O'Neill stands by Lerner to produce funds

Martin O'Neill has insisted the new Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner "has the good of the club at heart" after assuring supporters he will be backed during the January transfer window.

O'Neill has claimed he will be "working around the clock" to add to the loan signing of the Manchester United full-back Phil Bardsley before the window closes in just over three weeks.

Lerner has stayed out of the public spotlight since taking charge of Villa in late August and some supporters have questioned how deep he will dig into his pockets to fund the manager's transfer plans. But O'Neill, who is targeting Ashley Young and Shaun Wright-Phillips, has faith in Lerner and claims the owner of the NFL side Cleveland Browns has a "vision" for the future of Villa.

He said: "I get told that certain people are saying Randy Lerner's promises have not quite happened. How can anyone possibly make any comment about that considering Mr Lerner was only involved for a day or two before transfer deadline day in August? We still signed Stiliyan Petrov and came close to getting James Milner before he was recalled by Newcastle. Then after that there has been no opportunity until this month to do anything.

"How can anything possibly materialise if you haven't had the opportunity to do it for four months - September, October, November, December? I am satisfied Mr Lerner has the club at heart. I do not expect to be spending money in the method that Chelsea have done but not many do."

O'Neill added: "During the next couple of seasons, Mr Lerner will show himself absolutely capable of looking after this football club. He has a vision of what he wants. When there was an opportunity to provide money, in the last week before the window closed, he provided £12m for Petrov and Milner until the latter deal fell through.

"Even if everything in January does not materialise because players are not available, that will still not mean that Randy Lerner's heart is not at the football club. Give him a bit of time." As regards further signings, O'Neill admitted: "We've got Phil Bardsley on loan which I am delighted about and there are other irons in the fire.

"We have a number of ongoing things at the moment. Whether or not they come to fruition remains to be seen. I think Aston Villa fans will want to see the people when they have arrived - not hear me talking about them. But we'll work around the clock because we know we can't do anything after the end of this month. Other than signing someone who is out of contract, like Chris Sutton, there's nothing you can do after the end of this month." Wright-Phillips' wages may prove a stumbling block to Villa's hopes of signing the Chelsea player on loan as he earns around £70,000 a week at Stamford Bridge.

Meanwhile, Mark Hughes has warned Premiership predators to forget a raid for Blackburn Rovers' 13-goal top scorer Benni McCarthy. The Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is said to be weighing up a bid for the former Porto striker with the £30m flop Andrei Shevchenko struggling to adapt to the Premiership.

McCarthy is understood to have an escape clause in his contract that allows him to speak to clubs offering £5m - double the £2.5m fee which Rovers paid Porto last summer.

But the Blackburn manager Hughes insists that McCarthy has no reason to leave Ewood Park. Hughes said: "Whenever I have good players and they have good seasons, people automatically assume they want to leave. But I take exception to that to be perfectly honest.

"What we offer players here is a great environment and an opportunity to play in a good team and I think that counts for something. It certainly did with Steven Reid, Morten Gamst Pedersen and Ryan Nelsen when they signed new contracts last summer. And hopefully that will be the case again."