Man Utd boss Ferguson big fan of Villa’s O’Neill

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson admits he's a big fan of Aston Villa counterpart Martin O'Neill.

United face O'Neill's Villa at Wembley tomorrow in the Carling Cup final.

Ferguson said: "He's down to earth, he's intelligent and I think all his teams work hard and respect him everywhere he's been.

"Where he was good at Leicester was plucking players who were not doing well at other clubs - who were run-of-the-mill players - and brought them to Leicester and did very well.

"For example, Matt Elliott, who he got from Oxford. He was a bread-and-butter player at Oxford and comes to Leicester and gets a League Cup medal.

"I think he brought Muzzy Izzet in from Chelsea on a free, Steve Guppy. So he was good at that time.

"When he went to Celtic it was obviously a different level altogether - different demand and expectation - and he won the Treble."

Now he could land Villa with their first trophy since 1996. Fergie said: "There are encouraging signs for Villa in the sense of the progress they've made under Martin.

"His side is unrecognisable from when he took over - Ashley Young, Stewart Downing, the whole back four, Brad Friedel, Stilyan Petrov, John Carew, Emile Heskey - the changes are all there.

"Probably only Gabby Agbonlahor remains from the time before he came - and he was brought up in the club.

"This could be a successful season for them. It is a difficult game for us. It is going to be a hard one."