Alex McLeish believes Martin O'Neill has become a victim of his own success at Aston Villa.
City boss reckons Villa counterpart has unrealistic pressure to deal with
Alex McLeish believes Martin O'Neill has become a victim of his own success at Aston Villa.
The Birmingham City boss has offered his support to his Villa counterpart ahead of Sunday's derby clash at Villa Park and insists he would 'swap any day' to enjoy the same season as the Northern Irishman's.
O'Neill has turned the Villans from Premier League strugglers into top-four contenders and the former Celtic boss' fourth year in charge of the club has also seen them reach the final of the Carling Cup and the semi-final of the FA Cup.
But that has not prevented small sections of supporters from showing their displeasure during games this season to compound rumours that O'Neill could leave in the summer after an alleged fall-out with owner Randy Lerner.
And McLeish feels for his rival manager, who he has also locked horns with in the Glasgow derby when they were at Rangers and Celtic respectively.
Expectation
"I don't know the ins and outs of Villa Park," said the Blues boss, who will be looking to avenge the 1-0 defeat to their bitter rivals at St Andrews earlier in the season.
"I don't know if Martin is under pressure but I know sometimes that expectation levels get out of hand and maybe people are asking too much in certain situations.
"I'd swap with him any day in terms of what Villa have achieved this season. He is a great manager with a proven track record. I don't think he needs to be disillusioned about anything.
"Is he a victim of his own success? Yes, I suppose in a way he is and sometimes you can achieve more than is expected and then all of a sudden the expectation levels grow out of proportion.
"As managers, we've seen it all before in recent years where one or two managers come fifth or sixth and then they are out the next season because they can't get into the Champions League.
"It is a little bit of the nature of it these days, the knee-jerk and blame culture we live in."
