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ANGRY Aston Villa fans are calling for David O’Leary to get the OBE — Out
Before Easter.
Saturday’s 4-1 rout at Everton — on the back of an FA Cup exit at
Manchester City — proved the final straw for Villa fans at Goodison Park as
they chanted repeatedly for O’Leary’s head.
The former Leeds manager knows there will be no way back if Villa suffer a
FOURTH successive defeat on Saturday when they entertain a Fulham side yet
to win away in the Premiership this season.
Villa chairman Doug Ellis was left shaking his head in the directors’ box
at the ineptitude of his team’s performance on Saturday.
Earlier in the season Ellis also spoke out publicly after Villa’s Carling
Cup defeat by League Two minnows Doncaster.
The anti-manager feeling has gathered pace on fan web-sites. Some now
consider the Irishman even more unpopular at Villa Park than Ellis himself.
One headline on the Heroes and Villains website screamed “in the name of
Villadom go”.
O’Leary spent ￡16million last summer on EIGHT new players, including what
he admitted at the time were his top five targets — Milan Baros, Patrick
Berger, Kevin Phillips, Aaron Hughes and goalkeeper Stuart Taylor.
James Milner and Eirik Bakke followed on loan, with another ￡3m going on
Wilfred Bouma.
But all O’Leary has ended up with is a lot of egg on his face for selling
Peter Crouch and Darius Vassell.
He also has a split dressing room with the likes of Mark Delaney, Lee
Hendrie, Juan Pablo Angel, Eric Djemba Djemba, and Ulises De La Cruz all at
odds with him.
Only the miserable form of Midlands rivals Birmingham and West Brom has kept
Villa out of the relegation battle — and they are not out of the woods yet
with only 34 points from 30 games.
But it is O’Leary’s excuses and insistence he is not to blame that most
upsets fans.
One said: “He is the worst Villa manager in a generation and I truly, truly
hope that once this wretched season is over he will be on gardening leave in
Harrogate.”
The fans’ choice to take over is reserve- team manager and former Liverpool
star Kevin McDonald.
Under his guidance Villa’s reserves have finished first and second in the
last two seasons and are currently second.
O’Leary did not help his cause after the Everton defeat by saying: “Fans
are fans. I just go on what people who properly know the situation say.
“The fans are frustrated and they want the club to do well and I suppose if
they can’t take their feelings out on the chairman, then I’m next.
“We are disappointed we have under-performed this season but there are
certain reasons.
“Having finished in the top half of the Premiership for two seasons I was
hoping to establish us there again. We have been blighted by injuries but
the season has been indifferent.
“We have done very well away from home but have not picked up enough points
at Villa Park and that has cost us.”
the Sun |
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