O'NEILL: I would say to the owner: 'Do not be releasing statements on my behalf. SUTTON: If you were still at Forest and that statement suddenly appeared, would you tell Marinakis where to go? Did she know whether we were playing a 4-4-2 or 3-5-2? Not at all. Her words to me, leaving the house every weekend, were: 'Dad, just win.' If an 11-year-old can tell you to 'just win', that's what it meant. My daughter, Aisling, told me that at Wycombe - not because she knew whether I was going to lose my job, but she knew on a Saturday night we could go to a Chinese restaurant in High Wycombe if her dad could beat Bromsgrove Rovers. O'NEILL: A caveat! I've always been sceptical about 'votes of confidence'. It was, 'We back you, we back you, we back you. SUTTON: Cooper got the old 'vote of confidence' from Marinakis. I spent five trophy-laden years with O'Neill in Scotland during our respective time at Celtic O'NEILL: Deep down, I wouldn't have minded having 19 players brought into the football club at the time! SUTTON: You once told me, 'I've spent longer on a sponsored walk from Land's End to John O'Groats than I did as manager of that club.' But they've backed Cooper by making 30 signings this season. I had 19 games there, the last three of which we won, believe it or not. Would I have the enthusiasm to do the job? Absolutely. Experience does not necessarily guarantee success.īut you think your record in the game might suggest somebody might (want to hire you). O'NEILL: That's helped! I had this feeling that ageism plays a part. SUTTON: Do you think with Hodgson going to Palace, and Warnock to Huddersfield, the perception towards older managers is changing? It would be incredibly sad to see them go down. But good luck! I genuinely like Leicester. I thought they might have called and it didn't materialise. SUTTON: Did you enter into talks with Leicester? It's not as if he's saying, 'Jesus, what team shall I pick?' Maybe that's why Leicester went with (their choice) because Craig Shakespeare had been there before. He knows the club but, more importantly, he knows the players. O'NEILL: I thought it was a no-brainer for Roy to go back to Crystal Palace. The Northern Irishman discussed the topic of returning to Leicester, where he spent five years

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