Because it would seem the unassuming Yorkshireman as just unwittingly seen off a second manager in his still young career.

It was Milner's move to Aston Villa which precipitated Kevin Keegan's dramatic exit from his second stint at Newcastle almost exactly two years ago.

Keegan was unhappy the midfielder was sold without his approval as the Magpies experimented with a convoluted management system which gave director of football Dennis Wise more of a say than either he or the fans were comfortable with.

Martin O'Neill was the beneficiary on that occasion, as he coaxed a player seen by many to be a likely future England captain to join him at Villa Park.

Today, though, it seems the boot was well and truly on the other foot.

No reasons have been given by either party for the turn of events which saw O'Neill quit his post just five days before the start the new Barclays Premier League season.

But it seems certain that Villa's palpable lack of progress over the summer was one of the key factors, if not the decisive one.

O'Neill spoke last season about needing to "improve just to stand still".

Not only has that not happened, with no players arriving at Villa Park this summer, but now it seems the impressive young squad he has built up could be perilously close to being broken up.

The transfer of Milner to Eastlands, with Stephen Ireland thought to be moving the other way, is expected to be completed this week.

Equally worrying to O'Neill must be speculation that Ashley Young, a player described by the former Celtic boss as a "genius" - could be on his way to Tottenham.

If players are being sold against his will, it cannot be surprising a man as proud as O'Neill feels he must walk.

It is symptomatic of a painful shift in the reality of English football - a side effect of the colossal amounts of money which are risked by wealthy chairmen.

All things considered, Randy Lerner has been the least controversial of American owners in the Premier League.

But he must now prepare himself for the fans' vitriol.

Many of them will see it as unforgivable to allow a manager of O'Neill's undoubted quality to slip through the club's fingers.

And to allow it of a man of such stature because he is not trusted to handle transfers seems entirely alien to the mindset of the English football fan.

But when an owner, be he Lerner or Mike Ashley or Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, is risking such vast sums of money, is it really so surprising he wants the final say on transfers?

O'Neill is an old-school manager attempting to fit into a new system.

It is a tension which will not easily be alleviated.

English fans expect their managers to be in charge of player moves, but a lot of owners now do not want a manager in the traditional sense - they want a head coach, either with a director of football to deal with transfers, or with a big, big say themselves.

It seems likely owners will be prepared to risk the resignation of their manager - and the ire of the fans - to, as they see it, safeguard their investment.

Whether they know better than the manager is a matter for debate, but certainly they will continue to think they do.