It's fair to say that by the end of Martin O'Neill's time with Ireland, most onlookers had realised that his methods had become a bit stale. The modern game had moved on and he had failed to adapt to that. His short time at Nottingham Forest confirmed as much.
O'Neill was actually thought of as a progressive manager at the start of his managerial career, despite his fairly old school values. A clip that surfaced today showed that he did have a line when it came to hard tackling.
During his time as Wycombe boss in 1993, he was asked about a recent red card for his player Jason Cousins. O'Neill admits that he could have no arguments with the sending off and that it was the most horrendous challenge he had ever seen.
Get ready to view the most ridiculous tackle of all time.
We still hide behind our sofa when we see him coming...
(Jason, not you Ian)pic.twitter.com/iwKrV03zV8 https://t.co/Xez3t9dNqH— Wycombe Wanderers (@wwfcofficial) May 2, 2020
Jason Cousins went and got himself sent off again, the second week in succession. This time it was absolutely right, it was the most horrendous challenge I've seen.
He doesn't like to be reminded of it, but I'm sure he's going to be. I didn't know where to put myself, never mind him. I would have thrown him into jail if I could have done it.
He upset everyone that day.
The most remarkable thing about it is that he was only given a second yellow card.
The best tackle in football history. The ball was there to be won. https://t.co/rwCMl9FkR3
— Duncan Alexander (@oilysailor) May 2, 2020
It was a different time, we suppose.
