A story surfaced today that initially seemed completely ludicrous. In fact, so ludicrous that you probably couldn’t make it up, so there was probably a grain of truth in there somewhere. The Sun, ever the bastions of journalistic integrity, reported that Martin O’Neill and Nigel Reo-Coker had a training ground bust up that resulted with the pair wrestling on the ground. Yeah, picture that scene!

It was really heated and at one point they fell to the ground grappling with each other although no one was throwing punches or anything like that.

This is the quote that they’ve attributed to a “stunned onlooker”. Righto.

Anyhow, it turns out that there is a modicum of truth in the story as the club have confirmed that Reo-Coker will not be in the squad to face Portsmouth tomorrow due to “disciplinary reasons”. Here’s what MON had to say:-

There was a mishap on the training ground. It’s a common occurrence between players but on this occasion, unfortunately, it was between the manager and a player. There was a bit of a contretemps and that is unfortunate. Nigel didn’t train this morning and obviously won’t play tomorrow.

I have dealt with the issue how I see fit and that’s the end of it. Come Monday, we’re back to normal again.

I am the custodian of this place – my rules apply.

Wow, I’d love to know what the spark was, but it’s become clear that Reo-Coker isn’t the happiest of bunnies in the Villa camp right now.

Everyone saw that he wasn’t impressed with having to make way for John Carew during the game at St Andrews last weekend and I imagine that the majority would have preferred to see Sidwell sit out the remainder of the game. There’s a certain consensus to the view that a bit of fire in the belly of the players isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but when it’s bordering on petulance I’m not convinced.

I noticed a strained effort between O’Neill and Reo-Coker to congratulate each other on the final whistle, but the body language between the pair wasn’t good. Just a couple of days ago Steve Sidwell was expressing sympathy with Reo-Coker over being the one substituted. Clearly there was something simmering.

Martin O’Neill is the boss, I back him to make the necessary decisions, but I really do have my share of sympathy for Reo-Coker. I think he’s a much better player than a lot of fans appreciate and he’s willingly filled in out of position which hasn’t helped him prove what he can do. Since we’ve had chance to see him playing in his more natural role this season he’s been winning over a lot of doubters.

On the other hand, I’m sure there were occasions last season when MON played Reo-Coker out of position as it was that, or not play at all. I asked the question several times whether NRC could really be a better right back than Shorey was left back. I couldn’t see that he was, so the natural conclusion that leads me to is that MON was trying to accommodate Reo-Coker in the team.

What this highlights is the difficulty in building a large squad of quality players. There’s only so many games and a lot of egos to manage alongside the business of actually winning games.

MON has said that he wants to draw a line under events. Reo-Coker was not at training today, won’t be involved over the weekend, but will be expected to report back Monday morning and everyone will move on. That’s the theory anyway, but MON remained true to the same promise after Carew and Barry were dragged over the coals, there’s no reason to expect it to be any different in this case. That will probably be Nigel’s decision though.

Reo-Coker’s passion has probably gotten the better of him here, he’s always struck me as a model pro. He’s unquestionably hard working and, from what I’ve read, he’s also very intelligent, so I’m pretty surprised that things have clearly reached boiling point behind the scenes.

Here’s hoping that both parties can put this behind them and focus on the task of sending Villa up the table. No one is bigger than that goal!