David O'Leary - Joke or Serious?

Article from a Charlton fan used with kind permission by Frankie. Link to his Charlton site: **Frankie Valley**

I can't remember when I read something so refreshingly honest from an opposition fan with reference to Villa, see what you think:

'Apparently so, according to that respected football sage David O'Leary. We're two teams competing for the same prizes, working within similar budgetary constraints, and targeting the same players in the transfer market.

In which case, let's all be thankful that Villa just beat us to it in the race to capture the signatures of Angel and Baros eh? Whew - that was close! And funnily enough, I didn't hear anything in the media about Villa being in for Darren 'Budget Buy' Bent last summer, either - maybe they couldn't afford the £2.5m? In fact, I can't recall any occasion when we've been competing with Villa for a player's signature. Do you know what? I suspect that our idea of being strapped for cash and Villa's idea of being strapped for cash are two completely different things....

David, my friend - a word in your ear. At a time when your club is desperately scouring the world for some rich sugar-daddy to come in and chuck shedloads of money around and buy you some success a la Chelsea, is it wise to be trying to re-brand the Mighty Aston Villa as some tin-pot club that can barely compete with the likes of lil ol' Charlton? I don't think so!

Face it Dave - Villa is not a little club. Never has been - never will be. Villa? Small and plucky? In your dreams mate...'

end.......

Nicely put. In my very humble opinion ;-) O'Leary is hiding behind the fact that he is an inadequate manager unless he has a large budget, and even then from his first season high it appeared things were slowly going downhill, especially following 'that' book. I asked a Leeds fan not so long ago if they missed O'Leary, the answer was 'yes, but we've been doing target practice since, we won't miss again.' He added 'we'd welcome David O'Leary back to Leeds, but only to string him up!'

O'Leary was never the right man for Villa and has droned on for far too long. From the 'when I was at Leeds' to the 'honest bunch of lads' a good few fans have had enough. Trouble is, with the 'takeover' position so unclear, how could this once mighty club realistically expect to attract a top manager and who would want to work for Doug Ellis whilst he is still here? Ellis bought the coffin for Villa, O'Leary has helped bang in the nails. Lets just hope the final nail isn't hit before we get bought out, with a few more points we should be safe, but another season like the last two and the club will find the average attendance plummet still further.

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