Martin O'Neill

Martin O'Neill has quickly become one of the most popular managers in the game. After years of success, turning Leicester from relegation candidates to regular European challengers and winning silverware with Glasgow Celtic, the likeable Irishman has now won admirers at Villa Park.

After a 15 month absence from football, spent taking care of his ill wife Geraldine, O'Neill, known for his charisma and passionate outbursts from the touchline, has seen his name frequently linked as a long term replacement for Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford. Such is the respect he carries in the game.

After a succession of managers since the departure of Brian Little in 1998, the Birmingham based side were languishing in mid-table obscurity before O'Neill's arrival. Talk of revolt, statements from the first team squad criticising the chairman Doug Ellis and the eventual sacking of previous manager David O'Leary did not made O'Neill's takeover the smoothest in history, yet it did not effect him and after a tough first year, he led Villa to 6th in the League in 2007-08.

O'Neill's playing career started as a trainee at Derry City and he soon caught the eye of Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest, who signed the midfielder in 1971. After a highly successful spell under Clough, in which he won consecutive European Cup's in 1979 and 1980, as well as winning the league in 1978, O'Neill went on to play briefly for Norwich, Man City, Notts County, Chesterfield and Fulham before hanging up his boots and entering the world of football management.

In 1987 O'Neill began his managerial career at lowly Grantham Town. He soon moved to Shepsed Charter House, but it was in 1990 that he got his first real break. Appointed as manager of non-league Wycombe Wanderers he first showed his potential by helping the club to two FA Trophy triumphs and winning promotion to the Football League in the 1992-93 season. The club were riding on the crest of a wave and earned a second successive promotion (to what is now known as League One) before O'Neill left the club to manage Division One side Norwich City.

A very short spell with the Canaries was ended before it began however, after O'Neill clashed with Chairman Robert Chase over transfer funds and swiftly left in 1995. Later the same year, O'Neill's fortunes would change again and he would land himself the job that would transform his managerial prospects - arriving at Leicester City.

In his first season with the Foxes, after installing a dogged determination in the team with the purchases of Robbie Savage, Muzzie Izzet and Neil Lennon in midfield, the team were promoted to Division One.

The next year, O'Neill enhanced his already increasing reputation by not only keeping the club in the top flight, but winning the League Cup as well! Continuing his revolution at Filbert Street, the Irishman took the club to the League Cup Final again in 1999, losing out to Tottenham, but returning to win the Cup again in 2000.

By now O'Neill had made his name by delivering four-successive top-ten finishes for a club many thought would be fighting relegation, and other clubs had begun to court him. When Celtic came calling, O'Neill found the opportunity too good to turn down and in his first season O'Neill delivered the treble! The League, League Cup and Scottish Cup (the equivalent to the FA Cup) were all given a new home at Parkhead and O'Neill was made an instant hero.

A second League victory came in O'Neill's next season and the following season he guided Celtic to the UEFA Cup Final where they were beaten in extra time by Jose Mourinho's FC Porto side. O'Neill delivered yet more silverware in the form of a League and Cup double the year, and even picked up his own in the form of an OBE in 2004. By now he had established Celtic as the dominant force in Scottish football.

But in 2005, he announced his decision to take a break from football to care for his sick wife and signed off from Parkhead with a third Scottish Cup victory in five years. From the moment he left Celtic, his name was regularly mentioned when big jobs became available in English football and he was interviewed for the post of England manager, although was never offered the job.

Taking over the manager's role at Aston Villa in 2006, he was attracted by the recent takeover of the club by American billionaire Randy Lerner. With a decent transfer budget to spend, O'Neill began the season with a run of nine games without defeat and, playing a brand of exciting attacking football, Villa finished in 6th and only narrowly missed out on UEFA Cup football.

The following season, more impressive work saw the club narrowly miss out on Champions League football after a poor second half of the season. However, gaining plaudits from many in the League, O'Neill's task is now to use his experience to shape the team into consistent contenders for the top four.