38 AM.

Liverpool should kick Benitez plus Gillett and Hicks. all three are Liverpool biggest liability.

Felix
Malaysian Liverpool Fan

By Felix F.. Posted November 9 2009 at 5:47 AM.

@Dan.
Keep laughing son. Trophies can always be won and those five trophies will be overtaken. What you can't change is that Villa CREATED the game that you clearly love so much. That, dear boy, is real history and tradition, rooted in the fabric of the world's game. Your history and tradition, alas, is rooted in the Second Division, from whence you came, and a period of gross overachievement from the 1960's onwards. There's more culture, history etc. inside the average Scouser's hand-me-down y-fronts than there is at anfield. No FA Cups until the 1960's?! That ain't history. From the 1970's onwards you spent big-just like Chelsea-and bought success. That ain't anything to be proud of son! It's what any old club can do.

Oh well. Now you have no money and look what happens...Looks like you'll be heading back to Div. Two pretty soon, which will be apt. Gillett and Hicks giving you the old "Doug Ellis Treatment" is quite a tonic. Here's hoping you get thirty years of it like our genuinely great old club had to endure.

Between you losers and newcastle fans it's hard to know who are the most ridiculous. As for the great Martin O'Neill, I think in your heart of hearts you know full well that he wouldn't leave Villa Park for your club. A step down in every sense.

By Billy Walker.. Posted November 9 2009 at 1:47 AM.

not sure why no10 would affect his ability to manage. lol

By dan.. Posted November 8 2009 at 8:17 PM.

not sure oneil would manage a championship side thats where liverpool will be next season lol

By darlostig.. Posted November 8 2009 at 4:33 PM.

disgusted,disgusted man.u should hold there heads in shame ..cant wear our poppy with pride on there shirts i would refuse to go out onto the park if they would not let me not wear it ..our lads deserve our support no less

By keith phillips.. Posted November 8 2009 at 4:11 PM.

lol bluescouse,

thanks for your honesty, appreciated!

from a rafa fan.

By dan.. Posted November 8 2009 at 4:10 PM.

What to team up with gareth Barry dream on gloryhunters time to pick a new team you're living in the past you couldn't afford Barry or oneill stop embarrasing this once great club

By Clario.. Posted November 8 2009 at 4:10 PM.

By keith phillips.. Posted November 8 2009 at 4:13 PM.

lol billy walker,

more history than liverpool?

what was your count on european trophys again?

you call liverpool fans delusional, pmsl! :)

By dan.. Posted November 8 2009 at 3:49 PM.

CHANGE...if want to be king of EPL! Rafa must be out from liverpool! I agree to become new manager for liverpool is Maurinho or Mancini.

By samsulhuda.. Posted November 8 2009 at 2:56 PM.

My god
I would love this nugget to take over from the round fat waiter.....hahaha....lol

By bluescouse.. Posted November 8 2009 at 2:02 PM.

you have to be joking.

ive not read the posts, but any liverpool fan thinking he can do a better job are living in a fantasy world.

i used to think our fans knew the craic. they have fallen every trick the media has thrown at them the last week.

now i realise people will believe what they want to.

this would destabalise the club further. you talk about wanting to win the premiership. what the hell is oneill going to bring, lol.

rafa right now is the right man for the job. the only one who possibly fill his boots is hiddink, but without money he isnt going to jump on board.

oneill, lol. i thought it was april fools when i read this.

By danoneill1210@hotmail.co.uk.. Posted November 8 2009 at 2:13 PM.

just read the bit about media obssession, lol. im a fan of benitez and i think hes the right man for the job given the political and financial situation of the club.

im definately not on the payroll, lol. i wish i was, its exhasting work putting right the myths being circulated right now.

thankfully there are some of us out there that dont believe everything the media tells us.

what makes me laugh is we come second last year. we were widely acknowledged to have a squad close to winning the premieship. we just needed a few additions. the owners went back on their word for funds. we had to sell to create funds.

losing alonso was always going to hurt. anyone who says otherwise is daft. without gerrard and torres he could run the team. see so many times, but he wanted to go. make of that juv move as you will. haters will blame benitez, but it didnt stop ronaldo wanting to go to the 'biggest club' in the world. alonsos spanish, there is no surprise for me there.

several months into the new season weve had a lot of bad luck(beachballs, lol), dubious refereeing, critical injuries to key players and strange substitutions (the manager isnt perfect, who is?).

now we have everyone clammering for benitez to be sacked, because of the above. lol, everytime i right this it makes me chuckle cos it dont make sense.

By dan.. Posted November 8 2009 at 2:28 PM.

Its about time people got off Rafa's back and let him do his job,he works very hard for the club and fans, i know he has made some crap signings but he is a good manager and has got Liverpool in his blood now, so give him a chance to put things right. Its about time them yanks had a good look at themselves and sold the club to someone who knows how to run a football club, and not make promises they cannot keep, why did Moore's have to go for the higher bid from them, when they had to borrow to buy the club in the first place, you should put some of the blame on him for that.

By Andy.. Posted November 8 2009 at 2:28 PM.

he will not go to liverpool. he already turned them down before he became villa manager. in my opinion he is waiting for the man utd job when fergie retires

By shane vc.. Posted November 8 2009 at 1:22 PM.

Football is a results game, and Rafa has not been getting the results. If results don't change fast then Rafa will be sacked. I think Rafa is now beginning to accept that his "my way or the high way" tactics don't really work with professional footballers. He has to bring is a good team of coaches to act as a cushion between him and the players.

By Gerry.. Posted November 8 2009 at 1:20 PM.

I would love to see Gillett and Hicks even dare to try and approach Randy Lerner (whose family is worth ten times more than them combined) to try and talk to O'Neill.
The fact is that, with the right backing, O'Neill can achieve all of his ambitions at Villa. Articles like this seem to assume that Villa are some kind of club the size of Bolton or Blackburn. The reality is we are talking here about a club that has been European Champions (and will be so again!) A club from the UK's Second City with more tradition and history in its little finger than liverpool has had in its entire existence.
The misplaced arrogance and delusion in this article is laughable. liverpool fc are up there with newcastle u fc for living in cloudcuckooland! It's high time they returned to the league they were born in: Division Two. Now that's history!

By Billy Walker.. Posted November 8 2009 at 12:36 PM.

Leaving the Creators of Football for a turgid, embarrassing Merseyside club would be an almighty step down.

We love Martin O'Neill at Villa.

AVFC 1874 Creators of League Football 1888

By Macca.. Posted November 8 2009 at 11:28 AM.

Why would we want Captain Charisma as manager? We need to break the bank to get Jose.

By LJ.. Posted November 8 2009 at 11:17 AM.

pogo... where's that?? below villa!!! hahahaha

By me187.. Posted November 8 2009 at 10:38 AM.

Why would you want an overrated manager like Martin O'neill for Liverpool? Remind you all that Villa were kicked out of Uefa in the first round...

By Txomin.. Posted November 8 2009 at 10:15 AM.

Look stop all this bleating .I for one have supported Rafa through thick and thin but even im starting to question some of the strange decisions he has been making. I think that he should go cap in hand in bring back Pako Ayersteran . The other point is when your captain states that we are missing a key midfielder (Alonso) then you wonder what went on behind the scenes that forced him to leave.We replaced one of the best midfielders in the worl with a injured guy that is just coming close to fitness three months into the season (WHY WHY WHY?) If results dont improve then Rafa's head will certainly be on the chopping block.If this happens there is only one solution.The man we love to hate Jose M as replacement

By Alan .. Posted November 8 2009 at 10:03 AM.

i like raffa,but if we are honest,a lot of his buys have been poor and his tactics are to say the least suspect. before everyone has a go at me think back to istanbul,hamann came on due to an injury and changed the game, then 2 years later we had to go 2 down untill he bought crouch on with only minutes to go,the final straw for me was fulham last week,a complete surrender,if we want the league im affraid he will have to go

By roy.. Posted November 8 2009 at 9:52 AM.

why replace one indifferent manager with another?

Neither are good without quality players to back them up as can be seen with Lpool. MON is a good manager but not a great one which Lpool need.A great manager has a quality squad.Lpool have some quality players but not a quality squad - same as AV.Its down to the manager to build a squad and Raffe has not done that.

They need a quality manager not an average manager.

Go to the continent and find one there ! Jose ?

By jim.. Posted November 8 2009 at 9:09 AM.

Oh yeah, let's drop 5 years of progress and the makings of a dynasty because of a difficult two month period when we have been without 10 players at times (Johnson, Torres, Gerrard, Agger, Skrtel, Aurelio, Riera, Kelly, Aquilani, Ngog).

By Michael.. Posted November 8 2009 at 9:06 AM.

I would be gutted if MON left the club,, he has done a fantastic job in the last four years. What I'm affraid of is that if he leaves who will replace him? The same thing might happen to Villa like with Blackburn once Mark Hughes left and Bolton when Big Sam left.

Liverpool need to give him a chance, 9 first team players are injured so its rather difficuilt to pick up results against the bigger teams. Yes, Rafa hasn't spent his money well but then again same as MON

By Adam .. Posted November 8 2009 at 8:48 AM.

Oh Dear. Are we short of a story today..What nonsense! Martin O'Niell has done a great job with a club that was sliding in to oblivion 4 years ago and I'm sure he will want to finish the job at Villa. As for the so called supporters that have been more than critical, eat your words and moreover join one of the glory hunter teams, just stay away from Villa Park. You are not true Villa fans.

By Mick...Istanbul.. Posted November 8 2009 at 8:31 AM.

More rubbish spouted by Chris Bascombe again.

Surprise surprise.

By Graham M.. Posted November 8 2009 at 8:26 AM.

Here is my opinion of both managers:
Rafa - Makes bad decisions and signs some awful players that would not get into other PL teams.

O'Neill - Good man motivator and that is about all. Also makes some terrible signings.

Liverpool would not go for o'neill over Benitez. If Liverpool would go for anyone I would have it be Mourinho.

By Matt.. Posted November 8 2009 at 8:16 AM.

pago...liveing in the past LOL...GET A GRIP UR TEAM ARE NO GOOD ANYMORE

By dazza.. Posted November 8 2009 at 8:12 AM.

villa fans come back when you've actually won something. You could be on the up forever and still not get to where liverpool are at the moment

By pogo.. Posted November 8 2009 at 7:51 AM.

Sounds like a good move to me. Yes Rafa is a great manager but he doesnt understand English football and will never win the PL.

Its only a matter of time before O'niell is managing a big club and im sure he would do well. If he had half the money Rafa has blown through Liverpool would be champs by now.

By Shane .. Posted November 8 2009 at 7:44 AM.

Raffles has had bad luck with injuries of late, but so did SAF over the last 20 years, but a good manager would have had good cover, Raffles has spent a conciderable amount of money on RUBBISH

By red cridd.. Posted November 8 2009 at 6:55 AM.

Does anyone really believe that someone as loyal as O'Neill would leave Villa ?

By Hamad Lone.. Posted November 8 2009 at 4:35 AM.

Not fit to make Rafa's paella.

This is the guy who has spent nearly 40 million on journeymen defenders, and has achieved naff all despite having an open chequebook. Good pundit, ordinary coach.

I'm not a Liverpool fan, not even a huge Rafa fan, but this would be a huge mistake. Assuming there's any truth in it, which is about a 20/1 shot in my book.

By gaz.. Posted November 8 2009 at 1:33 AM.

lol is it april fools again ................... why would we SACK 1 OF THE BEST MANAGERS IN THE WORLD FOR HIM COME ON GUYS ........WE ARE ON THE UP MAYBE WE A GOING TO WIN CHAMPS LEAGUE OR PREM THIS YR BUT LOOK YOU CAN ONLY WIN 3 CUPS A SEASON IN ENGLAND AND IN THE BEST LEAGUE IN THE WORLD ITS HARD. EVAN MORE SO NOW THE TOP 10 CLUBS HAVE ALL GOT MORE CASH THAN U.IM NOT SAYIN ITS UNFAIR BUT THEM YANKS HAVE PUT US IN LOADS OF DEBT. WE WANT U OUT OF TOWN 4 GOOD

By wacka48.. Posted November 8 2009 at 1:45 AM.

Why would MON want to jump ship from a club that is on the up and from an owner he genuinely likes and respects to join a club with 2 decent players who will not be in the top 4 and who's owners are the total opposite of Randy Lerner?! Hilarious!!!!

By Rich.. Posted November 8 2009 at 12:49 AM.

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