Neville has Villa manager 'lined-up'

Michael Neville has claimed he has “someone lined up” to replace David O’Leary, with Martin O’Neill his number-one choice, if his consortium takes control at Aston Villa.

Neville is the only person to have gone public on his ambitions for Villa after his consortium tabled a £64m (€93.3m) bid yesterday lunchtime.

He has made it clear his preferred choice would be O’Neill, who enjoyed great success at Leicester and Celtic before taking a break from the game 15 months ago to spend more time with his wife Geraldine, who is ill.

Neville said: “I think the management position is the most important and that is the first port of call.

"We have someone lined up to come in.

“They are pre-committed to come in and I think people would be pretty excited. What Premiership club wouldn’t want Martin O’Neill?

“He has been in for the England job and has been linked with Newcastle and Sunderland. He is top of the tree. He is a fantastic manager.”