Writer: Joe Baker
Former Leeds United defender Dominic Matteo has revealed the relationship within the team in David O’Leary’s reign in charge of the club.
Matteo spent four years at the Whites, two under the stewardship of O’Leary, as they became Champions League semi-finalists, also revolving under the controversial ownership of Peter Ridsdale. But whilst he oversaw a number of ambiguous signings during a strenuous tenure, Matteo has not failed to state any major bad points of O’Leary’s time at Elland Road, particularly with his fellow team-mates:
“I think there was a real mixed opinion on David throughout the squad being totally honest.
Personally I think the only mistake David made was when he stopped being out on the training field as much as he was. It wasn’t like it was a lot that he missed out on, there was just a little dip in the players because I think you always want your manager out there.”
The centre-back himself only credits O’Leary for giving him the freedom to express himself, and says that things could have been different if he had continued at the club instead of being sacked in 2002.
Matteo also believes that the gaffer gave him extra motivation in always wanting him to be played. He highlighted a game at Lazio in Europe as a prime example of the trust and eagerness that the 61-year-old had in him:
“There was a couple of games in the Champions League where I was dying, I was struggling with injuries my whole career. I used to have injections before a lot of games. It was the Lazio game at home that was 3-3, I was like ‘I need to rest here, we’re already qualified’. I think I was having an injection, I was doing something, I was heavily strapped. I was thinking, ‘he’s going to give me a rest tonight.’ The next thing you know, big Rio obviously gets a rest, the rest of the big hitters get a rest and he pulls me at the hotel, the Malmaison and tells me ‘Dom, you’re playing tonight’.”
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