O’Leary has not managed another English club since he left Aston Villa in 2006, when he was just 48, and has not found a way back into management in the Premier League.

 

He took Leeds to the Champions League in the early 2000s and finished sixth with Aston Villa in his first season at the Midlands club.

 

 

He did get one more opportunity to return to English football management when Newcastle interviewed him in the summer of 2009 following their relegation from the Premier League.

 

The Magpies tentatively offered him the role, but O’Leary admitted that at that time the job did not feel right to him.

 

 

And he conceded that he regrets that decision and believes it could have been a good job for him.

 

“It didn’t feel right, but I probably should have taken it”, O’Leary told The Athletic.

 

 

“It was probably a mistake.

 

“It’s a big club, another one-club city like Leeds, great support.

 

“That would have been a good job.”

 

His only managerial job in the last 15 years was a season at UAE Pro League club Al-Ahli.