With Kevin Macdonald leaving the club after 17 years, it looks like the first stages of changes are happening at Villa Park. For the record, MacDonald did a wonderful job but, after 17 years, perhaps he wanted a go at management and I, for one, think he deserves his opportunity. Good luck to him I say.
Anyway, that change got thinking about how fans are going to react as the team changes begin?
Rumours are circulating that Stephen Ireland could be let go. As good as he can be, I wouldn’t have too many issues with this because, after all, he is a big earner.
QPR seem to be sniffing round Shay Given, but then they are sniffing around several keepers as Paddy Kenny looks to join former boss Neil Warnock at Leeds. However, while the club are adamant that Given is staying, would it really be the end of the world if he went? He is another big earner, and there are a few decent keepers we could possibly get in to replace if it comes to us.
There are going to be some deep changes at the club that are going to make us, or break us. However, we have to give it a shot. If all we have to go on is the past record of Paul Lambert, then there should be no other conclusion to come to other than our new manager will do well for us.
I have been reading in a few places that some Aston Villa fans are not too over the moon at the MacDonald situation, and many more are not impressed about the Ireland situation either, but such anger confused me.
Why? Well why is it that many fans scream for change, and put massive statement about what happens if we don’t get change, but then when change actually does come, fans are angry because it doesn’t fit their opinion or view of the club. People are entitled to their opinions, just as we all are, but we have to accept the fact that the new manager may have different ways he wants to progress the club compared to what we think. That’s life.
For me though, the most important thing is that we have got a manager not burdened with the huge expectation we place upon our appointments – we know how much we demand from the team, sometimes to an unrealistic level. However, finally we have a manager with a recent track record of success and who likes to play football the way we all want to watch.
Now, we need to step back, accept that Lambert may well do things differently to how we would, and just let this man do what he is good at, and proven to be good at. He can change our fortunes in my opinion, and I think he will do what he was brought in to do – turn us back into winners, not also rans.
There will be more unexpected departures and some surprising additions over the next few weeks I am surem and our team is going to be taking a shape we have haven’t been used to for a while. It may well be scary for many fans, but we should be embracing this period – this is a period we are going to remember because this is the start of a new era. A new era that may well mean success at last, in time.
So can you hear that? It’s the winds of change blowing through B6 and I, for one, am delighted to hear those changes coming.
The Author
