Praise for Irishman John O'Shea is something of a common theme when ex-Manchester United players talk about the club's era of ruthless success under Alex Ferguson in the 2000s and 2010s.
Though never a superstar of the team in the same way the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, or even defensive partners Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were, O'Shea was an utterly reliable and consistently impressive presence whenever called upon in the United backline.
Confirmation arrived on Wednesday that O'Shea will link up with former teammate Wayne Rooney at Birmingham City, with Rooney taking on O'Shea as an assistant manager. O'Shea will combine his role at Birmingham with his responsibilities as an assistant to Stephen Kenny with the Republic of Ireland national team.
11 October 2023; Coach John O'Shea during a Republic of Ireland training session at the FAI National Training Centre in Abbotstown, Dublin. Photo by Stephen McCarthy/Sportsfile
The news of O'Shea's arrival in Birmingham was widely reported before official confirmation arrived, and there was high praise for the Waterford man from Rooney in the aftermath of the announcement:
I want to win, I think it's as simple as that. To win, there are a lot of factors that need to take place.
It's the reason why I have brought the coaching staff that I have brought with me. Obviously, John O'Shea, I have played with him, I know his mentality and he has worked in the Championship before.
In fact, Rooney was not the only ex-teammate of O'Shea's to hail his winning mentality this week, as Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves both held up O'Shea as exemplifying the winningness of Manchester United under Alex Ferguson.
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Ferdinand and Hargreaves heap praise on John O'Shea
In a feature for Manchester United's My Perfect Player series, Rio Ferdinand and Owen Hargreaves were tasked with building their ideal player by combining the traits of former teammates.
After opting for the finishing of Ruud van Nistelrooy, the vision of Paul Scholes, the trickery of Cristiano Ronaldo, and the strength of Wayne Rooney amid others, Ferdinand chose John O'Shea as an example of the perfect mentality for a player:
In terms of mindset, someone who would go under the radar is someone like Sheasy.
To play the role Sheasy played, he came in and played in numerous positions, always minimum 7/10. Always solid. Sometimes he'd come out from the cold.
He'd train every day, never miss training. The mindset and mentality to be that guy, the value he had in our squad. Someone like Sheasy.
O'Shea played a squad role for much of his time at Manchester United but nonetheless started a Champions League final in 2009, and scored winners at Highbury and Anfield, as well as in a Champions League semi-final.
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Hargreaves would go on to add to Ferdinand's comments, saying that players like O'Shea were what made Manchester United so great, name dropping Darren Fletcher, Wes Brown, and Ji-Sung Park as other examples.
The England midfielder said that the presence of squad players who could reliably drop top quality performances when called upon was the difference for one of English football's finest teams during the 2000s:
That's what made that team so great. As much as the starting 11 was great, you had Sheasy, Fletch, Wes, Ji-Sung, five or six guys who you could pop in.
They didn't play for a month and you'd be guaranteed they'd give you 7/10 or 8/10.
I think that's the thing about United for me, the mentality. It's just in the blood.
Given Manchester United's recent struggles, Erik Ten Hag would likely dearly love to be able to call on a player such as John O'Shea on his quest to bring the club back to the top.
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