Aston Villa insight: Why Martin O'Neill's not the first manager to see it slip

May 6 2009 by Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

YOU will often hear: “It’s just like Villa to build you up, only to knock you down,” and in the current climate it is hard to disagree.

But Martin O’Neill is not the first manager to raise expectations to gigantic proportions, only to see them smashed to smithereens, hopes lying broken in a million pieces on the floor.

John Gregory’s teams made a habit of it in the late 90s, his team gathering an inexorable momentum before hitting the buffers like a prize fighter jabbing merrily, bobbing and weaving until hit flat on the temple and seeing cartoon dickie birds floating in a blurred vision.

O’Neill’s side had gone a dozen games without a win before that miserable sequence ended when they beat Hull City 1-0 on Monday.

It was a run that saw them surrender an eight-point lead over Arsenal after last winning on February 7 at Blackburn.

O’Neill also delivered a 12-game winless run during his first season in charge, in 2006/07, although expectations were never anywhere near as high.

After sitting third with one defeat in their opening dozen games, the O’Neill-Randy Lerner honeymoon was in full sway when Chris Sutton struck the winning goal at Everton that November.

Villa proceeded to draw five league games and lose another six to slip to 14th before they finally got the better of a bedraggled Watford in the January, courtesy of an own-goal and a Gabby Agbonlahor clincher in the final four minutes.

But perhaps the current season is probably more reminiscent of the 1998/99 one.

Gregory’s side were top of the pile in November after an unbeaten start of 12 matches that saw them lead Manchester United by three points.

The team posed for a celebratory picture after a four-goal win at The Dell.