Players Excited – Barry Staying

Certainly doesn’t sound like Gareth Barry is looking to move from Villa Park despite links to Tottenham Hotspur and Portsmouth, in fact he is excited at the prospect of working with one of the best managers in the game.

Barry told the official site: ‘Obviously Martin O’Neill was the number one target – he was the best man out there for the job. So we’re all delighted that the club got the best man and we’re looking forward to working under him. A few friends rang me on Friday to say loads of fans had turned up to Villa Park to welcome him and that’s not surprising. The fans are happy with this appointment and the players are happy too.’
‘I’m looking forward to seeing what ideas he’s got, the way he trains players and the way he thinks. There were players getting a bit frustrated, but this is a clean start and an opportunity to start again. Everyone’s going to be flying in 100 per cent and committing to the club again.’

Lets face it, last season it was obvious there was no harmony on or off the field, the arrival of O’Neill should give everyone a new lease of life and those that were just bit-part players should now get another chance. I’ll be interested to see how Jlloyd Samuel does, he looked a fabulous prospect until O’Leary came along, it might be a coincidence, but his confidence seemed to take a nose-dive, lets hope we now see the real Jlloyd?! Might be interesting to see what happens with Berson and the Djemba twins as well.