O’Neill have no problems with Carew

Aston Villa gaffer Martin O’Neill is pleased with John Carew’s response to being fined.

O’Neill fined Carew after the Norwegian was spotted in a Birmingham club the day before their important Uefa Cup clash with Ajax.

But Carew hit back with a goal in Sunday’s game at Wigan Athletic.

“I have a perfectly good relationship with John Carew,” said O’Neill. “I don’t think I would be guest of honour if any of the players were asking people to go out and eat with them.

“But I have absolutely no problem with John. He stepped out of line, I dealt with it. It’s over. There is not a problem. My relationship with John, I should imagine, wouldn’t really change.

“I’ve been fined as a player myself and it didn’t really change things. You might sulk for a day or two – or in my case for a month or two! But there is not a problem with John.

“If you talk about the way John reacted, he came on as a sub at Wigan and within 12 minutes had made a goal and scored one – not a bad way to resolve the situation, so I am really pleased.

“The crowd reaction to him was also very positive. It was great. Whether we would all have had a different reaction to everything had Wigan turned us over, who knows.”

[Source: Sporting Life]