Martin O'Neill resigns

[soggy biscuit]

R5 claiming that Lerner has lost a staggering amount of money in the recession and is unwilling to give O' Neil any transfer funds.

You also only have to look at some of O' Neil's signings to see why Lerner might not want to give him money anyway. £55M over the previous 2 summers including some real duffers

[winchester_royal]

McD is 104/1 on betfair.....

[cmonurz]

R5 claiming that Lerner has lost a staggering amount of money in the recession and is unwilling to give O' Neil any transfer funds.

You also only have to look at some of O' Neil's signings to see why Lerner might not want to give him money anyway. £55M over the previous 2 summers including some real duffers

I'm not sure how much criticism O'Neill can face on his transfers. Last summer he barely spent anything net as Villa got £12m or so for Barry. 2008 he spent 'big', but this is Aston Villa, not United or Chelsea, and on the face of it Friedal, Davies, Sidwell, Luke Young I think too, weren't terrible buys. I'll ignore paying money for Emile Heskey. O'Neill has done a great job at Villa on a limited (relative to the teams he was trying to catch) budget.

[Terminal Boardom]

I reckon he will go back to Celtic and have Lennon as his #2

[Wax Jacket]

MO'N always seemed sensible enough so to walk out because your recession-smashed chairman says he hasn't got enough money to buy Carlos Kickaball for £20m seems a bit odd to me

[Row Z Royal]

MO'N always seemed sensible enough so to walk out because your recession-smashed chairman says he hasn't got enough money to buy Carlos Kickaball for £20m seems a bit odd to me

/searches FM2009

[winchester_royal]

MO'N always seemed sensible enough so to walk out because your recession-smashed chairman says he hasn't got enough money to buy Carlos Kickaball for £20m seems a bit odd to me

Not when he's about to sell his best player for £30m

[Big Foot]

I think it's probably more to do with Lerner engaging in talks with Spurs over selling Ashley Young without telling MO'N beforehand. We all know how much he rates Young..."genius, you're a genius"

[Silver Fox]

Kevin McDonald is taking over for the time being. Whoever he is!

I'm fairly sure he directed The Last King of Scotland

HTH

[cmonurz]

From Villa talk:

- O'Neill wanted a cash plus players (involving Ireland and/or Johnson) deal for Milner. Lerner wanted all cash, and O'Neill would get no guarantees on spending that money.
- Young to go to Spurs against O'Neill's wishes.
- O'Neill very much 'a Capello', not very communicative, training taken by his assistants who were afforded little respect, and naming his team an hour before the game.

[cmonurz]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... eason.html

Villa might go for Hughes. Has a manager ever ben poached to a new club without taking charge of a competitive game at his previous one?

[No Hoops]

From Villa talk:

- O'Neill wanted a cash plus players (involving Ireland and/or Johnson) deal for Milner. Lerner wanted all cash, and O'Neill would get no guarantees on spending that money.
- Young to go to Spurs against O'Neill's wishes.
- O'Neill very much 'a Capello', not very communicative, training taken by his assistants who were afforded little respect, and naming his team an hour before the game.

Why would anyone want Ireland (read TROUBLE)in their squad....?????????

[soggy biscuit]

O'Neill wanted a cash plus players (involving Ireland and/or Johnson) deal for Milner.

I assume that is Adam Johnson and not Michael (overweight, alcoholic) Johnson?

[Dirk Gently]

I think it's probably more to do with Lerner engaging in talks with Spurs over selling Ashley Young without telling MO'N beforehand. We all know how much he rates Young..."genius, you're a genius"

Agreed, and just really a general feeling from MON that's he's taken Villa as far as he can - he won't improve on last season, and by getting out now the MON brand isn't damaged.

He always likes to quit when he's ahead and after the episode with his wife's illness he's not one of the those managers who needs to be in work all the time. He'll happily sit back and with for the right offer to come along - and they'll be better offers than if he'd stayed at Villa as they slowly stagnated.