Source: SKY_Sports
O'Neill rues player power
Aston Villa manager Martin O'Neill believes player power in football is at an all-time high.
The Villa boss had a training ground bust-up with Nigel Reo-Coker last week, and axed the midfielder from the squad that beat Portsmouth on Saturday.
O'Neill refused to comment on the incident with the 25-year-old, but said that players today have more say than when he was a youngster.
"The game has changed now," he said. "In my day, and days before that, players had no power.
"The club and the manager ran the show. That's the way it was and nobody saw fit to change it. I felt at the time that players should have a better say in proceedings but now it's gone the other way.
"Players now at least want to believe that they're in charge of things, and there's probably a great deal in that, so it has gone full circle. The reason it has done so is because of the money in the game.
"I do believe that if there's a valid viewpoint, then you should listen to it, but if you're spouting off just for the sake of things I'm not so sure that makes for easy listening."
O'Neill's side take on Cardiff in the Carling Cup on Wednesday as they look to progress into the fourth round at Villa Park, but he would not say if Reo-Coker would return to the squad.
"I had a word with Nigel in private and that is how it is going to remain as far as I am concerned," he said. "I won't be divulging what I said to him - or he to me.
"If Nigel and his associates close to him want to divulge anything, that is entirely up to them. As far as I am concerned, that is the end of the issue."
