O'Neill Thrilled By Triple Selection For World Cup

Martin O'Neill tonight lavished praise on Heskey, Milner and Warnock as all three players made Fabio Capello's final 23.

Speaking on the Official Site following the announcement O'Neill positively beamed satisfaction at the selections, calling them 'a fantastic honour' not just for the players concerned but also in recognition of Villa's record setting success at having 3 players selected for a World Cup squad.

'I am delighted that three have made the squad and it was particularly pleasing really for Stephen because he may have thought his chances had been lessened somewhat by not participating in either of the two warm up games.'

O'Neill goes on to state that all associated with the club are proud and pleased for their colleagues, and that more importantly they should each be proud of themselves following the selection.

'I am sure all three players will be proud, but we at Villa are particularly proud of them because they have represented the football club here in the past with obvious excellent distinction.'

For a final note, he adds:

'As for as we are concerned at Aston Villa, we bask in a bit of reflected glory that all three will be representing their country and hopefully playing a big part in proceedings.'

With our tradition, heritage and ambition we have under Monny set ourselves up as a club that England hopefuls would want to join to put themselves in the International shop window and it has clearly worked for Milner and Warnock, and maybe with a bit more luck throughout the season it could've equally worked well for Gabby and Ash, accepting that Downing's form and maybe even Curtis Davies' chances were also hampered by their respective injuries.

On the form we've seen and the knowledge of the potential of others at the club, more than three could've been in with a shout of making the final selection if various fates had taken a different turn.

It's certainly understandable that the club can bask a little in the reflective glory of helping all 3 players (to different degrees) meet their aspirations of being involved in the World Cup campaign.

Congratulations one and all, I'm sure for many the World Cup now holds an interest for them...it does me which wouldn't have been the case if we'd have had no representation involved.

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