O'Neill:

The King is dead. Long live the King.

Almost four years to the day since Martin O'Neill was swept into Villa Park by his adoring subjects, carrying the hopes and dreams of the claret and blue faithful, the hyper-sensitive Irishman slipped out through a back door without so much as a whimper but causing an almighty bang.

He thanked the players. He thanked the fans. He thanked the staff. Pointedly there was no mention for chairman or directors.

The cracks in the relationship began to appear soon after the 7-1 drubbing at Stamford Bridge in March. Whilst trying to reaffirm his passion for the job to the assembled press O'Neill overstepped the mark in sending out a pointed message to his chairman: My loyalty is not blind. He soon backtracked but the fracture in their relationship was there for all to see.

Frustration at the sale of Gareth Barry to Man City was somewhat placated by the almost immediate reinvestment of the £12m transfer fee in Stewart Downing. However it would appear that the end was nigh when Lerner implemented a sell-to-buy policy.

For over three years O'Neill and Randy Lerner seemed to sing from the same hymn sheet. O'Neill demanded a player, Lerner fixed it. Ashley Young, James Milner, Stewart Downing all arriving for double figure transfer fees. In total over £170m of 'talent', a word I use loosely, arrived in B6.

There have been some major hits. The afore mentioned Young and Milner would easily collect double their original fee. Swapping Milan Baros for Holte End hero Carew was a master stroke. Collins, Warnock, Dunne, Friedel form the basis of one of the best rearguards in the league. Even Petrov turned up eventually!

But for all of those hits there have been some major, major misses. Reo-Coker, Sidwell, L.Young, Beye, Shorey, Heskey, Davies, Harewood, Routledge, Maloney, Salifou. The majority signed for fees of £4m+ and on at least 30k a week. Sidwell, Young and Reo-Coker on substantially more than that.

After allowing the manager to spend more than his budget on Dunne, Collins and Warnock last summer Lerner asked that O'Neill sell some unused fringe players in the last January window. This did not happen. As a result the sell-to-buy policy was implemented.

How could the chairman justify the release of more funds to a manager who has invested heavily and then proceeded to dump the players on the bench whilst moaning about fatigue, lack of depth and other such issues. Would you be happy if your girlfriend spent £200 on shoes only to wear them once, put them back in the wardrobe then say she had nothing to wear?

If we all believe what the London Press have to say this is the darkest day at Villa Park in many a year but, for all the lauding of O'Neill, the bare fact is that a large number of the players he brought to the club failed. Failed whilst sitting on the bench and sitting on very lucrative contracts. Contracts that were all sanctioned by O'Neill. If his exit came down to money then he is equally to blame for squandering millions on sub standard players.

The Martin O'Neill who talked about Aston Villa so passionately, the Martin O'Neill who avoided the public politics will be missed at Villa Park. Unfortuantely the O'Neill that left had alienated a lot of fans, aired his grievances in public and attempted to stamp his authority Clough style on the club. He will not be missed.

UTV!