Fan Opinion: Managerial merry-go-round

I think what we are witnessing now is symptomatic of the managerial merry go round we have become accustomed to at Villa Park. Manager arrives and a flurry of good results and a reasonable league position elevate him to God-like status with the fans.

The next season sees a dis-improvement on those results and the league position falters, fans grow a little restless but the majority of blame is laid at the door of the Chairman by some.

The next season is even more of a disappointment and the knee jerk reaction from fans and chairman alike sees the Manager shown the door.

It happened with Little, Gregory and now O'Leary. Now, consider the brief that O'Leary was given when he arrived. First season, cut the wage bill dramatically, remove some of the so-called deadwood from the squad and still keep the team competitive.

Against all the odds, (I was convinced he would be sacked by February) he managed to do just that. The spirit of "us versus them" that was engendered that season was phenomenal.

Perhaps it was players playing for their contracts, feeling that if they didn't perform they'd be next to be given the footballing P45.

But it resulted in us missing out on European football on goal difference. Maybe we wouldn't have conceded that many goals that season if we didn't have to play Dion Dublin as centre back for most of it?

Second season, and the squad decimation is complete. A lot of players are now very secure in the knowledge that their brand new contracts and the lack of squad competition means they don't need to turn out superhuman performances to keep their spot in the team.

O'Leary now feels he's done what was asked of him in terms of reducing the wage bill (and the Chairman's statement to shareholders supports that) so now the squad can be rebuilt. But it isn't. He's left for most of the season with no more than 18 senior professionals.

The great shining hope of the FA Youth cup winning side produces another 2 players promoted to the senior team, one of whom is a striker who scores only one goal. In April the board seem to realise that the squad needs beefing up and a grand statement is made to announce the arrival of significant funds for the manager to spend in the summer.

The summer arrives and, I'll be honest, I was surprised at how much money was given to the manager. The players brought in were, in my opinion, good investments for the money involved. Squad competition is now a reality.

Unfortunately, the new look squad has been struck by an injury crisis of biblical proportions. O'Leary hasn't been able to field his 1st choice 11. You mentioned the fact that Bouma, Hughes and Baros all played in the 4-0 defeat. Yes they did and that night was a travesty for all involved. But the biggest culprits were Mellberg, McCann and Davis. Not the new boys.

It was a terrible day at the office. But as it stands right now the squad is minus Berger, Bouma, Hughes, Laursen, Hendrie.

Up until Saturday we were without Baros as well. Add into that conundrum the fact that the club seems to be on the verge of changing owners and anyone who says that doesn't effect employee morale is deluding themselves.

The crux of my argument is that we have now reached the 3rd stage in the management cycle at Villa Park. Fans are starting to turn on the Manager because they've run out of outlets for their anger. The manager can't stop Patrick Berger injuring his knee when taking a free kick.

The manager can't stop Juan Pablo Angel being forced to withdraw will illness. The manager can't be responsible for Liam Ridgewell tangling with a striker in the penalty area. Any striker in the world is going to hit the deck with they feel that amount of tugging on their jersey.

What the manager can do is either drop Ridgewell, who has been under-performing for while and is a weak spot in our defence, or attempt to coach these errors out of him. He can't drop him because he doesn't have a fit replacement for him right now. I suppose that's another good reason for keeping O'Leary at this stage. We can't drop him because we don't have a fit replacement right now.

Let's see the club finally keep faith with a manager of proven ability and potential, beyond a phase of bad results. Disliking him for his handling of the media is not a good enough excuse, nor is the fact that he is Irish.

Gary is a Londoner currently living in Newcastle. What do you think of what he has to say? Email me your thoughts at damian@astonvilla.biz.