- guardian.co.uk, Saturday 8 May 2010 00.40 BST
Martin O'Neill says you have to renew the 'enthusiasm, drive and determination' before every season. Photograph: Richard Sellers/Sportsphoto
Martin O'Neill has given the strongest indication yet that he will remain as Aston Villa manager provided he receives assurances from Randy Lerner that he will be given the financial support to enable the club to compete at the top end of the Premier League again next season.
O'Neill met Lerner briefly on Wednesday and will hold further talks with the Villa chairman next week, when he hopes to have a wider discussion about the club's direction and their ability to continue to present a challenge to Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur and Everton.
The Villa manager described Lerner as "really enthusiastic" and remarked on the "strong plans" he has for redeveloping the stadium, although how they strengthen the team remains the critical issue that promises to decide his future.
The Northern Irishman, who was in buoyant mood before the final game of the season, when Villa can guarantee a third successive top-six finish with victory over Blackburn Rovers, maintained that he has lost none of his appetite for the job. Indeed O'Neill claimed he felt "reinvigorated" and sounded like someone who wanted to know whether his chairman, after four years at the helm, still felt as excited as him about taking on the challenges ahead.
"I think you have to have a commitment, which is there, you have to have an enthusiasm, a drive and determination and you have to renew that at the start of every season, me as a manager, which is a given, and I think owners of a football club, like Randy, would be exactly the same," O'Neill said. "You have to get refreshed again and go again."
With Manchester City expected to spend heavily again to push for a place in the top four and beyond, and Spurs likely to invest to enhance their prospects in the Champions League, O'Neill warned "even to stand still you have to move forward at pace". Whether Lerner can support another summer of investment after Villa's accounts recently revealed a record £43.7m loss for the previous campaign remains to be seen but O'Neill is keen to discover the answer.
"It would be pretty important to try and find out what we're going to try and do," he said. "Just looking in general terms, Manchester City will be very disappointed they didn't get into the Champions League. But you know that their intention is not just to break into the top four, but to try and win the championship – and they've got the spending power to do so.
"Well done, Tottenham. Brilliant effort to get there. And they, I would assume, would get stronger for the Champions League. And you can imagine Everton … I know David Moyes said when they've got everyone fit they're a match for anybody."
Those are observations O'Neill intends to make when he sits down with Lerner, although he is also eager for the chairman to outline his plans for the club in public, something he is expected to do in a rare press conference next week. "I will sit down next week as I said I would do," O'Neill said. "It will be interesting just to discuss things. Four years on, viewpoints, are you still as enthused as ever? But whatever's coming is better coming from Randy and I don't want to put words in his mouth."