Revision 1109366 of "David_O'Leary" on enwiki

'''David O'Leary''' Manager of [[Aston Villa]] Football Club.

Born in [[London]] on [[May 2]] [[1958]], but his father was born in [[Ireland]] and O'Leary later decided to play for the [[Republic of Ireland national football team]]. On leaving school in 1974 O'Leary signed for [[Arsenal F.C.|Arsenal]] and won his first major honour with them when he played in their 3-2 win over [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]] in the [[FA Cup]] final. O'Leary remained at Arsenal until 1993, when he joined [[Leeds United F.C.|Leeds United]] on a [[free transfer]] after 19 years at Highbury. During his time at Highbury he had won two FA Cups, two [[League Cup]]s and two [[Football League First Division|League Championships]] as well as being a regular member of the Irish national side. 

{{nonfreeimage|David_oleary_avfc.jpg| David O'Leary Aston Villa Manager|right|200px}}
 
In 1993-94, O'Leary was a regular player in the Leeds side until he suffered an [[Achilles' tendon|achilles]] injury which ruled him out for the whole of the following season. He was still on the club's pay roll at the beginning of the 1995-96 season but that September he gave in to his injury and announced his retirement from football at the age of 37. 

When the former Arsenal manager [[George Graham (footballer)|George Graham]] was put in charge at Leeds United in September 1996, O'Leary was installed as his assistant. He remained in this position for two years until Graham moved to [[Tottenham Hotspur F.C.|Tottenham]].

The Leeds directors made an offer for [[Martin O'Neill (footballer)|Martin O'Neill]] to take charge at Elland Road but the deal fell through and O'Leary was promoted to the hot seat. At the end of 1998-99 Leeds finished fourth in the [[FA Premier League|Premiership]] and qualified for the [[UEFA Cup]]. Their 1999-2000 campaign ended in the semi finals with defeat to the Turkish side [[Galatasaray]], and it was after the game in Turkey that two Leeds fans were stabbed to death during a brawl between rival supporters. But on the domestic front, Leeds finished third in the Premiership and qualified for the [[UEFA Champions League|Champions League]] - it would be their first campaign at this level since they were European Cup losing finalists in 1975.

Leeds reached the semi finals of the Champions League where they lost to eventual runners-up [[Real Madrid]]. Their Premiership form also dipped slightly and David O'Leary's men had to settle for a UEFA Cup place.

2001-02 began well for Leeds. They constantly topped the table during the first half of the season and come the new year of 2002 they were Premiership leaders. But a loss of form in the second half of the season saw them slump into sixth place - the last automatic UEFA Cup place. They had secured their place in Europe much earlier because seventh-placed [[West Ham United F.C.|West Ham]] had collected 12 less points.

By June 2002 David O'Leary had spent £100 million on new players in less than four years, but chairman [[Peter Ridsdale]] made perhaps one of the worst decisions in the club's history and wielded the axe on O'Leary. It signalled a downhill spiral for the club which would see three more managers ([[Terry Venables]], [[Peter Reid]] and [[Eddie Gray]]) come and go before the club was finally relegated at the end of 2003-04 with £80 million debts. 

O'Leary, meanwhile, was linked with various other vacant managers job throughout the 2002-03 season. He was hot favourite to become manager of [[Sunderland A.F.C.|Sunderland]] (who finished the season bottom of the Premiership with a record low of 19 points) when Peter Reid was sacked in October and again when [[Howard Wilkinson]] was sacked in March. But O'Leary remained out of work until June 2003 when he was appointed manager of [[Aston Villa F.C.|Aston Villa]].

Aston Villa were one of the biggest football clubs in the country but had been underachieving for many years, although during the 1990's they had finished runners-up of the first Premiership in 1993 and won the League Cup in 1994 and 1996. In 2002-03 they had endured perhaps their worst season since relegation from the old First Division in 1987. They had finished 16th in the Premiership and manager [[Graham Taylor]]'s second spell as manager had come to an end after just over a year. So the famous Villa chairman [[Doug Ellis]] turned to David O'Leary in a bid to see the club's fortunes turn around.

By the beginning of November 2003, Aston Villa were hovering just above the relegation zone and it looked as though O'Leary would be another of the club's unsuccessful managers. There was even a rumour that he would return to Leeds, who had just sacked Peter Reid and by now were at the foot of the Premiership with tens of millions of pounds worth of debts. But O'Leary remained at Villa and transformed the club so well that by final weeks of the season they were pushing hard for at least a UEFA Cup place and possibly even a Champions League place. But in the end their early season form had caught up with them and they had to settle for sixth place - this season one place too low for European qualification.

[[Category:1958 births|O'Leary, David]]
[[Category:Republic of Ireland footballers|O'Leary, David]]
[[Category:English football managers|O'Leary, David]]