I'm now really quite gutted that El Guapo won't be heading to Villa Park, but the already huge respect I had for the man has just skyrocketed. There are not many football managers that would turn down the opportunity to discuss a vacancy at a bigger club out of loyalty to his current club and chairman.

Martinez is quoted as saying "I haven't finished my job at Wigan Athletic; there is much work still to be done....I have always said that I would only decide to move once the club is ready for a new manager", and Whelan stated El Guapo told him he did not want to leave Wigan, or Whelan.

Roberto's morals and loyalty are a rare commodity in football today and should be held up as a shining example. I'd said all along that I wouldn't hold it against him if he decided to stay at Wigan, as I fully expected that he would do what he felt was the right thing to do, not only for himself, but for the club and chairman to whom he owes so much.

It was Wigan and Dave Whelan that gave Martinez his first chance in England as a player and years later gave him the opportunity to manage a Premier League team. He obviously has an incredibly good relationship with Whelan and the fact that he never even held talks with Aston Villa about the vacant manager's post before pledging his allegiance to Wigan shows quite clearly that this decision is about loyalty and not who has offered him the best deal. Whelan has said of Roberto that "He just deals in football. Money is kind of an afterthought...and he's interested in Wigan Athletic".

If more managers and players had the same sort of morals and loyalty that Roberto Martinez has shown, football would be a far better place.