O'Neill happy to take Intertoto route March 12 2008
Martin O'Neill has admitted England's failure to qualify for the Euro 2008 finals was a major factor in Aston Villa applying to enter the Intertoto Cup this summer.
Villa had five players - Gareth Barry, Scott Carson, Ashley Young, Gabriel Agbonlahor and Curtis Davies - named in Fabio Capello's provisional squad for last month's friendly with Switzerland at Wembley.
It was likely that three or four of them could have been in contention for Euro 2008 in Austria and Switzerland which would have meant enjoying a shortened summer break before reporting back with the Villans.
But England's non-participation has helped to make up O'Neill's mind to take part in the Intertoto if they fail to finish in the top five of the Premier League.
The Villa manager said: "I felt the players needed a bit of a breather last summer after playing their first season with me as manager.
"Had England been involved in Euro 2008, I might have decided again not to put our name forward for the Intertoto given the contingent of players who might have been with England and if John Carew had been involved in the finals with Norway.
"But, considering most of our players are going to have no summer commitments apart from maybe an England friendly in early June, it meant I was always going to be interested in the Intertoto.
"We do not have to cut short our pre-season break because of the Intertoto. We will have to play two games in the second half of July.
"That is not like starting off halfway through June which has happened with some clubs in the past.
"We are coming back for pre-season training in early July which we would have been doing irrespective of whether we were in the Intertoto or not."
O'Neill added: "I know from past experience that all the sides who have to play in the Intertoto Cup in June find it comes back to haunt them in November time.
"But as the competition stands now, if we get through the first hurdle, the second round is not until after the domestic season has started."