Ex-Sunderland, Aston Villa and Celtic man reveals failed Leicester City approach
The former Sunderland boss has revealed a failed approach from Leicester City back in 2015
Former Sunderland boss Martin O'Neill has revealed a failed approach by Leicester City to bring him back to the club.
The ex-Celtic and Aston Villa boss was managing the Republic of Ireland back in 2015 when his former club Leicester City came calling after the departure of Nigel Pearson. O’Neill took charge of The Foxes between 1995 and 2000, winning the League Cup twice during his time at the club.
After England’s loss to Spain in the European Championships final last weekend, O’Neill joined broadcaster Clive Tyldesley to discuss the future of Gareth Southgate before his departure was announced on Tuesday afternoon.
Speaking on the Football Authorities podcast, O’Neill drew some parallels with the criticism Southgate had received in some quarters of the media to his time at the Republic of Ireland and revealed he was encouraged to leave the job by his family when Leicester City approached the former Nottingham Forest player and manager.
“Listen, I'll draw, I suppose, some sort of parallel,” O’Neill explained. “I was the manager of the Republic of Ireland, and taking a fair amount of stick early on, even in proceedings, you know, when we'd only drawn with Scotland in a game in our qualifying group, and this was about halfway through the qualifiers. Not from the fans, but I'm talking about really from the journalists, you know, about, oh, we should have been doing much, much better.
“The Republic of Ireland are not going to qualify. And I had a chance then, during that summer of 2015, to manage in the Premier League, but I didn't want to do it. I felt as if a year into the job, and I'm only halfway through this competition, I didn't really want to fail, whereas my family were saying, no, no, take the job, better pay, better, all of those particular things.
“It was Leicester City asked me, you know. Leicester City eventually made Ranieri their manager and went on to win the league, so I don't think they've been too displeased about it. But my point was this, that my family were saying, well, do you really want the sort of attacks that you've had, and you've only been in the job a little while at the time?
“But I thought, no, listen, I want to see it through. And, of course, qualifying for the Euros, for the Republic of Ireland, is a wee bit, I suppose, like England actually reaching the final of the Euros itself. For us, that was one of the great moments of my career and our trip in France was terrific.
“What I'm trying to say to you is this here, that there is a point where you think you've had, you've just about taken enough of this, really, and it's coming from all angles. It's coming from press guys that you're not sure about, and it's coming from ex-players who actually, with respect, didn't go on to fulfil their potential, if you can call it that there, in the finals of competitions, at the stage, with equally as good of players as England have had now.”