There are two teams making the most headlines in the Premier League this season, and for once - neither were part of the so-called top clubs at the start of the season. While Leicester City are making the news for all the right reasons - the vultures are out for Aston Villa.
The Birmingham-based club are all but mathematically relegated after a dismal season that has seen them say goodbye to two managers. Naturally; fans and pundits alike are looking for someone to blame for the demise of the once great club.
The Daily Mail has found their scapegoat - none other than Republic of Ireland manager Martin O'Neill. O'Neill was manager of Aston Villa just before the start of the 2006-07 season, but left amid a disagreement with Randy Lerner just before the start of the 2010-11 season. O'Neill had a decent record as Villa manager - he's the last man to have won more games than he lost - and under his watch he brought the Villians to three consecutive sixth place finishes before he resigned.
Given that it's been five and a half years (and six managers) since O'Neill had an influence in Villa, why is the Mail targeting him for blame?
His transfer policy - specifically spending £30 million on the likes of Marlon Harewood, Nicky Shorey, Curtis Davies, Steve Sidwell, Habib Beye, Nigel Reo-Coker, and Zat Knight is the reason for the ire directed at O'Neill.
O'Neill started the rot by signing that rotten lot, and then spat his dummy out and stomped off when James Milner was sold and Randy Lerner decided he'd seen O'Neill waste too much money already, and opted to not hand over bundles of cash to his manager.
Given everything that O'Neill did for Villa, and how much better they were under O'Neill compared to every manager since - trying to shift blame to a manager from five years ago seems like a stretch to me.
See Also: Martin O'Neill Had A Fantastically Blunt Response When Asked If He Wanted The Villa Job
See Also: Ciaran Clark Finally Got A Game For Aston Villa Today - And It Was A Disaster
Picture credit: Brendan Moran / SPORTSFILE
