Slideshow

O'Neill's Legacy

Martin O'Neill arrived at Aston Villa in August 2006 as part of former Chairman, Doug Ellis's final act in charge before the sale of the club to American millionaire, Randy Lerner.

His most successful buys into the club arguably came on the same day in January 2008, where Watford's Ashley Young was purchased for £9.75m and John Carew arrived in a swap deal for Milan Baros.

O'Neill's biggest win came in April 2008 when arch rivals Birmingham City succumbed to a 5-1 defeat at Villa Park, Carew scoring two.

This was one of many successful wins over the 2007-08 season that saw Villa finish sixth in the Premiership, earning an Intertoto qualification place as a result.

Gareth Barry's form as Villa captain saw his rise to the England ranks where he became a regular under Steve McClaren and now, Fabio Capello.

O'Neill spent most of this summer convincing his star midfielder to stay at the club, setting an £18m asking price to Liverpool, who Barry claimed he was "desperate" to join.

Barry ended up staying with the Villains, for now anyway, and played a crucial role in the team's opening UEFA cup group game against Dutch giants Ajax.

Barry scored the winner in front of an electric Villa Park to defeat Ajax 2-1 and set the tone for what will hopefully be a successful UEFA cup campaign.


Friday, 28 November 2008

Fulham Preview (H)

Aston Villa can go third in the Premiership this weekend if results go their way, establishing a geniune claim for a top four finish this season.

Should Manchester United and Arsenal suffer weekend defeats to Manchester City and Chelsea respectively, a win at home against Fulham, winless away in the league this season, could propel the Villians to their highest league position of the season.

Luke Young, John Carew and Carlos Cuellar will face fitness tests in their bids to face the Cottagers, while Brad Friedel looks to break David James' record of consecutive Premier League appearances with his 167th straight start.
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2 comments:

  1. PompeyJourno8 December 2008 at 04:33

    No third place for you - cant see you getting fourth yet although I'd like to see Villa push on

    ReplyDelete
  2. Tom Foster9 December 2008 at 06:06

    Good preivew mate, better than the actual game! great blog and keep up the good work

    ReplyDelete

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