28-09-2021, 09:52
MYSTIC MACS FORM GUIDE
PNE 10 STOKE 7
MANAGER
MICHAEL O'NEILL
Brechin City
O'Neill became manager of Scottish side Brechin City in April 2006. He won the Second Division Manager of the Month award in both December 2007[15] and October 2008.[16] O'Neill was released by Brechin City to join Shamrock Rovers on 13 December 2008.[17]
Shamrock Rovers
At the press conference when unveiled as Rovers manager, he cited Gordon Strachan as his main managerial influence.[18] He was awarded the Irish Soccer Writers Manager of the Month award for July 2009 and eventually guided The Hoops to second place in the 2009 League of Ireland.
In October 2010, he guided Shamrock Rovers to win the 2010 League of Ireland title, their first league championship since 1994.[19] O'Neill led Rovers to the 2011 Setanta Sports Cup and then made history by being the first manager of a League of Ireland team to reach the group stages of a European competition.[20] Rovers defeated Partizan Belgrade in the play-off round of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.[20] Shamrock Rovers retained their league title in the 2011 season.[21][22] New contract talks between O'Neill and Shamrock Rovers stalled[23] and he left the club in December 2011.[24] O'Neill won the Soccer Writers Association Personality of the Year award for 2011.[25]
Northern Ireland
O'Neill was appointed manager of Northern Ireland on 28 December 2011, with one report stating he was "the first Catholic in 50 years to manage Northern Ireland".[5][26][2] However, this is almost certainly untrue, since previous managers Lawrie Sanchez (2004–07) and Lawrie McMenemy (1998–99) were both educated in Roman Catholic schools.[27][28] O'Neill's first game in charge ended in defeat with a 3–0 loss to Norway.[29] In his next game an inexperienced Northern Ireland team were beaten 6–0 by the Netherlands in Amsterdam.[30] During their 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification, Northern Ireland earned some creditable results, including a 1–1 draw away to Portugal and a 1–0 home win against Russia.[31]
In November 2013, O'Neill agreed a new two-year deal with Irish Football Association to remain as Northern Ireland manager.[32]
Northern Ireland qualified for their first ever European Championship, Euro 2016 in France after beating Greece 3–1 at Windsor Park on 8 October 2015.[33] It was the first time in 30 years that Northern Ireland had qualified for a major tournament. At the tournament itself he led the side to the second round, losing narrowly to Wales[34] but recorded a surprise victory over Ukraine in the group stages.[35]
In January 2018, O'Neill turned down an offer to become manager of Scotland following discussions with the Scottish Football Association.[36]
O'Neill initially continued as Northern Ireland manager after his appointment by Stoke City in November 2019.[37] He had intended to stay on for UEFA Euro 2020 playoffs, which had been scheduled for March 2020, but these were postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic.[38] With the Euro 2020 playoffs delayed at least until the autumn of 2020, O'Neill resigned as Northern Ireland manager on 22 April.[38]
Stoke City
O'Neill was appointed manager of EFL Championship club Stoke City on 8 November 2019.[37] He joined Stoke with the side bottom of the 2019–20 EFL Championship table after struggling under the management of Nathan Jones.[39] O'Neill won his first match in charge of Stoke, 4–2 away at Barnsley on 9 November.[40] Stoke began to improve and secured vital victories over Wigan Athletic, Luton Town, Sheffield Wednesday and Huddersfield Town, helping the team move out of the relegation zone at the turn of the year.[41] In the January transfer window O'Neill cancelled the loans of Cameron Carter-Vickers, Mark Duffy and Scott Hogan, whilst also letting Peter Etebo, Badou Ndiaye and Ryan Woods leave on loan. Into the team came Northern Irish midfielder Jordan Thompson from Blackpool, center-back James Chester on loan from Aston Villa and young midfielder Tashan Oakley-Boothe from Tottenham Hotspur.[42] Stoke beat Hull City 5–1 on 7 March 2020 moving the team three points above the drop with nine remaining matches.[43] The Championship was suspended on 13 March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[44]
Championship squads returned to training on 25 May with the intention to finish the season behind closed doors.[45] Stoke's preparations for the season restart were disrupted after O'Neill tested positive for coronavirus on 9 June which caused a training match against Manchester United to be cancelled.[46] Stoke won four of the remaining nine matches to avoid relegation and finish in 15th position, finishing eight points clear of the relegation zone.[47]
Due to the ongoing pandemic the 2020–21 season began later in September with matches continuing to played behind closed doors. O'Neill brought in a number of free transfers including James Chester, Morgan Fox, Steven Fletcher and Mikel John Obi with Jacob Brown the only arrival to have been bought.[48] Stoke began the season well with Tyrese Campbell in decent form, winning eight of their first 16 matches and were just outside the play-off places at the beginning of December.[49] However a number of injuries to key players most notably to Tyrese Campbell saw goals dry up and the team went nine games without a win at the turn of the year.[50] Stoke were unable to put a sustained run of results together in March and April and ended the season in mid-table.[51]
LAST TIME OUT
MACS VIEW
8 games undefeated need to turn some of those legue draws into wins, another tough one against an very much improved Stoke side with very decent players Powell being one.
They have lost their last two away league games so we have a chance, thing Frankie may make some changes tonight, would not be surprised if the impressive McCann starts, hopefully this will be a more open game than Saturday at Birmingham likely to be good conditions for football a fast wet pitch. Also should be a good tmosphere as a sizeable turn out from the Potteries should be there.
A match under the lights is always a great occasion this is the first league match with fans in attendance under the lights since we beat Fulham 2-1 on 10/12/2019
Over the years we have played on Monday night when I fist started used to kick off at 7.30 now it's 7.45 or occasionally 8 pm remember when the club had problems with the floodlights and half the pitch was in darkness, happy days