O'Leary, The Kids & Villa Fans

Has no one told David O'Leary that his services are no longer required yet?!

Not only has he told the Villa faithful to help lift the team on Sunday (as if we would do anything else, sugarbags or not) but he has also spoken of the future!

O'Leary told the official site: 'The way they (the crowd) lifted the kids last week was tremendous.'

Got to mention he's got 'kids' hasn't he? Are we the only team with young players? Also, if he doesn't want the 'kids' he could have been playing De La Cruz plus his signings like the Djemba twins and Matthieu Berson.

He added: 'Obviously you always want your senior men available. But if you have to turn to the kids, you want them to respond as Gary Cahill did last weekend. If the young lads keep playing like that - absolutely fine. And I have to again thank the fans. Yes I try to encourage the young lads from the side of the pitch, but I had a brilliant amount of help from the fans last Sunday. I could see with the players at half-time they were grateful for the encouragement. I could see when they made some mistakes, nobody got on their backs.'

And 'For all I was trying to encourage them from the touchline, I felt I had thousands around me trying to do the same thing. That was a brilliant help.'

Charm offensive at last?!
He then admits 'It's important that we get this club to safety and the way to do that is with everybody pulling in the same direction. Then we want this club to be successful in the future.'

All talk and no trousers, the fans are leaving in their droves and the dross we have seen this season is simply not good enough. IF he stays, he'll have to do A LOT better AND lay off the fans. At the moment he has an E- in his school report and as Sir Alan Sugar would say 'you're a lightweight' if only Doug would say 'you're fired' (and leave himself obviously!)

According to the manager, no one has told him his job is on the line. Hmmm, a few thousand fans will if you don'tget us a win on Sunday!

"On Sunday, you're either a hero or a villain. That's what the derby games are about. I've won drawn and lost these games and I know how much this game means to fans. We all know what we want. We all want Villa fans going home delighted and able to go into work the following day proud. I want to drive home knowing we've made them happy."

Adding:

"Nobody has said to me that this game, win or lose, has any bearing on my future. I don't see it changing things one way or the other. People can slant it like that, but I'm not going to be judged on 90 minutes. It's an important game, not for me and my future, but for the club."

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.