Birmingham Mail

I'm expecting a slightly different approach from Villa this weekend.
Manchester City's away form is poor, and they'll be more than a little downbeat after their League Cup exit to ten man Spurs at their home 'fortress' in midweek, so I can't see them coming out all guns blazing by any means.
But two successive home defeats to Arsenal and Portsmouth had Martin O'Neill hinting at a change of tact.
What can he have meant? Changing his team?
No, I don't think so. There can't be too long before Curtis Davies gets a call-up.
Zat Knight has not done too much wrong in recent weeks. It was Wilfred Bouma and Nigel Reo-Coker's mistakes that cost Villa dear against Pompey at a time when they were in total control of the game.
And I can see Stiliyan Petrov coming back in for Craig Gardner if he passes a late test on his hamstring.
But I think O'Neill is perhaps looking at his forward options.
There can be no way back for Luke Moore. He's a popular lad with the supporters alright, and perhaps is the best finisher at the club.
But his heart can no longer be in it, not when his agent can publicly reveal that he wants a move.
Fair play to O'Neill for not allowing that one to fester by revealing to the local media at the Mail that Moore had turned down a contract offer.
I think where we might see a change is with Gabby Agbonlahor, easily one of Villa's brightest lights this season- and last for that mattrer- playing in a wide role.
His partnership with John Carew just doesn't appear to work. Both are looking to do similar jobs and didn't Gabby have his best games when Carew was out of the team recently?
With Gabby out wide, Petrov, Reo-Coker and Gareth Barry can play as a central midfield with Ashley Young given more of a license to thrill in what could become a 4-3-3 formation.
Will that be good enough to see off City?
Well, I was wrong against Portsmouth. I just couldn't see a defeat.
But I can't see lightning striking twice, or should that be 'three' times with the Arsenal result?City's record at Villa Park is as good as their city neighbours but even with Darius Vassell back in the team and sure to get at least one goal, I back Villa to get their season back on track.

I can only assume that Harry Redknapp never drinks in a Portsmouth boozer.
He'd be appalled by some of the language.
Some of the locals, as I understand,... wait for it... use four letter words from time to time.
And I don't mean 'pint' or 'mild'.
You see, I'm not a great believer that Redknapp should have played the 'abused' card at the weekend.
There's no excuse for the mindless minority who sit and rage at opposition benches every Saturday.
I dare say it happens up and down the country to varying degrees.
But Redkapp reacted with a three (or possily two at first) fingered salute to those morons. The situation was ever more inflamed and he was left claiming 'filth' to the press.
But in my view, if you can't stand the heat.....go and sit in the directors box. Or the press box as Martin O'Neill did against Fulham recently.
One, I've never understood whay managers and coaches have to stand on the touchline anyway. Haven't they done all their homework through the week? What can they possibly do to change a game once it has kicked off?
And two, football fans are asked to pay criminally high charges for tickets, replica kits and everything else. They then have to turn up at 12.45pm, 5.15pm, 7.45pm, 8pm, or even worse at 12 noon or 1pm on a Sunday because of mainly TV, or police.
Away from home they are treated like cattle. At home they get little change out of a fiver for a programme and a paper cup of bovril.
As O'Neill has often said, once they buy their ticket they should be allowed to shout what they want.
And if a 5 year-old kid just happens to be sitting next to them, then just pray that the lad is from Wolverhampton. He'll have been brought up on such.

Can't wait to see Harry Redknapp this weekend. It will be cheaper than the £20 I paid to watch Frank Skinner at the NIA.
Just a pity the Pompey boss ducked out of his pre-match press conference down on the south coast because his post-arrest press conference was up there with Jimmy Carr or Peter Kay.
"They searched the house and took a computer away that I bought my wife two years ago - I think she learnt to turn it on four weeks ago", he began.
"I held a meeting with my players. I told them about the agent and that allegedly he had paid some of his fee to the player. All of them wanted his phone number because they had never heard of an agent who wanted to give a player any money!"- now into his groove.
"I have received texts from many players who I have worked with - and top managers - and I have really appreciated them. Of course, I couldn't get e-mails because now I haven't got a computer." Wild hilarity.
Did someone mention Panorama?
The answer is yes they did, incredibly, and Redknapp not surprisingly walked out.
I've never see a Villa manager storm anywhere. Unless you are David O'Leary onto the pitch at St Andrew's.
But quite a bit has happened in the world of Villa and slightly beyond since I last tapped on these withered keyboard letters.
Martin O'Neill unhappy with Sven Goran Eriksson? Not really. Not when I spoke to him a fortnight ago and revealed to him that the Italian press were quoting Sven as pushing Olof Mellberg in Juventus' direction. "I'll have to do the same to all his players to Barcelona", came his witty reply.
O'Neill knows the game. This is just paper-talk.
Mellberg may or may not stay, and it's in the balance alright, but it won't be down to Eriksson as to whether the Italians make their move.
Speaking of O'Neill. I still fear that call from the FA.
Jose Mourinho has been bluffing all along about his interest in taking over as England coach.
That ridiculous TV interview over his green garden gate, tagged "exclusive- Mourinho opens his heart on the England job"- just laughable.
Back to Villa...another win at Middlesbrough- Villa were poor for 45 minutes and George Boateng was running the show until the lads in claret and blue rolled up their socks and suddenly realised they were playing at The Riverside and not the San Siro.
Always a good day out that one. The 380 miles just fly by, particularly for the coach-load of Villans who just happen to drop off in the quaint village of Osmotherly en-route to the stadium for four hours beforehand.
That publican's 'Christmas' is already over. He is now retired and living on a yacht off the south of France off the profits of that Villa party.
The night at Blackburn was even more remarkable. No, not just because I managed to catch Roy Aitken on his mobile phone to wish him all the best as I arrived for my pre-match pint, but the game wasn't half-bad, was it?
Poor for just the opening half an hour and lucky not to be a goal down, Villa got the lead and the crucial sending off decision went their way. It ws nevertheless a magnificent win.
Then the defeat to Arsenal. Outplayed for 45 minutes, then blood and guts and thunder for the second 45 minutes only to just fall short as Villa always do to them.
What is it? 13 losses and 5 draws in nine years?
Then there was that Cup draw. Sammy Nelson's infamous 24 or 25 ball shuffle. Just a trick of the light, methinks.
I've seen the video and I still can't tell. The FA aren't bothered so I am amazed it even became a story.
Not like up north of the border where the semi-finals of the CIS Cup were read out wrongly so that Dundee United weren't in fact set to play Hearts, as was read aloud, but were told four hours later they were playing Aberdeen. Hilarious stuff.
Can Villa turn the tide on United after all these years? No.
Villa always beat Boro away, Villa invariably beat Blackburn away, Villa always lose to Arsenal, Villa always beat Portsmouth at home... Villa always lose to United. Such things are enshrined in Villa's recent history.
And by January Wayne Rooney will be back firing on all cylinders waiting to scare the heebie-jeebies out of Zat Knight again.
Villa should see off Pompey tomorrow, even taking into consideration Niko Krancjar lining up for Pompey against Scott Carson which could make that first free-kick a nervy one.
I happen to be one of the very few people who never saw England crash that night. Carson has already bounced back. Not a foot wrong this season.
So why was Seamus McDonagh watching Stephen Hennessy on Tuesday I hear you ask?
Villa have to cover all bases and all eventualities. And can anyone seriously see Thomas Sorensen staying beyond the opening week of January, or Stuart Taylor staying beyond June?
Speaking of Tuesday, I just happened to take in the local 'derby', of sorts, at The Hawthorns where I saw Coventry gain revenge in some style for a hammering three weeks earlier.
Attacking play there was plenty... defending there was very little, of substance anyway.
The gap between the two divisions was- on that occasion- startling. Compare it to the Villa- Arsenal game of 72 hours earlier and it was chalk and cheese, not only with the players on view but also the officiating.
We saw a player red carded for kicking the ball away and then fouling a player; We saw a goal disallowed and another goal given when it was deemed to have crossed the line; We saw a goal given when an initial ball through looked to be to a player in an offside position; We saw a goalkeeper given a yellow card for handball and not a red card after a quick free-kick was taken when the ball was still rolling...
I could go on. Mark Clattenburg would never have gotten away with it in the Premier League, and my point is: under the glare of publicity in the top division referees escape nothing. And away from all the cameras and the hype in the Championship they can get away with murder.
Anyway, must dash.
Good luck to Ricky Hatton.
Anyone know any good pubs near Sunderland?
Until next time......

I'm sure you've all read the speculation linking Martin Laursen with Tottenham.
This at the same time that Olof Mellberg is being apparently courted by Juventus and AC Milan.
Both are into the final seven months of their contracts and can speak to foreign clubs and sign a pre-contract agreement in six weeks.
I just hope this isn't why Zat Knight and Curtis Davies were brought to the club.
If they were to go, that'd be another £8.6 million down the drain for Villa, a club who can sign Stan Collymore, Bosko Balaban, Alpay and Juan Pablo Angel for £28.1million and sell them for £250,000.
I still think either, or both, could stay. But I'd like to know the reasoning behind leaving their contracts to run down quite so much.
It has handed a heap of power towards the two players.
Mellberg will ineviteably be offered contracts in Spain, having played there before, and Italy.
He won't be too bothered about staying beyond this season if he spends more time out at right-back- a position he refused to play outright when asked by David O'Leary, so the Irishman once told me.
Mellberg would be a loss. He is a much more accomplished central defender than, say, Knight, but can Villa afford to offer him a substantial increase?
Mellberg, and his agent, will want to be handsomely compensated for him losing out on the potetial for moving abroad on a free. He would surely have to overtake Gareth Barry as the club's highest earner and that could cause problems further down the line.
Laursen, on the other hand, is a different kettle of fish.
Until this season he had barely kicked a ball in anger, and it wasn't too long ago that he spent a full season in Bolgna, following an operation in America, recuperating.
Now, after just three months of excellent football- and he has been good, very good in fact- the Premier League vultures are said to be circling.
And it has got me riled. Because I believe Laursen, who seemed to be complaining this week that he had yet to hear anything from the club, owes Villa big style.
I'm sure Tottenham are keen, just like a good dozen top flight teams would be on a free.
Time will tell, and I still think he will sign on for another couple of years, but this is a tricky one for Martin O'Neill.
Villa cannot leave things too much longer.

AND you thought England's late, late reprieve might end speculation about Martin O'Neill leaving Villa? Wrong.
Just look at the morning papers. If you can just evade the glare of Alan Shearer publicity, then lurking behind the scenes are worrying tales about a 7-3 majority at the FA for appointing the Irishman, regardless of England's fate on Wednesday night.
Now I know there has been a little nonesence written over the past week.
There was one story that O'Neill had flown to New York for talks with Randy Lerner over how he could cut his ties with the club and smooth his passage to the national post.
O'Neill was in America shortly after the win at Blues, he was quite open in telling me why he was flying over there for a couple of days. It had nothing to do with England.
But I cannot rule him out of taking the biggest job in our game.
The FA, in my opinion, would have to come down on bended knee after rejecting him in favour of Steve McClaren last time around, even though he had undergone and interview which had gone well until, so the story goes, he stressed his allegiance to his coaching team of John Robertson and Steve Walford.
If England make it to Euro '08 on Wednesday night then perhaps all of this will be irrelevant. If they don't, then watch this space.
On the positive side, O'Neill has only once walked away from a club without finishing a job and that was his five months at Norwich after a fall-out with chairman Robert Chase.
At Wycombe he turned down bigger clubs, and he did the same at Leicester.
At Celtic we hear that he had met Leeds Chairman Peter Ridsdale to discuss taking over at Elland Road when he had six months remaining on a contract.
O'Neill though was quick to point out that Celtic knew of these talks at the time, and that he was fulfilling a clause in his contract allowing for such discussions. He had felt let down that no one at Celtic had offered him a new deal first. Within a month he had signed an extension.
So he is a man of honour and that will not allow him to walk away from Villa easily. Not after just 15 months.
Secondly, and just as importantly, O'Neill has a terrific relationship with Lerner.
They are not what I would call 'mates'. O'Neill is the elder by some years.
They talk reasonably frequently and get along fine. There has never been a cross word I am told.
But where O'Neill really benefits at Villa, and many lesser men would crumble, is his ability to drive the club single handedly. His backroom team scouts for new players, he decides who he signs, and when, at what price and what they shall be paid.
O'Neill is in charge of everything. From the training ground to Villa Park. He has absolute control.
Nobody at Boardroom level would dare to interfere.
It makes for a punishing schedule but that is the only way he will have it.
So would he walk away from that?
As I say, it would take a lot. An awful lot.
The derby win at Blues brought incredible joy to everyone at Villa Park, save from perhaps Tom the security guard at Bodymoor Heath who has held a lifetime affiliation, or should that be affliction, to Blues (although he now says he is more Villa).
The last week has been a shambles, a total and utter PR disaster.
The manager to quit, Olof Mellberg to quit, Martin Laursen to quit...
A mess.
Still, there were no calls, texts or e-mails from anyone at the club's press department. No change there then.
Perhaps O'Neill will have the answers at his press briefing on Tuesday?

Not since Valery Karpin and Alexander Mostovoi were sweeping Villa aside in European competition for Celta Vigo, have I taken an interest in Russian football.
I've never had an interest in Israel football. Not even when Najwan Ghrayib was signed by John Gregory.
Ghrayib, of course, turned out to be hopeless.
Villa got close to signing a slighter better Israeli when Tal Ben Haim- now at Chelsea- was offered a trial but David O'Leary the Irishman didn't see anything in him.
He ended up at Bolton and the hopes of England rest on his broad shoulders today.
Karpin and Mostovoi were so impressive against Villa that there were two years of John Gregory fuelled speculation about multi-million pound bids.
That was at the time when I was continulally writing about their interest in Vigo team-mate Benni McCarthy.
£7million and £8 million speculation pieces at Villa were, in those days, nothing out of the ordinary.
Muzzy Izzet was undoubtedly on Gregory's shopping list at £8 million, no less.
Anyway, I get back to my original point.
I have only briefly and not too strongly had an interest in Russian or Israeli football.
I couldn't name any of the 22 players on view. Yes, I have heard of Benayoun at Liverpool, yes, I had heard of Oleg Blokhin and the keeper Dimitri Kharin. But that's the limit of my knowledge.
But tonight I will be glued to the box. Hoping, perhaps even offering up a small prayer, that Israel come through.
My summer depends on it.

I have never known a player like Stiliyan Petrov.
Well, more accurately, I mean I have never known opinion so varied and so split down the middle about a player.
Football is a game about opinion.
Two blokes can see a game and argue throughout the night, even if they support the same team.
We all have favourites.
I still think David James was the best goalkeeper Villa have had since Rimmer and Spink, although I understand Mark Bosnich's claims.
I think Mark Delaney was a terrific right back... that George Boateng's exit to Middlesbrough was a huge dent to the side... that David Ginola was a waste of time...as was Peter Schmeichel...that Bosko Balaban could, just could have become a half-decent player- though never £6million worth- if he had scored that one-on-one at Southampton.
I thought James Milner was a lot of huff and puff but not always with an end produce, I thought Nobby Salano was lovely to watch at times but shouldn't really have been anywhere near a Villa shirt, particularly away from home... that Hassan Kachloul showed real promise.
We all thought Steven Davis was a real class home-grown player, as the majority of us still do about Gary Cahill.
I can't fathom how bad Marlon Harewood has become, even in the reserves, I wonder just why Martin O'Neill signed him or for that matter, Zat Knight, when Olof Mellberg and Martin Laursen would be my dream ticket.
I could go on and on but you probably get the message.
Back to Petrov.
Most, including manager and player himself, agree he has had a pretty torrid time of it in 15 months at Villa.
I remember his good games off the top of my head: Watford, West Ham, Sheffield United, Tottenham, Everton, Chelsea...don't think I've missed one.
He gets dropped after two and-a-half games this season, then what happens? He's back in at Bolton, keeps his place against Derby and wins huge plaudits in the derby win at Blues.
Now I saw all three of those games.
And I have to ask myself, am I now prejudiced to an extent, against him because of past faults?
I thought Petrov was poor at Blues. He didn't do much for me, he was presented with a few chances to dart into the box but elected a square or a backward pass.
And there was one shot that must have worried the nearby busses.
I sat next to another journalist last Sunday. And we were aghast at some of his decisions.
But I came away from the game and first heard Martin O'Neill singing his priases (well, he would, wouldn't he after spending £7million?) and that coloured my judgement to a degree.
I then walked into the press room where a very well-spoken Martin Keown was singing his praises big-style. "He is a total footballer", said Keown.
Garry Thompson, my old mate, was somewhere inbetween but more favouring the school of thought that Petrov could be some player.
I don't disagree. There must be something there as O'Neill, I admit, is some scout of talent.
But having spent the last few days since St Andrew's talking to fans and the like, I still can't get to grips with the differences of opinion that this one player can garner.
Somebody help!

I have never known a player like Stiliyan Petrov.
Well, more accurately, I mean I have never known opinion so varied and so split down the middle about a player.
Football is a game about opinion.
Two blokes can see a game and argue throughout the night, even if they support the same team.
We all have favourites.
I still think David James was the best goalkeeper Villa have had since Rimmer and Spink, although I understand Mark Bosnich's claims.
I think Mark Delaney was a terrific right back... that George Boateng's exit to Middlesbrough was a huge dent to the side... that David Ginola was a waste of time...as was Peter Schmeichel...that Bosko Balaban could, just could have become a half-decent player- though never £6million worth- if he had scored that one-on-one at Southampton.
I thought James Milner was a lot of huff and puff but not always with an end produce, I thought Nobby Salano was lovely to watch at times but shouldn't really have been anywhere near a Villa shirt, particularly away from home... that Hassan Kachloul showed real promise.
We all thought Steven Davis was a real class home-grown player, as the majority of us still do about Gary Cahill.
I can't fathom how bad Marlon Harewood has become, even in the reserves, I wonder just why Martin O'Neill signed him or for that matter, Zat Knight, when Olof Mellberg and Martin Laursen would be my dream ticket.
I could go on and on but you probably get the message.
Back to Petrov.
Most, including manager and player himself, agree he has had a pretty torrid time of it in 15 months at Villa.
I remember his good games off the top of my head: Watford, West Ham, Sheffield United, Tottenham, Everton, Chelsea...don't think I've missed one.
He gets dropped after two and-a-half games this season, then what happens? He's back in at Bolton, keeps his place against Derby and wins huge plaudits in the derby win at Blues.
Now I saw all three of those games.
And I have to ask myself, am I now prejudiced to an extent, against him because of past faults?
I thought Petrov was poor at Blues. He didn't do much for me, he was presented with a few chances to dart into the box but elected a square or a backward pass.
And there was one shot that must have worried the nearby busses.
I sat next to another journalist last Sunday. And we were aghast at some of his decisions.
But I came away from the game and first heard Martin O'Neill singing his priases (well, he would, wouldn't he after spending £7million?) and that coloured my judgement to a degree.
I then walked into the press room where a very well-spoken Martin Keown was singing his praises big-style. "He is a total footballer", said Keown.
Garry Thompson, my old mate, was somewhere inbetween but more favouring the school of thought that Petrov could be some player.
I don't disagree. There must be something there as O'Neill, I admit, is some scout of talent.
But having spent the last few days since St Andrew's talking to fans and the like, I still can't get to grips with the differences of opinion that this one player can garner.
Somebody help!

THEY have the better skill almost to a man, the more experience, they have all the local lads, and they have players who have played in this game before.
Despite a couple of average performances and a horrid 45minutes against Man United, everyone seems to be bubbling.
Everyone, yes everyone, seems to be pointing to a Villa win in the derby at Blues.
"Yes, but Blues are at home and the roar will scare the living daylights out of 'em", I hear some of you say.
Don't make me laugh.
The last time Villa were at Blues their supporters left their voices in the midday pub.
You could have heard a pin drop when Kevin Phillips scored that goal and it rarely got louder.
Villa's players play infront of 40,000 most weeks, and sometimes 50,000. So 26,000 Brummies shouldn't upset their apple carts.
Furthermore, Villa also head into the game with pretty much a clean bill of health. Ashley Young should shake off a groin niggle, and John Carew has been training all week.
So no wonder I've spent the last few days surrounded by heaps of Villa optimism ahead of the biggest game of Martin O'Neill's 15 month reign.
And that's where my worry comes in. And it is a major concern to me.
Back in September 2002 I just couldn't see Blues getting near to Villa.
I thought Alpay and Olof Mellberg would swallow up every attack, and I thought the likes of Gareth Barry, Darius Vassell and Juan Pablo Angel would have too much for Blues.
How wrong I was.
Then the return at Villa Park, again I thought Villa would be too good. Wrong, big style.
Robbie Savage won't be there tomorrow, which helps, but my fear is that like that first time in that very first season Villa appear to be heading into the contest with overwhelming confidence.
Still, at least no one- bar General Krulak- wound Blues up in the papers in the run-up to this one.
I remember Mellberg was 'stitched up' good and proper five years ago by a national newspaper for saying he hadn't heard of the Blues players. He never meant it at all like the way it came out. He never watched any footie on the TV at the time, the press had known that at the time, and how was he supposed to run through the list of a promoted club, one to eleven? But queue big headlines and Steve Bruce's team-talk was done for him.
It was Mellberg again a few years ago who made the mistake of saying he didn't like Blues as a club and could never see himself playing for them. Honest, true, but not so wise. Not at all.
Villa boss O'Neill took the decision this week that none of his players would speak at all to the media, apart from Barry and Agbonlahor to the club's own media department. Good idea that. No way the wrong message could come out.
A few others: Petrov and Mellberg had spoken to some press at the end of the Derby County game.
Even Blues have been cagey this time. Liam Ridgewell has been wrapped in cotton wool and saved from a spell infront of the cameras. Good for him. I like the guy and hope he has a good afternoon.
So O'Neill's softly-softly approach should help Villa.
There couldn't have been any worries from Villa in the build up to this most important of weeks as Villa's media officer has kept a low key approach. Very low key. So low key he was up in Cumbria on a training course and his one call to me in four weeks has been over the West Midlands Fire Service.
Never heard from him, not even when David Gold came out with a flurry of punches to Krulak's jaw, so to speak, over an apology that never was.
Fair play to the supporters paying £45. That's 50p a minute. Outrageously steep.
But as for the outcome, I am going to have to sit on the fence.
1-1 seems about right. Blues impressed O'Neill against Wigan and the game, I think, means slightly more to them at this point in time.
For Villa the end game is to try to pip one of Manchester City, Portsmouth or Blackburn into the top seven and that ain't gonna be easy.

I read today, with some dismay, that those blaggards from White Hart Lane are considering taking over Wembley Stadium for key games if they redevelop their own stadium.

The plan would be to groundshare at, say Upton Park, and play the likes of Man United,

Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool at Wembley - which would cost a lot to rent, but the near 90,000 attendances would more than make it worthwhile.

I've got three points to make here.

I was glad to be on the edge of the Cotswolds listening to the Villa-Man United game on Radio 5 Live.

Better 90 miles away with a full fridge than having to report on what was a very difficult evening indeed. I just wish I had still been tucked away in Chipping Sodbury last Sunday.

I must have felt a bit like the white-suited Ricardo Montalban on Fantasy Island yesterday.

The star of the late 1970s TV blockbuster: "Fantasy Island" used to get up close and personal to his 'Tattoo' as his character Mr Roarke, the wise-old fox of an overseer of a mysterious island somewhere in the Pacific Ocean.

Tattoo, played by the diminutive Herve Villechaize, would bound up and down a tree having caught sight of the week's guests.

Anyway....I'm losing my point. I saw the Tattoo yesterday...there at the Holte Hotel.

WOKE up this morning, got showered, put on my £50 Asda suit...checked my telephone for text alerts or missed calls from anyone at Aston Villa...nope, nothing there.....thank God!

My heart couldn't have taken it. Why break the habit of a lifetime just when everyone is starting to enjoy themselves!

Villa managed to find an extra 500 fans this morning, simply by me checking my emails at home. There it was, from the club, a message...and trust me messages from the club are rare indeed: "There was an error in Sunday's attendance", it began... and then rattled on that instead of there being thirty eight thousand two hundred and something at the ground against Everton there were in fact thirty eight thousand, seven hundred and forty seven. Just like at Wembley, I thought, ten to 20 minutes after half-time, where 10,000 'dinner' guests suddenly reappear. Not quite sure why Villa wanted to boost their numbers. Didn't clubs used to knock off a few thousand in case the tax man was watching?! Am off to the match in an hour or so... just hope that Villa manage to get somewhere near 30,000 or the supposed 6,000 Leicester fans will drown them out. I'm having a swift half in the Holte Pub before the match..... no, I didn't have to win a ballot to get my seat. Unfair I know. But my Carling will be waiting for me before a long night's work...tapping out the match report, the stats, the manager's quotes, and maybe a goalscorer or two. Caught up with Martin O'Neill yesterday for three quarters of an hour, and he was in fine form. As honest as the day is long, there are no secrets to his charm in my book. He gives everyone the time of day. And he works damn hard. There are some managers I can think of in my eight years on the Mail who don't stand up to quite so much scrutiny, no names of course. The conversation drifted from team news, Curtis Davies, Isiah Osbourne, Stephen O'Halloran etc to some of his memories of the old Filbert Street and the League Cup semi-final of 2000 when Leicester "didn't even cross the half-way line" (according to John Gregory) and yet managed to put out a well-fancied Villa. "My team-talk was done for me", smiled O'Neill. I once had a Birmingham Mail match report pinned onto the dressing room of the Leicester team at the Walkers Stadium. I'd labelled Leicester the "worst team ever to play in the Premier League" after a three goal defeat at Villa Park. Mercifully, and somewhat comically, Villa went and promptly put five past them. Peter Crouch was dropped next game. Ouch!
It won't be five tonight. Gary Megson will fire up those Foxes.
I'm confident Villa can go far this season. Even with half a dozen fringe players involved tonight.
Anyway, must dash.... that half is going flat.

SOMEBODY pinch me. Just had a bite to eat with comedy genius and Baggies fan
Frank Skinner.

He'd just finished his show at the Toronto Festival and I managed to introduce myself outside the stage door. It's not often I queue up waiting for 'celebrities', although Skinner is so down to earth I'm sure he doesn't see himself as such.

It was as if we were having a sarnie in some Oldbury cafe. The difference was the pretty girl who sidles over and manages to interrupt our chat: "Just to say I thought your routine tonight was fantastic", she smiles.