Aston Villa: Five Reasons Why Martin O'Neill Was Right to Leave

As has been very well documented, Martin O'Neill resigned on Sunday as Aston Villa manager just days before the start of the new Premier League season.

It was a move from O'Neill that seemingly left everyone in shock. Players, fans and journalists alike were shocked, not necessarily at the fact he'd resigned, but at the timing of it.

USA and first choice Villa goalkeeper Brad Friedel expressed his surprise, telling journalists in his car outside the club's Bodymoor Heath training ground, "We are all surprised."

"Yesterday was training as normal and then I was sitting at home with the kiddies and it came over [Sky Sports News]."

From the surface, it looks like a selfish and unwise decision from Martin O'Neill to leave his post just days before the new season.

However, it actually couldn't have been a better time both for him, and even the club, to part ways, and here's five reasons why that is.

Villans in Good Hands

Presumably O'Neill knew who would temporarily take his place when he left the club, and so this most likely eased the impact he undoubtedly knew his departure would have.

Kevin MacDonald, Aston Villa reserve team boss since 2003, is the first-team's caretaker manager ahead of the new Premier League campaign.

His status within the club, his experience as Ireland assistant manager and Leicester City caretaker boss, as well as the respect he commands from the first-team players at Villa, means the tactical and physical preparations ahead of the opening match of the season against West Ham will not be affected greatly in the short-term.

As Friedel said, "Kevin has been around the place and is well respected by all the players, so hopefully it won't be an issue."

Zero Activity

For Martin O'Neill personally, the timing of his exit was fully appropriate.

The ex-manager was around for preseason to prepare his players fully for the demanding psychological and physiological rigours of the new campaign, but more importantly, he was around to see if there was any backing from the board and owner to make new signings and improve the squad.

With zero transfer activity currently going on, and rumours going around that the money from James Milner's proposed £30million switch to mega-rich vultures Manchester City wouldn't be fully invested in the playing squad, meaning that Aston Villa couldn't possibly do any better than last season, it seems they'll be going backwards, especially considering all of their rivals are strengthening their teams and publicly stating they want to improve on last season.

Evidently, Aston Villa don't share the ambition of their rivals, and as Martin O'Neill stuck around long enough to see that's seemingly true, the time was right for him to leave before being stuck down in the lower echelons of the Premier League without being able to do anything about it.

O'Neill is a born winner, like all elite level managers; why on earth would he want to stick around and see his team inevitably do worse than last season?

It wouldn't do his status at the club any good, it wouldn't do his popularity as Villa manager any good, it wouldn't do his ego any good, it wouldn't do his reputation among the fans any good, and nor would it boost the respect he commands from his players either.

Trapped in an Ineluctable Cycle

Martin O'Neill has reached his plateau at Aston Villa Football Club; as the above reason shows, this season comes the damning realisation that the Villans are stuck in an inescapable circle.

Why can't they move forward? Quite simply, it's because of that cliché explanation to Villa's downturn in fortunes, i.e. the lack of first-team players Villa manager Martin O'Neill had at his disposal.

And that's because Randy Lerner, the club's owner, hasn't got the finances required to take the Villans to that elusive next level of the UEFA Champions League.

James Milner will most likely leave the club, and if reports are to be believed, Stephen Ireland will be brought in as his replacement.

But that still leaves the club in the same place as they were before, and if the Milner money isn't then going to be used to make further signings and instead be used to please the money men at the top, it's clear that Aston Villa simply can't improve.

With Nicky Shorey now gone as well, the chances of Villa having enough personnel to mount a serious challenge to those at the top of the Premier League are getting slimmer by the day.

O'Neill has realised he was the manager of a club now going nowhere, officially confirmed by the zero improvement made to the playing squad in the close season and preseason.

Aston Villa are trapped in an ineluctable cycle at the moment, and O'Neill knew it, escaping while he still had the chance.

Divided Team

Aston Villa defender Curtis Davies, a bench warmer under Martin O'Neill, epitomised the divisions within the Villa squad with his words following his boss's exit.

He told reporters, "I didn't see [O'Neill's departure] coming to be honest, but a lot of players have been frustrated by not having a fair crack of the whip and I'm one of them."

The shot-stopper added, "There is no guarantee whoever comes in is going to play you or not play you.

"But if you feel you have got a chance, then you are happy. As long as someone who comes is fair, I am sure people will be happy. I felt I didn't have a chance."

And so it becomes evident from his words, and the contradicting ones given by first-team regular Brad Friedel, that O'Neill didn't have the backing of all his players.

Therefore, why stay at a club with players who don't respect you? After all, if these footballers actually proved their worth in training and when given valuable time on the pitch (Davies did have his fair share of chances to shine, contradictory to what he actually said), then they wouldn't be moaning in the first place.

Martin O'Neill had to pick the best team he possibly could to win football matches; some of the less talented players didn't want to respect that, and that's when it's time to leave a football club.

Aston Villa Is Too Big To Be Lying Around

With owner Randy Lerner seemingly not doing his utmost to take the club forward, O'Neill could've left as a word of warning to his employer, with the message that Aston Villa is too big of a football club to be satisfied with their current position and not look to improve.

After all, this is a club with a European Cup title to their name, and who finished sixth in the Premier League last season, ahead of Liverpool, fighting to the end for a place in the Champions League, and reaching the FA Cup semifinal and Carling Cup final, where they narrowly lost to Manchester United.

At the current rate of investment on the pitch, Villa are only going backwards, and O'Neill's departure certainly sends out the message that this is not acceptable.

Aston Villa Football Club, with only a little improvement required, is a team with enough talent, and a club with a big enough infrastructure, to be competing amongst Europe's finest week in week out, not struggling at the backend of the league against the weak, little, nobody teams.