The other side of the David O'Leary fence

With the exception of Dr Jo Venglos every Villa manager since Graham Taylor's first stint as manager has had some sort of Villa connection.

Big Ron, Brian Little, John Gregory all former players and Graham Taylor was a legend for getting us back up at the first attempt in his first term.

DOL had no connection at all and so was always going to need to say the right things and really do the business in order to get the fans behind him.

Unfortunately the many references to Leeds were seen as derogatory to Villa, rather than a manager relating to a job that had been his only previous managerial experience. This formed a distinct barrier between some fans and DOL and I think still tarnishes people's opinions of what he says now.

As Villa fans we all look at Aston Villa as the most beautiful and amazing football club in the whole world and find it difficult to accept outside opinion.

When a supporter of another club, say Everton for example, tells us that they think Villa are a nothing team, it makes us angry and liable to dismiss their opinion as rubbish.

DOL said straight away that we could keep spending ?4 million each season and treading water. He also pointed out that the likes of 'Boro, Spurs, Newcastle etc. were spending more and more money and how could we compete.

A lot of people didn't like the fact that other teams were moving past us in terms of squad quality and accused DOL of downplaying Aston Villa. I think the fact that he was allowed to spend a decent amount this season is a testament to his honest talking.

How many seasons have we listened to Doug telling us that we were looking to qualify for the Champs League only to be short changed when it came to team building.

At least on the second front he seemed to be doing the business, the players seemed to be responding and with a bit more consistency we would have been in Europe in his first season.

I don't think anyone could complain about the way he stabilised the club. He did however become a victim of his own success.

Expectations went through the roof and a similar season was expected. Injuries to key players including both strikers meant we couldn't live up to those expectations and although DOL had said that not investing would mean we would not move on and other teams would overtake us, people started to find fault with how DOL was doing the job.

This season with mainly his own players and a much stronger squad DOL has to deliver. With new players settling in and more injuries to contend with it hasn't been the easiest of starts.

I think we can all see there are signs we are moving in the right direction, we are an attacking side who will score and concede goals. Our style of play is certainly exciting, if a little nerve jangling.

I think we need to be in Europe in order to attract a better quality of player, so let's all get behind the team and DOL, accept that he does the job his own way and hope that he can take us to the next level.

Up the Villa.

This is the first post from Karl. What do you think? Email karl@astonvilla.biz.