VILLA SCUPPER UNITED'S FUTURE?

In the film Sliding Doors, Gwyneth Paltrow portrays a woman whose destiny is decided by the departure of a Tube train. If she gets on before the doors close, her life will go in one direction. If she is a split-second too late, everything will be different. That may have been how Martin O'Neill felt last week as he mulled over Doug Ellis's invitation to manage Aston Villa.

By saying yes to Ellis he has probably killed off the long-held belief that he would one day become Sir Alex Ferguson's successor at Manchester United.

And in this case it may well be United, rather than O'Neill, who will one day wake up to discover that the train has left without them. In other words, their willingness to indulge Ferguson's desire to prolong his stewardship of the club may well have cost United's directors the opportunity to appoint the best man for a very difficult job.

Although O'Neill was never a truly great player, he has a European Cup winner's medal to prove his experience of life at the highest level.

Starting off in the modest environment of Shepshed Charterhouse, he progressed via Grantham, Wycombe Wanderers, Norwich City and Leicester City to European football with Celtic, meeting the very different challenge set by each level with brilliant success.

Bringing a smile to Villa Park will be yet another sort of test, and further success would bring him the sort of undying affection he has won at all of his previous clubs. But if we are looking at a linear progression, the next step for O'Neill really should have been through the front door at Old Trafford.

Ferguson's first thought on retirement was to depart in the summer of 2002, at the age of 60. Instead he took hold of the levers of power once again with a grip so firm that it carried him through the turbulence caused by the souring of his relationship with the Irish horseracing men, John Magnier and JP McManus.

He won one more title, in 2002-03, and one more FA Cup final the following season, but only the most diehard Red would claim that the squad are developing satisfactorily.

Perhaps this will be his last season; perhaps not. But now might have been the perfect time for O'Neill to settle into the office at United's training ground. It remains to be seen which party will live to regret more greatly the closing of that particular door.