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Robson says England should push for O'Neill
LONDON (Reuters) - Former England manager Bobby Robson has urged FA chief
executive Brian Barwick to try to persuade Martin O'Neill to take the
job vacated by Steve McClaren.
"Of the 'British' managers, Martin O'Neill stands out," Robson
wrote in the Mail on Sunday. "He's bright, charismatic, experienced
and a proven winner.
"Crucially, he also has the ability to change games, as do Guus Hiddink
and Jose Mourinho.
"Martin did it many times for Celtic, and now at Aston Villa. He
always seemed to know which spark plug needs changing," said Robson,
who said the next manager would be English in an ideal world.
O'Neill, 55, was overlooked for the job last time around, when McClaren
was chosen to follow on from Sven-Goran Eriksson, and the Northern Irishman
said last month that he was now committed to staying at Aston Villa.
McClaren was sacked after England lost 3-2 to Croatia and failed to qualify
for next year's European championship finals.
"I have read Martin's comments committing himself to Aston Villa,"
said Robson.
"It reminded me of when I tried to sign Arnold Muhren for Ipswich
and his wife said she didn't want to move to England from Holland.
"I hired a private plane and took her over Suffolk until she found
a pretty piece of land she liked the look of to live on. In other words,
Brian shouldn't take no for an answer right away."
Tiscali.co.uk,
03/12/2007
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