The English Premier League football club Aston Villa has confirmed their manager Martin O'Neill has resigned with immediate effect just five days before the start of the new Premier League season.
O'Neill guided Villa to a sixth place finish in each of the last three seasons, with the club on the verge of Champions league qualification.
The former Premier League striker Steve Claridge played under O'Neill at Leicester City and says that with no guarantee of keeping his best players or of receiving an increased transfer budget, his former manager probably felt he'd taken Villa as far as he could.
