Martin O’Neill has shocked Aston Villa fans by announcing his resignation as manager of the Premier League club.

With less than a week before the 2010-11 top-flight season kicks off, O’Neill’s decision is an untimely one with the club set to begin the campaign without a permanent successor installed.

Villa’s reserve team manager Kevin MacDonald will take charge of the club’s opening game at home to West Ham on Saturday, with many bookmakers making Ajax boss Martin Jol the favourite to succeed O’Neill.

The Northern Irishman admitted his decision comes with regret but the 58-year-old refused to reveal his motivation for stepping down, although a strained relationship with club owner Randy Lerner is thought to have taken its toll.

O’Neill told the club’s official website: “I have enjoyed my time at Aston Villa immensely. It’s obviously a wrench to be leaving such a magnificent club.

“I would like to pay tribute to the Villa players, my coaching staff and the Villa supporters for all the support and encouragement they have given both the club and me personally during my time as manager.

“I wish them all the best for the future. I will obviously be assisting the club in the immediate short-term with regard to the handover of my duties.”

Villa are on the verge of selling their biggest star to Manchester City for the second summer running in James Milner, who looks set to team up with former Villa captain Gareth Barry at Eastlands.

A deal in the region of £25million is thought to have been agreed between the two clubs, a decision which is highly likely to have contributed to O’Neill’s departure as the club’s ambition is called into question once more.

Last week O’Neill revealed: “For a number of days in this transfer saga with Manchester City, you have known my position in terms of what I have been advocating and thinking about.”

The former Celtic boss is believed to be furious at losing his best player to the wealth of rivals City and he will now embark on his first spell out of the game since leaving the Bhoys in 2005.

Paul Faulkner, chief executive of Aston Villa, said: “The club would like to thank Martin for the great work he has done at Aston Villa over the past four years.

“He has helped to establish the club in the upper echelons of the Premier League, has taken us to Wembley and we have also qualified for European competition for the past three seasons under his management. We wish him the best in the future.”

O’Neill took over the reigns at Villa in 2006 and guided the club to three successive 6th-place finished in the Premier League and their first cup final in 10 years – a 2-1 Carling Cup defeat to Manchester United.

Chelsea player, Frank Lampard, has said that the 7-1 thrashing of Aston Villa over the weekend is one of the best games he has ever played.

Lampard scored four times as the blues totally blew apart Martin O’Neill’s side. It is very rare that a side playing another top side does this sort of thing and Lampard is soaking up all of it.

Villa are a side chasing a Champions League spot and hearts would have been in Chelsea mouths when they drew level through a John Carew goal. However, Chelsea’s strength ultimately showed.

It is also a very clear sign that the West London club are in great form ahead of the title run in. They are hot on the heels of Manchester United and will fancy their chances with the pair soon to play.

Lampard said: “The moving of the ball around, our passing and movement was fantastic. It was great football and that is when we are at our best. It is easy to write us off and say negative things about teams and players from the outside, but all we can do is play football.”

“We know the big games are to come, especially next week. We know the quality of the players we have, we’ve shown that over the course of the season.”

“We’ve beaten Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal playing different formations. We have to forget the little rut we’ve been in and concentrate on the target now.”

“The title race has opened up with the way we’ve played in the last couple of games in particular and we want to take advantage.”

Chelsea also have the added advantage of the fact that they are no longer in Europe as they were knocked out by Inter Milan. This means the players are a little bit fresher than they otherwise would be.

The club have to win the league. A club the size of Chelsea demands some sort of trophy each season and with the recent heart break of the Champions League over the last couple of seasons, they will do what they can to get the Premier League title back.

However, it won’t be easy. The other sides they have left to play are not likely to roll over the way Villa did at the weekend. Chelsea must not fall into the trap of getting complacent against the lesser sides in the league.

These sides will all be scrapping for points to stop the threat of relegation and funnier things have happened in football.

If the rest of the results go as expected then the winner of Chelsea against Manchester United will probably go onto win the league. United whipped out a 4-0 thrashing of Bolton over the weekend, which also proves they are in fine form and scoring plenty of goals as well.

The Football Association has admitted defeat as it has lost a battle to stop the Wembley pitch from being re-laid for the tenth time in just three years.

It is thought that a number of key England players made complaints about the pitch in recent games. The complaints seem to have carried enough weight to force the FA into paying for another pitch.

The new ground has been constantly changing since it was first opened. The Egypt players said the other week when they played England that they did not have any issues with the quality of the pitch.

However, Slavan Bilic, manager of Croatia, said a couple of years ago that he was shocked at just how quickly the Wembley pitch seems to deteriorate once the players start a match.

An FA spokesperson said: “The groundstaff did very well to stage the Carling Cup, despite around 80mm of rain in the week with a further 40mm the night before the match, and they used a canopy to shield the pitch from the rain on Saturday night and on Sunday. They worked round the clock and could not have done more.”

“Conditions were better ahead of the England match, but the pitch was still not good enough for our liking. Ultimately, it has not fared well through what has been an extremely harsh winter and it needs to be replaced. The stadium caters for football and non-football events, so replacing the pitch more than once a year is the reality of a multipurpose venue.”

The point is that there are so many talented groudsmen all over England that never got a look in at the top flight because of their association with some of the lower league clubs in England.

James Milner, Aston Villa player, said he had played on better League One and League Two pitches when he spent time on loan early in his career. This marks quite a contrast in the quality of pitch handling at the highest and lowest levels.

It is fair enough to say that Wembley does get used for other sporting occasions, but these sporting occasions are very limited. There is plenty of space to host NFL matches and still maintain a good quality pitch.

Many more football clubs have to keep their ground in a good condition and it gets played on every single week. Some teams also allow rugby clubs to play in their stadium, which drastically damages the turf.

Wembley should have one of the best pitches in the world because it is an iconic stadium for football and for many other sports. The cost of a relay each time is going to mount up and it is an area the FA could cut back on if they reviewed the people in charge of the pitch.

England also need to be playing on a slick and neat surface ahead of the World Cup in South Africa if they want any chance of having some success.

A Martin O’Neill half time blasting was enough to help Aston Villa come through a potentially tricky FA Cup tie against Reading.

Villa scored four times in the second half after they conceded a 2-0 lead to Reading yesterday. A number of players have said it is the angriest they have ever seen the manager and it seems his strong words did just the trick.

Villa did not get off to the start they would have been hoping for and took far too long to get into the game. It was clear that maybe the players had an eye on other things but total loyalty is something the Villa boss demands.

Striker, John Carew, said: “We were struggling in the first half and the gaffer told us some serious words at the break. I won’t go into what he said but you can see on the pitch what happened. After last week we are more determined. Now we know what Wembley’s all about, we really want to get to a final again. Of course, the experience was not good for us, but we have a big chance to get back there.”

Midfield player, Ashley Young, added: “There were a few tough words at half-time. Our first-half performance wasn’t as good as it could have been and he [O’Neill] told us that.”

“We knew we had a job to do in the second half and I think, if you look at it, we were brilliant. It showed the character and team spirit we’ve got. We said we had to start brightly, get an early goal and get them on the back foot and we did that. Then John was sensational.”

The result looks very fitting when you take into equation how well Villa have been playing this year. There is the strong chance they will make it to another domestic cup final and the shout of a Champions League place is not fading away either.

O’Neill is a very smart manager and there can be no doubt that he would not have gone off at his players if he did not feel as though it was worth it. Sometimes it takes players a little time to get into games.

Once Aston Villa started playing with a lot of the class they are capable of. There was no question that they would get a result. Reading could not cope with the pace and movement, which Villa have in abundance.

O’Neill himself said: “The players are very fine players and I don’t think it was necessary to say anything. They know how second best they were in the first half and didn’t need reminding of that. Reading played very well and I was quite pleased we went in just 2-0 behind. The team performance in the second half was terrific.”

It was obviously a case of the under dogs trying to come out so quickly that they just could not keep up the pace, which may have been the thing that kept Villa at bay throughout the whole match.

Liverpool manager, Rafa Benitez, is demanding focus ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League run in.

The manager has been under a lot of pressure and scrutiny in recent weeks because the fans have been saying the club doesn’t seem to be going any where under his management.

Liverpool have not been playing attractive football for a very long time and Benitez is demanding the focus, which is the only thing that has kept them in with a shout of securing a Champions League place for next year.

He said: “Manchester City, Tottenham and Aston Villa will be very dangerous so we cannot make many mistakes. We know last year was really good in terms of points in the league (86) and now we are in a different and more difficult situation because the expectations were very high.”

“It is really difficult because we have three or four teams really close. We have to keep this momentum and prove, show everyone else, we are good enough. I prefer to be positive and we will play well and continue to win.”

“We had problems on the right side (against Blackburn) with Mascherano playing full-back, which was a difficult decision. All the teams have good and bad moments, but they still have to carry on and go forward. If you analyse some games we have had too many injuries with big names unable to play.”

It is very difficult to see Liverpool hanging onto the fourth place position, which they have made their own for so very long. There are too many sides around them in better form who are capable of causing a huge upset and breaking into the top four.

Liverpool also do not look like a side who are in full sync with each other. There are too many injuries appearing in too many areas of the side, which will cost the team when the points are totted up at the end of the year.

The situation for them is quite a complex one to sort out. The ownership problems that once plagued the club do not seem to be a problem any more but the weakness of the over all squad definitely is.

There is still too much reliance on too few players at the club and it will take everyone pulling together to make the situation look much brighter for the club.

The problem is that Liverpool are playing the sort of football that a lot of lower league teams are well known for. When you use this style against a team that knows it inside out, it becomes very hard to win games and rack up points.

Benitez talks of focus and this means focus in every aspect of football. Liverpool will have to produce moments of pure quality, which have been lacking if they want to be the side that hangs onto that final Champions League position. It is a race that is certain to go right down to the final day of the season.

England manager, Fabio Capello, has praised former captain, John Terry, after England’s 3-1 victory over Egypt at Wembley.

Terry led by example for the entire match and came up with a performance, which showed everyone why he was named as captain in the first place. His performance was met by constant cheers from the home crowd.

It was unknown how Terry would play after the recent media attention, which has been attributed to him. Hopefully the example can inspire the team towards further victories as England prepare for the World Cup this summer.

Terry said: “I’m really happy, and thank you to the crowd because they supported the team and John Terry. This was one of the most important games for him after the history of what happened off the pitch. He played a fantastic game, like I know he plays always at this level. When I chose him as captain I knew the value of this player because he’s really important on the pitch.”

“Crouch is one of the most important players. I’ve selected him a lot, he’s played a lot of games for me and he’s in very good form. But you have to understand that, when I select the squad, I always say that all the players can play.”

“Today I wanted to understand what happens with Defoe and Rooney in the first half. I know what happens when Rooney plays with Crouch, with Carlton Cole or Emile Heskey. I know that. For that reason today it was better to start with Defoe in preparation for the World Cup. To know whether these two can play together.”

England took a long time to get going in the match last night before their play exploded in the second half. It is clear that Terry will need to be strong at the back of the team and this will have to run right through the side.

Terry and Rooney were both exceptional when it came to trying to lift the team during low points in the first 45 minutes. Two goals from Peter Crouch went onto ensure that the victory was a certainty.

The Spurs striker added: “Anyone who plays for England is going to feel under pressure, certainly in a World Cup year. You can only try to do your best and I did. It’s up to the manager. All you’ve got to do when given your chance is try and take it, and I’ve given the manager something to think about.”

However, there are clear signs of weakness in the team, regardless of the impressive nature of the score line. It was clear that Leighton Baines is not up to the job at left back, which will open the door for Aston Villa’s Stephen Warnock to come in and be Ashley Cole’s number two.

All in all though it was a fairly solid night for English football. There is clear reason to be optimistic without getting carried away.

A group of investors known as the ‘Red Knights’ have confirmed their interest in buying Manchester United Football Club.

United fans all over the country have been publicly protesting in recent weeks against the current ownership of the club by a family that have brought debts of over £700 million to Manchester.

The fans are annoyed because the football club is being used as an asset to safeguard those debts, which is something that many fans and club officials have voiced their disapproval over.

United continue to storm along on more than one front and added another trophy to their collection with the Carling Cup final victory over Aston Villa at the weekend. Fans will be hoping that there is some real strength in these latest news stories.

A Red Knights statement read: “A group of high net worth individuals, who support Manchester United, met in London yesterday.”

“This group is supportive of current management but are looking at the feasibility of putting together a proposal to be put to the Glazer Family regarding the ownership of Manchester United.”

“These discussions are in early stages and no contact has been made with the Glazer Family. For such a proposal to be viable, it would require the involvement and support of Manchester United supporters worldwide.”

It is highly unlikely that the Glazer family would want to sell the club, as United are one of the main forms of income, which will be used to pay off the huge interest payments on top of the current debts.

A spokesman for the family has already come out in the media and said that the club are not for sale and it would take a monumental bid, far greater than the Glazers paid, to change the current ownership of the club.

As far as the club is concerned they will not be too concerned over a power tussle as long as any interested person can prove that they will not take the club further into debt and financial turmoil.

They will also have to pass Premier League regulations, which will test how ready a unified Red Knights group would be in terms of taking over and running a football club on the long term.

It is clear that the fans are not going to give up in their fight to get the current owners of United out on the streets. Every week and match that passes is showing that fan protests are just getting stronger and they will continue to gather momentum.

United are a club who warrant a good intentioned owner who will be able to take the club back up to the financial power and standing, which they once enjoyed.

The figure to buy the club may even touch the £1 billion mark, which is far greater than many consortiums who would want to buy the club can afford. The Glazers are sticking around for a while yet, unfortunately as far as the fans are concerned.

Manchester United defender, Gary Neville, has said that Wayne Rooney is not too far away from being considered one of the greatest ever English players to have ever graced the game.

Neville was speaking after Rooney came off the United bench to score the winner against Aston Villa. Rooney headed the ball accurately past Brad Friedel in the Aston Villa goal, with many hailing the finish as one of his best.

Neville says that there are now plenty of teams who will not know what to do against Rooney or how to mute his influence. He has also said that it bodes well for England and the World Cup this coming summer.

He said: “Wayne is a great player to play with and is one of the brilliant Manchester United players have had. He has been brilliant for England too. The only thing he has to do for England now is go and win something. That is what England players have been striving to do for the past 40 years.”

“That would really crown it off for him. Wayne can handle all the comments and accolades, all the praise and criticism. He has been around a long time now and he has the experience of a 30-year-old really even at such a young age because he came into the Premier League at 16.”

“He has played in European Cups, FA Cups, World Cups and European championships. He has experienced the lot. He is maturing now. It is not just about his performance, it is about his determination and character and his willingness to always fight for the team. That is what makes him stand out. He is not just a player who wins you games he fights for everything as well.”

“His temperament is brilliant. He is brilliant to watch. He has been great since the moment I laid eyes on him about six or seven years ago when we were with England.”

There is very little doubt that Rooney is carrying United at the moment and were he to get injured, it would greatly dent the club’s immediate plans and ambitions.

He is also one of the best current players in the world and a good bet for top scorer at the World Cup in South Africa. Teams do not know how to mark him or keep him quiet during a game because there are so many different ways he can play and stretch sides.

Like Neville says, he has also matured a lot, which helps with him bringing other players into the game. He is able to read things and see passes, which other players just cannot vision.

Many pundits say that players do not reach their peak age until they are around 26 or 27 years of age. If that is the case then it is frightening what this Merseyside lad is capable of. He is without doubt the most valuable current asset in the Premier League.

Tottenham, Stoke, Reading and Aston Villa each secured their passage to the FA Cup quarter final on Wednesday night after Wednesday night’s fifth-round replays.

On a night when all eyes were on Europe’s premier club competition the UEFA Champions League, there were four fifth-round ties to be settled in England’s premier cup competition.

Tottenham 4 Bolton 0

Bolton paid the price for not finishing off the job in the first meeting between these side as they were demolished 4-0 by a rampant Tottenham Hotspur.

The sides drew 1-1 in the Reebok Stadium first time out, but Harry Redknapp’s face proved too strong at White Hart Lane with in-form striker Roman Pavlyuchenko continued his new found confidence with his second brace in consecutive games.

The Russian opened the scoring after 23 minutes and, with a pair of own goals courtesy of Jussi Jaaskalainen (35) and Andy O’Brien (47) sandwiched in between, he rounded of the night with his second three minutes from full time.

Tottenham’s next task in the cup is to overcome Roy Hodgson’s Fulham, but they’ll have to do so at Craven Cottage.

Stoke City 3 Man City 1 (AET)

At the Britannia, meanwhile, Stoke and Man City met for the third time in twelve days and for the third time the pair were deadlocked at 1-1 after 90 minutes. It took until the 79th minute for the opener through Dave Kitson, only for Craig Bellamy to grab an instant reply two minutes later.

Emmanuel Adebayor then received his marching orders for an apparent shove on Ryan Shawcross and with the full time whistle sounding soon after, extra time was required to decide the tie. Stoke took full advantage of the extra man in the extra 30 minutes, as first Shawcross headed the Potters into the lead on 95 minutes before Tuncay Sanli put the game beyond doubt four minutes later.

Stoke’s reward is a trip to Stamford Bridge where they will face holders, and tournament favourites, Chelsea.

Aston Villa 3 Crystal Palace 1

There were penalties galore at Villa Park as Crystal Palace’s cup run came to an end as they went down 3-1 to Aston Villa. The home side took the lead shortly before half-time through Gabby Agbonlahor’s well taken header.

In-form Palace midfielder Darren Ambrose got his 17th goal of the season from the spot on 73 minutes as the Londoners looked to be taking their Premier League opponents into extra time but it wasn’t to be as two more penalties spoiled their night.

Mathew Lawrence was the guilty player as he brought down John Carew inside the area and the big Norwegian picked himself up and scored from the resulting penalty to send Villa on their to the quarters.

There was still time for another penalty, however, as Lawrence once again brought down the Villa striker for a second time and for a second time Carew rose to his feet to find the back of the net.

Villa will now travel to Reading, who also won on Wednesday night, for their quarter final tie.

West Brom 2 Reading 3 (AET)

Elsewhere, Reading’s remarkable FA Cup run continued as they once again dumped out higher ranked opposition, this time West Brom were the victims in a 3-2 defeat at the Hawthorns.

Robert Koran gave the Baggies an early lead before Jimmy Kebe levelled for Reading just three minutes later. Koran restored the lead for West Brom, who are riding high in the Championship as opposed to Reading’s relegation fight in the same division, but they were be denied by a late equaliser.

That came via the right foot of Brian Howard, sending the away section in the Hawthorns Stadium wild. Extra-time beckoned and a deflated Baggies side struggled in the extra half hour with Gylfi Sigurdsson grabbing his tenth of the season with an emphatic long range drive to seal progression.

Harry Redknapp will face more questions from the police this week over transfer dealings he was involved in during his time at Portsmouth. The main focus of the latest enquiry is the deal that was done to take Peter Crouch from Aston Villa to Portsmouth.

The main fuss is being caused over an account that the chairman of Portsmouth, Milan Manderic, had set up outside the restrictions of tax within the United Kingdom. This meant that money used to pay for Crouch had not been taxed and leaves Redknapp with another dodgy transfer association to over come.

He said: “The club paid me 5 per cent [for Crouch]. I went back to Milan because I had signed a new contract that said 5 per cent but I said, ‘No, when I signed Crouch it was 10 per cent’, and Milan said, ‘OK, Harry, I accept that’.”

“Milan never had a bank account in England so he said, ‘The only way I can do it is from my American account and I will have to open an account for you in Monaco.’ I said, ‘I don’t want an account in Monaco, I just want it in England, I don’t want the money over there.’ I said [to Mandaric], ‘What about the tax?’ He said the tax had been paid in America. But just in case it wasn’t, when I transferred the money back, my accountants got straight on to the Revenue and told them the money was being transferred from Monaco. If there is a tax issue, they’re aware of it.”

Manderic has been reported as writing to the officials in charge of the inquest: “It’s got nothing to do with bonuses. Bonuses were paid from Portsmouth to their accounts in England. It was a certain investment for Harry in America and I helped him. It’s got nothing to do with the football club.”

Regardless of the way it is looked at, the point is that Redknapp has always had this sort of association when it comes to transfer dealings. He does not appear to have a clean slate and these rumours and investigations will only serve to hamper the good work he is trying to do at Tottenham.

The sooner the matter is done with the better and hopefully a bit of logic and common sense can be used to prevail over things that would drastically damage the career of any of the individuals invokved.