Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill admits an element of the support could see Randy Lerner dump the club.

Villa have failed to find the thug whose missile hit a linesman during the clash with Portsmouth.

And O'Neill said: "When I spoke to him about the incident he was really disappointed. And I mean disappointed like you wouldn't believe.

"He is trying to encourage good things and then what happens is a real setback for him. A big, big setback.

"It's not something we can afford to happen again with the chairman - and nor can we as a club afford to let it occur again either.

"It was something that he didn't think would happen and he was very disappointed - as he was last season after the Birmingham game when one of our fans lost his life outside the ground.

"He takes that personally and if Villa are going to provide anything, the chairman at least wants to be able to guarantee safety for people coming to the club.

"We must nip it in the bud. We don't want a return to the 70s."