O’Neill hits back after Villans turn nasty

Martin O’Neill is backing his former club Aston Villa to recapture former glories as he denied leaving them in the lurch by quitting five days before the start of the 2010-11 campaign.

O’Neill returned to Villa Park for the first time with his current team Sunderland on Saturday and was booed by the home fans before and during a goalless draw.

The Northern Irishman led Villa to three top-six Barclays Premier League finishes and the Carling Cup final — a contrast to their current position just above the relegation zone.

But O’Neill is adamant he left Villa in a far stronger position than when he took charge during the summer of 2006.

O’Neill said: “The booing is the nature of the game. I’ve been booed before. I was booed at Leicester City after not being able to win for six or seven games.

“In the scheme of things, I expected it and I got it because it’s never been explained why I departed from the football club.

“But this idea I left them in the lurch has gone beyond all sorts of comprehension. I found them in the lurch, I’m not so sure I left them in the lurch.”

O’Neill added: “The fact is I inherited a team a fortnight before the season started in 2006 who had almost been relegated.

“In fairness the team I left was full of international players, Ashley Young, James Milner, Stewart Downing, Gabriel Agbonlahor, players like that.

“After I left, Villa actually won two out of the next three games when the season started in the capable hands of Kevin MacDonald.

“I was very proud and honoured to be manager for four years. I’m in the past now and the torch has been passed on.

“It’s a great, great football club and they will be back sometime. They will be back.”

Current Villa boss Alex McLeish has been under orders to slash what he described as the “astronomical” wage bill since he took charge 10 months ago.

But O’Neill said: “Talking about wages, I assume Milner, Downing and Young had a rise in salary at the clubs they went to.”

Former Villa midfielder Craig Gardner was sent off for two bookable offences but O’Neill claimed: “I thought he was very unlucky because the second yellow card seems very soft indeed.”

Villa remain five points above the bottom three ahead of tomorrow’s crucial home clash with Bolton after a 15th draw of the season.

McLeish said: “We’ve had far too many draws but it is not for want of trying to win games and against Sunderland was no exception.

“We just needed that final bit of quality for the end product.

“The players got the fans off their seats with the tempo and they’ve got to realise that’s got to be the same every single game.

“We can’t ease ourselves into games at Villa Park. We’ve got to be dynamic and it was a dynamic performance.”

Villa central defender James Collins is doubtful for the Bolton clash after being substituted with a groin injury but McLeish is hopeful Agbonlahor will have recovered from a shoulder setback.