Source: Telegraph
Aston Villa lifting Carling Cup will attract big name players, says Richard Dunne
Aston Villa travel to Ewood Park on Thursday night for their rescheduled first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final against Blackburn. The last time that the club won the League Cup was in 1996, but Dunne believes that if they can collect some silverware this season, the manager's job in the next transfer window will be all the easier. [LNB]'Players who probably wouldn't want to come to Aston Villa previously will start looking at us as a successful side where the top players can come and win,' he said. [LNB]'Every footballer's ambition throughout their careers is to win something. I suppose for the young lads, the more they can win at a younger age, the more experience and the more hunger it will give them to win more. It is the same everywhere if you get your first trophy it will hopefully lead to more and breed confidence around the side.' [LNB]Meanwhile, though it is true that the various postponements as a result of the adverse weather have left clubs facing a congested calendar over coming weeks, Villa especially James Milner, who was suffering from a bruised foot will have profited from the break of 16 days without a game, even if they did endure a wasted trip to Lancashire for their aborted match against Wigan. [LNB]'I think we were down to be playing seven games in 21 days,' said O'Neill. 'But the players have had a week to recuperate and we're ready for it.' [LNB]
