Aston Villa Football Club News

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

• Ground:Villa Park
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O'Neill warns unhappy Heskey

14 Oct 2009 - 12:33:56

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Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill appears to have been unimpressed by Emile Heskey's recent controversial comments.

The former Liverpool and Wigan Athletic striker hinted that he would have to leave Villa Park to boost his chances of featuring for England in next summer's World Cup Finals in South Africa.

When asked about Heskey's words, O'Neill said: "You can ask me as much as you want about it, but I won't have anything to say at this moment.

"I've been away from my desk for a couple of days so I'll genuinely have to sit down and have a think about it before I make any comment.

"Players need to remember themselves here. The World Cup isn't next week, not before Christmas and not even before Easter. It's a long, long way away.

"The side that would be picked if the World Cup was just round the corner might be a lot different to the one picked for next summer. There could be five changes or more with things like injuries or loss of form.

"There's players at this football club with proper ambitions to be in the England reckoning next summer - and so they should.

"That's people like Ashley Young, James Milner, Stewart Downing, Gabby Agbonlahor and Emile Heskey, but I wouldn't get overly concerned about all that just yet if I were them."