Football Daily | British managers abroad: will Gary O’Neil sink or swim at Strasbourg?

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Some British managers who have chanced their arm on the continent have won trophies and the adoration of supporters. Others have at least provided the Daily with plenty of content. For every Bobby Robson, there’s a Tony Adams, or to meet somewhere in the middle, Steve McClaren – who can deliver you a league title while still making an arsche of himself in TV interviews. What fate awaits Gary O’Neil, quietly ushered into the vacant hot seat at Ligue 1 Strasbourg after Todd Boehly called up Liam Rosenior for the real job? Like Rosenior, he starts his tenure with a tricky away day in the cup; hours before Chelsea play Charlton, O’Neil will take the reins for a Coupe de France tie at fourth-tier Avranches.

The Normandy outfit play their home games close to Mont Saint-Michel, a mazy tourist hotspot that has often befuddled English visitors. It’s a daunting start for a manager whose last competitive game was more than a year ago. Like Rosenior, O’Neil is a relatively young English coach with ambition, experience and a harsh sacking on his CV. Still, he feels like an odd fit in the BlueCo machine – a tracksuit manager unlikely to discuss performance ceilings and marginal gains. “I don’t like the word ‘philosophy’,” O’Neil told Big Website back in June. “In the jobs I’ve gone into, we’ve had to be incredibly adaptable.”