12 years on from his departure from Aston Villa, Martin O’Neill has finally opened up on the circumstances surrounding his resignation from Villa Park.
The Northern Irishman has undoubtedly been one of Villa’s best managers of the 21st century, but in 2010, O’Neill left Villa just five days before the start of the new season under mysterious circumstances.
The manager’s resignation came as a shock to almost everybody, but now, on the Claret and Blue Podcast, O’Neill has shared why he left.
Predictably, it came down to a lack of backing from the owners, and O’Neill now says that the tipping point that caused him to leave was the sale of James Milner to Manchester City.
Milner was the reason O’Neill left
O’Neill admitted that Milner leaving pushed him to resign.
“So, the James Milner to Man City deal eventually became the tipping point, is that right?” O’Neill was asked.
“James, yeah. James wanted to leave for Man City for a lot of reasons. Even though we were on the up at the time, Man City with all the things they had at the time, he was going to improve his wages too – I don’t think that was a major thing for James, but if someone is offering you two-and-a-half times more than what you’re getting you have to think about it.
“James leaving, I took some of these things way too personally. I brought James into the football club, I changed him from the right to the centre of midfield and he was fantastic for us. You feel as though you have a part-ownership of these players.
“I took it too personally and I thought he was going to stay.”
Sinking ship
If O’Neill was frustrated by the Milner departure, he would’ve been utterly infuriated by what was to come if he’d stuck around.
Stewart Downing and Ashley Young were sold the next summer and Villa never really replaced any of these star players as Randy Lerner failed to invest properly.
The Midlands club were, of course, relegated within six years, and, to be honest, by the time O’Neill left they were already headed in the wrong direction.
O’Neill was wise to leave Villa at that point, because they were a sinking ship in the early 2010s.
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