The schmaltzy Irishman and the no-nonsense Geordie appeared unlikely soulmates but when David O'Leary and Alan Shearer sat next to each other at a recent dinner in London they swiftly discovered they shared a common footballing philosophy.vindication after his Leeds debacle

"Alan was praising us; he likes the way we play," explained Aston Villa's manager, who will renew acquaintance with Newcastle's captain at Villa Park tomorrow.

Villa's modus operandi under the Dubliner has been an increasingly high-tempo version of the approach that not only helped Shearer enjoy his finest domestic hour as Blackburn won the championship nine years ago but proved instrumental in O'Leary's early success as manager of Leeds.

Yet when O'Leary left Yorkshire many critics suspected he was a busted flush, a chequebook manager who had bought indiscriminately and, worse, forfeited his players' trust after repeated public criticism.

When he was appointed at Villa, relegation was widely predicted but the team is instead vying with Newcastle and Liverpool for the fourth Champions League place. Previous underachievers such as Juan Pablo Angel and Lee Hendrie are apparently reborn and the unlikely rehabilitation of O'Leary is, it seems, almost complete.

Part of that is attributable to a return to core tactical beliefs he abandoned as Leeds pursued Champions League glory. "I believe in my teams defending high up the pitch and operating at a high tempo," explained the man who, after 11 months in charge, faces arguably his biggest game at home to Newcastle tomorrow.

"But it's a style that takes time to bring in properly. It's very effective but very demanding and players have got to be very fit to make it work. I think our training came as quite a shock to Nolberto Solano when he joined from Newcastle."

Multifarious factors ultimately conspired to undermine O'Leary's Leeds but one was a decision to abandon the high defensive line, whereby opponents were squeezed into submission before blitzing them with high-energy attacks.

Out went Eddie Gray, O'Leary's coach, along with Ed Baranowski, a fitness trainer who also played a part in Blackburn's 1995 triumph. Gray was replaced by Brian Kidd, who arrived with a brief to slow things down and redevelop Leeds into more of a patient, European-style, possession team.

It did not work and O'Leary yesterday admitted: "I'm a high-tempo coach and, just before I was sacked by Leeds, I'd made the decision to go back to playing that way."

As a fellow manager explained. "David's problem was that, if you buy Rio Ferdinand and Robbie Fowler, you quickly find they are not over-keen on playing relentlessly high tempo. Signing those sort of players persuaded him to change things but bringing it back at Villa, with the people he's got there, has worked brilliantly. Quality workhorses like Gavin McCann will make it come for you."

Suddenly nouveau pauvre, the manager who seemingly could not stop buying players in Yorkshire has also reinvented himself as O'Leary the asset-stripper. Since his arrival last May, 12 high earners, including Alpay Ozalan, Steve Staunton, Moustapha Hadji and Alan Wright, have departed with a modest £6.5 million invested on recruiting McCann and Thomas Sorensen from Sunderland in addition to Solano.

"Alan Shearer told me he was absolutely gutted when Newcastle sold Nobby," said O'Leary.

"I didn't want to leave Newcastle," Solano admitted. "But now I'm very happy; we have a great chance of qualifying for Europe and I have found that David O'Leary is a good manager and a good person. We have a very small squad here but I think it's made us all much closer.

"David O'Leary is very clever in the way he talks to you individually and gives you a lot of confidence. We work very hard in training and play this high-tempo game which is very well suited to the Premiership but we also have quality and, when we attack, the manager gives us freedom to try things. Everyone here likes him."

If O'Leary has been delighted by Solano's right-wing input, he is equally pleased with McCann. "I wanted Gavin to be David Batty's successor at Leeds," he explained. Indeed so determined was he to sign him that, for a period of several weeks, McCann received almost daily phone calls from a manager who, as one reporter puts it, "hasn't so much kissed the Blarney Stone as eaten it".

These days, though, O'Leary is far more discreet in journalistic company. "I've learned things; I was far too opinionated with the Leeds press," he conceded.

Some suspect press conference indiscretions alienated players but O'Leary denies suggestions he "lost" the Leeds dressing-room. "If the club wanted to sack me that's okay, but what irritated me was the spin," he said. "They couldn't pay me off so they tried to smear me. I'm still in touch with my old Leeds players and I'm going to Paul Robinson's wedding in the summer."

Swapping one-liners with senior pros at Villa's Bodymoor Heath training ground yesterday, the manager - who has twice taken his squad to Dubai for recent bonding breaks - certainly appeared popular enough. Even so, he is no soft touch; as David Wetherall, the former Leeds defender, explained: "The David O'Leary the public sees is not the one the players get." Likening himself to a kindergarten teacher, the Irishman reflected: "You've got 30 babies with dummies ready to come out at any time; they've all got different pains."

With several contracts expiring this summer O'Leary could be left with only 14 senior pros and is trying to persuade new chief executive Bruce Langham to let him make four close-season signings - targets include PSV Eindhoven's Mark van Bommel and Leicester's Muzzy Izzet.

"We've over-achieved and could easily become a one-season wonder," cautioned O'Leary. "We've got the maximum out of this squad, but can we sustain it?

"A top-six place doesn't come cheap. I don't want a 22-man squad but I'm asking for 18, which is not excessive. Alan Shearer said he expects Newcastle to win here. He wasn't being arrogant; he was just comparing our spending and squad size to theirs."

Villa's ascent is certainly silencing those who warned O'Leary off the job. "It simply made me more determined to prove that, contrary to the Leeds smears, I can manage without money."

Having done so, might he be tempted by a better offer this summer? After all, O'Leary did not exactly discourage autumn speculation linking him with a return to Leeds. "I'm ambitious and I want to manage at the top but I've never broken a contract and, if there's no money this summer, I won't spit my dummy out," he said. "Aston Villa is a wonderful club and I want to stay here."