Martin O'Neill hopes Aston Villa can draw inspiration from successful 1980's side

On eve of League Cup final, Ulsterman says a trophy is "the ultimate"...

27 Feb 2010 12:20:00

By Alan Dawson

More On :  Aston Villa
EPL: Martin O'Neill, Burnley v Aston Villa (Getty Images)

Aston Villa's training ground is decorated with images from the successful Villans outfit from the 1980's and Martin O'Neill hopes they will inspire the current crop to defeat Manchester United in the League Cup final at Wembley on Sunday.

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A two-time League Cup winner with Leicester City, O'Neill claims that lifting a trophy is the "ultimate", and the 57-year-old hopes to add to Aston Villa's silverware-laden history.

Speaking to the BBC, O'Neill said: "Winning a trophy is the ultimate. There is no getting away from that and it would be fantastic.

"We have a lot of pictures of the old teams around the training ground and why not? It is something to aspire to.

"I have often said to keep the pictures up on the walls of the 1981 league-winning side and 1982 European Cup-winning side. The early 1980s was a fantastic spell for Villa.

"The history of the club is there to see, a great tradition, so we'd like to try and do something about it. That is really what the team is there for."

The Ulsterman claims the greatest obstacle is the first success, then, after a winning mentality has been nurtured, further triumphs can follow.

"Winning the first trophy is the most difficult. I remember way back, when I was a player at Nottingham Forest, we won the Anglo-Scottish Cup.

"We played Ayr and Kilmarnock in the early rounds and Leyton Orient in the final and we won it and the manager, Brian Clough, was in raptures about it because it was the first trophy we had won.

"He felt himself it was the start of something. The trophies the team won in the next couple of years, the league title and the European Cups, were founded on winning that trophy. That was very important.

"In the big scheme of things no-one would pay any attention to it - but it was important to win that first trophy."

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