Source: Daily_Mail
Like him or lump him Villa fans; you're not going to change the quixotic O'Neill
If I hadn't watched, listened to and dealt with Martin O'Neill for the past three years, I'd wonder what the heck he was playing at.
The season is just three weeks away and Aston Villa's one foray into the transfer market has yielded a crock who won't be fit until Christmas.
This is despite the fact that Martin Laursen and Gareth Barry have quit Villa Park since the end of last season.
On the face of it, then, not a fantastic summer.
Of course, you can look at it in one of two ways.
First, there is the school of thought that goes something like this.
'I didn't agree with what he did in Moscow, even though I could understand it. But he is the manager, after all, and he's paid to make those decisions.
'He's brought in some players who have added to us, like Ashley Young, John Carew and Luke Young. Others who look like they will eventually really shine like Stiliyan Petrov, James Milner and Curtis Davies.
'And then there are the others. Like Marlon Harewood. And Marlon Harewood.
'But we are still short of numbers and he's known we were going to be in Europe again this year for some time. Why didn't he start putting a few feelers out back in April with a view to making a couple of signings?
'Why won't anyone tell us which transfer market we are competing in? Does the manager know himself?
'We don't seem able to compete with the really big boys, which is fair enough because we don't have the resources generated by participation in the Champions League.
'But we keep hearing how the squad is thin, how it needs to be added to and all the rest of it. And nothing seems to be happening.
'And what's more, no-one seems to be saying anything about it, either.
'It would be nice to know exactly what the game-plan is at Villa Park. Champions League was the aim in five years, according to Mr Lerner when he arrived at the club.
'Well, unless something spectacular happens this season, we are not going to be anywhere near.
'So that leaves us one more bite of the cherry with Manchester City growing more daring by the week, and Spurs buying up full-backs we were supposed to be interested in. What is going on?'
If you are pro-O'Neill, then you just have to keep the faith. The train of thought goes thus.
'Look it's relatively early in the summer. This time last year, the only player we had signed was Steve Sidwell.
'Then we went and brought in a whole load just before the season kicked-off. Luke Young, Carlos Cuellar, Brad Friedel and more besides.
'We don't need to splash the cash yet. Any player worth his salt is in pre-season training anyway, it's no use getting them in too early and paying high wages for nothing.
'And anyway, who is out there that we can reasonably afford anyway.
'If Martin goes in for a player and Mark Hughes or Arsene Wenger fancies them, then we aren't going to stand much of a chance are we? One has bags of cash to throw at the situation, the other has the lure of Champions League football.
'Let them do their business and we will snap up the best of the rest.
'It's the only way to do it. That way, the whole club will be jumping ahead of the big kick-off when we have added four or five to the squad in the fortnight leading up to that first game.
'O'Neill knows what he is doing. We just need to stay calm and trust him.'
I suspect that argument is raging inside the heads of most Villa fans. Certainly the ones I meet want him to go out there and make a statement.
I sense that frustration is growing. I can understand it on a whole host of different levels.
I believe this will be a very important season for Villa. At the moment, they've lost their best player (Laursen) and most influential (Barry) and not replaced either.
But Martin O'Neill is Martin O'Neill.
His timekeeping (for press conferences) is little short of awful. He does procrastinate. I wouldn't like to look inside his head. He reminds me of Dr Emmett Brown, the character played by Christopher Lloyd in 'Back to the Future.'
And he's cute, too.
I managed to get hold of him on the phone last year. And he was told (probably by one of Villa's media staff) that his constant tardiness was beginning to grate.
'I understand you are fed-up with my lateness,' he said, 'if that's the case I'm going to apologise now for the rest of the season.'
Game, set, match, O'Neill. So, you ain't going to change him.
The bottom line is that he's a good football manager. I know it's not what you want to hear, Villa fans, but I'm afraid you are going to have to be patient for a little while longer.
