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Articulate, funny and an enthusiastic celebrator of his team’s goals, Martin O’Neill is one of the most popular men in football. Having done a superb job at Leicester City, and a very good one at Celtic (despite quite heavy spending) <a href="http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/1340732.stm">he was linked with the Manchester United job in 2002 </a>(before Ferguson stayed on) and was <a href="http:\/\/news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/england/5054668.stm">interviewed for the England Managership in 2006</a>. Many think he would be the perfect candidate for the latter, while others think he and David Moyes would be good ‘home-grown’ choices if and when the former becomes available. He inherited David O’Leary’s position at Aston Villa in 2006, as he was hired by Randy Lerner – who had recently succeeded ‘Deadly’ Doug Ellis as owner of Aston Villa – and according to many pundits did a fantastic job, leading Villa to three consecutive 6th place finishes after a modest 11th place in his first season.
This conclusion has been drawn understandably, but it relies upon a red herring of a statistic. O’Neill’s many acolytes often state that he single-handedly turned a club that finished <a href="http:\/\/www.statto.com/football/teams/aston-villa/2005-2006">16th in 2005-06</a> consistently into a top 6 club. This understates the level of investment given to O’Neill compared to his predecessor. Whereas O’Leary was able to spend roughly £5m net per season at Villa, O’Neill spent £83m in his four seasons – four times more per season than the Irishman.
During his first season, having spent £16m net, the improvement from 16th to 11th, whilst not being bad, is nothing exceptional with the extra resources available. He insitgated a much-needed overhaul of O’Leary’s squad, buying success stories John Carew and Ashley Young at considerable expense while selling white elephants such as Milan Baros.
The next season, O’Neill spent just £1m net. The improvement from 11th to 6th perhaps came residually from the previous January’s signings (including Carew and Young) being allowed to ‘bed in’ at the club in the previous ‘transition’ season. The signings made in the summer ranged from the moderate (£3.5m for Zat Knight) to the ridiculous (£5m for Marlon Harewood), with only Nigel Reo-Coker and Knight (£11m combined) contributing in any way to the team’s improvement. O’Neill did extremely well to lead this squad to sixth place, but it was in his sales where his success is tempered. Players such as Gary Cahill, Liam Ridgewell, Steven Davis and Aaron Hughes, sold for modest prices by O’Neill, could have acted as the back-up expensively assembled later on in their positions.
The next season, 2008-09, O’Neill splurged £45m net, looking to break into the Champions League. Brad Friedel, James Milner and Carlos Cuellar contributed greatly to this quest, whereas Steve Sidwell, Luke Young and Curtis Davies figured intermittently. Nicky Shorey’s purchase for £5m was comparable in wastage only to that of Marlon Harewood. For this expenditure, Villa attained the same 6th place position after threatening Arsenal’s position in the top four for much of the season. From a very strong position with 15 games to go, Villa collapsed. They struggled for goals as Young, Milner and Agbonlahor tired late in the season, scoring only 16 in 14 games after March 1st.
One major flaw with O’Neill’s transfer policy at this time was his exaggerated belief in the 2007-08 players.&nbsp;A strong sixth placed finish was an overachievement with the players at his disposal – the ‘next level’ of Champions League football required players of greater quality. 1 win in 9 home games against the rest of the top 10 that season suggests that the side lacked the technical quality and imagination to win the tough games needed to finish fourth. Away this was less of a problem, as they could counterattack the more attacking home sides, but at home the level of creativity needed to break solid ‘playing for a point’ teams down was not there.
Moreover, spending £16m on Sidwell, Shorey and Luke Young when players such as Maynor Figueroa, John Paintsil and Dickson Etuhu came into Fulham and Wigan respectively for much less, was indicative of O’Neill’s unimaginative transfer policy. The latter three signings would surely have left greater scope for a striker or creative midfielder of immediate quality, exactly what was needed in his first choice XI. Perhaps O’Neill’s lack of foreign transfer acumen, or a seeming taste for dealing with a largely British dressing room was his biggest flaw. Again he hadn’t done badly by maintaining the team’s position in the European positions, but stagnation would surely not cost £45m under a manager doing an ‘exceptional job’.
Last season saw another sixth place finished after spending £22m net more. With the increasing power of Tottenham and Manchester City, sixth again was by no means a failure but O’Neill’s selection, style and transfer policy was once again Anglo-centric. Stewart Downing came in to help relieve the pressure upon his creative midfielders, but at £10m he was by no means a bargain. Richard Dunne’s age, lack of re-sale value and his wages make his £6m transfer fee from Man City again look no better than good, despite his very impressive performances. That he was signed on deadline day along with James Collins indicates a distinct lack of planning from O’Neill, even if they turned out to be very good on the pitch. Stephen Warnock was a good addition to the first team but was not cheap at £8m. The signing of Fabian Delph has not provided immediate dividends, but he surely is for the future.
Once again Villa defended well for large parts of the season – Carlos Cuellar impressing especially – but the lack of depth up front meant again the strain fell upon Agbonlahor and Carew. They were often magnificent away to Big Four clubs but couldn’t breach top drawer defences at home. If O’Neill had spent some of his budget on a creative schemer rather than on Habib Beye and James Collins, perhaps they would have been able to crack the top four, especially with Liverpool’s capitulation.
In cup competitions O’Neill showed that he is an astute tactician, reaching an FA Cup Semi and a Carling Cup Final, but the major failing in both defeats was Villa’s inability to create and finish chances. In one-off games, against Chelsea and Manchester United, teams who struggle to create and finish their chances are generally punished. O’Neill’s whingeing about <a href="http:\/\/www.metro.co.uk/sport/football/815273-o-neill-fumes-at-vidic-carling-cup-let-off">Nemanja Vidic’s ‘definite sending off’</a> in the Carling Cup final masked another disappointing attacking display, despite the early boon of Milner’s penalty.
Again O’Neill was unable to take his side to a higher level than he had in 2008, &nbsp;due in part to paying over the odds for players who were Premier League quality but not Champions League quality.
Thus while he did by no means a poor job at Aston Villa his net outlay when compared to Everton in 2008-09 (under a manager proving himself to be vastly superior) and to a lesser extent Spurs last season is indicative of a manager doing a solid, unspectacular job. Ultimately, that’s all he did, no more, less.

Martin O&#039;Neill Did A Solid Job At Aston Villa: No More, No Less. - World Soccer Talk

Martin O'Neill Did A Solid Job At Aston Villa: No More, No Less.

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Benfica have completed their fourth signing of the summer by agreeing a one-year loan deal for Spanish winger Jose Antonio Reyes. The 24-year-old makes the move from Atletico Madrid, with the Lisbon club also having the option to buy the player at the end of his loan spell. Benfica coach Quique Sanchez Flores continues to overhaul his squad as The Eagles look to soar once again after a poor season by their standards.
For the first time in a few season, Benfica failed to gain a top three finish in the Portuguese Liga and will play in the UEFA Cup this year. Reyes, combined with one of the other new signings — Pablo Aimar, should inject some creativity into the Benfica midfield and provide stronger service to striker Óscar Cardozo.
One player who has left Benfica is Cristian Rodríguez, who had been on loan from Paris Saint-Germain but has now made a 7m Euro permanent move to link up with rivals FC Porto.
<div><figure class="image"><img src="https:\/\/ds-images.bolavip.com/news/image?src=https:\/\/images.worldsoccertalk.com/webp/WST_20080812_WST_73984_crosas-celtic.webp&amp;width=500&amp;height=310" alt="crosas-celtic.jpg" align="right" hspace="10"></figure></div>Celtic FC have signed midfielder Marc Crosas from FC Barcelona in a deal which could rise to 1.4m Euros. The 20-year-old defensive midfielder joins the Scottish champions through a complex deal. Celtic will pay an initial £415,000 fee that could rise to as much as £1.6m depending on appearances. that allows Barcelona to buy back the player for £1.6m at the end of the 2009/10 season. Barcelona will also receive 25% of any transfer fee if Crosas is sold to another club. The 20-year-old was introduced to the fans at Celtic Park this past Sunday prior to Celtic’s season opening 1-0 win over St Mirren. Celtic fought off competition from Sevilla, Sporting Gijon and Sampdoria for Crosas’ signature.
Crosas made his first-team debut for Barcelona two seasons ago but has only made one appearance since. He went on loan to French champions Lyon in January and played eight times for the club before the end of the season. Crosas was not the first player Celtic targeted under this complex system.&nbsp; Celtic chief executive Peter Lawwell revealed to the Sunday Herald that Argentina forward Javier Saviola and Portugal winger Ricardo Quaresma earlier refused the opportunity to join the club.
Meanwhile, Julio Baptista’s switch to Roma could fall through due to the price tag Real Madrid have put on his head, according to the player’s agent. Roma were keen on a loan deal similar to that which took Baptista to Arsenal in 2006, whereby they would pay three million euros now with the option to shell out another 10 million to secure his services permanently next year.
After a long frustrating summer, Everton look to close some deals in the coming days. Everton have bid £6 million for Rennes midfielder Stéphane M’Bia who is being targeted as a replacement for defensive midfielder Lee Carsley. M’Bia is currently on duty with Cameroon at the Olympics Newcastle striker Alan Smith was being targeted in a £2 million transfer. Moyes has failed to bring in any new players since guiding Everton to fifth place last season and his squad was further depleted by the sale of Andrew Johnson to Fulham. Everton have had some turmoil in the boardroom after chief executive Keith Wyness resigned his position at the club. Chairman Bill Kenwright, who has come under fire from Everton fans who were angry at the lack of progress in the transfer market, has reiterated he would welcome new investment to strengthen the club’s financial firepower.
Two potential targets have dried up as Sporting Lisbon president Filipe Soares Franco insists midfielder Joao Moutinho will not be leaving the club this summer and CSKA have rubbished reports of a move for Vagner Love. Roman Babaev, the director general of the club, has reportedly stated “It isn’t true that we have loaned Vagner Love to Everton, there are no negotiations about that.”
<div><figure class="image"><img loading="lazy" src="https:\/\/ds-images.bolavip.com/news/image?src=https:\/\/images.worldsoccertalk.com/webp/WST_20080812_WST_73984_carloscuellar.webp&amp;width=234&amp;height=315" alt="carloscuellar.jpg" align="left" width="234" height="315" hspace="10"></figure></div>UEFA Cup hopefuls Aston Villa have made another splash into the transfer market after agreeing a £7.8m fee with Rangers for their highly-rated Spanish defender Carlos Cuellar. Villa invoked an exit clause in the player’s contract after the 26-year-old had made it known that he wanted to play in the English Premier League.
Cuellar moved to Ibrox from Spanish side Osasuna last summer and enjoyed a terrific debut season for the club, helping them to the UEFA Cup final and winning both the Clydesdale Bank SPL and Scottish Football Writers’ Association player of the year awards.
Cuellar will be Villa’s seventh signing of the summer following the transfers of Curtis Davies (loan deal made permanent), Steve Sidwell, Brad Friedel, Brad Guzan, as well as defenders Nicky Shorey and Luke Young. Shorey and Young joined in recent days on seperate transfers from Reading and Middlesbrough respectively. Both have been on the fringes of the England squad and will add much needed depth to the Villa squad.
Sticking with the theme of defenders on the move, Monaco have reached an agreement with AC Milan to sign defender Dario Simic. Simic, 32, had spent the past six years at the Rossoneri after moving over from rivals Internazionale. Milan won two Champions League trophies during his stay at the club.
Lastly, Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp has made French defender Younes Kaboul his newest recruit after agreeing a £6million deal with Tottenham. The ex-Auxerre man was recruited by former Tottenham boss Martin Jol but he saw his playing time diminish under Jol’s successor Juande Ramos, who preferred to play midfielder Didier Zokora at centre-back rather than Kaboul.
The 22-year-old centre-back should be available for next Sunday’s Premier League opener against Chelsea but will have to work hard to break into the Pompey defence as the regular centre-back pairing Sylvain Distin and Sol Campbell is quite solid. It is unlikely though that Campbell will be able to play all of the fixtures in the domestic league and UEFA Cup so Kaboul will be a valuable depth signing.

Transfer Update: Reyes to Benfica, Crosas to Celtic, Cuellar to Villa - World Soccer Talk

Transfer Update: Reyes to Benfica, Crosas to Celtic, Cuellar to Villa

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Martin O'Neill Did A Solid Job At Aston Villa: No More, No Less.

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Transfer Update: Reyes to Benfica, Crosas to Celtic, Cuellar to Villa