O’Neill Resigns as Villa Boss

Posted by DomPollard on August 9, 2010 | No Comments

So the breaking news today is that Martin O’Neill has resigned as manager of Aston Villa. His exit comes just five days before the club kick-off their Premier League campaign at home to West Ham.

Apparent reasons for his departure have been coming in thick and fast and it will probably be a while until we learn the truth behind the events. Nevertheless, it seems likely that the ongoing transfer saga involving James Milner was a key factor.

Milner is O’Neill’s prize asset but appears destined to leave Villa Park. It is thought that O’Neill had wanted all the funds from the transfer to be available for him to invest in new players. When it became clear that this was not going to be the case O’Neill tendered his resignation.

Ex-Villa player Paul Merson has stated that the Irishmen has left at the right time and I would be inclined to agree with him. The Villains have added no players to their squad and Milner’s exit, as the case was with Gareth Barry last summer, would see their best player leave for greener grass.

The squads around Villa, meanwhile, have continued to improve. As such they would struggle to repeat the feat of finishing 6th for a fourth successive season.

Ultimately, you cannot expect to sell your best players while not buying new players to replace them and not expect to slip down the table. Mass panic may not be called for quite yet but Villa will now certainly be hard pressed to qualify for Europe next season.

The whole story has echoes of Clough’s unceremonious split with Derby County back in 1973. The conflict over available funds between manager and chairman eventually resulting in the manager’s resignation.

It would be wrong to delve too deeply into the debate over the role of the chairman in modern football without knowing exactly what happened behind the scenes at Villa Park. It does seem, however, as though the manager having his hands tied by the men upstairs may have been at the heart of this story.

O’Neill’s four successful years at Villa have come to an abrupt end. It would be great to hear all of your views on what is probably the story of the season. Why do you think Martin O’Neill resigned? Was he right to do so? Who do you think is the right man to replace him? Comments below please.

Dominic Pollard writes hiw own blog. Polly’s Pause for Sport. Check it out today!

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