Goodbye Martin, hello chaos: Aston Villa's 2010 in review, by James Nursey

Published 11:00 31/12/10

Aston Villa's 2010 was certainly memorable as it had virtually everything - apart from the silverware owner Randy Lerner craves.

Indeed if it was a movie it could probably be called The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.

There really were few tears from both players and fans when manager Martin O'Neill resigned in August on the eve of the season.

Who can forget Curtis Davies pulling up outside the gates of the club's training ground after news broke and accusing O'Neill, who rarely rotated his side, of favouritism.

But with hindsight both the club's squad, supporters and maybe even the hierarchy may miss him.

Personally I don't because he had a tendency to ban me!

But O'Neill's reign is looking even better than ever now as Villa come to terms with their current shambles.

A third successive sixth place in the Premier League last season was an admirable achievement.

Villa also almost got Lerner's first trophy as they controversially lost in the Carling Cup final to Manchester United before defeat in the FA Cup semi-finals to Chelsea.

Fans still had two trips to Wembley as well as famous wins in the League at Liverpool and Manchester United last term.

But it became clear, to the written press anyway, there were huge problems behind the scenes at Villa Park over the future direction of the club.

O'Neill wanted even more cash from Lerner to progress the club and continue to compete with the elite after Villa's wage bill rose to £70million.

While Lerner wanted better value for money and some of the club's talented youngsters to be given a chance after handing O'Neill more than £100m to spend on players - many of whom like Nigel Reo-Coker were poorly utilised.

Man City's interest in James Milner, reported by MirrorFootball on April 20 , further stretched O'Neill's relationship with Lerner.

And a parting was virtually inevitable as those who heard O'Neill's speech at the club's annual dinner in May now suspected.

By the end of July I was able to confidently predict O'Neill was on the verge of leaving despite denials from Lerner, who said they were working together "better than ever" .

And O'Neill resigned on August 9 - five days before the visit of West Ham in the Premier League curtain-raiser.

Caretaker Kevin MacDonald was given a chance to stake a claim but a 6-0 hammering at Newcastle effectively ended his prospects as Villa also crashed out of Europe.

And now Villa could yet be sucked into a relegation battle after a disastrous start to life under new permanent manager Gerard Houllier who took charge in September on a bumper £8m contract.

In fairness, there have been a succession of injuries for Houllier to contend with, like the absences of captain Stiliyan Petrov and Emile Heskey.

But a 0-0 draw at home to Birmingham and a Carling Cup quarter-final exit to their rivals has gone down badly - especially when you consider O'Neill managed six successive wins over their neighbours.

Several recent ugly performances under Houllier also suggest there are some players who do not want to be at Villa much longer.

But Houllier will have to make the best of it until January when I expect him to wheel and deal to revamp the club's squad.

John Carew, Steve Sidwell, Nigel Reo-Coker and Brad Friedel are all out of contract next summer and can leave for free, which looks set to cost the club millions.

The rest will have to adjust to more intensive training sessions, get used to life without mobile phones at the training ground and consider relocating nearer the club in several cases like Stephen Warnock, who lives in the north west.

Houllier will need his squad firmly behind him and the club's fans to avoid 2011 turning into an Annus Horribilis.

Many Villa supporters reckon Houllier would still rather manage Liverpool than Villa judging by his recent antics on his return to Anfield.

But if he achieves half of his success from Liverpool at Villa it will be even more impressive than his work on Merseyside and make the Frenchman a hero in the Midlands.

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