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Martin O'Neill, Aston Villa's manager, typifies the Irish sports man, someone with a definite chip on his shoulder with a lot to prove. His recent attitudes towards the Premier League status quo harked back to his controversial time at Celtic, with the saga surrounding Liverpool's proposed acquisition of Gareth Barry making him the ultimate marmite manager - you either love his style or you hate it.

During the summer transfer window last year Liverpool's manager Rafa Benitez seemed desperate to sign another quality midfielder, even if that meant selling his first acquisition on arriving at the club, the popular Spanish play-maker Xabi Alonso. Offering an amount rumoured to have been anywhere between 12 and 15 million, the saga lasted the whole summer, with O'Neill continuing to raise the price until he settled at, as Rafa saw it, the unacceptable amount of 18 million. Due to new Uefa Champions League initiatives to ensure more home-players in teams, this led to the worst bit of business done by Rafa to date as Liverpool manager, when he decided to instead sign Robbie Keane from Spurs (who he would later sell back to them for much less than the amount he acquired him for), as Keane technically counts as an English-trained player.

This is a demonstration of just how O'Neill suits his club's attitude to the so-called "Big Four". They don't roll over easily and there is no sense of showing respect to teams with more financial clout. This year they put up an inspiring fight against Man Utd at Old Trafford, proving that teams outside the top four who go there don't need to decide to concede 3 points even before playing. Indeed, rather than offer Barry to Liverpool this year for the proposed 15 million, O'Neill decided he would rather let him go to Man City for a reduced 12 million.

O'Neill is showing how much he has to prove. We know that Man City, this coming season, will not only be a new main rival of his, but also a rival of all teams in the Big Four, with the new super-team dreamt up by Hughes shaping up rather nicely. But O'Neill wants to prove that, although he may not have the same money available to him as Hughes, he will still provide a greater threat to the status quo of the top four than City will.

For much of the season Villa held on to 4th place, at the expense of an off-form Arsenal, and even for a time were placed second ahead of Chelsea and Man Utd. They played excellent football and looked certain to change the make-up of the top four for the first time in 4 years, but later slipped as Arsenal found their form, putting on a spectacular display at Anfield in a 4-4 draw. O'Neill had vowed that Villa would be playing in the Champions League this coming season, but somehow slipped to 6th and threw away the Uefa Cup, a trophy they could have easily won (therefore securing a place in the Champions League group stage), had the manager not been so stubborn and prioritised 4th in the league over an actual trophy.

And if it's not O'Neill who has it all to prove then it's the club. The last major trophy they won was the 1996 League Cup, winning 3-0 against team-to-beat Leeds after having put Arsenal out at the semi-final stage. After having lived consistently in the mini-league of 5th and 6th place in the Premier League, with their true main rivals in recent years being Everton, then with all the wasted promise last season if they want to achieve more than their serial under-achieving rivals they need to wave off the inevitable threat from Man City and not only hold on to their top six residency but at least again threaten to break in to the top four.

Learn more about this author, Stephen Lunn.
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