I've been a bit out of the loop the last couple of days so this might not be news to anyone but me and if it is sorry it's late, but according to The Sun, Martin O'Neill and Nigel Reo-Coker 'grappled each other to the ground in an amazing training-ground bust-up yesterday'.

Now, first things first, they have a quote. Secondly, you can not write something about Martin O'Neill that isn't true, otherwise he'll sue and every editor in the land knows this, so maybe there is something in it?

It is believed that O'Neill doesn't attend training that often, leaving most of the work to his two assistants most of the week and it is also thought that the Thursday before a Saturday game is one of the days he will oversee things, so we will assume that he was in attendance, but can this really have happened?

A stunned onlooker
It was really heated and at one point they fell to the ground grappling with each other although no one was throwing punches or anything like that.

Okay, it is fair to assume that Reo-Coker might be a little annoyed at basically not getting a regular game in a regular position, but on the other hand it is also fair to assume that Reo-Coker is a professional and going 'toe-to-toe' with the manager, is hardly something that is going to do you any favours.

Passion is something you want to see and you sort of see that Reo-Coker has it and while it would be easy to speculate on why this happened, if in fact it did, I'm going to put this down to every one wanting to play and every one keen as mustard to get it right, nothing more, nothing less.

Naturally, I can't stop the speculation on why this happened and I suspect most will see it as Martin O'Neill announcing he is going back to 4-4-2 for the visit of Portsmouth tomorrow and Reo-Coker disagreed (see what I've done), but we just don't know and a such, until we see the team sheet tomorrow and no Reo-Coker, we have to assume this didn't happen or if it did, it was a joke on Reo-Coker or the manager or someone winding someone up.

Match preview for the Pompey game coming up and well, maybe more from the club on this, they're not going to be able to walk away from it and act as if it never got published in a national newspaper.

Comments (33)

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James Clift said:

... I really can't see this, it sounds like a wind up. Just imagine for a second if Reo-coker was about to have a go at O'neill, I don't think there would been much grappling. Our Martin would have been dealt with swiftly!

Comment 1, made on September 18, 2009 at 8.01 am

Simon said:

... I know you can be angry at not getting picked and even have a bit of a go at a player during training sessons, but to "grapple" with a manager is a big No No. If this is true, it can only go 1 of 2 ways. NRC will play the rest of this year in the reserves or he goes out on loan. I feel sorry for NRC as i believe he has never been given a fair crack, but as i say, the manager is untochable

Comment 2, made on September 18, 2009 at 8.04 am

Simon said:

... Now what would cloughie do?

Comment 3, made on September 18, 2009 at 8.05 am

Damian said:

... The thing is, Reo-Coker is no fool. He's a smart lad and if this has happened, he will have known what he was doing and doign it in public would have been for a reason. He might not be the captain but maybe some see him as that type of figure ... If this did happen, maybe there is more to it than just the player getting annoyed at not playing every single game ..

Comment 4, made on September 18, 2009 at 8.12 am

Jonathan Walker said:

... I belive the papers would of stretched the truth on this one I dont imagine anyone from the papers were there. So they have written the story from someones Quote, who they dont name mind. I reackon they have had words but that goes on all the time, we will soon see come the weekend if he's not in the team. If that is the case and he is not on the team sheet that will suggest the beging of the end for reo. Though if he is in the team it shows it was just hand bags and a sign of how much reo wants to play. UTV

Comment 5, made on September 18, 2009 at 8.20 am

Chris Harper said:

... I have to admit, it did make me laugh picturing MON and NRC rolling around on the floor 'grappling'. Hope its not true though.....

Comment 6, made on September 18, 2009 at 8.32 am

Andi said:

... I dont think this is anything more than some sort of humour on reo and MON's part. I cant see for a second a professional footballer wrestling with a manager and i cant see a manager (other than Gregory) wrestling with a player. It may have been over something in training and was probably all done in jest. Papers bending the truth me thinks

Comment 7, made on September 18, 2009 at 8.34 am

Jonathan Walker said:

... If this has happened the only reason i can see is that he has been taken of in the last couple of games. I can see his fustration being brought off instead of sidwell when he is playing better, must piss him right off. I think reo offers far more than sidwell in the center of the park in drive and passion. You dont here the villa fans singing sidwells name do you, but reo has more so recently had his name sung out from us in the holte end. He carnt complain but carew coming on against the scum cause that won us the game. Had that change not happened it would of been a draw for sure so it must be the I'm better than sidwell argument. It will be an interesting weekend to see how we line up against pompey. I foresee a change in formation which has lead to this bust and players being left out leaving them feeling hard done by. I think this season the one thing I was hoping for was for us to be less predictable as a team. I think MON is acheiving this thus far, teams dont know how we are going to line up which is great. But it looks like some players are not onboarded with this and its caused some unrest. UTV

Comment 8, made on September 18, 2009 at 8.54 am

Jase said:

... this never happened or the club wud have told us with the live blog from bodymoor

Comment 9, made on September 18, 2009 at 9.06 am

Andi said:

... As i have mentioned i am sure reo is pissed of but lets not forget he is a professional footballer as is MON a manager. They know they are in the public eye. This has got to be a wind up i cant see it being anything else MON is respected well enough not to have anything like that happen so it must just be a joke

Comment 10, made on September 18, 2009 at 9.07 am

Dave said:

... Ha Ha - if it is true then I reckon that would be the end of NRC at Villa - and no matter what some people may think that wouldn't be such a bad thing. I know the red tops are full of shi*e but surely they can't have just plucked that story from thin air and like you say Damian if people print lies about MON then he sues....

Comment 11, made on September 18, 2009 at 9.25 am

Dave J said:

... Damian - what are you half insinuating there? That reo was doing this to seal his departure from the club? Or something more sinister? Either way you seem to have that lazy tabloid journo "no smoke without fire" thing down to a tee!!

Comment 12, made on September 18, 2009 at 9.42 am

Damian said:

... Dave J Thanks for the compliment - that was exactly what I was going for this morning. In fact, when I woke this morning and read the story about it in a national newspaper I wrote on my whiteboard 'gotta go for the lazy tabloid journo no smoke without fire thing' because if it actually did happen, i was convinced it was nothing more than reo taking the piss out of o'neill for his new trainers and that o'neill was only thrwing back a comment about his silly hair cut what do you think i am insinuating now Dave J?

Comment 13, made on September 18, 2009 at 9.46 am

cockneyvillan said:

... More news breaking on sky....... " martin did a judo throw on reo , followed by a number of rabbit punches while on the deck, poor reo didnt know what happened" comments from steve sidwell. hehehe. hope it isnt true, reo is a big player in our midfield and we need him!!

Comment 14, made on September 18, 2009 at 9.51 am

Dave J said:

... Got it. Missed the irony in your first post. No doubt all revealed when we see the team sheet tomorrow.

Comment 15, made on September 18, 2009 at 9.56 am

Damian said:

... Dave J No problem .. but this I fancy, will be a talking point today and if it is true, then Reo-Coker will be gone, because it was what Clough would do, but I really don't think it is true or if something did happen, it was probably blown completely out of proportion ... It was The Sun and well .. they've got someone telling them something so they are sort of protecting themselves, but it's rubbish

Comment 16, made on September 18, 2009 at 9.59 am

VillaWilla said:

... I notice how the official AVFC website has gone eerily quiet...! No Media Watch, no new stories, no blog as of yet. I don't reckon it hapenned to be honest. But Villa are trying to think of a way to tart up speculation, or come up with a one liner dismissing it! chop chop!!

Comment 17, made on September 18, 2009 at 10.02 am

deero83 said:

... Sounds like a load of rubbish to me. Perhaps NRC is upset that he might end up being "Nigel Mediocre" as they used to call him at West Ham?!

Comment 18, made on September 18, 2009 at 10.08 am

Will said:

... surely this is untrue how come only the sun knows about this surely ssn would be in there with a story about this i would expect to hear from the official site about this today

Comment 19, made on September 18, 2009 at 10.08 am

ruffy said:

... Probably just a bit of journalistic license going on here. But NRC does look to have a bee in his bonnet. We already know he went in to MON's office to ask why he and Sidwell had been overlooked against Wigan. And then anyone that saw his face when he was subbed against Birmingham would have seen that something was brewing. The proof will be in the pudding and if he is dropped against Portsmouth then it might well be the beginning of the end for him at Villa. For what its worth I'm with NRC, he should be one of the first names on the team sheet right now based on the way he is playing and cant understand why he would be out of favour. But we know one thing and that is MON WILL NOT be undermined. And if thats happened NRC will surely be out.

Comment 20, made on September 18, 2009 at 10.13 am

Tom said:

... I see that the Daily Mail have got hold of it now too. Expect the introduction of nazis, immigrants and cancer cures into the story.

Comment 21, made on September 18, 2009 at 10.25 am

Mike Carter said:

... Okay, it is fair to assume that Reo-Coker might be a little annoyed at basically not getting a regular game in a regular position But he has been getting a regular game in his preferred position recently. He doesn't have anything to moan about.

Comment 22, made on September 18, 2009 at 10.26 am

Eoin Greene said:

... What a load of crap. If it was true - not alone would Reo-Coker be gone but so to MoN. A manager involved in a physical fight with an employee......not even the Brentmeistergeneral would do that - although if he did 'sty out of it, this is big boy shit'

Comment 23, made on September 18, 2009 at 10.44 am

gazza01 said:

... Don't f**k with MON He may have connections from his part of the world, You could be driving along, next thing you know, your putting your Miley Cyrus CD in and......BANG. Your history.

Comment 24, made on September 18, 2009 at 10.44 am

Richard J said:

... This sort of thing is something u dont want to hear, and if it is true doesnt make u feel great, but there are a few things that u have to consider. 1. The newspaper is... the Sun 2. Im sorry i like MON and i bet he can hold his own in a verbale argument but something tells me that a young professional footballer like NRC would take a 57 year old manager in a second so the "grappling" sounds unrealistic. 3. U can understand NRC frustration in not being in the team, however there are other players who have not been in the team regularly and havent "grappled" MON to the ground and at the moment NRC is actually getting a run in the side, he is a first team choice for our now main tactic 4-5-1, so why would he throw his toys out the pram if he misses one game against... portsmouth. Sounds like a load of rubbish that has many reasons why its probabaly not true... but if this somehow did happen we will see it in team selections in the weeks to come,i wouldnt read into the pompy formation but the next "bigger" team that we play when we should go back to 4-5-1.

Comment 25, made on September 18, 2009 at 11.00 am

ruffy said:

... I can actually see why he'd be pissed off if he were dropped. He doesn't understand why Sidwell is getting picked in front of him. Nor do I. No excuse for losing your rag though and having a tantrum. It's ok to look pissed off at being subbed but (like he did) as long as he doesn't/hasn't taken it any further.

Comment 26, made on September 18, 2009 at 11.10 am

colm tarpey said:

... wonder what did happen! Reo Coker was pissed to have been substituted on sunday but when the final whistle blew, the first person O'neill jumped on to celebrate was NRC...was this in a ' see i told you so' sort of way?

Comment 27, made on September 18, 2009 at 11.17 am

Adrian Kilgallon said:

... The sun are saying that the source called himself Jinsky.

Comment 28, made on September 18, 2009 at 11.32 am

donny said:

... Sorry, don't normally comment, but I can't stop laughing, 'Richard J' sums it up lovely - "...a young professional footballer like NRC would take a 57 year old manager in a second so the "grappling" sounds unrealistic." The thought of NRC throwing one is absurd, but very, very funny. 451 utv.

Comment 29, made on September 18, 2009 at 11.32 am

Martin Clabon said:

... AK, nice one, very funny

Comment 30, made on September 18, 2009 at 11.40 am

Michael panizza said:

... I would love to know what does Mister O'Neill do for most of the week if he doesn't attend training...because it cannot be scouting players can it, he probably gets all his info from Match of the Day given we don't buy outside the UK.

Comment 31, made on September 18, 2009 at 1.00 pm

Steve Badger said:

... NRC has been sent home this morning and is dropped from the squad. Seem to be saying that it's back to normal next week. Word is it was MON who grabbed NRC after a row and something "distasteful"!! (SSN)

Comment 32, made on September 18, 2009 at 1.52 pm

cloughy said:

... But he has been playing this seaon. I like NRC and think he is vital to our 5-man midfield at the moment. But you do not cross or undermind the manager at any time. If i had a 'grapple' with my boss i'd be sacked, and i don't get paid 1000's of pounds a week.

Comment 33, made on September 18, 2009 at 8.23 pm

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