O’Neill wants support from Villa fans

Posted on Tuesday, August 25th, 2009 at 12:34 pm and is filed under News.

Aston Villa manager, Martin O’Neill, has taken his club’s fans to task ahead of Thursday’s crucial Europa League playoff against Rapid Vienna.

Villa will take a one goal deficit into the encounter, and will be required to win away from home if they wish to play European football this winter.

The club made a less-than-ideal start to the season with two losses in its first two matches, but came back strongly to defeat Liverpool in the Premier League on Monday.

O’Neill is now concerned that Aston Villa’s fans may be acting against the best interests of the club by failing to support the team after his players were booed off the park following their loss to Wigan last weekend.

“I’m staggered by what’s going on,” O’Neill told the BBC. “To get the abuse we got against Wigan was not warranted. You pay your money and you can go for it if you want but that can be disheartening for young players.”