O’Neill forced to put plans on hold

Martin O’Neill admits his summer plans are on hold until Villa’s destiny is decided.

Villa went into today’s clash at relegated Derby still clinging to the hope of catching Everton in the race for the only UEFA Cup spot.

But the more realistic hope of European football is through the Intertoto Cup, which goes to the next highest-placed English club.

O’Neill’s side are in pole position to clinch that as they went into today’s fixtures ahead of other applicants Blackburn and Manchester City. Portsmouth have not applied.

Playing in the Intertoto involves a two-legged tie on July 10 or 20 and 26 or 27 with victory leading directly to the UEFA Cup, but it means an earlier start to pre-season. “We would have to have two pre-season plans because playing in the Intertoto means you have to start getting competitive more quickly,” said O’Neill.”We can’t do anything yet because until we know where we finish, a lot of things are on hold at this minute.

“There’s the possibility of a trip to America which we’ve had to put on hold because we don’t know when we need to come back.

“Playing in the Intertoto means coming back early because you’re having to get competitive when you’re still playing friendlies.

“But the difference in time coming back for pre-season for Intertoto compared to a normal pre-season would be days rather than weeks.

“If we didn’t qualify for the Intertoto, then we’d go back to the prolonged pre-season - we’d come back about July 7 for the season starting on August 16.”

O’Neill revealed he hasn’t applied for the Intertoto before because he hadn’t spent enough time assessing the players.

“Two years ago, I had just two weeks to learn about the players here which was four times as quickly as I would normally want because I didn’t really know the players,” he said. “I had to make decisions on players extremely quickly. That team that went to Arsenal on the first day of the season was based on two weeks of seeing them in pre-season.

“A couple of years down the line, pre-season is less important because I know what players can do.”

O’Neill believes players need to rest in the summer and admits he’s not one for a long preparation.

“I’ve never been one for really prolonged pre-seasons because players need their breaks,” he said. “For example, this summer will be the first time Stiliyan Petrov will have had a proper break for a little while.”