Emile Heskey on Aston Villa: relegation fears, Paul Lambert and "money's not the only answer"

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Emile Heskey has spoken to me about the fears he shares with Aston Villa fans.

Heskey, who joined Villa from Wigan in the Martin
O'Neill era, scored on his debut at Portsmouth - and maintained his England career while at Villa Park, culminating in a squad place for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Listen as Emile says Villa have the players to pull away from danger, that Paul Lambert's not the only reason Villa find themselves in this predicament - and how money's not the only answer to Villa's problems.

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Retirement talk leaves United and Fergie at odds

It's the truth that daren't speak its name at Old Trafford. When is Sir Alex Ferguson going to retire?

 

It's a question being asked of The Govanator more and more frequently - and his answer is always along the lines of "it's not on the horizon".

It's the measure of true greatness

Seasoned Fergie Watchers know why. Firstly, way way back in 2001, when he announced his retirement with a year's notice, the lap of honour descended into indiscipline, no trophies for nearly three seasons, home defeats by Middlesbrough and three third-placed finishes in four seasons.

Secondly, everyone knows Fergie is deeply affected by the death of his own father soon after his retirement. "Such talk is for the young", and "without work, there's nothing else". If there's one thing uniting Fergie with Arsene Wenger, it's on wearing carpet slippers after 60-years-old.

And since establishing that mentality, doesn't Sir Alex look well and in command? It's a long way from the mid-nineties when he looked vulnerable. His face was blotchy, his hairdryers were powered by Sellafield.



Utd ledge now ex-City journeyman. No chance Sparky.

It's even rumoured that Bryan Robson was packed off to Middlesbrough as player-manager because a poll in the Manchester Evening News had Captain Marvel ahead of Fergie as the fan's choice for manager. How insane does that look now?

Now even his glasses look modern and he's learned not to throw his chewy on the floor at the full-time whistle!

Football, bloody 'ell.

Well, this is all fine and dandy for Fergie - but it's not particularly helpful for the raging multinational, multi-income streamed business model that he helped create.

As time draws on, Manchester United's board and owners will need to defend their market position against the likes of Barcelona, Milan and the Noisy Neighbours with a bloodless succession.

But how can they deny Fergie when he keeps winning? As he nudges 70, isn't this a niggling issue at Old Trafford? Would the board be cynical enough to sack him if United went on a hideous run of results or after a catalogue of player indiscipline?

But who for the toughest act to follow in football? comically, it's been on the news agenda for over a decade and thrown up some names, which in hindsight, look absolutely ridiculous.

Can Jose's reputation outlast Fergietime?

Serious candidates have come and gone: even Roy Keane, Steve Bruce and Mark McGhee were talked of. More recently it was Steve McClaren, Sven-Goran Eriksson (that nearly did happen) and Martin O'Neill. Then Mark Hughes and David Moyes.

Now we're left with Jose Mourinho, who's long expressed the desire to return to the Premier League with United. Trouble is, his tenure at Real Madrid may be exposed to the Latin winds of change far quicker than Ferguson's desire to step aside here.

It's left to speculation as to who might be regarded as a top or available boss in three years time! Moyes is the leading domestic name, although sources on Merseyside reckon he'd only want to be next but one boss at Old Trafford.

So when Fergie does go this time, I predict it'll be a coat and dagger affair. As discreet as United can be, he will go and a new manager will be unveiled - all in 24 hours and probably in June. I'm not even going to predict the year!

But I also believe Sir Alex needs to be remembered as much for the way he stepped down as for his phenomenal success. He owes it to both his successor and the club.

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Can Mourinho's stock remain high long enough to win battle of succession at United?

Alex Ferguson in 1986

Since Sir Alex Ferguson announced "three more years" just before the shock defeat to Blackburn, the spotlight on succession at Old Trafford has intensified. The three-nil defeat at Newcastle doesn't help Fergie either.

Fergie cites good health and vigour for staying on. He's just turned 70 having completed a quarter-century at Old Trafford in November. Winning is a great tonic and he does seem in rude health.

But just as the England job is dubbed a poisoned chalice, United is whatever the opposite of that is: a refreshing glass of water on a summer's day perhaps -  it's an urgent requirement for those with wildblood..

O'Neill at Sunderland: contender for United job.

Of the two perennial frontrunners, one's sharpened his credentials just by taking a high profile job in the Premier League; the other jokingly referred to a return to a big stage in England in two years, made days before Fergie's seemingly unprompted remark.

I talk of course of Martin O'Neill and Jose Mourinho. O'Neill, whose sheer force of intellect and personality light up wherever he goes, would be a Sunderland hero with Europa League qualification or a trophy. The Roker Roar's been on mute since they left Roker.

Mourinho is the itinerant winning machine. So portable and successful in England, Italy and now Spain at the world's most glamorous club stage. His Midas touch is so powerful, he even got an assist in Andre Villas-Boas' big chance at Chelsea just by being young Portuguese and winning at Porto in similar fashion.

As with Inter, Mourinho's got to wrestle with the best Barcelona of all-time, but as in Italy where Milan and Juventus were beaten off, who'd back against the Portugeezer?

The Special Two

United must learn from their own history though. They've attempted to replace the irreplaceable before. When Sir Matt Busby left, United scrambled round for the right man, a decision at which they repeatedly failed, ending in tearful relegation.



So how to replace the greatest club manager of all time? well, it's got to be someone who consigns United's immediate regime to the past while continually winning at the same pace. A contradiction in terms surely not lost on the Old Trafford ownership. 

Chin up. Mourinho's eyeing Old Trafford

But in reality, it's no different to the way Fergie runs United now. He enjoys the win for a couple of days, then sets the clock back to zero ready to conquer again.
And in both leading candidates, they have the capacity to create distracting tabloid headlines to focus on the hype of the present and ensure the past is the inspiration not the millstone.

Yes, there's other candidates I've not mentioned here: David Moyes, Josep Guardiola, even Eric Cantona's name gets chucked in occasionally, but why look further when there are two outstanding candidates with the all-round CV?

If Mourinho can maintain his reputation as the Special One, I take him to replace Ferguson when the Govanator calls time as Old Trafford's ultimate keeper of the temple.

With that stand named after Sir Alex and squad problems, will the opportunity come faster than the Special One thought?

Bent buy backs Houllier, belittles O'Neill

Five months after Martin O'Neill quit Aston Villa on the eve of the season, jilted ex-boss Randy Lerner's issued him with an almighty £18m swipe by signing Darren Bent.

Inspector Clueless: but Houll have the last laugh?

Villa's owner has shown just what he thinks of O'Neill sensationally walking out five days to the start of the campaign. Whether witting or unwitting, Randy's demonstrated how he takes no prisoners in business.

While backing Gerard Houllier to the hilt this transfer window, O'Neill, known to be a fan of Bent, quit alleging a lack of funds.

Some in the media suggest the Villa board have made a huge financial plunge against their instincts. Staring an unexpected relegation battle in the face, they see Bent's arrival as an act of desperation.

I don't see it like that. Randy and Chief Executive Paul Faulkner get top marks for the additions they've made to the squad this transfer window.

Villa's frantic but crafty dealings show how fractious and dysfunctional the relationship between boardroom and manager's office had become - and sheds light on the near malicious departure date O'Neill elected to make. He left scant chance for Villa to sign anyone after his departure. The team dropped like a stone.

Though Houllier's first four months have been hair-raising for Villa's faithful, The Frenchman's been brave enough to blood youngsters by the half-dozen - adding to the squad very successfully in the window.



Bent: Darren's a model

Marc Albrighton, Ciaran Clark, Barry Bannan and Chris Herd are forging first-team berths as Houllier assembles a squad of depth and experience. That's a first at Villa for over a decade.

Kyle Walker's been very impressive since his loan arrival from Tottenham, while Lyon's Jean Il Makoun is a player of Chelsea or Manchester United calibre.

Now Darren Bent's arrived from Sunderland in a sensational record breaking £18m transfer, rising to £24m.

Thoughts of going down are eradicated in an instant. The season's not over until May and Villa have one of English football's proven goal poachers to call on. The prospect of partnerships with Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor - even Emile Heskey, set Holte Enders drooling.

Avram Grant: West Ham history sooner or later

So as Avram Grant's issued a stay of execution at West Ham, just how can mute O'Neill feel? Silenced by the terms of his severance at Villa, he can't even comment on the fact that Mr. Lerner had huge reserves all along.

Tainted O'Neill is outed as a man that football's ruling class can't work with, while life carries on as normal at Villa Park.

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Houllier's coronation looks better without Thompson



Houllier: any clues about who'll be assistant?

I originally declared disappointment at Gérard Houllier's appointment as Aston Villa's first manager hired by Randy Lerner. Now I admit his arrival looks better that Phil Thompson's rejected the chance of joining him!

Our American owner wants a man with both Premier League experience and an international profile. Houllier ticks both of those boxes - but then again so do many other inappropriate figures in the game.

Thompson's turned down the chance because of his TV commitments. A one club man through and through, Thommo would've frankly looked out of place at Villa Park.

Phil Thompson: calm down, la!

Villa is in Birmingham with all its cultural and regional differences to Liverpool. Thommo firmly represents a Liverpool way. Villa are in no way a lesser pedigree of football club to Liverpool. But Thompson's arrival would've intimated that.





But what does Houllier do with Kevin MacDonald? Caretaker manager in the wake of Martin O'Neill's shock resignation, MacDonald's fifteen years at Villa gives him a special relationship with so many players and staff in the club.

MacDonald would make the Ticket look so much more rounded if he were to be Houllier's right-hand man. The Frenchman could do a whole lot worse than get over Thommo with I think, a much better coach.

Houllier is a spikey, divisive figure with a history of buying terrible players at Liverpool including Bruno Cheyrou, Titi Camara and Salif Diao.

Then again, he did produce a team which won the FA Cup, League Cup, UEFA Cup and finished fourth in the Premier League - all in one season (so technically qualifying for Europe in four different ways!)

His Anfield progress was disrupted by a heart problem. Nevertheless, he did make a full recovery and led Lyon to two French Ligue Championnats.

I don't want to be too critical - but I just have a bad feeling about this. It smells of a kneejerk appointment of the small pool of available bosses.

If O'Neill's untimely departure was designed to cause Villa damage, then the Ulsterman certainly put the club on the backfoot. 

Let's get behind Houllier because we have to - but Randy should keep one eye on the soul of the club as well as our supposed constituency of the watching football world.

Villa View: Martin O'Neill's now tainted.

Asher and Jonny at Wembley for Villa 0

Do you remember Villa 0 Valencia 0? It was a pre-season bore-draw live on the telly. No, I wouldn't have done either, but for the fact that our manager quit afterwards - just five days to the start of the season. Every Villa fan was furious and I was no different. Here's my piece at the time: 

I thought I'd now be less angry with Martin O'Neill after his sudden resignation at Aston Villa but to walk out five days before the start of a new season marks him out as nothing more than a saloon bar firebrand.

When the story emerges as to why he's quit, it'd better not be about lack of available funds. He's spent a mindnumbing £120million at Villa Park over four years!

His decision shows scant regard for anyone else but himself. What about his backroom team? the players he nurtured, the fans, the board, the owner? Honestly, if we knew back then how his tenure would end, would we have bothered with him in the first place?

At the news conference when he arrived, he talked on a grandiose scale, even dreaming of European glory. We thought we had a strategist, a clear thinker, someone who would use guile and experience to build from bottom up. With John Robertson at his side, even a sprinkling of the Clough and Taylor magic.

Saloon bar firebrand makes McEnroe look measured

What a huge disappointment he's turned out then.

It's the end of his orchestrated attempt to leave Villa Park because he knew full well he didn't have it in him to keep up with the rest. That he chooses to leave five days before the start of a new season seems designed to cause the club maximum damage.

In this interview I did with him at pre-season exactly a year ago, he knew about the club's finances even then.

Set to one aside the volatile behaviour of a man with the capacity to walk out of a multi-million pound a year job and the responsibility that goes with it: who will come in as replacement with five days to go?

Let's face it; part of a football manager's multi million pound salary is paid on the basis that every job threatens to ruin his reputation and career. Capello must have thought about the eight-figure compensation he'd have received in the uncertain days after England returned home from South Africa.  

But O'Neill, with less funds than the Big Four, must roll with the punches, manage within his means - and keep his malcontentedness strictly in house. If this is really about selling James Milner and Ashley Young, okay it's very frustrating. But so are three successive sixth placed finishes when Villa looked on course for the Champions League each Christmas.

He started destabilising the club last season with public talk of a lack of funds, which precipitated dressing room disquiet, so building a queue of clubs to turn the heads of our best players.

It's entirely O'Neill's fault that Milner and Young are transfer targets. If he'd shown a modicum of personal stability, we'd be the team to watch this season.

Chairmen of other clubs beware: if you really have a long-term plan to put in place, don't choose O'Neill to manage your football club.

O'Neill quit rumours make Aston Villa fans groan!

If you've followed Villa for over thirty years like me, rumours that Martin O'Neill tendered his resignation after meeting owner Randy Lerner has more than a whiff of our long and extinguished history.

Just as we look like producing a winning team, competing for the big prizes, the owner b****cks it up by failing to back the manager, who then walks out - or gets the sack.

Villa fans have experienced this before: just the names have changed. For Randy Lerner, read Deadly Doug: for O'Neill, read Ron Saunders, Ron Atkinson and Brian Little.

O'Neill's talks with Randy are said to have revolved around the transfer budget for next season.

Although there are legitimate concerns about the relationship between owner and manager – Lerner's thought to want to cut the squad and wage bill this summer, countering O'Neill’s demands of a continued cash injection – Villa swiftly denied the Ulsterman had left the club.

The confusion came just days after Villa’s devastating 7-1 defeat at Chelsea, which has left our chances of a top four finish look slim. It was a result which O’Neill took full responsibility for.

He said: "The buck stops with me. It is my responsibility, it is as simple as that. Thankfully we don't have any midweek games now for a little while - but that would sound like the number of games we've played is an excuse. Please don't even go there - that was nothing to do with whether we had a midweek game or not.

"We've shown a lot more desire and a lot more character than we did against Chelsea and that is totally my responsibility. Whatever you say about performances and it is all very well talking about the players, that is down to me and that is my responsibility."

Villa must play Chelsea again in their FA Cup semi-final on April 10.

You might be a Villa fan, you might be a fan of the team we're playing. You might've "only come to see the Villa!". What's undeniable is the sheer passion and entertainment value of the Villa boss watching the game unfold on the touchline. Rarely has there been a manager watch with such intensity. Rather than kicking every ball like some rabid Dave Bassett or Barry Fry, O'Neill's accessing his sizeable intellect. A ticking timebomb, he scans the pitch judging the victor of individual player battles, assessing the tactical spread of players and where the threat is coming from in the opposition line-up - real or existential!

So when we score, he jumps with the eruption of a volcano. The larvae in his explosive body can't hold anymore.

He's a man who understands what's needed and if Villa are serious about becoming a force in Europe again, Randy needs to back the former Celtic chief. He's the best man for the job, no question.

Otherwise the Big Project is over - and Villa will be consigned to mid-table obscurity or worse!

For your Soccermongery delectation, here's a collage of O'Neill in action! Pictures expressing his many emotions.

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Martin O'Neill promises another season of progress

What an exceptionally intense and intelligent man Martin O'Neill is. I had the pleasure of interviewing him at Aston Villa's team hotel on the Costa del Sol ahead of the Peace Cup, also featuring Real Madrid, Juventus, Lyon and Porto.

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In our interview, the Villa boss was characteristically cerebral, looking up at me for just a fleeting moment halfway through the eight minutes.

I've great respect for the depth of thought he obviously gives to everything he's charged with achieving. His success at unlikely clubs in unlikely competitions stands as testimony to this.

The news conference organised by visitbirmingham.com, who encourage more people to come to the city for weekend breaks and holidays, was also the launch of the new kit.

Dressed up and raring to go were Brad Friedel, Stiliyan Petrov and Carlos Cuellar.

Liverpool to Chelsea, Manchester United to Spurs, West Brom to Stoke - who'd be a manager?

By JOE MORRIS.

Football is full of half-finished sentences and unanswered questions. There are times when the Premier League would just love a full stop - even a punctuation mark. When a referee allows a dodgy goal or a player loses his rag, it is best to leave things hanging in the air.

Take for instance the FA Cup fourth-round replay between Liverpool and Everton. With minutes to go in the match and the game finely balanced, Everton launched one final attack. ITV viewers were then treated to the bizarre spectacle of an advert break at the wrong time. Now we all know about the importance of timing in sport but this was rather like interrupting Gilbert and Sullivan with the Coldstream Guards. Totally inappropriate, you might say.

At the top of the Premier League, managers are frequently questioned for both their timing and behaviour. Only a couple of weeks ago Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez put his ugliest foot in it with an inflammatory remark about Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson and vice versa. Apparently Fergie thought the time was ripe for a spot of verbal jousting.

Now the story so far is that Liverpool have made their Premier League title bid emphatically clear and Fergie, of course, is quite clearly on the warpath. Sir Alex, as many of us know, is renowned for his cunning mind games but for Benitez this had gone far enough. Ferguson apparently made a childishly spiteful remark about the wisdom of signing Robbie Keane and Benitez took immediate offence.

It was at this point that the gloves went on, Fergie spat out his chewing gum and the air became blue with good old-fashioned Anglo Saxon fury. When Sir Alex Ferguson buttons up his black coat and gums up for the afternoon, it is safe to assume that all animals are safely protected. He shoves his hands in his pockets, gazes threateningly at the referee and then considers legal action.

Both Ferguson and Benitez are classic examples of men with a proverbial chip on the shoulder. It would be unfair to say that both men suffer from a persecution complex. But when the tension reaches boiling point and the stakes are at their highest, both seem to revert to a frustrated childhood. The accusations fly, and both end up in tears.

To all outward apperances, Benitez has been the calm and rational one who would rather keep out of the limelight. He stands on the touchline in the warmest of tracksuits, pointing and gesturing at his players and then shuffling his shoes. Benitez may look as if he's waiting for a bus but then Liverpool have been waiting 19 years for a League title so impatience is perfectly understandable.

Behind the pacesetters are Aston Villa and Martin O'Neill. For Villa a place in the top four is new territory this decade so O'Neill does seem to be gate-crashing the party. At no point during any Premier League match does the Villa manager seem to stand still or sit down.

He nervously twitches on the balls of his feet, a picture of anxiety and curiosity. When Villa score and the crowd explode, O'Neill jumps 4 feet into the air in celebration, punches his fists with delight and then just congratulates himself.

For Luiz Felipe Scolari, the world according to Chelsea proved a deeply unpleasant one. He was never the tormented and anguished Jose Mourinho where every match was a horrible ordeal. Whereas Mourinho seemed to hate everybody and everything, Senor Scolari was a smouldering Brazilian volcano ready to blow. In the heat of action he became cold and emotionless, only letting himself go when Frank Lampard crossed the half-way line.

At the other end of the Premier League, life for new Spurs boss Harry Redknapp is all worry and restless animation. From the moment happy Harry, formerly of Portsmouth and West Ham, walked into White Hart Lane, every day has come with a government health warning. In his thickly padded top, Redknapp often looks as though he's being tortured with red-hot pokers. He throws his head to one side when things go wrong, flings his hands in front of his face in utter exasperation and then asks his wife to play up front.

Last but not least, there are the men who just fold their arms, hoping and waiting for something to turn up. Tony Pulis is the helpless manager of Stoke City, baseball cap on his head, smart and upright and yet resigned to his fate. Perhaps Stoke will be relegated or maybe they won't.

There is the immaculately shirt-and-tied Tony Mowbray, who probably wishes he hadn't been offered the West Brom job. Mowbray looks like a grim trade unionist who only smiles on a Tuesday afternoon.

There you have it, then. Premier League bosses really do have to suffer for their art. When the whistle goes and players kick off, theirs is the kind of job only the foolish and deluded would take.

It is undoubtedly one of the most thankless and unenviable jobs of all. It is 90 minutes of joy, heartbreak, endless toil and drudgery. When the pressure reaches its most intense and the wealthy chairmen demand their ounce of flesh and blood, it is quite simply no place for the faint hearted.
Anyone for tennis?

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EXCLUSIVE: Cock-up Charlton's Curbishley replacement was under their noses!

The day Alan Curbishley bowed out of Charlton Athletic after fifteen years, was the day the club went into a downward spiral in which they're still spinning out of control. But it could've been so very different.

There's been a succession of awful managerial appointments at The Valley and next season, there's the real prospect of another relegation - to the third tier of English football.

But the answer to their future was literally right under the Charlton board's noses!

I can exclusively reveal I sat next to Roy Hodgson in the Director's Box at The Valley, that very day.

Two-and-a-half-years later, as Charlton stare up at the rest, four-points adrift at the foot of the Championship, letting Curbs slip out "the front door" was a cock-up enough - but watching Hodgson take his chance with Fulham so comprehensively, makes Charlton's mistake dimensional!

Their visionless board didn't know what they had - how far they'd come - and what to do next. 

Hodgson was the perfect replacement for Curbishley.

Curbs, together with Steve Gritt entered the stage as something of a comedy duo. They were the first joint managers in the English game. He and Gritt had zero experience in management. The club had no money and, worse, no ground.

Slowly, painfully, they put a side together and the first signs that something was stirring came at Ewood Park in February 1994, when Jack Walker's millionaire Blackburn, who won the Premiership the following year, were beaten by the penniless Addicks.

Curbishley, on his own after Gritt was sacked in 1995, then dragged Charlton away from all the dreary years of post-War mediocrity.

I'd been telling anyone who'd listen that to kick-on from years of patient, excellent progress, Charlton needed to appoint a manager for the bigger stage. Hodgson, a Londoner, with his Inter and Swiss credentials would've been perfect. He was clearly looking for a Premier League job in London. He got one.

The progress of Fulham couldn't be in more stark contrast to Charlton. 

The board, without a clue what should follow Curbs were keen on a man with no Premier League experience. Billy Davies was a strange Plan A to pursue - but when he wouldn't come to The Valley, Plan B (for Backfoot) was Iain Dowie, acrimoniously hired from relegated rivals Crystal Palace. When that didn't work out, Plan C (for well, make your own jokes here) was Les Reed. 

Appalling.

Charlton's board are so clueless, they must be going through the phone book looking for coaches now: Pardew? Parkinson? it's Pearce next!

They had it all in 2006: an excellent manager: okay, as a team they'd gone back a little over eighteen months, but only from higher to lower mid-table. The stadium was playing to full houses and had been developed very nicely over the years. They were ferrying fans in for a fiver from further afield, fuelling a fanbase.

And it's no exaggeration to describe their part of London as the country's region of opportunity. The City and The Olympics on their doorstep. So much opportunity! Where do you start?

With Spurs struggling at the time, they had a genuine chance to grow the club in the south-east and Kent, behind Chelsea and Arsenal as the region's third biggest club.

THEY'VE FAILED BADLY.

At New Year, Charlton are hurtling towards the third tier; Hodgson's Fulham who negotiated a miracle escape from relegation last season, are in the Premier League's top-half.

"Most managers leave by the back door, I'm getting clapped out of the front door which is how I would have wanted to go", a moved Curbishley croaked at the time. Players from both sides formed a guard of honour as the stadium rose as one in appreciation. They didn't know it at the time, but the poor fans were saying goodbye to the Big Time.

Charlton's board can't apologise enough to the supporters for how badly they've mismanaged the Addicks ever since. They've run their Premier League club more like a Provincial Golf Club. Now they're handicapped, four-under-par the field. They're going to miss the cut.

This looks like damage which could take a decade or more to rectify.

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Also on Soccermongery: January Transfer Window Comment and Podcast Laugh: Jose Mourinho sings the Blues

Furious Wenger's losing it - and I'm worried for him

It seems each time Arsene Wenger's on telly, he appears to me like Basil Fawlty the day his car wouldn't start. His interviews are terse and he's dispensed with even the relative charm of "I did not see the incident."

"Right, that's it. I've had enough of y-o-o-o-ou!"

And his conduct on the touchline brings on constipation in even the most casual observer - at fifty paces!

He didn't want to talk about the removal of William Gallas as skipper last month, and his mental state looks to have hit an all-time low following the tense draw at Aston Villa.

Admittedly, the two-all stalemate was high stakes indeed for The Professor and his ailing Gunners, but mumbling a monosyllable on Arsenal's title chances followed by outlandish allegations about the referee leave you concerned he's about to enter a Fat Elvis stage. He'd have to go some at the cheeseburgers, I admit.

The Professor got a cob on after Villa's John Robertson visited the ref at half-time. Martin O'Neill said his assisant had asked Lee Mason about a first-half decision.

Wenger said: "I know how it works here. At half-time the referee gets stick and then in the second half every little 50-50 decision goes the other way.

"I waited at half-time to see what happened and I was not disappointed." He added: "That's what happened. It's not only here."
Asked if he was implying that someone from Villa influenced the referee, Wenger added: "I have nothing to explain more than that."
O'Neill said: "John I think spoke to the referee. I think John asked him to explain a decision that Gabby Agbonlahor didn't get, that was all. Simple as that.

"He only asked him to explain the decision and the referee chose not to give an answer."

"That's nothing new", I hear you say.

I know the top managers employ the language of siege mentality to gee up their players - but Wenger's allegations are increasingly unhinged in their delivery.

Wenger's strops and temper must surely be expressing an inner turmoil. How much more pressure can one man take?

The top two managers in the Premier League at the moment, Scolari and Benitez, have co-incidentally suffered with kidney stones at the same time this month. Gerard Houllier's career as Liverpool boss was effectively ended by a serious heart problem and Glenn Roeder popped a cork (or something like that) while West Ham manager.

I'm concerned for Wenger's health. I wonder if he is? I would hate to see something happen to him.

Also from Soccermongery back in August '08: Has The Wenger Project Reached Its Autumn?

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Harry Hotspur's Houdini act shows wannabe clubs: Buy British

Sir John Harvey-Jones meets Harry Houdini! Harry Redknapp's overnight arrival and resurrection of Tottenham stands alongside Hull City as the story of the season so far.

After jumping ship at Fratton, steering Spurs to their first league win, earning a miraculous point at Arsenal, coming-from-behind to topple leaders Liverpool to treble their points tally - then mashing it up in Europe, there's a lesson to be learned for other wannabe clubs.

The clue to Tottenham's amazing turnaround lies in Harry being English.

Because if Tottenham aspire to being a Big Four club, they'll be wise to remember they're not there yet - neither do they compete at that level in any way.

Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal qualify annually for the Champions League; that's their ambition, platform and community. The players they compete for and the teams they must beat are of a different gravy altogether. A foreign coach and setup is how they must operate.

And while Mark Hughes and Roy Keane are Fergie's heir-apparents, I'm sure Manchester United will be thinking long and hard about employing a foreign coach before crowning a former United playing hero.

But for Spurs and that matter Villa and Man City, it's a different play in the English arena. If they're lucky, those clubs'll grab a UEFA Cup place as they improve. A British coach is frankly what's required with their opponents and the players they go for in the transfer market.

Furthermore, as their football outlook is more provincial, employing a British coach helps embody the spirit of the terraces. Birmingham's football public is an English, Welsh and Irish mix, so who better than Martin O'Neill to personify that spirit? If Spurs fans relate to Harry, it helps unite them behind the team. Harry is an eastender made good.

Juande Ramos and a Director of Football was an appointment for when they made the Champions League - not as they aspired to it.

Being a perennial Champions League club is very different from an also-ran and the decision to go continental is as clear as whether you eat from that top table or whether you're looking in at it.

The day Spurs appointed Redknapp was the day that Spurs understood who they were. That's why Harry's unlocking this group of talented players so instantly.

Sorry Geordies: Keegan's exit is a positive for Newcastle United!

I know this is unpalatable to Toon fans but Kevin Keegan is a proven loser and totally ill-equipped to lead a Premier League team in the 21st century. Newcastle, you're best off without him. The next thing for the Toon to pray for is a Manchester City-style change of ownership and rid themselves of Oyk Ashley too.

It's time for Newcastle United to extricate itself from the past. The last time Kevin Keegan led Newcastle to (near) glory in the 90's, he was merely pitted against Arsenal's Bruce Rioch, Liverpool's Roy Evans and Chelsea's Ruud Gullit.

Who beat Keegan to the title? the ultimate football winner, Alex Ferguson. Aside from the total one-off that is The Govanor, the game's moved on.

Now Arsenal are led by Arsene Wenger, at Liverpool it's Rafa Benitez, Chelsea have a World Cup winner in the shape of Big Phil and it's still SIR Alex Ferguson of United. Then there's Martin O'Neill at Villa and Tottenham's Juande Ramos. Keegan can't hold a candle to any of them.

"We cannot possibly understand the fabled north-east football mentality", we're told as outsiders.

It's that mentality which propels Kevin Keegan to its summit as some sort of messiah. A romantic figure, a Pied Piper leading Newcastle to Wembley wins and open-top bus celebrations around Sid James' Park.

WAKE UP!! If Newcastle played Blyth Spartans, Hartlepool(s) and Darlington every week, the north-east mentality would be all that was required. But Newcastle doesn't operate in isolation.

In fact, the fabled north-east mentality comes off the rails every time its pitted against the north-west mentality; clubs from there win big pots every year - and have done so for 50 years.

Keegan was never the man to lead Newcastle out of the mire. Even with a supportive Geordie board rather than Ashley, he'd have found a way to quit.

Not that Ashley's any better. He's even worse to be honest; he has a track record of division and riding roughshod over anyone in his way.

Newcastle need a strong man the fans recognise and who they'd get behind - BUT someone without the baggage of a triumphant return. Someone to wipe the slate clean, to look to the future not the past. To really be in charge without board or middle-management interference.

Jose Mourinho, Martin O'Neill and Fabio Capello fit the bill. They're not available and would never be under the current circumstances. Who'd work for Ashley? The severance clause would be the most important part of the contract!

Keegan's Long Walkout of Fiefdom is hardly going to encourage a top coach to replace him. It might even leave Dennis Wise in the boxseat for the hotseat.

Still, as indigestible as that might be to every Toon fan, at least it would simplify the lousiest management structure in the Premier League.

And until they sort that out, there's no future for Newcastle United at all.