Villa open the season with a performance as far removed from the past four seasons as could be imagined as Martin O'Neill takes charge for the first time.

What a difference a change of manager makes, not the result but the attitude “I’m still trying to get to know my players, but I thought they were terrific it’s a great result." 

Martin O’Neill’s appointment had literally met with wild excitement of the sort few had previously witnessed. 

This renowned motivator had changed the outlook of the club already and confidence for the future was sky high. 

Coupled with new owner Randy Lerner it offered no embarrassment when the club launched their ‘Proud History, Bright Future’ tagline. 

The squad of course was broadly as was and overnight miracles weren’t expected but a totally different mindset had enveloped the club. Martin O’Neill might still be “getting to know” his players but he was already chopping the squad.

Lee Hendrie, 29, makes his 308th and final appearance in a Villa shirt (243 Starts) before moving on to Sheffield United on a free transfer in June 2007. For all his undoubted talent, Hendrie would never be the sort of player Martin O’Neill would have any truck with and it is a source of real regret for many that a player who should have achieved much more at Villa allowed off field distractions to prevent him realising his potential. Perhaps the largesse he was provided by successive managers earlier in his career was his ultimate undoing or perhaps his heart was never in it in the first place. Regardless his productivity was no match for what his talent should have contributed across his appearances and he left, to tread the football wilderness, with a record of W120 D70 L109, 32 Goals, 34 Assists at a goal involvement rate of one for every 4.67 games played, 59 Bookings and 4 Red Cards at a rate of a card every 4.88 games he played.

Eric Djemba-Djemba, 25, makes his 11th and final appearance in a Villa shirt (4 Starts) before moving on to Qatar SC on a free transfer in July 2007. Prodigiously untalented, David O’Leary had nonsensically paid Manchester United £2,290,000 for a player who looked poor from the moment he arrived in English football. Incredibly O’Leary not only played Djemba-Djemba on 10 occasions but he allowed far more competent players to leave ahead of him. Martin O’Neill by contrast took one look at him as a substitute and ended his Villa career immediately, with this his 11th appearance coming 10 months since his last. Djemba-Djemba, who never looked like even a moderately capable Sunday League player, left with a record of W2 D2 L7, 0 Goals, 0 Assists and 2 Bookings.

Martin Laursen plays for the first time since August 2005 after missing all but one of the fixtures in 2005-06 due to another long term injury. Laursen’s return means it is now 14 Appearances (13 Starts), W4 D5 L5, 1 Goal and 3 Bookings so far in his Villa career. In total Laursen has now missed 72 of the 86 matches played since his arrival in July 2004.

Steven Davis contributes his 5th assist in a Villa shirt on his 72nd appearance (61 Starts) to make it W23 D21 L28, 9 Goals, 5 Assists and 2 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Luke Moore makes his 25th start in a Villa shirt (67 Appearances) to make it W23 D19 L25, 8 Goals, 5 Assists and 4 Bookings so far in his Villa career.

Gabriel Agbonlahor makes his 10th appearance in a Villa shirt (4 Starts) to make it W2 D3 L5, 1 Goals and 1 Assist so far in his Villa career.