While he is adamant he left the Elland Road club flying high when his contract was terminated last June, he admitted he could have done certain things differently.

The “new” O’Leary was certainly on show in his first public outing as a Villa employee yesterday, as he remained tight-lipped about his personnel plans for the club and over how much money he would have to spend.

O’Leary said: “We all make mistakes and I learnt a great deal.

“I had four years of intense pressure at Leeds and particularly in the last two years. I had 24-hour round the clock surveillance and security guards at my home.

“Everything we had to go through off the field was really tough – that’s why I felt that to keep Leeds in Europe under those ridiculous pressures was a great achievement.

“But I have been in the papers too much and I had too many opinions on too many things. I believe I will come back stronger for it.”

O’Leary is the 13th manager hired by 79-year-old chairman Doug Ellis in his controversial 21-year period at Villa’s helm.

Ellis admitted that this appointment represented his last chance to put things right after a barren period which most recently saw the added embarrassment of finishing below Birmingham in the Premiership table.

O’Leary's appointment has done nothing to appease supporters’ groups who are mobilising for a huge period of protest against Ellis and the rest of his board.

But despite his impatient reputation Ellis insisted he had got the right man, claiming O’Leary was always his clear favourite among 353 applicants.

Ellis added: “I believe success at any club is formed by a “blood brothers” type of relationship with the board.

“Our training ground is David’s domain. He deals exclusively with the playing side with no interference. When he wants to talk about money he comes and talks to me.”

Whenever O’Leary does sit down to talk money with Ellis he will find out he has considerably less at his disposal than the £90m (€125.8m) he spent on turning Leeds into a Champions League force.

This time O’Leary’s ambitions of taking Villa to the continent will have to be based on his ability to bring through youth – a fact possibly noted by Ellis after watching Jonathan Woodgate, Alan Smith and Paul Robinson all make their mark at Leeds.

O’Leary professed almost no knowledge of Villa’s current playing squad but conceded: “I’m hearing that we’ve got good young players at Villa. I’m all for bringing in young players if they are good enough.

“That’s important to have players who have come through the club and who love the club. That gives you a great base on which to build.”