Martin O’Neill looks set to be named as the new manager of Aston Villa today in a move that many fans hope will bring the glory days back to this part of the Midlands. This area of England should have a football powerhouse who are challenging for the title but for many years they haven’t had that. If O’Neill comes in and he gets the financial backing that a takeover would bring then who knows what might happen. As a manager his credentials are second to none. O'Neill began his career at Shepshed Charterhouse before moving on to Grantham then Wycombe, where he won promotion and finally Leicester, who he guided to four successive top-10 Premiership finishes and two League Cup finals.

That got him the job at Celtic, where he won three SPL titles in five years and also took the club to a Uefa Cup final.

I for one would love to see him given the chance to challenge the dominance of the so called bigger clubs. He is a knowledgeable man as his performances on World Cup Match of the Day proved. He was sometimes the butt of the jokes because he said something intelligent or talked about culture. Obviously to footballers that seems a bit soft but what a lot of players who go in to management don’t realise, is that you need brains to manage a football club. Good luck Martin!