• Mancini ‘doesn’t have a relationship with players’
• Milner ‘in for a big shock’ when he gets to Eastlands

Stephen Ireland last night lifted the lid on life at Manchester City with an astonishing attack on his former club. Ireland, who joined Aston Villa this week as part of the deal that took James Milner in the opposite direction, tore into everyone, from the manager Roberto Mancini to the club’s “money-obsessed” young players, as he revealed the full extent of his anger at the way he has been treated.

The Irishman was prevented from discussing the details of the financial pay-off he received from City because of a confidentiality agreement he has signed – he is believed to have picked up a little more than half the £2m he was demanding – but every other subject was considered fair game as he reeled off a list of complaints that painted a bleak picture of his final 12 months at City. Ireland’s tirade included:

• Warning James Milner he will get a shock if he thinks the grass is greener at City

• Claiming Mancini has no relationship with any of the players

• Insisting he is as good as if not better than any of the new signings

• Accusing City’s young players of wearing £10,000 watches and believing they are Premier League stars

• Describing City as a club where loyalty is no longer recognised

• Branding Mancini’s criticism of his attitude unfair because he was the “best player in training”

It was a remarkable assault on City and will make for uncomfortable reading when the club’s officials, players and supporters wade though Ireland’s diatribe. The midfielder, who is expected to make his Villa debut at Newcastle on Sunday on his 24th birthday, spoke about City as if they were a club he could not wait to leave. “I think Aston Villa got a really good deal,” he said. “I guess James Milner must think the grass is greener on the other side. He’s going to get a shock soon because it’s definitely not that way.

“I’ve really landed on my feet here. I think it’s a family club and one that will get the best out of me. I am actually shocked at how good it is. I’ve settled in so well, so fast. Even the young lads are so polite. I’m actually quite shocked with that. At City they’re not like that. They’re coming in with £10,000 watches on their wrists and walking around as if they have played 200 Premier League games.”

Ireland, who has a reputation for spending his own money quite lavishly, came through City’s youth system and spent nine years at the club, but he felt as though the service he gave them counted for nothing in the end.

“I don’t think loyalty is much in anyone’s mind at Manchester City,” he said. “I felt like I would be next [to leave]. A lot of players felt like that as well – the homegrown guys.”

The former City trainee said he had not spoken a word to Mancini before he left although he suggested there is little communication between the manager and his former team-mates full stop. “He doesn’t really build relationships with players,” said Ireland. “He brought Patrick Vieira in and when I spoke to him about his relationship [with Mancini], he said he doesn’t really have one, and he’s worked for him for years. I think that’s the way he is.”

Ireland won the player of the year award at City in 2009 but he was a peripheral figure last season, in particular after Mancini replaced Mark Hughes in December. When asked about Ireland’s lack of action last season, the Italian implied the midfielder had an attitude problem, when he claimed he needed to “change his head”. Ireland remains deeply upset with those comments.

“I think that was really unfair, all the players know I was the first player into training and the last to leave,” he said. “I worked the hardest. With all the heart-rate monitors and tests, I was always No1, far ahead of everyone. You see the performance in training and I was practically always the best player in training. If [Mancini's] standing there watching that, I don’t know how he doesn’t see that.”

Another wave of big names have arrived at Eastlands this summer but Ireland claimed he is as good as any of them. “I’m not really a highly-self-confident person,” he said, with no hint of what was to come. “But I can honestly say Manchester City have tried to replace me for the last three or four seasons and it’s never happened. I can easily say I’ve got, if not more ability, as much ability as any player they have signed this year.”

Ireland described the way his time with City ended as “heartbreaking” but he is adamant he is heading in the right direction. “I can understand why James Milner has gone there but I can tell him that I’m very happy to leave there and come here,” he said. “Some people have used the phrase that I’ve been forced out. I couldn’t be more happy to be forced to come here, to a club like Aston Villa.”

Manchester CityAston VillaStuart Jamesguardian.co.uk

• Club stunned by O’Neill’s exit five days before season
• Block on spending money from Milner sale the final straw

Aston Villa were thrown into turmoil last night after Martin O’Neill resigned as manager just five days before the new season starts. Villa have refused to disclose any reasons behind the decision, which was confirmed in a statement yesterday afternoon, but the tipping point for O’Neill was when he learned he would not be able to reinvest the majority of the money generated from James Milner’s move to Manchester City.

Although O’Neill’s decision to end his four-year reign does not come as a great surprise – he admitted he was considering his future four months ago as his relationship with the chairman, Randy Lerner, began to unravel – the timing has come as a shock. Villa play West Ham United on Saturday and unless Lerner can make a quick appointment, Kevin MacDonald, the reserve-team manager, will take charge in a caretaker capacity.

Perhaps of greatest concern to Lerner and Villa’s chief executive, Paul Faulkner, is that there is no obvious candidate to fill O’Neill’s position. Mark Hughes would have been nailed on to get the job had he not taken over at Fulham a few weeks ago, and the Welshman must be cursing Martin Jol’s decision to remain at Ajax rather than move to Craven Cottage. Jol has now been linked with the Villa position while Bob Bradley, the United States coach, has also been touted.

How much money the new Villa manager has to spend will be of great interest given the manner of O’Neill’s departure. Lerner has invested £179m since assuming control in 2006 – his arrival coinciding with the appointment of O’Neill – but he made it clear at the end of last season that he was no longer willing to bankroll huge spending sprees. Villa posted a record pre-tax loss of £46m for the 2008-09 season as the wage bill during that period climbed to £71m, up 42% on the previous 12 months. Last season’s accounts are expected to be even worse.

O’Neill was told in January that he would have to offload players to reduce the financial burden but only Craig Gardner was moved on. The first cracks in the O’Neill-Lerner relationship began to appear during that period and by the time the season came to a close the two men, at one time so close, had become increasingly distant and no longer shared the same vision for the club. O’Neill was informed he would have to work within a “sell-to-buy” policy that he described as “not ideal”.

Last Friday night, following the friendly against Valencia and with Milner’s transfer edging closer, O’Neill was asked how much he would be able to spend of the money that Villa received from City. He replied that he would “need to speak to the chairman and chief executive about that”. The answer O’Neill subsequently received from Lerner and Faulkner appears to have convinced him he would be unable to make Villa a competitive force again next season, following three successive top-six finishes.

Villa’s players were completely unaware that O’Neill was about to quit. The manager reported to Bodymoor Heath as normal yesterday and was out on the training field working with the squad in the morning. He gave no indication he was going to resign, leaving the players to find out when rumours began to spread and the odds on O’Neill being the first manager to leave his job this season started to tumble.

O’Neill was given far more control at Villa than many of his Premier League counterparts, although his replacement will not be allowed to operate from the same powerbase. Lerner and Faulkner, who has more responsibility since taking on the role of chief executive, have learned lessons after seeing a number of squad players pick up huge wages but rarely contribute. Six of them were put up for sale this summer but five remain at the club due in no small part to their salaries.

Yet O’Neill can point to the signings of Milner and Ashley Young as success stories. Villa will more than double their money on Milner, whose transfer to City is expected to go through in the next few days with or without Stephen Ireland moving in the opposite direction. Young would also command twice as much as the £9.5m Villa paid for him. Tottenham are considering tabling an offer as they seek to capitalise on yesterday’s events.

“I have enjoyed my time at Aston Villa immensely,” O’Neill said. “It’s obviously a wrench to be leaving such a magnificent club. I would like to pay tribute to the Villa players, my coaching staff and the Villa supporters for all the support and encouragement they have given both the club and me personally during my time as manager.”

Martin O’NeillAston VillaStuart Jamesguardian.co.uk