O'Neill leaves Aston Villa in lurch

Gareth Southgate and Alan Curbishley have emerged as contenders for the manager's role after he quit four days before the season starts.

Martin O'Neill has left Aston Villa after four years in charge of the Premier League club.

Gareth Southgate and Alan Curbishley have emerged as contenders for the role as Aston Villa manager after Martin O'Neill plunged the club into chaos last night by quitting just four day before the new Premier League campaign. Bob Bradley, the United States national team coach, is another name in the fray and may be favoured by Randy Lerner, the club's American owner.

After four years in charge at Villa Park, it is thought the prospect of losing one of his best players to Manchester City - the sale of James Milner is likely to go through by the end of the week - for the second summer in a row was a contributing factors in O'Neill's decision. Gareth Barry, the former Villa captain, joined City last season. Milner is set to make the move to Eastlands this week in a £20 million-plus (Dh117m) deal with Stephen Ireland making the move in the opposite direction.

Whether O'Neill had a clause in his contract that states he must have the final say over outgoing transfers is unclear, but the fact that there have been no signings this summer may have been a contributing factor. To compound matters, Luke Young, Steve Sidwell, Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Milner have all been linked with moves away from the club who finished fifth season. O'Neill said last weekend that he wanted to speak to Lerner over transfer funds.

When asked how much he would have to spend out on new players, O'Neill said: "I need to speak to the chairman [Lerner] and chief executive [Paul Faulkner] about that." There have been rumblings of discontent at Villa Park for a while. O'Neill was moved to pledge his future to Villa in May after much speculation over whether the former Celtic manager would quit at his frustration over the club's sell-to-buy transfer policy.

Yesterday, his four-year reign came to an end. "It's obviously a wrench to be leaving such a magnificent club," O'Neill said in statement. "I would like to pay tribute to the players, my coaching staff and the Villa supporters." Southgate would be a popular successor to O'Neill. The former Villa player, 39, was considered one of the rising managerial stars when he was named Middlesbrough manager in 2006.

He was sacked in October last year, with the club in the Championship, despite being given few resources to work with and putting his faith in youth . @Email:[e-mail]