O'Neill reveals Rafa fury
by Jospeh Caron Dawe, 09 May 2008
Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill has issued an angry riposte to a newspaper report on Friday which quoted Rafa Benitez as stating there had been a prolonged dialogue between the two over Gareth Barry’s future.
The Ulsterman says he received an offer from the Liverpool boss and gave Benitez a short and simple answer, and did not enter any negotiations with him.
“I'm absolutely astonished at this story 'Rafa Exposes O'Neill' I've never denied speaking to Rafa Benitez so how can you be exposed for something you haven't denied?” said O’Neill.
“I think Rafa is being very clever here. He gives the impression that there's been constant dialogue. That's simply and utterly untrue.
“He made a phone call to me; I did not initiate the phone call. He asked about Gareth Barry and I said: 'Well he's got a testimonial and two years left to run and he's our best player. So what would the reaction be?'
“I said that I would speak to our owner - obviously because he has a big, big say in the proceedings - and I assumed he would have the same answer as myself, that Gareth wasn't for sale
“So I'm astonished to read this. The next conversation I had with Rafa Benitez was last Friday morning when Liverpool had put in a faxed offer to us which we received on Thursday afternoon.
“There was hardly time to speak to the chairman or to react to things before it was in the Liverpool Echo. The only reason Rafa Benitez was phoning me was to cover himself! It was as simple as that.”
O’Neill continued: “I see there's a reference in the paper this morning, and this is his quote: 'I was surprised by part of his comments I had a private conversation with him 20 days ago. He knew everything about my idea and I knew about his idea.'
“What idea did I have? I've got absolutely no idea! I have no idea what he's talking about. It's absolutely crazy.
“It suggests this is a conversation that I wanted to keep going, to keep on the boiling pot. Absolutely not. It's a complete nonsense.
“This is not something I initiated and I certainly was not on the phone to him to ask him about his players either, which I think is something he's trying to refer to.
“That is not true. He mentioned players himself but I might not be interested in any of his players.”