Gabby Agbonlahor and Aston Villa teammate John Carew often didn’t know who they were playing before a match, Martin O’Neill has hilariously revealed.
The former Villans boss joined talkSPORT Breakfast to shed light on what life was like at the club and also how funny Agbonlahor was to have round the place.
He provides calm, considered and insightful analysis on our airwaves but O’Neill revealed Agbonlahor wasn’t the best at doing his research during his playing days.
O’Neill said: “I listen to Gabby, now he’s actually doing some homework and gets to know the players because when he played in the Premier League he didn’t have a clue who we were playing!
“It used to be really funny because on a Thursday I used to have to remind him and big John Carew, who was usually making his way up from London from some nightclub, that ‘by the way it’s Manchester United at Old Trafford.’
“And Gabby used to say: ‘Where’s Old Trafford?’”
Agbonlahor and Carew were key players during O’Neill’s time in charge of Villa despite their lack of awareness. However, O’Neill never banished the forward like Mikel Arteta did to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at Arsenal.
Asked why he never thought to drop or get rid of Agbonlahor, O’Neill said: “Well, because I liked him. I liked him despite all these particular things!
“At the old training ground we were at, myself and [assistant manager] John Robertson would look out the window and find Gabby charging up the last 300 yards to try and make it in before a quarter to ten.
“But Gabby had so many off-the-field activities to attend to so it was something we expected anyway!
“To be perfectly honest the main reason I played him is because he did brilliantly for me.”
Breakfast host Laura Woods then quipped: “It’s similar with talkSPORT, he’s not a very good pundit but we like him so we keep him on board!”
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By: Jackson Cole
Title: Gabby Agbonlahor had to be reminded who Aston Villa were playing, says Martin O’Neill, who reveals what prevented him being dropped like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at Arsenal
Sourced From: talksport.com/football/1033225/gabby-agbonlahor-john-carew-aston-villa-martin-oneill-funny-story/
Published Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2022 14:31:27 +0000
