But he transformed Villa from a side who came close to relegation to a team which finished seventh in the Premiership with only minimal outlay.

All three of O’Leary’s signings – Thomas Sorensen, Gavin McCann and Nolberto Solano – played key roles.

Now Villa are looking to build on that improvement, starting with tomorrow’s Barclays Premiership opener at home to Southampton, who are likely to include O’Leary’s latest target, James Beattie.

O’Leary said: “When I left Leeds there were factions who put a big spin on things and said I only did what I did with cheque books.

“But last season there were a lot of clubs who had big cheque-books and did not achieve what we achieved. Birmingham and Middlesbrough spent big last season and we finished ahead of them.

“We all pulled together last season and I don’t think anyone can look at me and say ‘he’s just a money manager’. That rumour has been dispelled.”

Facing O’Leary’s side at Villa Park is will be Sweden international Mikael Nilsson, who is hoping to provide the answer to Southampton’s goalscoring problems in midfield.

The 26-year-old old is keen to make an immediate impact in the Premiership after completing a £500,000 (€745,000) move from Halmstad at the start of this month.

Nilsson said: “I’ve played on both wings for Sweden so it doesn’t really matter to me which side I play on. The most important thing for me is to be in the team.

“I don’t think it will be a problem slotting into the team because it’s easy to play with good players. I should have scored in the first half against Chievo last weekend but the ball got away from me.

“A goal would have been nice then but hopefully I can contribute a few during the season because it’s part of my job to get in the box and get among the goals.

“It has felt great to finally to start playing because I’ve waited a few weeks for this and now I can’t wait for the game against Aston Villa to come.”

Middlesbrough will have several new faces on display as they open their campaign with a derby against Newcastle at the Riverside.

Five new players have been added to a squad which finished 11th last season; strikers Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Mark Viduka, winger Bolo Zenden, midfielder Ray Parlour and defender Michael Reiziger.

Boss Steve McClaren told the club’s official website, www.mfc.premium.tv: “We like to think we have added quality to the squad, and we needed to.

“Credit for that goes to the ambition of the chairman and others who made it happen. It has been a fantastic recruitment summer for us, now we have to make it tell on the field.

“We don’t want to stand still, we want to move onto the next level. We have created expectation and excitement, now we have to deliver. It’s okay having a good team on paper, we now have to produce, that’s our job.”

Newcastle’s build-up to the new season has been badly affected by an outbreak of conjunctivitis which continues to lay low a number of players.

New signing Stephen Carr however is fully fit after joining the Magpies from Tottenham this week and cannot wait to get started for his new club.

Carr told the The Journal: “I’m fit and up for selection if the manager needs me at Middlesbrough.

“I have been sitting around for a couple of days since I came up to Newcastle on Monday, and while the rest of the first team squad had yesterday off I trained with the young boys at the Academy.

“I had a good work-out and my match fitness is not too bad as it was only last Tuesday that I played a half with Spurs in a friendly in Seville.”