West Brom goalkeeper Scott Carson has no grudge against Martin O'Neill after being rejected by the Aston Villa manager.

"Villa had an option to buy me but Martin O'Neill said he was a bit unsure, that he wanted to look for a more experienced keeper," said Carson.

"I think he has done that by with his move for Brad Friedel which is fair enough.

"But for someone like myself who is 22, I needed someone to say 'you've got my confidence, you've got my backing' and, having spoken to the manager at West Brom (Tony Mowbray), he gave me a lot of confidence and hopefully I can repay him.

"I really enjoyed my time at Villa but, like I said, they wanted a more experienced keeper and went down that route.

"O'Neill said he was still interested but I couldn't go somewhere maybe just to be second choice. I'd have been better off staying at Liverpool in those circumstances."