Usually you won’t hear much about a Player X Coach training ground confrontation (which happens way more often than you think) as it’s dealt with behind closed doors.  But when there’s witnesses, makes it to international headlines and the coach acknowledges it to the media while dropping the player from the weekend match…. You’ve got yourself Aston Villa head coach Martin O’Neill vs Aston Villa midfielder Nigel Reo Coker.

Via Guardian 

O’Neill said no punches were thrown and dismissed suggestions that the incident, which occurred during an 11-a-side training game on Thursday, had led to him ending up on the ground with Reo-Coker. But he admitted there had been a “row” that required other members of the first-team squad to separate them and acknowledged it was unusual for a manager to clash with a player in such a way.

Reo-Coker is said to have been deeply upset following the fracas, which was witnessed by the entire Villa squad and which appears to have occurred after O’Neill believed that the former England Under-21 international had unfairly criticised a team-mate, prompting a heated verbal exchange between manager and player. Conflicting stories have since emerged about the incident when the two squared up to each other, including allegations of throat-grabbing.

O’Neill, however, was not in the mood to discuss the finer details. “You can go with third party, shocked onlookers, call it what you want,” he said – and suggested that the confrontation was “more of a verbal thing” rather than a brawl. There does, however, appear to have been some physical contact. “There was a bit of a contretemps between myself and Nigel, which usually happens between players really and the manager separates them. There were no fisticuffs. There was no wrestling to the ground. I don’t remember lying on the floor. But it was enough for me to treat the incident seriously. Nigel won’t play [tomorrow]. I have given him the weekend off and so it’s entirely up to him if he comes to the match.”

Reo-Coker learned that he was not welcome at the club’s Bodymoor Heath training base when he reported this morning. It is understood that he was asked to apologise for the incident and, when he failed to respond to the manager in a room that included other first-team players, was told to “take the weekend off”. He is later believed to have tried to speak to O’Neill on his own but, following a brief exchange with the manager, was informed that he should leave the premises.

O’Neill has yet to decide whether Reo-Coker will face any further disciplinary action such as a fine but the Villa manager indicated that he would consider that possibility once the Portsmouth game is over. “I have not fined anybody at this minute,” he said. “I’ve not had a chance to do that. I’ve taken the action that I have done because I believe that’s the appropriate action to take. And I will look at everything after the weekend.”

However, there seems no way back for Reo-Coker, despite O’Neill’s insistence that “he will be in contention with everybody else for Wednesday evening [when Villa face Cardiff City in the Carling Cup]”. O’Neill is widely regarded as a player’s manager but, at the same time, he is unlikely to be able to forget an incident that, irrespective of the circumstances, represented a challenge to his authority.

“I make the rules,” said the Villa manager. “I am the manager of the football club. I am a custodian of the football club and so my rules apply. The players have to get used to that. It’s as simple as that.”

Image via Telegraph