by Redman in wales » Fri May 09, 2008 4:10 pm
its turning ugly....
O'Neill furious at Benitez claims
Furious Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill has hit back at Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez as the row over Gareth Barry threatens to turn ugly.
On Thursday, Benitez said he was surprised O'Neill was angry that news of Liverpool's £10m bid for Villa captain Barry, 27, had leaked out.
Benitez also said they had discussed the "idea" of a transfer "20 days ago".
Villa boss O'Neill said: "He has said he respects my wishes. I am not sure he respects anything."
O'Neill added that suggestions they were having an on-going conversation about a Barry deal were "absolutely crazy".
He said: "It was not a prolonged conversation. 'No' doesn't take too long to say.
"It is any club's prerogative to put in any offer they see fit to put in, but it is also the receiving club's prerogative to say no. I would not then expect this to appear the following day in a newspaper for me to react to."
Speaking to the club's official website O'Neill, who insisted earlier this week he wanted to keep Barry, added: "I have no idea what he [Benitez] is talking about.
"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."
On Thursday Benitez said he and O'Neill would wait until the end of the season before discussing the transfer further.
"He [O'Neill] was telling everyone about our offer, but we are willing to wait and we will try to talk again about the possibilities," said the Spaniard.
"I had a private conversation with him 20 days ago. He knew everything about my idea and I knew about his idea. He said he wanted to talk with his owner.
"We needed to do an official movement and he knew that because I was talking with him."
But O'Neill has rubbished suggestions that Benitez's remarks expose behind the scenes discussions to offload Barry.
"I'm absolutely astonished at this story: 'Rafa Exposes O'Neill'," he said.
"I've never denied speaking to Rafa Benitez so how can you be exposed for something you haven't denied?
"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."
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in a way its funny... but it certainly doesnt help if we want to try and negotiate with villa for barry. If anything I'd say rafa wants barry more than O'Neil wants Crouch or Carson, so I guess this makes things harder....
pmsl. Fair play. 
all and wants a crack at actually winning a trophy or at least some European football. He's too good to stay at a second rate club forever.