As we know, Monday’s events went some way to changing the downward trajectory of Aston Villa Football Club, with the removal of Alex McLeish lifting the mood of many of the faithful.
I am sure some openly wept in the streets, some may have hugged passing strangers, while the rest of us raised a glass (or seven) knowing that our tipple of choice would taste that little bit sweeter that evening. I hope the hangovers have passed now lads and lasses.
All the anger directed at the owner? Gone, dissipating almost instantaneously as a result of sacking Alex McLeish. Which was, for me at least, a tad surprising considering the flak the chairman came in for during the course of the season as the supposed incarnation of Satan.
After all, if your thought process was that Randy Lerner was a root cause of the issues at the club, surely one change can’t assuage all those nagging doubts so quickly, can it?
In saying that, I am not trying to put a dampener on the mood change at the club. Nobody can argue that the managerial change has fostered a belief of optimism, whether said optimism transpires to be realistic or foolish, and that fans have already started renewing.
Is it all coming up roses now though? Are we really to expect that one man being removed, the same man that the owner hired himself, is the panacea for Villa’s mountain of problems?
Problems that, if we are honest, were there before McLeish even arrived at B6?
As John Clark illustrated yesterday, Villa’s next priority will be the rehabilitation or sale of a large number of our players. Whilst some of them performed well for Martin O’Neill, the fact that two managers (technically four if you include Kevin MacDonald and Gary McAllister) couldn’t get much out of them says it all. They are simply not good enough – never mind displacing players in the top six, how many would displace Albion’s first XI?
Lerner’s choices from this point will serve to be critical to the club’s future. We don’t want or need any more board scapegoating nonsense, or expensive tribunals. We don’t want to go down paths we have trodden before that we know do not work. We want the bright future that was implicitly promised when the chequebook opened.
However, we will have to understand that success will be made on a far thriftier budget than the one that O’Neill at least partly squandered although, as I have said before, Lerner isn’t opposed to spending big on a player if a) the club can afford it and b) the manager considers such a purchase worthwhile. Darren Bent’s capture illustrated that, something I said before it happened back before Aston Villa Life even existed.
What Villa will need to build the foundations of the future is, again as I have said numerous times, a solid spine to the team.
Depending on your preferences for players, it may well be that Shay Given, Stephen Ireland, and Bent play the part of three of the four players in a spine of a team, although I could make a compelling argument as to why Bent, one of Villa’s limited numbers of saleable assets, may well be the cash cow used to rebuild the team, especially if he manages a good European Championship campaign and raises his value.
Some may feel that selling Bent is counterproductive given the long period we, as a club, have waited for a proven goalscorer. The reality, however, is that Villa are financially limited in bringing back the support structure for the former Sunderland man as Villa currently lack more than one traditional winger.
Can we afford to buy two more Ashley Youngs, even at his relatively unproven £9.5m original tag? I would say no, or rather that money of that magnitude is best spent on more pressing concerns – the whole defence being one, central midfield being the second.
Getting back to our number nine, Bent will be far from the hardest man to shift if we do choose to sell as, despite a relative modest number of goals in the campaign that just finished, he is desired by teams that suit his style of play. Liverpool may well be an ideal destination, although Tom Werner and John W. Henry have stated they want to spend a maximum of £20m net next year at Anfield, and that the £20m must buy four solid players for the future. So we won’t be alone in watching the pennies.
In making necessary changes, Lerner may be forced, possibly unwillingly, to invest money short term to have less players. That sounds ridiculous I am sure, but mutual termination of players that we can’t sell is, partly, cheaper than paying them out their full contracts. Assuming, of course, that the players agree to such an offering. Player power, hey?
Beyond sales, purchases play the other part in balancing the footballing scales at Villa Park, and the question begs as to who the club can attract, especially now that the era of overpaying for wages has now gone.
For example, one would like to think that the likes of Junior Hoillett, Wilifred Zaha, Victor Moses, Marvin Sordell, or Steven N’Zonzi are achievable given the club’s historic stature, especially considering three of them have been relegated this year, and one plays for a Championship club.
If only we had the balls to take Moses when O’Neill was offered him for £3.5m while he was at Crystal Palace, as I said back then he was a talent, and Zaha is Moses Mk. II. Wouldn’t mind that pair flanking Charlie N’Zogbia, I will tell you that much, and neither would Roberto Martinez. Still, as I said earlier, there are bigger priorities than indulging my football management mentality, or in buying wide men when we have a porous defence and no real central midfield.
Whether the players I suggested above think the same about Villa as a potential employer given our more modest recent history, one can only guess. Especially considering Tottenham Hotspur have been linked with at least two of those names.
So the future may well be brighter than Sunday, but we must understand that the road is long, with many a winding turn. Someone should write a song about that.
Success won’t come instantly and the new man, whoever he is, must be given at least two years to stamp his personality on the squad because, if not, Villa will enter a third successive close season headless, flitting from style to style with no cohesive structure.
Which is, if we’re honest, hardly what we, or any prospective employee looking in at the club, might call a bright or attractive future.
The future is bright, but only with the right patience and changes.
Patience is a virtue and, after a season of venting anger, now is the time to show our virtues rather than our darker side.
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