Aston Villa Deny Martin O'Neil Quit Rumours

[QPR Report]

Daily Mail

Aston Villa dismiss speculation manager Martin O'Neill has quit as 'pure nonsense'


By Sportsmail Reporter
Last updated at 3:29 PM on 30th March 2010
Comments (0) Add to My Stories Rumours: Villa Park chief O'Neill
Aston Villa sources have rubbished reports which claimed manager Martin O'Neill had quit the midlands club.
Radio and internet reports suggested O'Neill had decided to end his four-year reign at Villa Park following disagreements with club owner Randy Lerner over his transfer budget for next season.
O'Neill's odds to be the next Barclays Premier League manager to leave his post were slashed from 66-1 to 7-1.

Villa are unwilling to comment officially on reports which they are adamant are wide of the mark.
But sources close to the club are adamant the claims O'Neill has opted to leave are 'pure nonsense'.
O'Neill spent heavily last summer in bringing in the likes of James Milner (£12million), Stephen Warnock (£7m), Richard Dunne (£6m), Fabian Delph (£6m) James Collins (£5m) and Habib Beye (£3m).
He recouped £12m of this outlay from the sale of Gareth Barry to Manchester City.
But in January O'Neill admitted he had to adhere to a 'sell to buy' policy if he was to bring in new players during that transfer window.
And he did not add to his squad and sold midfielder Craig Gardner to local rivals Birmingham for £3m.
O'Neill has admitted Villa do not have the strength in depth of the established leading clubs in the top flight.
And his squad is now being stretched to the limit because of injuries to Dunne, John Carew, Emile Heskey, Gabriel Agbonlahor, James Milner and Stiliyan Petrov with several of them playing when not 100 per cent fit.
Big money: Barry (left) was sold to Manchester City last summer
There has also been no public response from Lerner as to how much money - if any - O'Neill will have to bolster his squad this summer.
But chances of obtaining a Champions League spot - and its financial riches - have floundered.
Villa are now seven points adrift of fourth-placed Tottenham after the 7-1 loss at Chelsea on Saturday - their first league defeat of 2010.


Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1262289/Aston-Villa-dismiss-speculation-manager-Martin-ONeill-quit.html?ITO=1490#ixzz0jfrr952D

[QPR Report]

Guardian/Stuart James

Martin O'Neill warns Aston Villa he could quit in the summer• Manager to hold talks with club's owner Randy Lerner
• Disgruntled fans will have bearing on end-of-season discussion

Tweet this (12)Stuart James The Guardian, Friday 2 April 2010

Martin O'Neill says Randy Lerner, the American owner, was the first person to call him to offer support after erroneous reports this week that the manager had resigned. Photograph: Tom Jenkins

Martin O'Neill is to consider his position as Aston Villa manager at the end of the season when he plans to sit down with the club's chairman, Randy Lerner, and discuss his future.

Earlier this week there were erroneous reports that he had resigned from his post. Yesterday he moved to clarify the situation by rejecting rumours he had fallen out with Lerner, although he admitted that both parties had a decision to make in the summer and, tellingly, said that disgruntled Villa fans would have a bearing on how he approached those talks.

It appears several factors have combined to frustrate the manager, including the supporter unrest that has surfaced at times this season and the realisation that, once again, qualification for the Champions League looks beyond his side after the 7-1 drubbing at Chelsea last Saturday. There have also been suggestions Lerner will adopt a more prudent approach in the near future, although O'Neill claimed he had yet to discuss summer spending with the owner.

The Villa manager, who operates on a rolling one-year contract, acknowledged there is a bigger picture to analyse in terms of whether the club are "making the progress that people want to make" but he also took the unusual step of issuing a forthright defence of his own record, when he claimed that his arrival had been a "breath of fresh air" at Villa.

O'Neill has overseen back-to-back sixth-placed finishes and in February took Villa to their first major final for a decade, when they lost to Manchester United in the Carling Cup. There is also the prospect of another Wembley appearance, if Villa can overcome Chelsea in their FA Cup semi-final tomorrow week. That outcome, together with Villa's results in the final seven league matches, are likely to impact heavily on the end-of-season summit.

"I will sit down here and talk to the chairman at the end of the season, and we will see where we are positioned," O'Neill said. "People make judgments and calls and things. I will see, and if the Aston Villa fans are disgruntled with it, I will take it into consideration, if the chairman – who will have a big say in proceedings – agrees, and, interestingly, I will have a say in proceedings, because it is my life. That is the best time to go and make that assessment."

Asked whether he would assess things with respect to his own future, O'Neill replied: "With respect to everything. With respect to whether we are making the progress that people want to make, whether we are doing everything in our power to get that. Where we stand, where the football club stands in relation to the Premier League."

There have been rumblings that O'Neill's relationship with Lerner is no longer strong but the manager claimed the American was the first person to call him when rumours circulated on Tuesday he had quit. "The chairman said to me: 'We are in the throes of a successful season, and a setback [like Chelsea] shouldn't deter you from fighting back.' But he was only telling me what I already knew – we can qualify for Europe for a third consecutive season."

O'Neill, however, declined to answer directly a question about whether the chairman had made any money available in January, when Villa failed to sign any players, and said he would "find out when I speak to him" whether there are likely to be funds for the summer. The outcome of that conversation could well be crucial.

The former Celtic manager reminded everyone at Villa Park that his record demands respect. "I must stand up for myself somewhere along the way," he said. "You can be self-effacing all day long. By the time August comes around I will have invested £80m of Mr Lerner's money in the team. That equates to £20m per year. If the chairman so desires, which he has not intimated to me, that the club is choosing to sell four or five players, you would get a return on your money – with interest. I think all that has been forgotten."

O'Neill pointed out that he had inherited a "disaffected club" that had been fighting relegation, but added: "I have the utmost regard for some managers who have been here before. I think Graham Taylor was excellent in his first spell here. Ron Atkinson has proved himself an excellent manager. Brian Little did very well in '96 but, in recent times, I'd say I'd be a breath of fresh air looking at this club. And that's putting a few things in perspective."

www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/apr/02/martin-oneill-aston-villa

[QPR Report]

Independent

O'Neill in threat to walk away from Villa

Manager issues warning after negative reaction from fans and reports of breakdown with chairman

By Ian Edwards

Friday, 2 April 2010

Martin O'Neill on his future as Aston Villa manager: 'At the end of it all, I will sit down here and talk to the chairman at the end of the season and we will see where we are positioned'
Martin O'Neill warned last night he could walk out on his 12-month rolling contract at Aston Villa at the end of the season and supporters would be left to reflect upon losing the best thing that has happened to their club in a quarter of a century.

O'Neill has reacted to criticisms following Villa's 7-1 Premier League capitulation against FA Cup semi-final opponents Chelsea and increasing rumours of a breakdown with Randy Lerner with a clear message that he will reserve the right to hand in his resignation when he performs a final audit of the current campaign with his American owner in the summer.

"At the end of it all, I will sit down here and talk to the chairman at the end of the season and we will see where we are positioned. People make judgements and calls and things, I will see, and if the Aston Villa fans are disgruntled with it, I will take it into consideration," O'Neill said.

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"If the chairman, who will have a big say in proceedings, agrees, and interestingly I will have a say in proceedings, because it is my life. There will be people with a big say in proceedings. I include Villa, the chairman and myself. That's what I'm saying. It doesn't need me to keep going and explaining what I have said. If I haven't articulated it well enough to you, then that is where I am going."

Ironically, just a few days after rumours on the internet and radio claimed that O'Neill had walked out on the club on Tuesday, the Tweeters who started the claim that spread like wildfire could turn out far more prophetic than they ever dreamt. O'Neill appears to be growing weary.

He is irked by demands for instant success, angry over constant speculation regarding his working relationship with Lerner, which appears functional at best, after being told to operate a "sell to buy policy" and he has been appalled at Villa fans booing his side off in their previous two home games and questioning his selection policies and refusal to rotate a squad assembled at the cost of £179m.

Criticisms of his heavy spending without tangible reward and claims by Deloitte and Touche that the club's wage bill is £70m per annum and 84 per cent of their operating profit have also annoyed the 56-year-old, who insists his record as Villa manager stands comparison to all since Tony Barton left in 1984 and his spending has been grossly exaggerated.

"In recent times I'd say I'd be a breath of fresh air looking at this club and that is putting a few things in perspective. Four seasons ago we had a disaffected club. In that August we had sold 12,000 season tickets. The team was close to relegation the previous season. We have reached the Carling Cup final and the FA Cup semi-final," said O'Neill. "I have the utmost regard for some managers who have been here before. By the same token, I must stand up for myself somewhere along the way.

"I have invested £80m over four seasons. That is £20m per season. I have to assume the figures on wages includes every single employee at this club. If not, then it's simply not true. I don't care about Deloitte. We are not 84 per cent of turnover. They are not the figures I saw a fortnight ago. Nowhere near that. We are heading for the biggest turnover in the club's history."

He insisted he still has a working relationship with Lerner and his backing. "I heard that I had a fight with Randy on Tuesday. He was with his daughter on Tuesday afternoon and he was the first one to call me and he asked if I wanted him to say anything about the rumours," said O'Neill, who claims Lerner is delighted with the prospect of a third successive qualification for Europe.

Whether O'Neill stays will depend on whether Lerner is prepared to invest further, which could involve shelving plans for redevelopment at Villa Park. It will take further serious funds to bridge the gap to the Champions League places and improved corporate facilities, banqueting and seating at Villa Park will not help

www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/oneill-in-threat-to-walk-away-from-villa-1933836.html

[Lonegunmen]

Wouldn't it be great if he was here? He's been reasonably successful where ever he has gone.