No Directions Needed For O’Neill

I get the feeling that Martin O’Neill isn’t too keen on the idea of a director of football at Villa Park!?!

I remember years ago John Gregory talking about the possibility, I might be totally wrong but didn’t he at one point suggest he’d like someone like Terry Venables helping out above him?

Anyway, when asked about the Jose ‘I can cook an omlette’ Mourinho situation where he seemingly got sidelined with a director of football interfering, the Villa boss said:

‘In the case of appointing a director of football, I am sure the owner of the club would ask me and of course I would say ‘no’. If the owner has the sort of relationship where the manager is allowed to do what he wants, that is the only thing a manager can ever ask for – to be in charge of affairs. That is the way I’ve tried to work. If I thought there was some sort of interference I would acknowledge that I wasn’t overly pleased with it.’

He added that you have to ‘earn the right’ to be left to do your job.