Midfielder Stone told www.avfc.co.uk: “I’ve never even spoken to the reporter in question on the issues mentioned in this article. So I don’t know where he got this rubbish from.
“I don’t have a problem with the gaffer at all. I am fully behind everything that he does really. I’m just trying to get back in the team, that’s what I’m trying to do at the minute.
“I’m not the sort of player to come out with stupid quotes in Sunday newspapers, that doesn’t help me or the club.”
“There’s a few of us in the same situation at the minute and all we’re trying to do is get a chance and grab it. The last thing we want to do is slag the gaffer off.
“In the last few weeks I’ve been trying to get my head down and work as hard as I possibly can and do well for the reserves.
“I think the gaffer knows me well enough to know that I’m the sort of player to speak to him face-to-face. If I want to say something, I’ll knock on his door.
So I’d just urge the Villa fans not to believe everything they read in newspapers.”