O'Neill speaks out about 'weird' season
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Gary O’Neill today spoke of his delight to be at Sporting Fingal following a “weird” season with St Patrick's Athletic last year.
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“It was a weird season last year with a lot of highs and lows. I had a couple of injuries and I had to get an injection into my groin. I rushed it back, I was a bit selfish on my own behalf because I wanted to play in the games, and I wanted to play in Europe because at the time we still had the chance to win things. Things didn’t work out like that though."
O’Neill was left in an awkward position last year having accepted an offer mid-season from another club which ultimately fell through.
He said: “During the season last year I had pretty much done a deal with a club, I won’t name them, and they just said at the end of the year that the deal is worth nothing. So if contracts are worth anything, I don’t know.
“About two days after last season I was hoping to go in there and get paid the week later, that was my understanding. Then next of all, a couple of months before Christmas they said that deal was not there anymore, even though I’d signed it," he added.
“It’s hard to say I’m disappointed to leave Pat's, because they offered me a good deal in the summer, but I thought I was getting a better deal somewhere else. So I turned down Pat’s when things were good, then I got let down and things were bad. It blew up in my face but things happen for a reason.
Asked about how he felt playing in Europe last season, losing away to Hertha Berlin, O’Neill was quite frank about the experience, claiming it was “bitter-sweet”. O’Neill knows that an Irish club is unlikely to win a European tournament, which in one way helped him choose Sporting.
He said: “It was good to go to but not nice to get beat. It doesn’t matter who you play, you never want to get beat. I’d rather win the First Division title than play games in Europe.”
O’Neill says that Sporting manager Liam Buckley was the main reason he signed for the First Division outfit: “He’s been pressing me the whole time. He really wanted me. Liam really chased me through the off-season and really sold the project to me. Then it was just a matter of thrashing out a contract that I could live on, pay my bills, pay my mortgage and that.”
A lot of players have taken a step down from the Premier to the First, joining O’Neill in Santry. According to O'Neill: “We’re hoping not to be here for too long, with the lads he’s signed. I don’t think any of us want to be in the First Division, I certainly don’t want to be. But looking around the country, there’s more important things to worry about than playing in the Premier Division or the First Division. I don’t want to be there professionally, but I have to pay the mortgage. Hopefully we won’t be there too long."
However nothing is being taken for granted at Sporting, with O’Neill already aware that his new club are now the team to beat.
“It’s going to be a lot harder than people think. We are going to be the team to beat. They’ll really want to get stuck into us. If I played for another team I’d be the same. Doing things on paper is one thing, but on the pitch it’s another. We’ll see in November,” he said.
“It was a weird season last year with a lot of highs and lows. I had a couple of injuries and I had to get an injection into my groin. I rushed it back, I was a bit selfish on my own behalf because I wanted to play in the games, and I wanted to play in Europe because at the time we still had the chance to win things. Things didn’t work out like that though."
O’Neill was left in an awkward position last year having accepted an offer mid-season from another club which ultimately fell through.
He said: “During the season last year I had pretty much done a deal with a club, I won’t name them, and they just said at the end of the year that the deal is worth nothing. So if contracts are worth anything, I don’t know.
“About two days after last season I was hoping to go in there and get paid the week later, that was my understanding. Then next of all, a couple of months before Christmas they said that deal was not there anymore, even though I’d signed it," he added.
“It’s hard to say I’m disappointed to leave Pat's, because they offered me a good deal in the summer, but I thought I was getting a better deal somewhere else. So I turned down Pat’s when things were good, then I got let down and things were bad. It blew up in my face but things happen for a reason.
Asked about how he felt playing in Europe last season, losing away to Hertha Berlin, O’Neill was quite frank about the experience, claiming it was “bitter-sweet”. O’Neill knows that an Irish club is unlikely to win a European tournament, which in one way helped him choose Sporting.
He said: “It was good to go to but not nice to get beat. It doesn’t matter who you play, you never want to get beat. I’d rather win the First Division title than play games in Europe.”
O’Neill says that Sporting manager Liam Buckley was the main reason he signed for the First Division outfit: “He’s been pressing me the whole time. He really wanted me. Liam really chased me through the off-season and really sold the project to me. Then it was just a matter of thrashing out a contract that I could live on, pay my bills, pay my mortgage and that.”
A lot of players have taken a step down from the Premier to the First, joining O’Neill in Santry. According to O'Neill: “We’re hoping not to be here for too long, with the lads he’s signed. I don’t think any of us want to be in the First Division, I certainly don’t want to be. But looking around the country, there’s more important things to worry about than playing in the Premier Division or the First Division. I don’t want to be there professionally, but I have to pay the mortgage. Hopefully we won’t be there too long."
However nothing is being taken for granted at Sporting, with O’Neill already aware that his new club are now the team to beat.
“It’s going to be a lot harder than people think. We are going to be the team to beat. They’ll really want to get stuck into us. If I played for another team I’d be the same. Doing things on paper is one thing, but on the pitch it’s another. We’ll see in November,” he said.
About Gordon Hunt
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