John Carew delighted as England overlook Martin O'Neill

Dec 14 2007 By Bill Howell, Birmingham Mail

JOHN Carew has hailed the imminent appointment of Fabio Capello as England coach because it means that Martin O'Neill will definitely be staying as Villa boss.

O'Neill had remained as a favourite of the FA and their chief executive Brian Barwick, despite the Irishman's very public utterances that he was not interested in the job and was committed to Villa.

But with former AC Milan and Real Madrid coach Capello now set to be appointed at Soho Square, Villa's players know that O'Neill is here to stay.

And Norwegian striker Carew led the fanfare.

The former Valencia and Lyon striker said: "It's very important for us to have Martin O'Neill here. He is the man behind everything we are trying to do and it would have been a big blow for us to lose him now.

"He's a great manager and has a great belief in the players, he really means what he tells the players and what their goals are.

"He makes us think it's possible to achieve the things we want to achieve. The manager is a real winner and he really doesn't like losing. He also has a lot of energy, which is passed on to the players. He has great belief in us and thinks we can do better than we are doing."

Carew believes Capello will nevertheless bring success to England.

"I think under him the England team will be much more organised.

"They have great football players, so it really shouldn't be so hard. But England will be lucky to have him as manager; he is a winner and I think that is what you need in a manager.

"He is very strict, but he has more humour than you would think."

Meanwhile, Carew says he is looking forward to O'Neill's anticipated purchase of a striker in the January window.

"We want as many good players as possible," he said. "The better the players we have the better the team. This is also important because when you do have injuries in the side, there are quality players who can come in.

"We have talented players and a great manager. There's no reason why we can't reach our goal of ending up in the top five, six or seven."