Martin O’Neill’s Squad Re-building

caymanvillain on the re-building of the squad.

Looking at our squad shows that MON has completely remoulded it since he became manager. I have indicated who signed the player or whether they are youth product.

1 Brad Friedel Goalkeeper MON
2 Luke Young Defender MON
3 Wilfred Bouma Defender DOL
4 Steve Sidwell Midfielder MON
5 Martin Laursen Defender DOL
6 Gareth Barry Midfielder BL
7 Ashley Young Midfielder MON
8 James Milner Midfielder MON
9 Marlon Harewood Striker MON
10 John Carew Striker MON
11 Gabriel Agbonlahor Striker YOUTH
13 Stuart Taylor Goalkeeper DOL
14 Nathan Delfouneso Striker YOUTH
15 Curtis Davies Defender MON
16 Zat Knight Defender MON
17 Moustapha Salifou Midfielder MON
18 Emile Heskey Striker MON
19 Stiliyan Petrov Midfielder MON
20 Nigel Reo-Coker Midfielder MON
21 Nicky Shorey Defender MON
22 Bradley Guzan Goalkeeper MON
24 Carlos Cuellar Defender MON
26 Craig Gardner Midfielder YOUTH
27 Isaiah Osbourne Midfielder YOUTH
29 Stephen O’Halloran Defender YOUTH
46 Barry Bannan Defender YOUTH
47 Ciaran Clark Defender YOUTH
48 Nathan Baker Defender YOUTH
49 Chris Herd Midfielder YOUTH
51 Shane Lowry Midfielder YOUTH

Of the current squad, MON has signed 16 players. Considering that he didn’t have much opportunity to sign players in Summer 2006, that is an average of about 3 signings per transfer window.

Of his signings Salifou, Shorey haven’t worked out, but the rest including Sidwell, Kinght and Reo-Coker have done at least all right in my book.

Murph, I think your problem with MON is that he hasn’t bought the players that YOU would have bought to the club. But the players he has bought in have done extremely well.

It is easy to sneer at MON’s achievements in the transfer market. But his players and his motivation have got us within touching distance of 2nd place.