Friday 2nd October 2009
O'Neill: Barry a thing of the past
Martin O'Neill believes Aston Villa's fine start to the season shows they have overcome the departure of midfielder Gareth Barry.
Barry will return to Villa Park for the first time since his £12million summer move to Manchester City in Monday's Premier League encounter.
He spent 12 years at Villa, making more than 400 appearances, before moving to Eastlands - 12 months after his switch to Liverpool fell through.
O'Neill would still like to have the services of Barry but feels Villa are in good shape after four wins in their opening six league games.
The former Celtic boss said: "If you asked me 'would we still rather have Gareth around here?' then the answer would be 'definitely, absolutely.'
"But Gareth has moved on to Manchester City this summer and I think we have made a shift ourselves.
"As our team starts to take shape eventually in the next couple of months, we are hoping his loss will not be as severe as we were certainly expecting early on."
O'Neill spent a decade himself at one club in Nottingham Forest before moving clubs and can understand Barry's decision to look for a fresh challenge.
He said: "I'm sure Gareth is pretty pleased with his decision - and that's obviously something I can empathise with in many aspects.
"I was with Nottingham Forest for 10 years myself as a player. But it's not just about Gareth.
"City have plenty of weapons. For example, Craig Bellamy was fantastic for us when I was manager of Celtic and he is playing with a lot of confidence.
"Then they've got the likes of Carlos Tevez, Martin Petrov and Emmanuel Adebayor."
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