Martin O'Neill feels the UEFA Cup has lost some appeal because of the current format - but is determined to help Aston Villa qualify for it.O'Neill is in favour of the competition being played on a straight knockout basis, as was the case when he led Celtic to the 2004 final, rather than the current group format in the early stages.

But he is aware qualification via a high Premier League placing will provide tangible evidence that Villa are moving in the right direction.

They participated in 2001 via their Intertoto Cup success but last qualified via their league position in 1998.

O'Neill said: "Is Europe still a big thing for Villa? I think at our stage of development, absolutely.

"I think, because the football club has been starved of European football for some time, if we achieved that it would mean you have been able to sustain a bit of consistency throughout the season.

"The format of the UEFA Cup now is totally different to the one I was involved in with Celtic four years ago. You didn't have a group stage.

"You now have a couple of knockout games before the group stage and it's almost like, if you can get to the group stage, you take your foot off the pedal, or so it seems.

"I am not so sure that format has sustained the interest in it but when you get to the latter stages you are absolutely going for it.

"With the group stage you kind of lose that for a bit and teams have the chance to recover, whereas when it was all knockout rounds it kept you on your toes every single round. But we would be delighted if we could qualify."

Villa are currently sixth in the table, one of four teams on 39 points, and O'Neill added: "We have given ourselves a decent platform for the remainder of the season.

"We have 16 league games to go and the second half of the season really starts now.

"We've got some decent results behind us and it is all to play for now. It is up to us to push on.

"Is Europe realistic? We've stayed with the group of clubs up there and we've got a group of players performing particularly well at the moment.

"If we can stay clear of injury, I just think we will throw everything into these remaining games and anything is possible."

O'Neill is still tracking Tottenham right-back Pascal Chimbonda, a position he is desperate to fill as Olof Mellberg looks increasingly likely to leave the club this summer on a Bosman transfer.

But it is understood any hopes of doing business in that direction will depend on Spurs bringing in an experienced player themselves.

They have signed Cardiff's Chris Gunter but failed to land Alan Hutton from Rangers.

More Football News from TEAMtalk