O'Leary: I Endured A Smear Campaign

O'Leary told The Guardian: "I am trying to be myself again now. I thought I was a bit of an arsehole in my last year at Leeds. I thought I had changed a bit and had too much to say. I was put up by the club to say too many things and now I think I just want to be myself again.

"I was told to do this and that at Leeds and became too opinionated about things that had no relevance to myself. I had changed and I suppose the court case changed me a bit. There was a siege mentality. Now I just want to be the person I was during my first three years at Leeds.

"After I left there was a sensational story about my transfer dealings but you could get the FBI and the CIA to investigate them. David O'Leary may be a crap manager but he is honest. I had to endure a smear campaign when I left Leeds and the way Leeds tried to do it was sad.

"The smearing came as low as people saying that when I left Leeds we were on a bad run. We won seven of my last 10 games in charge and only lost one, people forget that.

"Then the smear came out about how I had lost the dressing room and it's amazing how stuff like that can stick. But it's amazing that all the players rang me to say goodbye."