Martin O’Neill won’t leave Villa in search of silverware because he is ‘close to building a team to challenge’ for trophies, according to former team-mate Peter Shilton.

It is 12 years since Villa last won anything – the League Cup final victory over Leeds being their most recent success.

But the club have progressed rapidly in O’Neill’s two years at the helm, and will be challenging on four fronts next season if they win their Intertoto Cup tie.

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Martin O’Neill won’t leave Villa in search of silverware because he is ‘close to building a team to challenge’ for trophies, according to former team-mate Peter Shilton.

It is 12 years since Villa last won anything – the League Cup final victory over Leeds being their most recent success.

But the club have progressed rapidly in O’Neill’s two years at the helm, and will be challenging on four fronts next season if they win their Intertoto Cup tie.

O’Neill’s success has seen him previously touted as a potential successor to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United but Shilton, who won the league and European Cup with the Northern Irishman at Nottingham Forest in the 1970s, expects him to remain at Villa for the foreseeable future.

“He’s at a big club now,” he said. “Aston Villa are potentially a very big club and I’m sure Martin will want to see the job through.

“He is always going to be touted when jobs come up but I think Martin being the person he is will want to try and build something at Villa and win something there in the future.”

Villa’s sixth-placed finish was their best in four years and ex-goalkeeper Shilton, the most capped player in England’s history, predicts the improvement will not end there under O’Neill.

“I think Martin is up there with the top managers in the country. I would like to have seen Martin be England manager,” added Shilton, who was speaking at Grass Roots Football LIVE at the NEC.

“He will build the club on solid foundations and every year you would expect the club to improve.

“He hasn’t got the massive budgets of the Chelseas and Manchester Uniteds but not many managers have. Villa fans can look forward to being successful over the next few years.

“I am sure Martin will be challenging for trophies. The four money teams may have the edge now but that doesn’t mean they are going to win everything.”