O’Neill’s Euro message

The Villa boss has told his players to switch on their TV sets and be glued to Rangers’ exploits in the UEFA Cup final tonight – because it could be them next season.

Martin O’Neill also believes European football could help persuade captain Gareth Barry to stay at the club.

The Villa boss takes his side into Europe for the club’s first competitive continental venture since 2002 after finishing sixth and qualifying for the Intertoto Cup.

Victory in a two-legged tie against opposition from Northern Ireland, Finland or Denmark will clinch them a place in the UEFA Cup. That would set up a potentially gruelling 19-match slog to get to where Rangers are tonight against Zenit St Petersburg. But O’Neill believes his players should relish the prospect because of the prestige of the competition. And he reckons his squad could do worse than ‘swot up’ by watching the City of Manchester Stadium showdown tonight.

“European football is there and that helps immensely,” said O’Neill. “The Holy Grail is the Champions League, but the next one up is the UEFA Cup.

“If you ask Everton or Tottenham about the UEFA Cup, and they will be massively disappointed not to have progressed further this season. The Intertoto and the UEFA Cup itself is always something and it’s a great achievement by the team. The Premier League itself is now so strong.”

O’Neill believes the Intertoto and UEFA Cups can whet the appetite for Villa fans itching to sample Champions League football.

“The idea of the football club is we’d have the same drive and ambition as Newcastle – Champions League is where you want to go,” he said. “People would want to harbour that ambition.

“I’m not saying Villa fans harboured that thought a couple of seasons ago, but deep down any Villa fan worth his salt would like to think that that is where the club would like to go.

“Kevin Keegan has said how difficult it is, but you shouldn’t just hold your hands up and say you’re never going to do it.

“Interestingly, you would probably expect Newcastle and Tottenham who have thrown an awful lot of money at it in the last couple of years to get even stronger.”