Eamon Dunphy has delivered an uncompromising critique of Aston Villa after the club was relegated from the Barclays Premier League at the weekend.
Villa have been a constant in England’s top flight since 1987, but Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Manchester United confirmed what had looked inevitable for months.
Speaking on RTÉ 2fm’s Game On, Dunphy blasted the players, including captain Joleon Lescott, who has come in for criticism after a series of gaffes on and off the field.
“I’ve never seen a collection of vagabonds like them,” Dunphy said. “This season they’ve been shocking. Joleon Lescott’s behaviour has been disgraceful.”
The veteran pundit also aired unfavourable views on those running the clubs, including American owner Randy Lerner, adding: “The owner wants to get rid of it. He’s an American owner.
"Sunderland have an American owner - I don’t think they’re the best, always, because they’re absent and they’re not like the people from Abu Dhabi or Qatar, who are going to lavish money, throw money at the project, which has helped Manchester City take a shortcut to the Champions League semi-final by just buying the best players available.
“I think Villa have been a basket case for a while. Martin O'Neill had trouble with this owner.
“He made them a top-six club.”
“I think Villa have been a basket case for a while"
The current Republic of Ireland boss left the club in the summer of 2010, largely due to parsimonious transfer policies of the club’s money men.
Dunphy opined: “I think Martin wanted the money to make the next step, which is to be a Champions League club.”
The former Ireland midfielder believes that a poor refereeing performance may have dealt Leicester’s Premier League title hopes a fatal blow.
Talismanic striker Jamie Vardy was dismissed in the 2-2 draw against West Ham on Sunday and Dunphy said: "I think the title may have been decided yesterday by a very poor referee who destroyed the game, sent off Jamie Vardy for a second yellow card.
"The first one wasn’t a yellow card and the second one was maybe a yellow card.
“But he’s now got a one-match ban and it could be extended to a two or three-match ban for being disrespectful to the referee.
“If they lose Jamie Vardy for the last five games, they’re in trouble. I think they still have an awful lot to do.”
Reflecting on the battle at the bottom of the table, Dunphy thinks Aston Villa could be joined in the Championship next season by Newcastle and Norwich, after the Canaries were defeated 3-0 by Sam Allardyce’s Sunderland at Carrow Road on Saturday.
“I think Newcastle will go down,” he said. “They play Manchester city tomorrow night and that might be the end of them. I’d like to see Norwich stay up but others have games in hand of them.
“Sam Allardyce got a fantastic result at Norwich at the weekend which may be decisive, so I think it’s going to be Norwich and Newcastle that go down.”
