Marlon Harewood revea-led the ‘O’Neill Factor’ was the key behind him doing a U-turn on his move to Wigan in favour of Villa.

Harewood was supposed to sign for the Latics on Monday after undergoing a medical on Friday.

“I went to Wigan and spoke to (Wigan boss) Chris (Hutchings) who’s a really lovely bloke and asked for 24 hours to speak to my wife and think the move over,” he said.

“I was planning to sign on Monday, but Ian Storey-Moore (Villa chief scout) rang me Sunday afternoon and said West Ham had given Villa permission to talk to me and it went from there.

“I spoke to Chris and told him I was going to speak to Martin O’Neill because as a player you want to keep your options open.

“When someone like Martin phones you up and asks you to come to massive club and tells you what he wants to do and how he wants to go about it, it sold it to me and I said I’d love to be part of that.

“No disrespect to Wigan but I have an opportunity to be part of Martin’s squad and I thought I’d take it.”

“Martin made me feel like I’ve got a good future at the club. Now I’m not thinking about playing for Wigan – I’m just thinking about playing for Villa.

“Martin persuaded me to join – the way he is and his stature in the game made me feel I wanted to be part of that.

“He explained to me that if I came I’d be fighting for a place and I like that because if there’s competition it means everyone is fighting for a place to show what they can give.

“Once I get my chance, I’m going to have to take it.

“I love the atmosphere of having to fight for my place and when you’ve got that in a squad, it means everyone is playing really well.”