Villa consider Intertoto option

Aston Villa chairman Doug Ellis will hold talks with manager Graham Taylor before deciding whether the club apply to enter next Intertoto Cup.

They have until tomorrow to decide whether they want to participate in the competition for a third successive season.

Taylor has already expressed reservations about taking part because of the early start to the cup and he believes some ofs players have looked tired in recent weeks.

He recently intimated he wanted greater control of affairs at Villa if he was to exend of his current contract, which runs out in the summer of 2004.

Ellis said: “We are going to discuss it with the manager tomorrow, which is the last day to determine whether or not we put our names forward.

“If we went the whole hog, as we did two years ago, it produced £1m (€1.5m) of income and we were well backed by supporters both home and away.

“But we are set to discuss the pros and cons with the manager before making a final decision on putting our name forward.”

Villa will only consider taking part if they do not have to enter the competition in the early stages, especially with several of their players playing European Championship qualifiers until the middle of June.

Ellis said: “Over the summer we will have seven or eight international players away during the month of June.

“We would not consider entry into the third round of the Intertoto Cup, which is on July 17.”