Speaking on the Claret and Blue Podcast, Martin O’Neill has been discussing his departure from Aston Villa 12 years after the event.
The Northern Irishman left the Villans just days before the 2010/11 season started, and he incurred the wrath of many fans in the months following.
There was an element of mystery around O’Neill’s departure from Villa Park, and many stated that he left the club because he wanted more money.
However, according to O’Neill, that idea is an absolute myth, stating that there is no truth at all in that claim.
O’Neill on his departure
The ex-Villa boss spoke about why he left Villa, stating that looking back he wishes he’d have stayed on.
“The bottom line is that if you’re asking me now and if you’d asked me a year after the events I’d have stayed on at the football club. People say that it’s because I was asking for more money, it’s an absolute myth, it wasn’t the case,” O’Neill said.
“I told Randy that he would get his money back on players like James Milner, Ashley Young and Stewart Downing. I was expecting more form the likes of Sidwell and Reo-Coker at the time. I think we had a squad capable of top six, but it was about if we could push into those next positons, that was it. The idea that I was asking for a lot more than that was simply not true.”
What if he’d stayed
O’Neill says that he has an element of regret around his Aston Villa departure, and we have to wonder how different things could’ve been if he’d stayed.
O’Neill worked wonders at Villa Park and his departure was the beginning of a slump that eventually led to the club’s relegation in 2016.
Perhaps if O’Neill had stayed, the Villans never would have gone down and maybe, just maybe, they could have continued towards establishing themselves as a constant presence in the top six.
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