This is great news for Villa fans and great news for followers of the Premiership. No matter which bidder – there are now apparently five - finally buys out Doug Ellis Villa will struggle to match the financial muscle of the Premiership big four on a long-term basis. However, O’Neill will have been promised a sizeable transfer kitty before agreeing to sign a contract and his track record in getting value for money in the transfer market and the best out of existing talent is excellent.

When he moved from Leicester to Celtic he took a couple of players with him. So we can expect a Parkhead raid with Stilian Petrov an obvious target. Having recently managed in the SPL O’Neill might be better informed and therefore less reluctant to go after players currently playing in the Scottish top flight.  Fernando Ricksen has been told he can leave Glasgow Rangers and Ricksen might be the sort of reclamation project that O'Neill might be willing to take on.

Here's a piece from the Guardian with opinions from various sorces - including former Villa managers - on O'Neill's appointment.