Chapter 87: Pre-Season Planning

On July 13, coinciding with the World Cup semi-finals, O’Neill and his team arrived in Manchester.

A press conference was arranged to officially announce the signing of the new manager. The event went smoothly without any incidents.

Among the attendees was Miss Heysen, the club secretary, who had been invited to do a special cover story on the appointment of the phenomenal former Wycombe Wanderers manager.

Manager: Martin O’Neill

Assistant Manager: John Robertson

Coach: Steve Walford

Youth and Reserves Coach: Willie McStay

Goalkeeping Coach: Terry Gennoe

In addition to Richard own internal staff:

Coach: René Meulensteen

Player/Coach: Mike Phelan

Coach: Steve McClaren

And finally, the last addition—youth team manager Domènec Torrent, who was recommended by City’s general manager, John Maddock. Richard approved the appointment without hesitation.

O’Neill and his team signed a three-year contract, with an annual salary of £40,000. Additionally, they would receive a £50,000 bonus if City secured promotion.

Afterward, he and his team began their work as Manchester City’s manager. Since the players were divided between the World Cup and vacation, he could only watch the tapes to assess the squad.

Four people were seated in the meeting room: Richard, O’Neill, John Robertson, and Steve Walford.

"So, Mr. O’Neill, what do you think of the squad right now? What do we need to do in order to compete for promotion?" Richard asked as he took his seat.

"Mr. Maddox, please, just call me Martin," O’Neill replied. "We’ll be working together for a long time, and it’s better for our relationship if we keep things informal."

Richard nodded, "Then you can just call me Richard, to keep things fair."

O’Neill smiled at his team. "There’s a lot of work ahead of us if we want to be competitive for promotion. After reviewing the players, it’s clear where our weaknesses are..."

Richard became interested. "Where is that?"

"Midfield," O’Neill said, shaking his head. "Next season will be very tough. The young Brazilian is good, but we also need to make sure they adapts to the Manchester weather first. As for the rest, we have some good individuals, but we need more depth, especially in the midfield—just like I said."

Richard nodded and leaned back in his chair. "Martin, let’s not jump straight to new players. Let’s start with the Manchester City players who are still here. How did they perform last season?"

O’Neill sighed, taking a moment to reflect. "Where do I even start? Well, I watched their games, and honestly, if anyone asked me, I’d say the issue stems from the manager."

O’Neill gestured toward a screen in the room and popped in a tape. "Let me show you an example," he said as the footage began to roll. "Gio Kinkladze—he was completely misused."

"Oh, care to explain?"

Indeed, when City bought him, Kinkladze was the kind of player who seemed to choose exactly how dangerous he wanted to be, meaning you could only get near him if he let you. Yet, this wasn’t replicated at Maine Road for quite some time.

In fact, just after Kinkladze was transferred out of City, following struggles with inconsistency and a lack of goals in his final thirteen matches, he immediately scored his first international goal as Georgia hammered Wales 5-0 in Tbilisi. That goal was a stunning 20-yard chip over Neville Southall.

"Kinkladze’s style, known for his dribbling and creativity, didn’t quite mesh with the traditional English 4-4-2 system that City often used," O’Neill explained.

"He struggled to find the right position, often being forced into roles that didn’t play to his strengths. Look here at minute 52," O’Neill pointed at the screen.

"See? He’s dropping too deep. Kinkladze was never known for his defensive work, and Alan Ball struggled to strike the right balance in terms of positioning and player roles. This led to a lack of cohesion and effectiveness, and you can see how it didn’t work."

"Then there’s our defense," O’Neill continued. "While they weren’t being protected by the midfield, they also weren’t doing their job well enough. Too often, they were caught out of position, and we paid the price for that."

Soon, O’Neill explained in great detail why City had suffered relegation twice in consecutive seasons. After hearing all of that, Richard was satisfied with the explanation.

"Alright, thank you for the explanation," He said, glancing at the players O’Neill had requested for transfer. "Shay Given from Blackburn, Tony Grant from Everton, and Ian Cox from Carshalton Athletic. Those are the three players you asked me to bring in, and I’ve secured them. Care to tell me more about them?"

"Of course," O’Neill replied. "All three of these players are ones I’ve been following since my time at Wycombe. I’ve kept an eye on them over the years. I particularly like Ian Cox’s no-nonsense playing style, and with Campbell’s intelligence, solid tackling, and passing ability, they both have a real chance to make an impact in any game."

"Now, the goalkeeper position is also a concern. The two we currently have—Tony Coton, who’s 33, and Nicky Weaver, who’s only 17—aren’t ideal. Tony’s age is starting to show, and while Nicky has potential, he’s far too young and not ready to step into the starting role just yet. As for Shay Given, he’s the best option we could get."

"It’s just that..." O’Neill hesitated for a moment, which made Richard curious.

"What is it?" Richard asked.

"It’s just that we need to check on Given’s arm injury. It’s better if he’s fully fit, at 100 percent, before we can play him," O’Neill explained.

"Ah, indeed." Richard finally realized the gravity of the situation.

Even in 1994, it was hard to fathom the neglect of medical care in English football.

Many of the traditional, top clubs still had team doctors—or athletic trainers—who were often there as a reward for long-term service, rather than based on actual medical expertise.

Who, as a fan, could have imagined that a groundskeeper, after years of service, might end up becoming the "team doctor" for a top-tier club?

This was a reflection of the deeply conservative nature of English football clubs.

Years later, a player with a decade-long career at Liverpool, Redknapp, was dismissed by the club simply because he couldn’t put up with the "unqualified medical staff" and decided to seek proper treatment elsewhere.

This was seen as "heretical" by traditional English clubs, and as a result, the club parted ways with a ten-year veteran.

Richard, however, inherently rejected the conservative mindset of English clubs. He had no intention of clinging to outdated traditions.

For him, ensuring the health and wellbeing of his players—who were now worth millions—meant embracing the most advanced and professional medical department available. The future of the club depended on it.

Handing players valued at hundreds of thousands to those who couldn’t even be considered mediocre doctors was utterly incomprehensible, yet this remained a commonplace phenomenon in English football.

Take City, for example. Probably the only qualified doctor in the club was the former director, Sidney Rose, who also worked as a surgeon. However, despite his credentials, his role was limited to overseeing improvements to the club’s medical facilities, not managing the day-to-day medical care of the players.

Despite that, Richard didn’t dare treat the physio staff the same way as the scouting department. At the current time, having a dedicated physio team was still quite rare in football.

As long as he hadn’t found the right one yet, it was better to stick with the current physio team. Once he found the right person, he would ask them to bring in their colleagues, and only then would he consider revamping the physio department.

’They’re the ones working behind the scenes to make it all happen,’

Richard muttered to himself.

"I’ll think about it. Thank you for the reminder," Richard said, nodding.

O’Neill gave a small nod in return before Richard changed the subject. "Then Martin, tell me about Cafu, Roberto Carlos, and Ronaldo. What do you think after watching them play on the tapes?"

At Richard’s question, O’Neill glanced at his colleagues, seemingly speechless for a moment.

John Robertson, the assistant manager, was the first to speak. "Richard, I think I’ll explain this one."

Richard nodded eagerly, waiting as Robertson started playing the tapes. The first match that appeared was São Paulo vs Palmeiras.

"I’ve already watched dozens of tapes of Cafu’s games, and to be honest, I’m really impressed," Robertson began. "He’s one of the rare players who loves to overlap, sprint down the wing, and deliver dangerous crosses—"

"And don’t forget his dribbling ability," Coach Steve Walford chimed in, admiring how easily Cafu had outpaced Cleber, Palmeiras’ defender, in the footage.

"That’s right," Robertson agreed with his colleague, then he continued, "But what impressed me the most in this match is that this is truly what a full-back should be. He was involved in all four goals, scoring one and helping São Paulo dispatch Palmeiras 4-2. If nothing happens to him, I can confidently say he will cement himself as one of the world’s finest full-backs."

"And he’s similar to Roberto Carlos here," Robertson said, stunned as he watched the video where Roberto Carlos unleashed a powerful shot. "Holy shit, his kicking power is something else. He’s also equally comfortable in attack and defense. Look here."

In the video, Roberto Carlos made overlapping runs, delivering pinpoint crosses while his pace and strength allowed him to track back and defend when needed.

They all had one question in their minds:

’How did a player like this go unnoticed in Europe?’

Excitement grew among them as they imagined the prospect. Just picture this season—when playing both home and away, instead of their wingers, it would be their full-backs wreaking havoc. Just how stunned would they be?

That would be hilarious!

Richard was satisfied with the answer, but then he suddenly became serious. "And what about Ronaldo?"

"Ah, him?" Robertson replied, before falling silent.

Richard waited, unsure of what was going on, but no one spoke.

Just as he was about to ask again, O’Neill finally broke the silence. "To be honest, I’ve never seen a player like him before..."

Indeed, the combination of brute strength, speed, and complete mastery of the ball was unlike anything seen before—such a degree of skill and power had never come together in one player.

"...Bwahahahaha," Richard burst into laughter as he finally understood why people were so bewildered when they saw how Ronaldo played.

’They call him Il Fenomeno for a reason after all,’

he mused.