David O'Leary
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| David O'Leary | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | David Anthony O'Leary | |
| Date of birth | May 2, 1958 | |
| Place of birth | Stoke Newington, London, England | |
| Playing position | Centre back (retired) | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1973-1975 | Arsenal | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1975-1993 1993-1995 |
Arsenal Leeds United |
558 (11) 12 (0) |
| National team | ||
| 1976-1993 | Republic of Ireland | 68 (1) |
| Teams managed | ||
| 1998-2002 2003-2006 |
Leeds United Aston Villa |
|
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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David Anthony O'Leary is an Irish football manager and former player. He is currently without a job, after leaving his position as manager of Aston Villa in July 2006. His managerial career began at Leeds United and later he managed Aston Villa. The majority of his playing career (19 years) was spent as a defender at Arsenal. He currently resides in the small village of Sicklinghall, near Harrogate, North Yorkshire.
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[edit] Playing career
O'Leary was born in Stoke Newington, London on May 2, 1958 and moved to live in Dublin at the age of three. His father was born in Ireland and O'Leary later decided to play for the Republic of Ireland.
[edit] Arsenal
O'Leary signed for Arsenal as an apprentice in 1973. He soon progressed through the ranks at Highbury, playing in the reserves at the age of 16. He made his debut for Arsenal against Burnley on August 16, 1975, and despite being only 17, went on to make 30 appearances that season. For the next ten years he was ever-present in the Arsenal side, playing more than 40 matches a season (except for 1980-81, where he was injured and only played 27).
A calm and collected centre half, O'Leary was noted for his good positioning and elegant style of play. He was nicknamed by Arseanl fans "Spider" because of his long legs intercepting passes from the opposition. He won his first major honour with Arsenal when he played in their 3-2 win over Manchester United in the 1979 FA Cup final. He also played in the 1978 and 1980 Cup finals, and the 1980 Cup Winners' Cup final, all of which Arsenal lost. In 1982 O'Leary became club captain, but reliniquished it to Graham Rix eighteen months later.
O'Leary broke numerous appearance records at Arsenal; he was the youngest person to reach the 100 and 200 match milestones, and he made his 400th appearance while still only 26. He passed George Armstrong's all-time record of 621 first-team games in November 1989. By this time, O'Leary was no longer automatic first choice (with the partnership of Tony Adams and Steve Bould at the centre of George Graham's defence), but he still turned in over 20 appearances as Arsenal won the 1988-89 First Division title.
O'Leary won another League title in 1991 and an FA Cup and League Cup double in 1993, though by this time he was mainly used as a sub. He holds Arsenal's all-time record for appearances, with 722 first-team games, and over 1000 games at all levels, in a twenty-year long association with the club.
[edit] Leeds United
He joined Leeds on a free transfer in 1993 after 19 years at Highbury. Throughout 1993-94, O'Leary was a regular player in the Leeds side until he suffered an achilles injury, which ruled him out for the whole of the following season. He was still on the club's payroll at the beginning of the 1995-96 season but that September he gave in to his injury and announced his retirement from football at the age of 37.
[edit] Internationals
O'Leary's international debut with the Republic of Ireland came as a teenager in a 1-1 draw with England in 1976. Following the appointment of Jack Charlton O'Leary was frozen out of the international set up for 2 years. After being left out of a squad for a mini tournament in Iceland in May 1986, O'Leary booked a family holiday which he decided not to cancel when he was eventually asked up to the squad following several withdrawals. O'Leary would not feature until November 1988 thus missing out on Euro 88.
The highlight of his 68-cap international career came in the 1990 FIFA World Cup. With Ireland in a penalty shootout with Romania, Packie Bonner saved Daniel Timofte's last penalty. It was O'Leary who then stepped up to take the decisive final penalty to win the shootout 5-4. O'Leary only played 26 minutes in the tournament after replacing Steve Staunton in the Romania match.
Shortly after the World Cup O'Leary scored his only goal for the Republic in a 5-0 win over Turkey in a Euro 92 qualifier.
[edit] Managerial career
When the former Arsenal manager George Graham was put in charge at Leeds United in September 1996, O'Leary was installed as his assistant. He remained in this position for two years until Graham moved to Tottenham.
[edit] Leeds United
After Graham left for Tottenham, the Leeds board offered Martin O'Neill the manager's position, but the deal fell through and O'Leary was instead promoted to the hot seat. At the end of 1998-99 Leeds finished fourth in the Premiership and qualified for the UEFA Cup. Their 1999-2000 campaign ended in the semi-final with defeat to the Turkish side Galatasaray. On the domestic front, Leeds finished third in the Premiership and qualified for the Champions League. It would be their first campaign at this level since the 1992-1993 season. It was during this time that O'Leary endorsed a Game Boy Color computer game entitled O'Leary Manager 2000, which was released by Ubi Soft in 2000.
Leeds reached the semifinals of the Champions League in 2000-2001, where they lost to eventual runners-up Valencia. Their Premiership form also dipped slightly and David O'Leary's men had to settle for a UEFA Cup place. Although there was little indication of this at the time, this was a serious failure for the club because Peter Ridsdale had borrowed £60 million against future gate receipts, budgeting for prolonged Champions League involvement.
2001-02 began well for Leeds. They frequently topped the table during the first half of the season and were Premiership leaders on January 1, 2002. But a loss of form in the second half of the season saw them slump into sixth place, the last automatic UEFA Cup place. They had secured their place in Europe much earlier because seventh-placed West Ham had collected 12 less points.
The season was thrown into turmoil by the involvement of four players, including first-teamers Jonathan Woodgate and Lee Bowyer, in an incident in Leeds city centre that ended in the assault and injury of an Asian student. O'Leary to some extent alienated the fans, and more importantly Ridsdale, by writing a book, Leeds United On Trial, that some saw as cashing in on the troubles the club had suffered.
By June 2002, David O'Leary had spent almost £100 million on new players in less than four years for no reward in terms of trophies, but O'Leary had never finished outside the top six as a manager. Ridsdale sacked O'Leary as Leeds manager in the summer of 2002, replacing him with Terry Venables. O'Leary's departure signalled a downhill spiral for the club which would see three more managers (Venables, Peter Reid and Eddie Gray) come and go before the club was finally relegated from the Premiership in 2004 with £80 million debt.
O'Leary's fame at Leeds rests upon his promotion of a series of younger players, Jonathan Woodgate, Lee Bowyer, Alan Smith, Harry Kewell, Stephen McPhail, Eirik Bakke, Ian Harte and Danny Mills (signed for £4M from Charlton Athletic). He promoted several members of the youth team into an exciting Leeds side that played a pressing game relying on youthful enthusiasm. Alan Smith in particular exemplified this attitude and O'Leary's arrival seemed to many fans like the arrival of a new attitude at Leeds - bold, innovative and attacking.
As time went on, however, more players were signed and not played, particularly strikers. Meanwhile, obvious weaknesses in the team were neglected. For example, Ian Harte was the only left back at the club for a period. O'Leary could not be blamed for the financial crisis that overtook Leeds, but could be blamed for not turning his signings into a coherent team. Some players were unaccountably left out, and gradually the flow of young talent into the team stopped. Even so his dismissal came as a surprise and was the first indication of the growing crisis at Leeds United.
In a recent interview regarding the decline of Leeds, O'Leary stated that "I never wanted to leave Leeds. The fans are fantastic to me here. I hope they stay up because I had great times at the club" [1].
[edit] Manager of Aston Villa
O'Leary, meanwhile, was linked with various other vacant manager's jobs throughout the 2002-03 season. He was hot favourite to become manager of Sunderland when Peter Reid was sacked in October and again when Howard Wilkinson was sacked in March. But O'Leary remained out of work until June 2003 when he was appointed manager of Aston Villa.
Aston Villa are one of England's most historic clubs, but in comparison to their early years they have under-achieved, although they were European Champions in 1982 and during the 1990s finished runners-up of the first Premiership in 1993 and won the League Cup in 1994 and 1996. In 2002-03 they had endured their worst season since relegation from the old First Division in 1987. They had finished 16th in the Premiership and manager Graham Taylor's second spell as manager had come to an end after just over a year. So Villa chairman Doug Ellis turned to David O'Leary in a bid to see the club's fortunes turn around.
By the beginning of November 2003, Aston Villa were hovering just above the relegation zone and it looked as though O'Leary would be another of the club's unsuccessful managers. O'Leary remained at Villa and managed to get an already good squad to perform successfully so that by the final weeks of the season they were pushing hard for at least a UEFA Cup place and possibly even a Champions League place. But in the end their early season form had caught up with them and they had to settle for sixth place - this season one place too low for European qualification.
[edit] 2004-05
During the 2004-05 season, Aston Villa hovered just below the European qualification places, ending the season in 10th. Despite a bright start to the season, they lacked the consistency that was attributed to his first season in charge. O'Leary occasionally made complaints towards aspects of his position which earned him the nickname 'Dreary O'Leary' to some fans, who felt uneasy at his continual downplaying of the team, describing them as his "Honest Bunch of Lads". His transfer activity in this season included injury prone (Martin Laursen), the homesick (Mathieu Berson), and the Chelsea youngster (Carlton Cole). He attempted to peddle the myth that he liked his teams to play neat football, but his seemingly woeful man-management skills and appaling public relations (as well as some dreadful football) caused increasing disquiet among supporters, many of whom began to express dismay at his apparent inability to take responsibility or show leadership in public fora.
[edit] 2005-06
Despite six summer acquisitions including internationals Milan Baroš and Kevin Phillips who added more quality to the squad, the 2005-06 season brought a disappointing turn for the worse for O'Leary. Injuries and suspensions decimated the squad, with only one fit centre back (Liam Ridgewell) available for selection at one point. Increasingly under-fire from fans and media alike for a lack of tactical awareness, man management skills and enthusiasm for the success of the club, the season saw a highly embarrassing League Cup exit via a 0-3 defeat to League One side Doncaster Rovers. A series of poor results saw Villa hovering dangerously above the relegation zone going into December, with just 17 points from 17 games. However an improved winter period saw them move slightly up the league, with encouraging victories over Everton (4-0), Middlesbrough (4-0) and a well-earned point against runaway leaders Chelsea.
This brief period of positive results was short-lived, and again O’Leary began to turn on the Villa fans. The Villa fans responded during the goalless bore-draw against Fulham at Villa Park in March with two banners, which were unfurled over the balcony of the Holte End. One simply stated “O’Leary Out”, and a more visible, fluorescent orange banner declared “We’re not fickle, we just don’t like you”. The second banner referred to comment made by O’Leary about the Villa faithful.
In the end, Villa finished 16th, just two places above the relegation zone. Following the relegation of local rivals Birmingham City and West Bromwich Albion, Villa were the only Midlands side playing Premiership football in 2006-07.
A storm broke surrounding David O'Leary and Aston Villa on 14 July 2006 when a press release, purporting to be from the Aston Villa players, criticised the Chairman Doug Ellis. The statement was rumoured to have been orchestrated by O'Leary to put pressure on Ellis to release more transfer funds. The media storm finally came to a head when on 19 July 2006, O'Leary's contract as Aston Villa manager was terminated by mutual consent.
As it happened, Ellis sold the club within a few months to Randy Lerner, who arranged for Martin O'Neill to replace O'Leary. Coincidentally, O'Neill was the man who indirectly gave O'Leary his break in management when he didn't accept the Leeds United position.
Despite many managerial positions becoming available, O'Leary is still looking for a return to football management[2]. O'Leary had been linked with the Republic of Ireland national team after the departure of Steve Staunton[3].
[edit] Football family
His brother Pierce O'Leary played for Shamrock Rovers and Celtic and was capped seven times for the Republic of Ireland. His nephew, Ryan O'Leary of Kilmarnock F.C., declined to play for the Republic of Ireland Under 21s, choosing to play for Scotland, the country of his birth.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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