Villa boss wary of old fox Carey

Aug 28 2007 By Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

MARTIN O'Neill has got the greatest of respect for Wrexham manager Brian Carey - even though he wasted little time in shipping him out of Leicester City.

Carey took over from Dennis Smith in January and helped the Welsh club preserve their league status on the final day of last season with a 3-1 home win over Boston.

Former Manchester United trainee Carey played under O'Neill at Leicester City for six months between December 1995 and July 1996 when he signed for Wrexham.

O'Neill said: "I know their manager Brian Carey very well from my days at Leicester.

"He's done splendidly according to the report I had from the young man who came down from Wales on Friday to tell us they're very pleased with him indeed. They nearly went out of the League last season and I think that's why they're so pleased with the way Brian's doing now.

"We've had them watched, absolutely. They were absolutely brilliant first half against Morecambe last week and I sent someone whose opinion I respect greatly - John O'Hare, who said they were really excellent before taking their foot off the pedal a bit. We also had people watching them at Bradford on Saturday."

Carey added: "I bumped into him (O'Neill) when I'd just taken the job and he told me to give it a go and give it my best shot. He was very encouraging.

"He was a great guy to play for and he's a great bloke. The fact that he's been that successful doesn't surprise me because he always got the best out of his players.

"He's a very clever man and it doesn't surprise me that he's gone from strength to strength.

"Villa are massive favourites, and rightly so, but we just want to do ourselves justice on our home ground and make sure they go back knowing that they've been in a game."