The resignation of Villa manager Martin O’Neill earlier this week was, to put it mildly, unexpected. While most football fans were busy poring over previews, vociferously announcing predictions and counting down the days until the club football season kicked off again, O’Neill decided, apparently over a lack of transfer funds, that he no longer wanted to be in charge at Aston Villa. Opinion is certainly divided as to how significant his exit will be for the Midlands club who have, under his tutelage, arguably come consistently closest to challenging the dominance of the big four in English football. There are fans who claim that O’Neill is a brilliant coach – one with great motivational and man-managing prowess who has, over the years, consistently overperformed with clubs like Leicester, Celtic and Villa. On the other hand, his harshest critics argue that O’Neill is vastly overrated, stunted by limited tactical ability, poor transfer strategies, and painted as frugal when, in fact, he was far from it.
The truth probably lies somewhere in between these extremes. Looking at O’Neill’s record with Villa, it is hard to dispute his capability. He has certainly been amongst the Premiership’s top achievers in the past few seasons, with three consecutive sixth place finishes and points tallies that have improved with every campaign. With remarkably average squads over the past three seasons, O’Neill created a work ethic and spirit of evident value, in the process inspiring many players to perform out of their skins. By and large, it is clear that he created an Aston Villa side that functioned better than the sum of its parts, and in the process, enhanced the reputations and future salaries of players like Gareth Barry, James Milner and Ashley Young, among others. Additionally, O’Neill was one of the few Premiership managers who contributed significantly to the development of English players – he is, at least partially, responsible for turning youngsters like Stephen Warnock, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Nathan Delfonueso, among others, into genuine national team prospects.
Conversely, however, there are many who argue that O’Neill’s success was not, in fact, as much a reflection of managerial astuteness as of media savviness. The assertion is that O’Neill was not working on a shoestring, instead backed heavily by Randy Lerner in the transfer market until this summer, and that it was in fact the Irishman’s tactical shortcomings and dogged refusal to change his starting lineups that prevented Villa from breaking into the top four. Villa’s form trailing off at the end of all of the last three seasons has been attributed to O’Neill’s stubborn insistence on playing the same eleven week-in, week out, his inability to bolster the squad effectively enough. Moreover a startlingly escalating wage bill and lack of a plan B have also been listed among O’Neill’s blunders.
Looking at O’Neill’s transfer dealings during his tenure, there is certainly an element of hit-and-miss. Some of his dealings have been very shrewd – Ashley Young, James Milner, Carlos Cuellar, Richard Dunne and Stilian Petrov have all proved their worth under his tutelage, playing significant roles in Villa’s successes. However, many of his other purchases have been less than prolific – players like Steve Sidwell, Marlon Harewood, Curtis Davies, Habib Beye and Nigel Reo-Coker, among others, rarely featured or performed upto the standard that O’Neill came to demand, yet pushed the wage bill higher than that of rivals like Tottenham and Everton.
Even so, this criticism hardly makes him a lesser manager. If we consider the poor purchases made by, say, Ferguson, Wenger or Benitez, or other managers in more direct competition with Aston Villa, like Redknapp, Mancini or Hughes, all of them have bought players who did not live up to their potential. In the process of wheeling and dealing, there is always a proportion of signings who simply don’t perform as well as expected. Moreover, in Villa’s case, most such signings have been kept out of the team by players who were also brought in by O’Neill or improved significantly by his management.
Similarly, to put the entire weight of the blame for Villa’s wage bill on the manager’s shoulders is also unfair – while he certainly sanctioned signings, doesn’t every club have financial ‘suits’ whose job is to balance the books and ensure that wages and net spend do not go out of hand? Financial management is not the prerogative of just the manager, but also of board members, directors, the owner and so forth. Given that the reported reason for O’Neill’s resignation was disagreement over transfer funds and the escalating wage bill, the related issue is an interesting one.
To me, O’Neill leaving Villa represents, more than anything else, not just the lack of a level financial playing field, but also the virtual impossibility of breaking the Premiership status quo. While he had his shortcomings, O'Neill was certainly a better manager than most, and it is more than unreasonable to accuse him of ‘abandoning’ Villa. What’s the point in working hard, day in and day out, to transform workmanlike players like Barry, Milner et al and getting them to play above themselves? In the current environment, once their talent is noticed, another club comes along and offers them ludicrous amounts of money to play average football somewhere else, and any hopes of consolidating a team go down the drain. Back you go to the drawing board, with no real hope of punching above your weight.
Even with an owner who is no pauper, significant investment, and good runs in Cups as well as high finishes in the Premier League, teams like Villa are generally seen as only capable of going so far – if they produce or develop a really good player, he will be bought up by a team with a ‘higher pedigree’ (translation – more money), and Villa will be put "back in their place". While it is understandable that Randy Lerner either could not, or did not want to continue to spend £20-30 million every season just to make sure that Villa remained in the top six or seven, the fact is that the Premier League is as much a financial competition as a sporting one.
This is reflected by the general consensus among journalists, pundits, and even fans that Villa had outdone themselves with three 6th place positions, and could rise no further. That is not an unreasonable assertion, given that Manchester City and Tottenham, two of their closest rivals, have spent more money in building up their squads. Add to this traditional dominance of the big four, and it is clear why the task that O’Neill faced was so daunting. It is clearly a thankless task to attempt to break the status quo in the Premier League, and an impossible one if you do not have considerable, usually dubiously gained funds to back you up. Increasingly, it is only realistically three or four teams that can win the Premier League title – which is the only surefire way to ensure profits, establish a global brand and make lot of cash. Yet, to put it simplistically, without billions of dollars, you cannot challenge for trophies. Without trophies, you cannot make significant profits. Without making significant profits, you cannot get the billions of dollars needed to challenge for trophies – a Catch-22 if there ever was one.
Without spending consistently every summer, O’Neill knew that Villa would start going backwards despite his best efforts. As with the Gareth Barry transfer saga a couple of summers ago, O’Neill was clearly unhappy with potentially losing Milner and Young this time around, especially if the money that came in was not going to be made available to spend. Given that Lerner is, at the end of the day, a businessman, he probably realised that being a mere billionaire-once-over chairman doesn't cut it anymore. Why? Because players want to play for the team that pays its reserve left back £90,000 a week, and players want to win trophies, which is apparently only possible if you pay your reserve left-back £90,000 a week.
If you care about creating a good football team, a whole greater than the sum of its parts, as Martin O’Neill passionately did, then the ludicrous unfairness of this entire paradoxical situation is likely to eventually drive you out or drive you insane. With O'Neill's considerable efforts and prowess, Villa reached the glass ceiling beneath the top four, and despite trying to break through, it has become more evident than ever that the ceiliing is bulletproof.
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