Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini believes new signing James Milner will become an even better player at Eastlands.

The England international finally completed his £26 million move from Aston Villa on Wednesday, with Stephen Ireland moving in the opposite direction, putting to bed the longest transfer saga of the summer.

Martin O’Neill’s reluctance to sell Milner when in charge stalled the deal, while the Northern Irishman’s shock departure complicated matters in terms of Ireland agreeing to move to Villa Park .

Nonetheless, the deal went ahead and Milner becomes another expensive recruit in the project Manchester City are piecing together, and his new Italian boss is eager to get to work with his new midfielder.

“I am very happy to have James with us,” revealed Mancini. “Everybody knows we have admired him for some time. He is an excellent midfielder, who can play in a number of positions.

“This is important for the team, and I am looking forward to seeing him play for us. We have a very strong squad, and this signing is a very important one for us.

“James he is already a very good player, who has proved he can play at the very top level. But he is also young and a good character, I think he can also improve and be a great player for a long time.”

Milner, 24, put pen to paper on a lucrative five-year deal and could go straight into the City squad to face Liverpool on Monday along with fellow multi-million pound signing Mario Balotelli. However, neither have been registered in time for Thursday’s Europa League game at FC Timisoara.

New Villa player Ireland , 23, signed a four-year contract with the mangerless club but the Irishman, who is retired from international football, is relieved to have left Eastlands after falling out of favour last season.

“I have plenty of personal ambitions,” he told the club’s official website. “I want to get back to playing the way I can – I haven’t played 90 minutes in nearly eight or nine months, which isn’t normal really for me.

“I’ve kind of forgotten the feeling what it is like to come off after a game feeling tired, winning or losing. I’m not used to sitting out for so long.

“So for me, I want to get back to playing at the top of my game and I want to work hard for my team-mates. I want to see if my team-mates and myself can push on and achieve something massive this season.”

Ireland was named City player of the season in 2008-09 after scoring 13 goals and earned a five-year deal with the club as a reward, but the club has transformed dramatically since then.

The Cork-born youngster has earned a reputation as somewhat of a troublemaker in his short career but has vowed to make the most of a new lease of life and earn the trust of his teammates and the Villa support.

He added: “For me, my number one target is to work hard for my team-mates, show them what I can bring to the table, show them they can rely on me and that I am going to work hard for them week in, week out.

“I am looking forward to building up a relationship with the fans and my new team-mates. It is exciting for me to have a new challenge, move here and get settled.”

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.

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.

Arsenal can now move forward after their star striker, Robin Van Persie, signed a new contract with the club. There had been rumours that Van Persie was on his way out of Arsenal after he was said to be frustrated by the reluctance of Arsene Wenger to play him on a more regular basis.

Van Persie has reportedly signed a deal that could keep him at Arsenal until he is well into his 30s and he is now set to get a pay rise to the level of somewhere around £80,000 a week. This is good and positive news for Arsenal because it means they are keeping one of the club’s best players.

A lot has been said since the close of last season that Arsenal needed to make good a massive gulf in class between themselves and the best clubs in Europe. The only way they were going to do this is by firstly trying to get their best players to sign on at the club and commit their future to the cause.

Arsenal fans will be hoping that other players will follow suit but it is unlikely that Emanuel Adebayor will be sticking around for much longer if a bid from AC Milan does actually make the table. He has made no secret of his desire to stay at the North London club, unlike Van Persie, and will be hoping that a repeat of last year does not happen where he was forced to stay at Arsenal as a deal could not be concluded in time.

Van Persie said: “I have been at the club for five years now and there is a really great feeling at Arsenal. We have a top class manager, a squad full of superb young players and brilliant supporters.”

Van Persie joins Arsenal’s captain, Cesc Fabregas, in stating his intent on remaining at the club and trying to help them get back to an era when they were by far and away the best football side in Europe. Many Arsenal fans will still look back on the era when they were possibly the most feared side in the world and the news of Van Persie’s commitment means that are one step closer to re-achieving this.

What Arsenal now need to do is not conform to what they always do each season in the transfer window, sit on their heels. They have some very good players in the squad and the addition of Andrey Arshavin last January was a superb and clever signing. Arsenal need some big and high calibre players to come into the team.

It has been all too obvious in recent matches that they are missing players that can boss and dominate the midfield, allowing the more creative influences to bomb forward and wreak havoc in the opposition defence. No doubt Wenger probably has a long list of player targets that he is working on but he has to realise that his philosophy of blooding youth in the Premier League needs to be tampered with and helped along because at the moment it is not working.

The other danger for Arsenal is that if they do not act and act quickly then they stand to lose ground to a lot of other sides in the league next season. Manchester City are making huge strides under the leadership of Mark Hughes as they continue to assemble a hugely impressive squad, which on paper looks like it could push for a Champions League spot. This is all not to mention the number of talented managers there are in the Premier League, all trying to break into the top six. For example David Moyes at Everton and Martin O’Neill at Aston Villa will be doing every thing they can to try and take ground away from Arsenal.

So the question is, how long will it be until Wenger gets going and starts bringing in some players that the club has needed for a long time? The answer is unknown but it is something that he is going to have to do soon or Arsenal risk having their worst season in the Premier League since it began, next year.

Arsenal have a lot of young and hungry players that are all very grateful to be at the club they are. However, the point is that this will only take the club forwards to a set point and sooner or later they will be found out on a weekly basis. The news of Van Persie’s commitment should be a sign to the manager and the entire club that Arsenal need to act and show that they mean business.

On their day they are still the best football side to watch in Europe as the passing and play links up perfectly, but the point is that these days are not consistent enough to have any impact on a big competition. Until the right players are brought in, Arsenal will have no chance of making a good go of success. There are too many clubs at the moment better positioned than they are and if they have not realised this yet then there are some very naïve people running the football club.

There has never been a better time for Arsenal to lay out one or two markers of intent and they need to stop trying to buy players when they are in their teens and turning them into the next Thierry Henry, it is not going to happen. The time has come for Arsenal to get out the chequebook and sign three or four high calibre and experienced players.

If they do this then they stand a chance of actually hanging onto their top four place next season but if they do not and Wenger continues with his current vision, which clearly is not working, then Arsenal will slowly slip down the Premier League table and eradicate any immediate chance of knowing what it tastes like to lift a trophy again. It is a sad scenario but it is one that will happen.

Aston Villa striker John Carew has backed striker partner Gabriel gbonlahor to come back even stronger next season.

The Brummie forward began last season in electric form, netting a hattrick on the opening day of the season against Manchester City at Villa Park.
The England Under-21 international, who is currently on duty with Stuart Pearce’s side, continued his good form throughout the first half of the season as he set the pace at the top of the goalscoring charts.

However, a loss of form which seen him net just two goals in the latter stages of the season showed signs of the 22-year-old’s room for education, and mentor Carew believes he can learn from the experience.

“Gabby was fantastic last year,” Carew told the Birmingham Mail.
“He was one of the top scorers in the league. During the season a player of his age will have ups and downs.

“He will be a fantastic player and I think he had a good season again. He’s been doing it since I got here and I think next year he will be even better.
Despite the indifferent form in the latter stages Agbonlahor still earned a nomination for the PFA Young Player of The Year, which was won by teammate Ashley Young, and 29-year-old Carew thinks there’s more to come.

“He will continue to score goals. You can score a lot of goals in a short period and then it can suddenly stop for a few games,” he added.
“That’s part of it. You just have to keep your confidence up. You have to do the same because if it’s worked before it will work again.”

Meanwhile Villa have announced a pre-season friendly date with Italian giants Fiorentina which will take place at Villa Park on August 8th.
Fiorentina boast Champions League qualification and represent a stern challenge for Martin O’Neill’s side, but the boss is looking forward to the task.

“To follow up our Peace Cup participation with a home game against real quality European opposition in Fiorentina is fantastic and ideal preparation for the start of the season,” he said.

The friendly date will bring back memories of Villa’s pre-season 3-0 thumping of fellow-Italians Inter Milan two seasons ago and O’Neill is hoping for a repeat performance.

“If it’s half as good as the match against Inter Milan here two seasons ago, it will be terrific.” One player who could join up with the senior squad for pre-season is Arsenal Under-16s captain Samir Carruthers. The teenager is expected to put pen to paper at Villa Park having recently turned down an offer to remain at the Emirates.

Villa’s academy director Bryon Jones has revealed a deal is in place to bring the promising youngster to their setup. “He was offered a contract by Arsenal and turned it down. We were given permission by Arsenal to speak to him. “We have agreed in principle a contract and hopefully he is going to sign for us on July 1st.”

Ashley Young is in some extraordinary news today with reports saying that he has demanded Martin O’Neill shows some ambition and forward thinking at the club or he will leave. The Aston Villa star is said to be growing frustrated at the lack of progress the club has made since starting the Premier League in blinding form last season.

Villa have been one of the very few talked about clubs in the transfer market so far and Young wants some ambition to be shown if he is to commit his future to the club. Villa are now an established top six club but the challenge is breaking into the top four and this is something they have got close to doing but have failed on so many occasions.

Villa have already let Gareth Barry leave to go and join Manchester City and with no clear signs of any replacements walking through the door any time soon, Young could make good of the reports that have been saying it is only a matter of time before he joins Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham revolution in London. There are also rumours that Young has been linked to Chelsea who are looking for a high class winger, should they fail in their attempts to sign Franck Ribery of Bayern Munich.

Unless big changes are made quickly then it would be hard for Young and Villa to turn down any lucrative approach from another club. Young would not be worried about leaving the club behind because at current he feels there is little progress being made and that the future of his career may be better served if he moves on to another challenge.

The problem for Martin O’Neill is that he is in a situation where he has to sell before he can buy. If the top clubs in England keep missing out on the players that are joining Real Madrid then they will be forced to look at more realistic domestic options. This could mean that Villa would get a big fee for Young and leave O’Neill with roughly £40 million to spend in reorganising the playing staff.

However, this amount of money will not be as great if Young does stay on and this is the thing that Villa have to weigh up as a club. They need to address how vocal Young is being in his frustration and whether a move would be in the best interests for all of the parties concerned.

It would be remarkable if they did let him go because Young has the ability to put a football onto a ten pence coin and this is the sort of ability that is so priceless in football. He has become one of the deadliest set piece takers of a football and has been knocking on the door of Fabio Capello’s England side for a very long time.

This is the other thing that Young has to consider. If he gets a bigger move, will it mean that his international chances are increased? Doubtless is the fact that he would want to become an international regular and he currently feels that if he stays at Villa then this may not happen.

Tottenham Hotspur have turned their attention to try and sign Aston Villa versatile player, Nigel Reo-Coker. Spurs had been reported as trying to track Arjen Robben of Real Madrid, a high class player who has been put on the transfer list. However, with a number of clubs interested in him, Harry Redknapp has been forced to turn his attention to the domestic transfer market.

Reo-Coker has been proved a very agile player who can play in a wide variety of positions. This could have been the club’s undoing because Reo-Coker is said to have been getting increasingly frustrated by Martin O’Neill’s reluctance to allow him to play outside of the right back slot where he feels he is at his most effective.

Although Reo-Coker clearly wouldn’t be as high a quality signing as Robben, Spurs would be getting a player who has captained a club from a very young age and someone who undoubtedly has a lot of quality and experience to offer for a very young man. However, if Sours can revitalise a bid for Robben then it is unlikely he would join according to his agent, who is also his father.

He said: “It’s absolute nonsense. Arjen will certainly not join Tottenham. I will even bet a bottle of wine Arjen won’t play there.”

It’s a done thing then, especially when a large quantity of alcohol is put on the table to substantiate any doubts that anyone would have had. Many people would say that Spurs would be better off without Robben. Originally he was meant to join Manchester United but snubbed them for Chelsea where it was proved his quality was not good enough for the Premier League.

He subsequently went to join Real Madrid and now that better players than him are being bought like sweets from a candy shop he will be forced to join a club that is not as high in calibre as the big sides that he has already played for.

Reo-Coker would be a better bet in all the aspects that don’t relate to quality or skill of perfromance. He would sweat blood for the side and has already proved that he can play any role that the manager has asked him to. He also doesn’t seem to have an ego and this will please Redknapp at Spurs as this is one of the main attributes of a player that he will be looking for, all the time he is the boss at White Hart Lane.

Spurs are set to lose some quality in the middle of their team over the coming days and Redknapp will need someone who can play alongside Wilson Palacios and make good of the ball winning to turn it into quality for the likes of Robbie Keane to latch onto.

There are also reports that Spurs tried to sign the player in January so there is already an over lying interest in him from Spurs. Once a bid has been lodged or the club have been able to talk to the player then it could be a near formality that personal terms are agreed and a deal can be done.

Gareth Barry may well have thrust Aston Villa back into the headlines after ending a 12-year stay at the club for Manchester City but there are many more to be written. Villa finished sixth in the Premiership but it was their failure to get into the Champions League which Barry blamed on his decision.

It’s been seen as a huge blow for the club but, despite the disappointment, there is absolute confidence that under Martin O’Neill, Aston Villa will bounce back and continue to thrive. For that is the very essence of this famous Birmingham club. Triumph over adversity and, as its motto proclaims, always “Prepared”.

The years since formation have been littered with setbacks but successes too. Cup wins, cup losses. European triumph, European failure. Promotions and relegations. Famous managers, famous sackings. High profile owners, board resignations. But through it all, Aston Villa has remained one of the most successful clubs in English football. It is still one of only five British clubs to have won the European Cup (with Liverpool, Manchester United and Nottingham Forest) and, under new chairman Randy Lerner, it intends going places in the 2009-2010 season. It has also provided more players to the England team than any other club and still holds the record for the most number of goals scored during an English season (128 in 1930-31).

The club has come a long way since its early days. Aston Villa can trace its roots back to 1874 when a group of cricketers associated with the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel wanted something to fill their time in the winter months. They happened to see a game of football being played and challenged the local rugby team to a match. It was an encounter to remember in more ways than one. There were 15 players on each side and the first half was played according to the rules of rugby, the second half according to football!
Villa soon became the dominant Midlands’ side, once beating Small Heath Alliance (later to become arch rivals Birmingham City) 22-0.

Villa became one of the founder members of the Football League in 1888 and enjoyed instant success, only just missing out on the title by one place in the inaugural season. They went on to win it five times in the 1890s in just seven seasons and were the first side to do a League and Cup double in 1897. It was the year the club also moved to Aston Lower Grounds, dubbed Villa Park by fans. The ground capacity is currently 42,640 but expansion plans would bring it to 51,000.

Aston Villa continued with success in the early 1900s, winning their sixth FA Cup in 1920. However, there was then a slow decline, concluding with relegation in 1936 to the Second Division, blamed mainly on a shocking defence. They were promoted back to Division One in the 1937-38 season. Like all other clubs, Villa then missed out on seven seasons because of the Second World War but came back stronger and regenerated under former player Alex Massie.

Their first trophy for 37 years came in the 1956-57 season when they won the FA Cup for the seventh time, defeating the famous Busby Babes. However, they were unable to fend of relegation in 1958-59 but returned to the top flight as Second Division champions in 1960, winning the inaugural League Cup the next season. The late 1960s saw turmoil at Villa, with take-overs, managerial changes and relegation for the third time in 1967. Fury erupted the following season as the famous team hit 16th. Following sackings and a board resignation, control of the club went to Pat Matthews who brought in Doug Ellis as chairman and the club was saved from financial ruin. However, nothing could prevent Villa’s relegation to the Third Division for the first time ever in the 1969-70 season. The club bounced back to the Second Division as champions in 1971-72 with Ron Saunders being appointed manager in 1973. By 1977, he had taken them back to the First Division and Europe.

Villa’s finest hour came in 1982 when, under Tony Barton, they won the European Cup against Bayern Munich and went on to secure the European Super Cup in 1982-83. Villa were again relegated from the top flight in 1987 but bounced back at the first attempt. The club was a founder member of the FA Premiership and were runners-up in 1993 under Ron Atkinson and League Cup winners in 1994 and 1996. Nevertheless, the 1990s were also a decade of some turmoil, with nine different managers and inconsistent league positions.

Aston Villa’s history is littered with famous managerial names, such as Brian Little, Ron Atkinson, Graham Taylor and David O’Leary but it is developments within the boardroom which have also hit the headlines. In 2005-2006, American Randy Lerner bought the majority share in the club, ending Doug Ellis’s long reign, and Martin O’Neill was appointed manager, much to the jubilation of fans. Aston Villa’s modern era has included a new crest, new kit and new team sponsor although the club has never forgotten its roots. The colours are still claret and sky blue and the crest still depicts a lion. However, the club also made history in 2008 when it declined commercial sponsorship on its shirts, advertising instead the Acorns’ Children’s Hospice.

Aston Villa have spent 98 seasons in the top flight of football, second only to Everton with 105 seasons. In the Victorian era, they were one of the most successful and well-known clubs in the entire world and still deserve their place amongst the sporting elite. The club has the fourth highest total of major honours won by an English clubs. Fans believe Aston Villa’s return to its heydays is imminent and the 2009-2010 season could be the time the club hits the headlines for all the right reasons.

Michael Owen,  Alan Shearer,  Mike Ashley,  Now, the Profitable Group has also made an appearance. The headlines have been full of it since Newcastle United lost their bid to stay in the Premiership. But that was weeks ago in May and there one big question the Toon Army wants answering. What exactly is the future of the famous Tyneside club?

Fans suffered enough on the day their hero Shearer failed to wave his magic wand and save Newcastle from relegation. Isn’t it time to put them out of their misery?

There’s just over two months to go before the start of the new season and if the Magpies are to launch a bid for automatic promotion, things need to be settled pretty soon. If not, Newcastle will start the season in unsettled mode and points lost early on could prove absolutely crucial at the end. Stability is essential and the only way to achieve that is to have a happy squad, a manager everyone admires and respects and an owner ready to take Newcastle back to the glory days.

So, there are actually three fundamental questions to be resolved. Firstly, the sale of the club. Mike Ashley has made no bones about the fact that he made big mistakes and has lost out financially. He is asking 100 million pounds for Newcastle United and for the right person or group, that might still turn out to be quite a bargain. But who? The latest reports suggest the Singapore-based Profitable Group which involves former Liverpool midfielder Steve McMahon are interested.

Let’s hope this shows some promise. Newcastle needs a new owner with a bit of money to splash out on new players and a figure-head such as McMahon will guarantee some extra glitter. More importantly, the group is indicating that it would like to keep Alan Shearer on as manager, a decision which would be universally popular with the Toon Army. Does Shearer himself know what is going on? He had indicated that, by now, he would know his future, until Mike Ashley stepped in with his bombshell of putting the club on the open market. Will Shearer wait for the final outcome? He has undoubtedly got other commitments and under any new owner, there will still have to be prolonged talks about how much money can be spent on players, the strategy etc.

The whole time-line is getting pretty close to the start of the new season and the weeks are rolling by with speed. Let’s assume any bid by the Profitable Group works out and Alan Shearer is confirmed as the new permanent manager. Two questions resolved for the fans. The third has to be about the future of Michael Owen. Reports that Aston Villa have made an offer for the out-of-form striker have been dismissed as rubbish by manager Martin O’Neill and we can take this as gospel. Owen, now 29, is out of contract at Newcastle but his form of late, coupled with injury problems, won’t make him an attractive proposition, especially when he is reputed to want to earn around three million pounds a year.

Owen cost the Magpies 16 million pounds from Real Madrid in 2005 and he seems a sensible enough chap to realise that he has to reduce his wage demands if he wants to continue in top-flight football. Owen’s best bet would be to stay with Newcastle United and try to capture some of his sparkling form of yesteryear because surely it is still there somewhere. Whether Shearer would want him remains to be seen. Let’s just hope for the Toon Army’s sake that some decisions are firmed up very quickly so Newcastle can look forward to the new season, not dread it.