Exclusive - Collymore: 'O'Neill deserved more backing'

Stan Collymore has told talkSPORT Aston Villa should have given Martin O'Neill the transfer funds to take the club to the next level.

The Villa boss quit just five days before the start of the new Premier League season and Collymore believes he had become disillusioned with life at the club.

And the former Villa striker and talkSPORT presenter, who played under O'Neill at Leicester, says his former boss was perfectly entitled to resign if he felt he wasn't getting the support he needed.

Collymore told Drive Time: "I'm shocked and disappointed, and I think 90% of Villa fans will feel the same way.

"He’s eminently frustrated with a lack of movement in the transfer market and a lack of backing to go out and buy players. People say he’s spent a lot of money over the last couple of seasons but you have to keep spending if you’re going to be competitive.

"The club was on its backside [when he took charge]. He dragged them up from near the bottom of the table into a position where they were challenging at the top and he’s brought in a lot of good, young English players.

"Villa’s in a good place as a club and he deserved more backing. It’s got a little frustrating for him and, as with all good quality managers, if they’re not getting the backing they think they deserve ,they’ll turn their back on the club.

"Aston Villa needs to kick on. Man City are spending, Liverpool are spending. It’s not good enough for a club like Villa to be happy with sixth, seventh or eighth. Martin O’Neill wanted to take them on to the next level and he deserved the backing to try to do that.
"He deserved top dollar investment on an annual basis and I, as a Villa fan, don’t feel he got that."

Villa fans - what do you think of O'Neill's decision to quit? Are you angry with the timing? Should he have been given more money to spend? And who would you like to see get the job now?