Top 10 finish is it then?

There's not much happening on the Blog at the moment, just like O'Leary's tactic sessions.

Summer's here, the season's almost over and luckily our withdrawal symptoms are being held back by the World Cup. Happy days!

But the walls of Villa Park are never empty and they still continue to do something, which I'm not sure what, while we're all getting ready for sun, sea and sand.

A top 10 finish is Doug Ellis' target for next season and O'Leary has assured him it's a one off.

We'll know after the first 10 games whether that's true or not and it sounds like Ellis is beginning to sharpen his axe in the off chance it needs to be used.

In an ideal world I'd love O'Leary to do well, but in reality it's pretty unlikely.

I'm unsure of a top 10 finish, particular with no money to spend and Gavin McCann't anchoring midfield.

I don't think Barry will go but if Baros has a good World Cup then we could get some serious cash for him. We've got plenty of strikers coming through and Sam Williams is likely to make his debut next season.

I think Christian Kabeya, Scott Bridges and Shane Paul could also be in line for some first team action next season, but we'll wait and see. It's always difficult to judge how a Reserve or Academy player will fair in the Premiership until they're there.

A lot of next season will depend on who we sell and who we buy. There are a couple of decent-ish players available on free transfers and we all know that Hendrie, Angel, Berson, Whittingham, DJ2 and Samuel are available to leave.

I think it's a crucial season for Villa. If we don't get a good start we'll struggle again and attacting good players to a struggling club is going to be difficult.

But let's back the team as the last thing we need is relegation to get rid of O'Leary.

Got any comments on next season? Email luke@astonvilla.biz.