Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill tastes fans’ fury

Feb 27 2009 By Paul Suart and Ed Chadwick

ANGRY Aston Villa fans who spent hundreds of pounds following their team to Moscow today hit out at boss Martin O’Neill after his ‘B-team’ crashed out of the UEFA Cup.

More than 500 diehard followers took time off work and splashed out up to £1,000 each to travel to Russia to see a severely-weakened Villa side bow out of the competition 3-1 on aggregate.

Tom Cole, aged 53, a city council printer from Great Barr, said: “Villa have treated every fan who has travelled out here with contempt.

“This has cost me £1,000 and it feels like that money and all the other cash I’ve spent since last July has been wasted.”

The anger follows O’Neill’s decision to rest star names Gareth Barry, Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor, Brad Friedel, Emile Heskey and James Milner to keep them fresh for the Premier League incurred their wrath.

Mr Cole added: “The UEFA Cup was supposed to be our Holy Grail and we had no inkling that, when we paid for these tickets, we would be watching a weakened side.

“There were 500 Villa fans in the stadium and not a single one seemed to agree with what O’Neill did.”

Brad Abbott, a teenage student at Christopher Whitehead Language College in Worcester, said: “I’m a bit angry but disappointed more than anything.

“It’s only my second time watching Villa away and when people heard the names of the players staying at home, it cast a dark mood over the whole trip.

“You try to keep positive but it was hard to be honest and most people felt we were beaten before we came on to the pitch.”