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Davies blasts O'Neill's favouritism

Curtis Davies claims a number of Aston Villa players were unhappy with former manager Martin O'Neill © Getty Images

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Aston Villa defender Curtis Davies has lashed out at outgoing manager Martin O'Neill over his selection policy and the timing of his sudden resignation less than a week before the Premier League kick-off.

O'Neill has been criticised by Villa director General Charles Krulak for not complying to the club's need to reduce its wage bill and acting like he is "bigger than the club", and now some barbs have been fired from within the dressing room.

Davies fell out of favour with O'Neill and a shoulder injury helped limit his appearances to a handful last season, but he claims his beef with the manager is shared by a number of team-mates at Villa Park.

"A lot of players have been frustrated with not having a fair crack of the whip - me myself, I am one of them," Davies said. "If you have an even playing field, you have a chance and then you are happy. As long as someone comes in and is fair then I am sure the players will be happy. I personally felt I didn't have a chance. Whoever comes in might not fancy me either but so long as someone is fair that's all you ask. I just will keep my head down, keep training hard and then hopefully get a game soon."

Reports claim Davies had fallen out of favour partly because he was approaching an appearance-based clause in his contract. Davies said the timing of O'Neill's departure was "not ideal" but that the team would rally behind caretaker manager Kevin MacDonald for their season opener against West Ham on Saturday.

"It is not an ideal situation four days before the start of the season to be going in without a manager but you have to deal with what we have got. We have got good players at this club and Kev taking the reins, he is a good coach and hopefully he has enough time to put a stamp on us and hopefully we can pull together for him."

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