O'Leary standing by backroom staff

Aston Villa manager David O’Leary has intimated that he wants his right-hand men Roy Aitken and Steve McGregor to also be given extended contracts if he is to put pen to paper on a new deal.

O’Leary all but tied up a new three-and-a-half-year deal last month with Villa chairman Doug Ellis which will keep him with the Midlands club until the summer of 2008.