Aston Martin

Hayward: in defence of O'Neill

If you even consider getting rid of Martin O'Neill then you might as well close the club down because there is no sense in the world if you think a manager with his record of team building and his record over the last two season has suddenly lost his way and is dead meat.

Paul Hayward
Quotes of the week

Paul Hayward told The Supplement that it is ridiculous for Villa to even think about getting rid of Martin O' Neill.

Martin O'Neill's side lost their season opener 2-0 to Wigan at Villa Park last Saturday and were then beaten 1-0 at Rapid Vienna in the Europa League play-off first leg in midweek.

Next up is the tough trip to title challengers Liverpool on Monday - where O'Neill's side lost 5-0 last term - but Hayward is amused that anyone would even think about replacing him.

"It makes me laugh," said Hayward. "If you even consider getting rid of Martin O'Neill then you might as well close the club down because there is no sense in the world if you think a manager with his record of team building and his record over the last two season has suddenly lost his way and is dead meat.

"He has invested heavily in young English players - that might be the problem - too many English players in the team," joked the Observer man.

"He needs some of those players to deliver and stop being promising young players. They need to start being streetwise, tough Premiership winners - I am thinking of particularly Gabriel Agbonlahor and Ashley Young. These guys have got big reputations and big salaries and it is about time they started delivering on those and stop being prodigies. He needs that to happen quite quickly because other teams are not standing still.

"I think he will be putting enormous pressure on himself - he does not take defeat very well, it really hurts him to lose and embarrasses him to be slipping down the table. But he is the best thing that club has."

Some Villa fans have been questioning what O'Neill has achieved in his four years at the club, and Oliver Holt is quick to remind them.

"What has he achieved? Well they have not been involved in a relegation battle which is the trend Villa were beginning to plumb too when O'Neill arrived, so lets' not forget that. They tailed off last season but I think it is massively premature to be having a go at Martin O'Neill. Villa fans should think a little bit about how far he has taken them. Losing to Wigan is a bad result but it is not the end of the world, it is just one game. There sis am, long way to go yet before villa fans can start getting jumpy."

The Independent's Sam Wallace says that Villa fans need to look at how Everton kept faith with David Moyes before calling for O'Neill to be replaced.

"I think the problem here is that a lot of Villa fans are forgetting what happened with Moyes," explained Wallace.

"Moyes is the manager outside the top four for what he has achieved at Everton. He had two really bad seasons with Everton - one where he finished 17th. Everton stuck with him - a bright young manager and what a great club he has built there.

"I think Villa have to do the same with Martin O'Neill. He is certainly a different kind of manager but he has proved he can do it. The fans say lets get him out and bring in someone else - well who?

"Who is going to do a better job than Martin O'Neill?"