Reid top of O’Leary’s shopping list

ASTON VILLA manager David O’Leary has presented chairman Doug Ellis with a wish-list of players as he looks to strengthen his squad in the January transfer window - with Nottingham Forest’s Republic of Ireland winger Andy Reid a top target.

O’Leary believes Villa have to bring in five quality players to bolster one of the smallest squads in the Premiership if they are “to try to move onto the next level.”

But he is realistic enough to realise that finances would only allow him to sign a couple of players when the window reopens in just over a month.

O’Leary has been a long-time admirer of Reid and watched the Dubliner in action against Reading last weekend.

Forest have debts of around €21.5m and it is believed Reid and defender Michael Dawson may be offloaded in January.

Reid came close to making the move to Tottenham in the summer after Spurs tabled a €7m offer for the 22-year-old. O’Leary is likely to be given the €8.5m which had been earmarked for him to spend in August on Southampton striker James Beattie before a possible deal failed to come to fruition.

O’Leary said: “I gave them a list of names when we had a meeting last month and they didn’t recoil when they saw who they were. The people I’ve said are gettable for this club, not dreamland stuff. I haven’t given them names we are never going to get. I’ve given them names we’ve got a chance of getting.”

Several Villa players including Juan Pablo Angel, Lee Hendrie and Gareth Barry have stressed the need for O’Leary to be able to bolster his squad if the club are to sustain a challenge for a European spot.

Meanwhile, FA chief Trevor Brooking believes football clubs are starting to plan for living within their means, but he said there was still a lot to do as an annual report into the state of the game was unveiled yesterday.

With more small shareholders becoming an increasingly influential voice in the running of clubs through supporters’ trusts, many have had to face up to further scrutiny and calls for an improved business practice to safeguard their future.

The State of the Game: The Corporate Governance of Professional Football Clubs 2004, was unveiled in the wake of several high-profile examples of financial bad management which have left the likes of Leeds United with an uncertain future on and off the field.

The percentage which provided details of directors’ histories and experience to shareholders, thus helping in the decision whether they would be ‘fit and proper’ to have a hand in running the club, was up from just 17% last year to 31% in 2004.

Of all clubs, 66% indicated they had carried out an evaluation of the nature and extent of the risks facing them, while 85% reported board approval of a one-year business plan. Furthermore, 62% - up from 48% in 2003 - insisted that they had a three-year plan in place. But with so many teams, particularly lower down the footballing ladder, still facing a struggle to balance the books, Brooking believes there remains a great deal of hard work ahead.

The PFA were one of the report’s sponsors, and their deputy chief executive Mick McGuire said: “Directors have allowed their clubs to spend more than they earn. While many blame the demise of ITV Digital, the transfer window and increased player wages, the underlying issue in too many cases is poor financial management. Some are far worse than others, and there are some clubs which have managed themselves well. We agree there should be some guidelines in relation to the ratio between expenditure and income. However, not spending more on wages than is brought in is no more than common sense.”