Martin O’Neill Leaves Aston Villa right before start of Premier League; Kevin MacDonald takes charge
It has been confirmed that Martin O’Neill has left Aston Villa, after a mutual consent with the owners of the club. As of now, his position will be taken over by the coach of the reserve squad, Kevin MacDonald.
Some football fans might not know this, but Aston Villa has a rich history in English football. They won the league title seven times; the last one was in 1980-81. Also, their major achievements are during the late 1800s and the first decade of the 1900s. Therefore, the club has a lot of prestige and honor in English football.
However, success has not been coming their way recently. Aston Villa won their last FA Cup in 1957, while they won their only European Cup in 1982. After their last success in 1982, they only managed to get hold of two League Cups, in 1994 and 1996. Therefore, a club historically associated with a lot of domination is trying to regain their prestigious position almost a century afterwards (as Villa won 6 out of 7 titles till 1910).
In order to restore that lost pride, Martin O’Neill was signed by Aston Villa in 2006. O’Neill is a widely respected manager, who belongs to Northern Ireland, where he also played his international football, and remained their captain as well. In England, he used to play for Nottingham Forest. In 1990, O’Neill started his managerial career with Wycombe Wanderers, after brief stints with Grantham Town and Shepshed Charterhouse. Before coming to Aston Villa, he managed Leicester City and Celtic. In all these clubs, O’Neill remained in both clubs for almost five years each, which shows the level of respect he used to get from the higher officials of the clubs.
Martin O’Neill came to Aston Villa with a promise to restore the lost pride of the club, and a desire to win trophies. However, although during his stay he made Villa into a formidable side, he was never really able to challenge the dominant teams for any silverware. The best result of his managerial career at Aston Villa was a runners-up position in the Carling Cup 2010. Apart from that, he only won a Peace Cup in 2009, which is quite insignificant compared to other important competitions.
Although O’Neill had successful runs in Celtic and Leicester City, his tenure at Villa is considered to be below par. He had his moments, as he was occasionally named the manager of the month, but his team made a lot of mistakes at important times. Although they had a chance to break in the top four, for the previous two seasons, Aston Villa used to choke during the second half of their campaign. Although O’Neill led the team to a UEFA Cup spot three times in a row, the team did not make good progress in that competition either. The real problem was the lack of strength in the squad, which is greatly required for participating in all competitions in Europe.
The strength of squad got a further blow when Manchester City bought Gareth Barry from Aston Villa, after paying a heavy price for the star midfielder. This season, once again, Manchester City is after another Villa star, James Milner, while Ashley Young does not seem to be staying for long either. These blows would be major to any club, especially when a lot of hard work is done to raise the standards of football and train their players. Therefore, all these speculations added to the frustrations of O’Neill, who finally decided to let go of the job. A club with weak expenses and an inability to hold on to big players can be frustrating for any manager.
The future of Villa looks dark, as O’Neill made a huge difference in their victories. However, O’Neill has a bright future ahead of him, as he is regarded as one of the best managers. In the past, interest was shown by the English National side and Liverpool to hire the services of the Irishman, but he remained committed to Villa. Now, as a free agent, O’Neill might even get picked up before the start of the next season.
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