O’Neill staying at Villa Park

(GSM) – Aston Villa boss Martin O’Neill claims he will be staying on as the club’s manager for the upcoming season. O’Neill has come under severe pressure despite leading his team to a Carling Cup Final, FA Cup semi-final and a place in next season’s Europa League.

He said: “Of course I want to stay. Why wouldn’t I? It is a fantastic football club and it has things in place.”

He added: “I am well aware these days, more so than ever before, of how things work.

“Do you deny the story and thereby people say that there is a story in the first place or do you let it run and by letting it run and not denying it you are giving it credibility?

“So that saying ‘damned if you do and damned if you don’t’ is something that comes to mind pretty readily.

“I didn’t intend to say anything at all at the dinner but as people were enjoying themselves I did speak. I let the players disappear as I didn’t want to be offending them in any aspect by speaking about them.

“I cannot understand how people can pick up in a totally different aspect from what was actually said.

“I don’t how many ways there are to answer this question. I have enjoyed the season immensely. It has been very challenging and that has been part of the fun.

“The season in many ways has been exceptional as we have played more games than most clubs.”

O’Neill is set to hold discussions with club owner Randy Lerner, whose enthusiasm to drive the club forward has not faded according to the manager.

“I know I need to speak properly with Mr Lerner.

“His enthusiasm is still as strong as ever. He wants to improve Aston Villa and improve Villa Park so that people can enjoy the game in even more comfort.

“Interestingly I saw Randy Lerner a couple of days ago. He came over with the express desire to stay around for some days to cover the Blackburn game and to do something with the press as he normally does.

“He has been called back to America because of something which has cropped up but he will back in the immediate future and I will have the opportunity to speak to him properly.

“Judging from what he was saying to me his only regret has been not seeing the number of games that he would have liked to have done.

“He is in really fine form. There is plenty to discuss, as we have done over the past few years, but overall the last thing you want to be doing is putting words into someone else’s mouth who is fully capable of speaking for themselves. I think he will do that in the not too distant future.”