Martin O'Neill Resigns

[Dunny]

Breaking on SSN..

[tetsujin1979]

Regarding the rumours about O'Neill leaving because Lerner refused to back him in the transfer marker, tt did strike me at the weekend that the only other team to have not made a signing over the summer was Blackpool.

[shakermaker1982]

If you keep selling your players and don't let the manager spend the cash received on a decent replacement then your going to walk.

I'd like to see how the team fares with Curbishley/Sven/Southgate in charge. The fans will then appreciate the job MO'N did for them.

[Stuttgart88]

I really like O'Neill and I can understand his frustrations but when is the penny going to drop among almost everyone in professional football that you can't keep pi$$ing away money you're never likely to recoup?

The wage bill at Villa of 85 million was 85% of turnover (numbers approximate - I can't recall the exact numbers from the articles I read) and this doesn't include Dunne, Collins and two others who were signed last season. The club was losing about 45 million a year. You don't need to be an accountant to realise that that is unsustainable. In Germany & France you're not allowed to enter the league in any year you have made an operating loss.

The EPL's regulatory attitude is to let the clubs do what they want as they'd hardly want to drive themselves out of business. Any finance people here will recognise exactly the same justification by Alan Greenspan for the "light" regulation of the banking system when he testified that he erred by thinking the banks' self preservation instincts would deter them from taking too much risk. Instead, in an intensely competitive environment driven by short-term success targets they did the eaxct opposite - they took on too much risk and nearly destroyed themselves. Exactly the same culture prevails in English football, and in some other countries.

Sam Allardyce recently said that footballersw (only footballers) should be allowed to pay less tax because the new 50% tax rate was deterring foreign players. Face the effing reality Sam, Martin and everyone else. ONLY in football are businesses allowed NOT to pay tax, instead paying cash to football related creditors first. If Osborne is serious about sorting out the UK's fiscal position he should start insisting football clubs pay taxes like every other business. Stuff it if it drives clubs like Portsmouth out of business.

I look forward to the implementation of Financial Fair Play rules in European football, stupidly portrayed by many here as Delors-like interference from the continent, and drawing the typical xenophopic response from many commentators.

The players are said to have celebrated O'Neill's departure. Wait until the next guy comes in!

[shakermaker1982]

MO'N doesn't negotiate the contracts though Stuttgart. Villa have always had a tiny squad (hence they buckled once they got to March because their players were out on their feet) so the chairman/chief exec need to look at their negotiating skills when it comes to talking to players. MO'N has made the odd duff signing but their squad is not overrun with top class internationals wasting away on £60k+ unlike other clubs.

Milner and Young will be sold for at least twice what Villa paid for them.

[Docboy]

Their squad wasn't that small though, it was also down to Martin's reluctance to pick anyone outside of his main men. I'd imagine it was those neglected players that might have celebrated his leaving. Good manager, no doubt, but a little too reliant on brute force and not-so-adventurous tactics for me.

[shakermaker1982]

MO'N was reluctant to pick certain players like Davies but that is only because Dunne and Collin's are superior players. I watched his interview on the day MO'N walked and he seems to forget that Dunne/Collin's were excellent for most of last season.

[John83]

Sam Allardyce recently said that footballersw (only footballers) should be allowed to pay less tax because the new 50% tax rate was deterring foreign players. Face the effing reality Sam, Martin and everyone else. ONLY in football are businesses allowed NOT to pay tax, instead paying cash to football related creditors first. If Osborne is serious about sorting out the UK's fiscal position he should start insisting football clubs pay taxes like every other business. Stuff it if it drives clubs like Portsmouth out of business.

In his defence, that was probably out of frustration with the comparatively lax taxation on footballers in Spain, which gives those clubs a big advantage in attracting players.