DON’T GET ME WRONG, Martin O’Neill is one of the best managers in the business, but what is going on at Villa Park? The sky was the limit last summer when Randy Lerner bought the club and O’Neill replaced David O’Leary. What more could a Villa fan want? A rich American in the boardroom and Martin in the dugout. It seemed to be a match made in heaven. Villa were back and it would be only a matter of time before they were challenging for a place in the Champions League.

So imagine my surprise when O’Neill decided to pay West Ham United £4 million for Marlon Harewood. I don’t have anything against Harewood — on his day, he is an effective forward who can unsettle defences — but he does not offer Villa anything that they have not got. He is a hit-and-miss striker. When everything is going his way, he looks half-decent, but last season he could not hold down a place in a team who were flirting with relegation.

And then there is Nigel Reo-Coker. Many Villa fans think that he will justify his transfer fee of up to £8.5 million, but I am not so sure. Reo-Coker is good, but he is not good enough for a club who want to get into Europe every season. How come none of the big boys wanted to buy him? Arsenal were linked with him last summer, but that was never going to happen.

He is the kind of midfield player who likes to give and go and keep things ticking over, but he will never score the goals that a player such as Frank Lampard can get you. Sure, Villa could not afford a player such as Lampard, but they could find someone who had the potential to be as good as him.

I was expecting O’Neill to make a move for players such as Scott Parker, Joey Barton and Mark Viduka. Those are the kinds of players who could have taken Villa to the next level. But what is the point of selling Steven Davis to Fulham and replacing him with Reo-Coker?

I do not want to have a dig just for the sake of it, because for getting the best out of players, nobody comes close to O’Neill. He makes average players good and good players great, but can he make great players fantastic? Are top-flight defenders going to quake in their boots at the prospect of facing Harewood, John Carew and Ashley Young? I don’t think so.

Managers must tire of being told to get their chequebook out. I played for Villa in the 1990s and I know that the fans will not settle for watching direct football week in, week out. Villa are going to play a high-tempo game next season. O’Neill will want his players to out-battle the opposition and be in their faces for 90 minutes, but those tactics can get you only so far. Unless Villa buy players who are comfortable on the ball and who can give them a cutting edge, they will struggle against the big boys.

Maybe O’Neill has seen something in Harewood and Reo-Coker that I have missed. I hope so, but in the meantime, Lerner must put his money where his mouth is. If Tottenham Hotspur can buy players such as Darren Bent for £16.5 million, why can’t Villa? O’Neill does not need any advice from me, but if I was him, I would be moving heaven and earth to sign players such as Jermain Defoe. Players who defenders hate playing against. Players who can score for fun. Players who can make Villa great again.