Recently by Bill Howell

WHEN will Martin O'Neill admit that Marlon Harewood has no future at the club.

Not even on the bench for last night's welcome win against Porto, Harewood is the ideal replacement for the suspended Emile Heskey in Seville against Juventus.

But even with a side ravaged by injury, non-availability and suspension Harewood is unlikely to be anywhere near the action.

Elsewhere Curtis Davies is convinced that he will be available to play on Sunday.

That's all very well but anyone who saw him wince at Everton last season when that shoulder initially popped out of its socket will now see that Davies potentially has a problem that may need corrective surgery, similar to that undertaken by Luke Moore.

Eric Lichaj and the highly impressive Marc Albrighton (who needs David Bentley) picked up their second bookings in the rather niggly affair against Porto and as we left the stadium there was a good deal of confusion as to whether they might be available or would miss out.

Just imagine if one, two or all three of those players don't make it - what sort of side would O'Neill be able to field against Juve?

It's no doubt a great experience for the likes of Lichaj, Albrighton, Ciaran Clark, Shane Lowry, Barry Bannan (who has now certainly slipped down the pecking order behind Albrighton), Chris Herd and Andreas Weimann.

But tomorrow could be one step too far against the Italians who ended the hopes of Ronaldo and co with their 2-1 win against Real Madrid.

It also won't help that Seville is renowned as the hottest place in Spain. The "frying pan" as it has been tagged.

As for last night's game. Brad Guzan appears to have given himself a real shout at one day soon replacing Brad Friedel. His handling was assured and he pulled off some fine saves. There were two clear errors when he lost the ball along the touchline and could easily have given away a penalty only for the referee to side with him in one incident. But his display was overall extremely sound.

Porto were a distasteful outfit. There was much gamesmanship. It was little surprise when Heskey paid the price.

Ashley Young has started pre-season with the proverbial 'bit between his teeth'. Steve Sidwell won the official man-of-the-match vote and certainly looked more like the player who shone for a brief time around the turn of the year.

Nigel Reo-Coker has taken to the captaincy. A pity for him then that Stiliyan Petrov will be back in two to three weeks.

But probably for me the game's most outstanding player was John Carew who, considering his laid back persona and the fact that these really are just friendlies, looked well and truly a man possessed.

True Porto defended shockingly at times and did not look on the night anything like Premier League let alone European standard.

But there is at last something for Villa supporters to be pleased about before the next week or two sees some strenuous efforts made in rebuilding a seriously reduced squad.

Work to bring in Sylvain Distin and get Portsmouth to reduce their £4.5m asking price should gather pace.

I am expecting Blackburn's Stephen Warnock to make the switch.

I understand Miguel Veloso and Sporting Lisbon are hanging on the telephone waiting for Villa to complete a £12m switch.

Sol Campbell could now also expect to be offered a short term contract.

And don't rule out an expensive foreign signing, a flagship signing, the likes of which O'Neill has never made before.

I've said before that Villa are at a crossroads. Perhaps they have taken just the first step on the right road.

FIRST the good news.

Stiliyan Petrov is in with a great chance of being fit for the start of the season.

The Bulgarian is a lucky boy.

Scans on his injured shoulder show that the dislocation should only put him out for between two and three weeks.

That makes it quite possible that he could play against Wigan.

Now the bad news. It's July 31. Still no players through the 'in' door.

The art of closing deals appears to be lost.

It's not just Martin O'Neill though.

Name the manager: "I think it's important that you get the right players, and if we miss out on them for the first three or four Premier League matches because they're hanging on for things, we'll have to do that.

"I've got a reputation for leaving things right up until the last minute."

Not O'Neill but Stoke's Tony Pullis.

The problem, as Villa fans are only too aware, is that Villa had to sign two crackers just to stand still.

There are genuine concerns from within the camp that not enough has been done and that the squad is simply not strong enough.

Anyway, we're hours away from the semi-final of the Peace Cup. Hopefully there will be plenty more fans here tonight after the game against Atlante was watched by one man and his dog (and plenty of folks back home on an internet stream).

O'Neill has faced Porto three times. One win and two defeats, including the UEFA Cup Final.

But tonight is not about him. It's about seeing whether Steve Sidwell and Nigel Reo-Coker can strike up an effective partnership, it's about Carlos Cuellar and Curtis Davies, it's about John Carew and Emile Heskey....

The emergence of Marc Albrighton on this trip has been a major plus. Brad Guzan was impressive against Atlante. Ashley Young is already up to speed.

But the negatives: Luke Young's thigh injury surely being the biggest cause for concern, still leave a nasty taste in the mouth.

Tomorrow is the first day of August. We can only hope that somebody's mobile phone has a signal and that that person's fax machine is plugged in.

I'VE never known a summer like it for speculation.

Only last night, whilst at the game, we must have been hit with as many as eight, nine or ten names on the Birmingham Mail's live match blog.

Obafemi Martins, Steven Taylor, Stephen Warnock and Tuncay. You name it they were on it.

Well, almost everyone.

It still baffles me why Olof Mellberg was firstly allowed to quit the club on a free transfer. Villa left it far too late to open talks with a player happy in the Midlands.

And then secondly why he was allowed to join Olympiacos for £3 million when a decent centre-half these days will cost you treble that for his boots alone.

I've heard it on the grapevine Olof wanted to return. His missus wasn't quite so keen.

As for the names being banded about I'm quite sure there remains a strong interest in some of these players.

And I am now pretty convinced that plans have had to be altered in the last few days. I hear or two signings that were lined up as near certainties who then fell through.

Certainly judging by Martin O'Neill's body language in the early stages of the match against Atlante you could tell there was a bee in his bonnet about something.

So where to next?

Robbie Keane would undoubtedly show ambition. Steven Defour? Definitely top drawer.

Villa have been keen to play down all the Darren Bent stories from back home, but sometimes there is no smoke without fire and despite his public utterances last night that Carew, Agbonlahor, Heskey and Delfouneso were quite ready to lead the charge this season (note, still not one single mention of Marlon Harewood as if he needed any further hints that his future lies away from Villa Park) it is clear that Villa need a natural goalscorer.

Clearly there are still problems in defence and it remains a huge surprise why Zat Knight was everr allowed to leave with no one seemingly lined up to come straight in.

Knight, to his credit, rarely let Villa down and Gary Megson has not done at all badly with his capture.

So who else has O'Neill lined up?

Stephen Warnock? That's a possibility although Blackburn will be looking at £6 million at least for a player with three years left on his contract.

Few words are now ever spoken about Fabian Delph. Clearly Leeds have been asking top whack and Villa won't pay it. Tottenham are thought to be ready to swoop.

Ah Tottenham. What ever happened to David Bentley who not so long ago was claiming to be in talks with Villa?

What of Tom Huddlestone? What of Jermaine Jenas?

There remain so many questions and so few answers. The season is a little over a fortnight away.

If this were happening in Doug Ellis' era the chairman would be coming in for a heap of stick.

One can only hope that the first of many signings are just around the corner.

But on a positive note we were lucky to be granted an interview with Nigel Reo-Coker earlier today.

What a few weeks it has been for him.

Not many people would have given him a starting place a few weeks back. Now he is going to be captain of Villa due to Stiliyan Petrov's dislocated shoulder.

For Reo-Coker also read Steve Sidwell. The challenge is there for both of them to now make something of their Villa careers. Finally the chance is there for either or both of them to make Gareth Barry's name a thing of the past.

I'd have put my money on Sidwell changing clubs this summer. Now both players look certs for starting berths and how on earth could O'Neill look to sell either of them?

The same "Not for Sale" message will also have to be slapped on Nicky Shorey and Craig Gardner, both who may well have been thinking about pastures new.

The only player who can leave is that man Harewood. But who will pay £2million for a player earning twenty-odd thousand a week who has hardly played for two years?

THERE'S little doubt that three goals and victory over the Mexicans of Atlante wiped away some of the frustrations and misery of a fraught summer.

Following a poor display against Malaga and a pretty woeful opening 35 minutes last night, Villa suddenly decided to up the ante and gets some balls into the box.

Atlante had clearly not done their homework on Villa or watched any Match of the Day clips. If they had they would have realised that you cannot allow a Premier League centre forward, especially one who is 6'5" and as aerially dominant as John Carew, free space in the penalty box.

There were other plusses. Marc Albrighton looked particularly impressive. No show-boating, no feigning injury despite some close attention, just a refreshing desire to get the ball down the wing.

Eric Lichaj also looks one for the future. Sure much bigger tests lie in wait but with so many youngsters out on the field at the end of the match, it was difficult not to wonder at the fine work of Bryan Jones, Kevin MacDonald, Tony McAndrew and Gordon Cowans.

I've often wondered why some Championship club hasn't wanted to prize the whole lot of them away.

Anyway, it was a good win but would even reaching Sunday's Final against Real Madrid or Juventus mask the problems behind the scenes. It would be most welcome, of course it would, but injuries to Luke Young and Stiliyan Petrov have opened up what was already a severely limited squad.

Can you see a team of Friedel, Lichaj, Shorey, Cuellar, Davies, Milner, Reo-Coker, Sidwell, Young, Carew, Agbonlahor seriously challenging for honours this season?

The manager thinks not. So there's your pointer. He says five players at least need to be brought in.

We're almost in August and just Stewart Downing has come in. It's the same every transfer window, isn't it?

This time Manchester City are being blamed for hiking up prices.

That may be so, if you are shopping in the same boutiques. But aren't we constantly amazed at some of the talent spotted in far off markets for a fraction of the cost?

It's all very well only wanting to buy English, but sometimes necessity demands an alternative.

With Martin Laursen, Gareth Barry and Zat Knight having departed and Young and Petrov injured, there has never been a more imperative time to act.

If Portsmouth want £4.5 million for a 31-year-old out of contract in a season then pay it.

If Leeds want £6 million for a teenager who has not played in the Championship before, then pay it.

It's all very well looking after the pennies like they were your own, but Villa are at a crossroads.

City and Tottenham look good bets to mount a charge on the top four.

Villa, it appears, will have the happiest accountants in the top flight. But exactly when did that win you trophies?

"Emptiness" as a human condition is a sense of generalised boredom, social alienation and apathy.

Don't ask me, it's there in black and white on wikipedia.

Four and a half weeks since the final game and counting...

And still the 'IN' box at Aston Villa is exactly that. Empty.

The 'Outs' make depressing reading. Martin Laursen (retired) and Gareth Barry (Manchester City, £12m).

How on earth do you replace those two at a time when average nobodies cost £8 million, or Glen Johnsons costs £18 million.

Congratulations to Stuart Taylor in getting a free transfer and a one year contract at Manchester City.

He's well thought of at reserve level at Villa for the support he has given the younger players.

But he clearly doesn't fancy first team football, does he?

I'm led to believe that things are progressing on two fronts, one of which I would bet my bottom dollar was David Bentley, that scoundrel who admitted Villa were talking to him a fortnight ago in a national newspaper.

Word has it that Martin O'Neill was none too pleased with that half-advert for his Spanish bar and threatened to pull the plug.

Anyway, Villa's players will be back in training in a fortnight in preparation for a couple of low key friendlies, the Peace Cup and a season that could see them play 16 games just to get to Hamburg (or five or six games to then send their reserves to Eastern Europe).

Time for 'Martin No Deal', as some supporters have somewhat harshly started to tag him, to deal?

Well, I sense no great urgency from within the walls of power.

I think they are comforted by the knowledge that in their opinion the big guns in the Premier League are yet to show their hands, other than of course Manchester City.

They would seem correct in that assertion by and large.

And they appear comforted in the knowledge that they clearly know who they want and are confident of closing deals with the swiftness reminiscent of that double swoop for Luke Young and Nicky Shorey last summer.

Surely Villa cannot wait until five to midnight at the end of August again?

And yet the post-bags here at the Mail are increasingly agitated and somewhat negative.

This is exactly the type of dithering that the new American broom was supposed to brush away when it breezed into power three years ago.

The club, most say, are standing on a precipice in danger of falling off the cliff face with two of their best players gone.

Manchester City and Tottenham would appear to be advancing faster than a speeding bullet. Furthermore, Chelsea are undoubtedly trying to turn Ashley Young's head with the promise of riches far beyond that which Randy Lerner can deliver.

Speaking of Tottenham, I see Ian Broomfield has been handed the Chief Scout role.

He was always a friendly face at Bodymoor Heath. Perhaps we will never get to the bottom of exactly who signed Eric Djemba-Djemba. I'm led to believe it was done directly between David O'Leary and Roy Keane.

Back to this summer and the question as to whether Villa are missing a trick.

Arsenal have signed Thomas Vermaelen from Ajax, Blues have brought in Christian Benitez, Scott Dann and Joe Hart, Blackburn have plumped for Elrio Van Heerden and Aaron Mokoena, Chelsea have blown Villa and everyone else out of the water for a virtually untried youngster in Daniel Sturridge, now earning more in a week than the average man makes in two years.

Fulham have nailed Stephen Kelly, Liverpool have the afore mentioned Johnson, Man City have the afore mentioned Barry and Roque Santa Cruz and West Ham have signed Luis Jimenez and Peter Kurucz.

Wigan landed Jordi Gomez and even Wolves have got going by signing Nenad Milijas, Marcus Hahnemann and are having a dart at Kevin Doyle.

This week's non-movers, as they use to say on 'Pick of the Pops'? (That's the radio for our older readers, or the wireless for the even older)?

Only Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Everton, Hull, Portsmouth, Stoke City, Sunderland and Tottenham are keeping their fans waiting, although Hull have admitted to imminent talks with Michael Owen's representatives (remember him?).

Manchester United have yet to start their summer spree, flush with an extra £80 million for a preening winker who spent most of his time on his bottom at Villa Park.

As most Villa supporters will agree, this is a huge pre-season where the advances of three years of intelligent management cannot be thrown away.

So please, please, please Villa... get cracking eh?

GARETH Southgate was never forgiven.

As proud a Villa stalwart as you can get, one who led the team out in an FA Cup Final and played a club record 42 times for England whilst at Villa, branded a 'judas' and jeered and booed at every turn over the last eight years.

All for muttering the word "ambition".

Gareth Barry might find it a little tricky too...at least in the short term. I hope not.

Martin O'Neill lauded Stiliyan Petrov a fortnight ago for never wanting to run his contract down, not at Celtic and neither at Villa.

Surely the selfish thing for Gareth Barry to do would have been to stay for 12 more months and then to fly off?

Went for the money? Don't make me laugh.

Villa offered Gareth as much as City...well, almost.

£80,000 a week and a testimonial was there for the taking had he stayed on.

Liverpool came in after the deal was done. All that messing about last summer. Left Barry hanging out to dry they did.

Then 12 months on tell him he will be playing at left-back, then allow him to agree everything with City... and then come in with a bid.

"Too late Rafa. That boat has already sailed!"

Laughable really.

But this was never about Liverpool.

Or about money.

This is about first team football and ambition. Oops, there's that word again. Uttered by Southgate all those years ago.

Back in March 2001, I interviewed Southgate who had grown stale by his own admissions.

John Gregory had blocked a lucrative move to Chelsea and he harboured Champions League ambitions.

"Mid-way through last season I decided that in terms of my career it would be the right decision to move on. I felt that I'd done everything I could for Villa,'' Southgate said over eight years ago.

"I just felt I needed a new challenge, and I didn't really see Villa battling for a Champions' League place or, more importantly, for the championship itself.

"I still feel I'm in the same situation now. I don't think anything that's happened this year has convinced me that I was wrong about the way I felt previously."

Pretty similar sentiments to today's 700 word letter sent via email to me last night by Gareth Barry, a friend over the last ten years.

Barry wanted to use the Birmingham Mail as a direct communication tool. His idea, not mine.

I'd have been happy to do an interview but I think it spoke volumes for the man. It had to be his words and his thoughts alone. Not interspersed with my interpretation of his quotes. And not hacked back to the most eye-catching 300 words.

Yesterday Barry was fearful that his thoughts would seem too contrived, too hot off the press. But thankfully he changed his mind last night, clearly the relief of a year of speculation now off his back.

He knew he'd get bucket loads of abuse ala Southgate, Yorke, Ehiogu... until that is that Manchester City set about building a team of superstars to challenge the top four, three, or two as they almost inevitably will.

Maybe then the knockers will start seeing Barry's move as one of ambition and not one motivated purely out of greed.

Barry, as he says in the letter, is fearful of becoming stale. 12 years of driving into the same Bodymoor Heath entrance whilst all of his mates have moved on - from Darius Vassell to Lee Hendrie, has taken its toll.

That first team at Sheffield Wednesday in May '98 of: Oakes, Southgate, Ehiogu, Taylor, Draper, Yorke, Joachim, Wright, Nelson, Grayson, Hendrie - all long gone to a man.

Some sold by the club, some let go for nowt, others demanding moves on pain of death. Some long forgotten, others cherished, and Southgate still despised.

Fresh challenges. We all need them from time to time. Even football writers.

The loyalty argument always makes me laugh.

Barry, after all, was pinched from Brighton.

This was Barry almost sold for £5 million to Portsmouth three years ago.

And what of Martin Laursen? Five years at Villa. Played brilliantly for one and a half of them.

He will forever return as a conquering hero, greeted by all and sundry - and rightly so. Great bloke, really excellent player.

But how much blood did he spill for Villa? Barry sweated for eleven years as a professional. Laursen spent three and a half years on the treatment table and one of those spent back in Italy with his feet up on full pay.

If you want to find a villain in all of this, blame the game.

Blame the Bosman rule, blame the TV companies, blame the agents (Barry didn't even use one, so give him credit for that at least).

Blame the state of a national game where the fourth best club can pick up £25million a year more than the fifth best.

Blame the club directors filling their faces on foie gras, king crab or caviar in plush corporate seating, maybe washing it down with a Georgia's Paddock Shiraz from Heathcote.

All this whilst acquiring accumulated debts of £3 billion in the name of sport.

If you can't blame them then blame the banks of MPs expenses?

But don't blame Barry.

Back to Southgate. He, of course, ultimately won his ambition argument with Villa. He won a trophy, albeit a League Cup when he would have collected diddly squit if he had stayed on.

Southgate, interestingly, had this to say when he signed for Boro. Just substitute Steve McClaren for Mark Hughes and it's amazing the similarity: "Once I had spoken to their manager Steve McClaren it did not take me long to make up my mind to join.

"I was extremely impressed with the manager and what he wants to achieve at the club. There is never any guarantee of success but there is a new era starting at the club which I want to be part of.

"Although it's great to be able to look ahead to a fresh challenge, I want to stress that I will not forget the great times I had at Villa and I truly wish the club well for next season.'

Football and loyalty. That old debate.

I remember George Boateng's agent threatening strike action against Villa if he failed to secure a move to Middlesbrough.

As I have said before, fans will always boo a former player.

Cyrille Regis, now a father figure at Albion, got it big style when he went back with Coventry City. How the Baggies fans cheered when he was sent off for trading blows with Martyn Bennett.

Villa will move on. The Tom Huddlestone's and David Bentley's of this world will come in.

But the worry is that without Martin Laursen and Barry, and with the top four able to go big again, and with Manchester City and Tottenham spending monopoly money, the worry is that the only way for Villa is down.

All this fuss about expenses.

It reminds me of the tale I was told a couple of years ago of the club director here in the midlands who used to claim mileage from his midlands home to attend home matches.

Yes, home matches.

Nothing in football should ever surprise you.

Nothing.

I've just finished one of those live web chats we do every three weeks, or so.

The level of criticism levelled at Martin O'Neill was in part understandable. This has been a truly wretched 15 game run. Moscow was bad enough. But throwing away fourth place and then fifth.

If ever Villa needed to finish on a high it is Sunday.

The most important final home game since, well, since Sunderland in May 2003. Then it was all about staying in the division. Now it is all about sending out a ray of hope for next season.

Villa were four points clear of West Ham with two games to go six years back. Sunderland and Albion were already down but the Hammers were making a fight of it.

No one fancied the final game, away at struggling Leeds.

Marcus Allback scored with ten minutes to go and Villa stayed up by the skin of their teeth - four points clear of West Ham who went down on 42 points, a Premier League record high.

Sunday represents an incredible occasion for Villa but not for the reasons you would have imagined last August.

A Villa win and Newcastle, one of the best supported teams in the country, will be down.

I know an awful lot of Villa supporters who can see the funny side in that.

Indeed, a great many football fans in general will have little sympathy for Mike Ashley.

As for Villa? Is fifth really worth fighting for?

Is beating last season's 60 points worth anything whatsoever?

Is attaining 62 points and therefore getting the most points since 1996 worth anything?

Well, it will never make up for the way Villa have tossed away such a tremendous position on February 7.

It will never make up for Moscow and the decision that announced to the world that silverware meant little and that the finances of fourth meant everything.

But still the level of criticism of Martin O'Neill shocks me.

We are in a league where results mean everything. Look at Stoke. Playing hoof-the-ball football for eight months having spent a small fortune and where Tony Pullis is talked about as a contender for Manager of the Season. Laughable.

So if it is results you want then fifth or sixth place should not see the manager facing the level of criticism he is now facing, both on the internet chat rooms and in our letters pages.

Everything he has done, or is doing, is now under scrutiny.

All of a sudden the bad buys, they often point to the likes of Harewood, Shorey, Cuellar, Davies, Knight, Sidwell, Reo-Coker, Milner and Heskey out-weigh the good: Ashley and Luke Young and Petrov (admittedly after an 18 month wait).

All of a sudden the substitutions are laughable (taking off to full-backs at Fulham) and the team selections puzzling (Milner at right back) when only three months ago the Irishman was a tactical whizz, playing five in midfield and out-thinking Arsene Wenger at home and away (undoubtedly, the best 45 minutes of the season was in the draw at Villa Park and the best 90 minutes came at The Emirates).

It's going to be a massive summer as ever.

Martin Laursen has already gone. Gareth Barry may decide to join him in the fulness of time - although Rafa Benitez' promise to play Barry as a left-back or a left-sided midfielder has not gone down well with the player. That's not exactly a ringing endorsement of his qualities.

Villa have kept Petrov, which was great news. They may well decide to cash in on John Carew should a big offer come in, but that is down to them.

You never know. Bouma could be back to finally hand the club a quality left-back.

Shorey, Osbourne, Knight, Sidwell, Reo-Coker, Harewood, Taylor, Salifou and Gardner will each have decisons to make: whether to make a break or to sit on their contracts.

I can forsee any one of them moving on, but of course not all.

Then the tricky part. Spending wisely to take the club forward.

Only then, come October or November at the very earliest, should O'Neill's management of the club even start to be questioned.

Just thank your lucky stars that you are not a Newcastle supporter.

First the bad news.... one win in 15 matches.

Now the good news, Stiliyan Petrov is signing a new lengthy four year contract today.

That really is terrific news for Villa.

The Supporters and Players' Player of the Season had just next season on his contract and, as I have said before, there was interest in the Bulgarian from elsewhere in the Premier League from serious challengers to Villa's 5th/6th spot next season.

Petrov's future was in doubt until last week.

I would not bet against him being captain next season if, as expected, Gareth Barry moves on.

Petrov would also not have signed had he not been given some sort of assurances about team rebuilding.

The last few months have been frustrating for one and all - even sports writers.

No one wants to talk when the team is doing poorly, although I have to give a special commendation to James Milner for facing up to the music after the 5-0 drubbing at Liverpool.

Saturday's draw at Middlesbrough once again served up a right mixture.

The first half was bad. Very bad. As bad as that second half at Fulham.

But the second saw Villa back to somewhere near the form of late November to early February, at least for a sizeable portion of that 45 minutes.

Ashley Young and Gabby Agbonlahor are struggling for form.

What on earth has happened to Villa's ability to take a free-kick? Young's were appalling at Boro and have been for some time. This from a player who is the nearest Villa fans have seen to David Beckham in years and years.

The winners for me were Milner who will surely not have expected to be playing at right-back from the start.

The early exit of Stewart Downing certainly helped Milner settle after a difficult start to the game.

But against, it must be said, a poor side apart from Tuncay Milner then picked up his game and came out with his head held high.

And I thought the centre-backs of Curtis Davies and Carlos Cuellar deserved massive credit.

Yes I know they were not up against much. But they did everything and more at The Riverside to suggest that actually they aren't bad players at all.

Martin Laursen's retirement was a massive blow to the preparations for next season.

The notion among many supporters I have spoken to over the last few months is that Cuellar has not been good enough and that Davies is a different player without Laursen shepherding him through games.

Well, let me tell you Davies has come out with some very strong words on that subject which will be printed in the Birmingham Mail later this week.

Congratulations to the 2,500 or so supporters who made the trip to The Riverside - and not just the row of 20 or so bananas - and made it such a joyous spectacle.

They could quite easily have decided to stay at home after such a depressing run but the fans have stayed with the team and the manager.

Ah - the manager!

I knew I'd have to address that one. He's still paying the price for Moscow and I have to say some of his public utterances since have hardly curried favour with the masses.

But now he finds his tactical prowess questioned at every level.

His critics are worried about an over emphasis on one or two favoured players, the fact that he plays so many out of position and that when he has to find cover for one position there seem to have to be five people moving around.

For two and-a-half seasons tactics was never an issue.

It goes back to the old saying of Graham Taylor. You will never win an argument if you are not winning football matches.

Anyway, back to Petrov. That's stage one in the rebuilding process for next season.

Stage two is to move out the dead wood - and there is plenty of that. Marlon Harewood, Isiah Osbourne - you know who they are.

Stage three is the tricky part - bringing in real quality. You might be surprised at one of the players who I have been told, by a good source, is on the list.

'Blast from the past' you might say.

"I'm not talking top of the range but he fitted in with our budget," said the Villa manager of the time after a signing a centre-back for £3 milion five years back.

The manager? David O'Leary of course. The player? Martin Laursen.

O'Leary whittered something about having lost Ronny Johnsen - who failed to even turn up for the last match of the season after learning on the eve of the game he would not be getting a new contract - and Dion Dublin, similarly having learnt via the media that he would not be kept on - and Alpay.

Moan, moan, moan....

Martin Laursen was by no means an unknown quantity when he arrived.

12 months earlier he had turned down Wolves. Unthinkable, I know.

Graham Taylor had scouted him for Villa before the 2002 World Cup but was hamstrung by the club's financial commitments to Alpay and Bosko Balaban, both of whom he had wanted to pay off but was not given the authority that was soon afforded David O'Leary.

Taylor signed Ronny Johnsen on a free transfer instead and he certainly gave good value.

Laursen's debut gave no hint of the impact he would make in years to come, a 2-1 friendly defeat at Walsall.

"I don't want to be horrible but I thought Laursen looked a bit shaky," said Walsall boss Paul Merson at the time.

Well, Laursen's career came to an official end today at the age of just 31.

Five years and 89 starts at Villa. A pitiful return I know, but Villa folk will hold him in high esteem for years and years to come.

Not just because of his robust, brave approach to the game but also his quiet, dignified, graceful leadership off the pitch.

Do 89 starts in five years at the £3 million transfer fee plus around £1.5million a season, including a full year out of the game spent in Bologna recuperating and a new contract in January 2008 represent value for money?

Well, foer four of those seasons the answer would be probably not. But the 38 league games that he played last season will long live in the memory.

Mellberg, Southgate, Ehiogu - all fine central defenders indeed over the past 15 years.

Many folk though see Laursen right up there with the best of the lot, Paul McGrath.

The warning signs were blaring in March 2005.

"I've a serious cartilage problem," Laursen told the Danish media. "It makes me think of the future."

He admitted that his joints were rubbing together and that he could not walk properly down a flight of stairs.

O'Leary and Doug Ellis would privately aportion blame on each other that a more detailed medical was not carried out before the player jetted off to the Euro 2004 finals where he was a major star.

"He is as brave as a lion, said Martin O'Neill after the League Cup defeat at Chelsea when injury, medial ligaments this time, had struck again.

Then after a goalless draw at Newcastle in August 2007 O'Neill was repeating the metaphor.

"He is a very brave boy when you think of the problems he has been through with his knee it is amazing he is even able to play Premier League football. He is vital to us," gushed the manager.

Finally, another injury, at West Ham in December. One more appearance later, against Albion the following month, and another knee operation was necessary.

After that he broke down on a training camp in Dubai in March and faced 12 further months on the sidelines and yet another operation.

So finally today he has admitted his battle is lost.

Both as a player and person of real substance, Laursen will be sadly missed.

The future for Villa suddenly does not look so bright.

Congratulations to Stiliyan Petrov.

As I'd said in an earlier post he was the expected recipient of the Player of the Year award. Fully deserved.

I myself expected Gareth Barry to win at least the Players' award, but the Bulgarian has had a consistent season.

Petrov's full turnaround will be complete when he lines up against Newcastle next weekend.

Remember him being hauled off at half-time against the Toon last February? Along with Olof Mellberg?

Of course you'd have had to have paid £95 plus VAT to see Petrov pick up his gong in person on Tuesday night.

Who says football is for the common man?!

It was intriguing to see that Ashley Young picked up nothing at all. It seems his team-mates think rather less of him than they do at other clubs.

If only there was an award for Walk of the Season. Nicky Shorey would have waltzed that one with his snail-esque walk of shame after being subbed at Craven Cottage.

Like a lone foot soldier at the Somme, driving on from the trenches through the mud and over the bodies with bullets and bombs either side.

Rumour has it he is still making his way to the team coach.

Elsewhere today I see that Randy Lerner is running Aston Villa "just like Doug Ellis," according to one former senior executive at the club.

I think I know exactly where this story has come from. A long-standing former employee of the Ellis era, part of the furniture it has to be said, appears to be having a pop at the Americans?

I would not read too much into such gripes. Not unless this person wanted to stick his name to the article and then lose his season tickets.

Lerner passed the litmus test as an owner in my book by handing out nigh-on £50 million last summer to Martin O'Neill.

Of course the test ahead is to replicate that again this summer. Villa are streets ahead of where they were off the pitch three years ago but you'll never win over the supporters if the team are struggling, regardless of your training ground or stadium.

Ellis always backed his managers with money, whatever you might think to the contrary.

I personally wish Villa weren't so corporate. But how else would they compete with the bigger clubs? The closest club to Villa, arguably, in terms of make-up Everton are looking to move into a new stadium.

Will that allow them to leave Villa in their slip-stream?

Anyhow, to this weekend and the trip to Middlesbrough.

How many Villa supporters want to see Gareth Southgate relegated on Saturday?

I'm guessing quite a few. Which is a pity. If ever there was a loyal and proud Villa club man it was Southgate.

The villain of the piece was not he, and that said villain is no longer in football.

Of course the story this Saturday is all about Boro. No one cares a jot about whether Villa win, lose or draw.

But I do.

And just think of the scenario should Everton get a point at home to West Ham and Villa lose? Or Villa draw and Everton win.

That would push Villa down to sixth and would represent quite a fall from grace after the first six months of the season where anything looked possible.

Villa first held a top four place after their win at Tottenham in mid-September.

They broke back into the top four after the home win against Blackburn at the end of October. The home draw against Manchester United in November saw Villa regain fourth.

They regained it again after the home win to Bolton in mid-December and apart from a four day period prior to the away win at Hull City in late December they
remained there until they lost to Tottenham in mid-March.

But if ever you want a fixture to put smiles back on faces it is Middlesbrough away.

Boro have won only seven matches all season. Villa had managed that with their win at Arsenal on November 15, ironically six days after being beaten at home by Boro.

Villa's Premier League record at Boro is immense. Played 13, won 8 drawn 2 lost 3, goals for 30, against 15, pts 26. That's including five wins in the last six visits, having scored 17 goals.

I remember Joey Gudjonsson's 30-yarder six years ago and thought Villa had pinched the missing link. Unfortunately, Gudjonsson's only other memorable event at Villa Park was that two-footed lunge on Matthew Upson.

But he scored against Boro that January 2003 night when Graham Taylor's side got their first away win of the season in spectacular fashion, winning 5-2.

Indeed, such is Villa's domination up there (and I am not even going to mention Lee Cattermole's tears) their best performance arguably of the lot was a rare defeat, 3-0 under David Whatsisname when they absolutely battered Boro from start to finish.

So regardless of the fact that Villa were plain awful in the second half at Fulham, surely it will be three points in the bag?

Surely? But then again Luke Moore is now an Albion player and his goal against Boro used to be almost guaranteed.