David O'Leary has revealed he is prepared to return to the game as a number two but only at his former club Arsenal or with league champions Manchester United.
Ireland's hero of Italia '90 has been out of work since leaving Aston Villa in 2006 but says he would welcome a call from either of the two men he most admires in English football - Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger.
'The only people who could take me as a number two would be an Alex Ferguson or an Arsene Wenger and I'd be back tomorrow. I don't want to be making out that my tongue is hanging out ass licking to get into a job. That's just not me.'
O'Leary was rumoured to be in contention to succeed Ferguson when the United supremo was originally due to retire in 2002.
But the ex Leeds and Aston Villa boss says he never expected the most successful manager in English football to walk away from the game.
'There are two clubs you would love to manage, Arsenal and Manchester United. One thing I knew from George Graham who is close to Alex Ferguson, Alex will nearly die in the job... if you know what I mean.
'It was great to take Alex on. He said for the first time he had a team that came to Old Trafford willing to take United on and play football, not putting 10 men behind the ball.'
O'Leary, though, branded former Leeds favourite Harry Kewell as 'overhyped' and said he wasn't surprised the Aussie signed for Galatasary last year.
Kewell angered the Elland Road faithful by joining the Turkish giants who were Leeds' UEFA Cup semi-final opponents in 2000. Two Leeds fans were killed in Istanbul on the night prior to the game .
'It didn't surprise me with Kewell. He was a cold boy. I told Peter Ridsdale to take the money before people realised about him. Gerard Houllier was a friend and asked me about him and I told him he'd peaked young and I thought he wouldn't go on to do much.'
Football bad boy Lee Bowyer, though, came in for praise.
O'Leary said he 'played out of his skin' during the trial when he was charged with assaulting an Asian student in January 2000. Bowyer was later cleared of all charges.
'If a manager asked me about Lee all I could say are good things. Bowyer was late once for me and I thought he was joking because he said he was taking his dog to the vet. I checked and it was true.'
O'Leary admits he has some regrets over the infamous tell all Leeds United on Trial book which was claimed lost him the Elland Road dressing room, a claim he derides as 'totally rubbish.'
'The club put up a director to write it. If the club had asked me not to do the book I wouldn't have done it. The thing I do regret and it was our fault totally, we had the right to name the book: Leeds United On Trial. I don't think I was consulted but I definitely knew about it beforehand. It didn't trigger anything off. That's what I regret, the title not the book.'
Source: Dailymail
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