Why no sacking reports for O’Neill?
With the Premiership set to hit the 10 game mark, barring Sunderland and Reading due to a waterlogged pitch back August, it can be said that two teams, with the players at the respective managers disposal, don’t deserve to be involved in a relegation dogfight.
Queen’s Park Rangers, having invested heavily in the likes of Esteban Granero, Park Ji Sung and Julio Caser, are one. With the players that manager Mark Hughes can call upon, the table, it can be argued, makes for false reading for R’s fans.
It has seen ‘Sparky’ come under copious amounts of pressure regarding his future at Loftus Road, despite impressive performances away at both Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal. Yet, looking just three places and five points higher than QPR lies Sunderland.
The Black Cats, like their Premier League counterparts, have also spent significantly in the transfer window, most notably on Steven Fletcher and Adam Johnson. Yet little is made of the perilous position Sunderland currently find themselves in.
More so, O’Neill is one manager who hasn’t had his future questioned by any of those in the press, up until recently. The weekend defeat to Aston Villa saw the Midlands side draw level on points with Sunderland in the league, one spot below them on goal difference alone.
Furthermore, following the loss, O’Neill has now won just once in 17 games, an appalling record by anyone’s standards, and one mirroring that of former boss Steve Bruce and we all know how that turned out. Yet, it is only now that many feel the former Celtic and Villa manager should be keeping a watchful eye over his should.
Some bookmakers are now beginning to believe that it is only a matter of time before O’Neill is given the sack by the Black Cats having slashed his odds as the next to be shown the exit door from 66/1 to 12/1. How it’s only taken until now for his future to be questioned is beyond me, but the 60-year-old will now have his work cut out if he is to turn things around at the Stadium of Light.
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