So…the controversy.

I’m not going to sit on the fence here, and I’ll probably lose some readers – sod them. Martin O’Neill was right to leave Brad Friedel, Gareth Barry, Stiliyan Petrov, Ashley Young, James Milner, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Emile Heskey at home.

The question being asked by most of the moaning Villa fans today has been “why all the fuss last season if we didn’t want to win it?”. Hell, I’ve even read one twat asking what Freddie Bouma must think, having picked up his horrible injury in a game which helped Villa make the UEFA.

I hope to god that the more idiotic Villa fans don’t read this blog. If you do, you’d probably be better off phoning the local radio show with the other misfits. But take this piece of information with you: circumstances change.

We did want to win the UEFA Cup. But you know what? Nobody predicted Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool being so bad this season. Nobody predicted that this would be the year for someone to break the top four. And nobody predicted that it’d be Villa with the best chance of doing it.

We’re not really in a position to grab this very rare opportunity with both hands at the same time as fighting for two cups. We made some decisions before Everton and CSKA, and fell short in the games. C’est la vie.

If you think that either of those competitions is more important than Champions League qualification then you are, sadly, very wrong. The Champions League is a bad thing, but it’s a reality of modern football. To be successful, we need to be in it. And we’ll never get a chance like this again.

If you’ve used the word disgrace in the last 48 hours, you should hang your head in shame. If you’ve suggested that Martin O’Neill should be sacked, you need to take a long hard look at yourself.

I got a lot out of this year’s UEFA Cup. I saw Villa beat Ajax, and I had an amazing couple of days in Prague – including a win for the lads. I regret nothing. But right now, and just for this season, it’s rightfully been put on the backburner.

Disgrace? Look in the mirror.

The squad will fly out to Russia without Brad Friedel, Gareth Barry, Ashley Young, James Milner and Gabriel Agbonlahor.

While I feel for the fans who forked out several hundred pounds to follow the team in Moscow, I really do agree with O’Neill’s approach on this one. Aston Villa probably didn’t set out for top four this season, but the ineptitude of Arsenal and Chelsea has been so profound that there is now a feeling that if we can’t manage fourth this season, we never will. With that in mind, it’s all or nothing, and the FA Cup and UEFA Cup shouldn’t be allowed to get in the way.

I think the tough away draws in the FA Cup jaded our relationship with it, and we went into the Everton game looking to win, not letting a loss get us down but avoiding a draw. I saw no heads dropping at 3-1.

We’re underdogs now against CSKA and, though we’d have liked to beat them, it’ll now take a massive effort in between two long journeys to do so. Most seasons it would be worth it – this season it definitely isn’t. So while O’Neill will be in for plenty of criticism today, none will come from me. Our aims for the season should consist of just two words: Champions League.

I’m going to take this opportunity to not do a preview for the Moscow game. They might not look much but they take a lot of time, and I’ve got better things to do than set aside 90 minutes for a game which has now taken on a lack of significance.

CSKA Moscow are our visitors on 18th or 19th February, and we face a hugely difficult trip to Moscow for the return leg on 26th February. The venue is the notorious Luzhniki Stadium and its plastic pitch, and CSKA will, I believe, still be in pre-season. I think that’s a really, really tough draw – and we could do without the stonking big journey. That said, to win it we’ll have to beat the lot. Bring it on.

If we do get past CSKA (backed by one Roman Abramovich, of course), the round of 16 could be very interesting. Another ridiculously difficult game against Shakhthar Donetsk could be in the offing.

But Shakhthar’s 32 opponents are Tottenham Hotspur, making an all-English tie possible. Hilariously, this would be Harry Redknapp’s third trip to Villa Park this season – and we all know how much the ol’ barra’ boy loves his visits to the Villa.

Which brings me neatly on to the issue of the famous Coin of Doom, launched from the Trinity Road Stand during the game against Portsmouth – undoubtedly aimed at Redknapp, given his appalling incitement of the crowd last season – and hitting linesman Phil Sharp.

That would be the same Phil Sharp who failed to award Villa the Most Obvious Penalty of All Time following Gary Cahill’s handball in our game against Bolton last weekend. Think on.