Aston Villa Football Club News

• Nickname:The Villains
• Founded:1874
• Manager:Alex McLeish

• Ground:Villa Park
• Capacity:42,584

O'Neill rubbishes Barry talk

29 Oct 2007 - 08:31:35

Click To Enlarge

Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill has rubbished reports linking captain Gareth Barry with a January move to Chelsea.

O'Neill watched his side bounce back from an early deficit to hold Bolton Wanderers to a 1-1 draw on Sunday before hitting out at rumours that the England international could leave when the transfer window reopens.

Luke Moore's 57th minute equaliser earned Villa a point following Nicolas Anelka's opener at the Reebok Stadium.

"I have no idea about this," claimed O'Neill. "We certainly would not welcome it.

"Gareth is playing for England now because of the way he has been playing for Villa.

"I just assume that he is making enough progress that other clubs are taking note.

"We hope to stave off any speculation by making progress of our own as a club."

Referring to Sunday's performance, he added: "We tried a different system, it wasn't working and it was up to us to change it. Things were better in the second half without being terrific.

"We raised the tempo, got the goal and I thought we deserved something from the game."