As usual, tight-lipped Villa are inviting some less-than-flattering narratives to be written up on our behalf given that Young has gone and Stewart Downing is said to be considering handing in a transfer request.

Underlying it all is the perception that there’s no money, and that perhaps Lerner is cashing in on stars in preparation for selling on, or just raising the white flag.

Here’s what I’m going to say: Keep calm and carry on.

Not that kind of Carry On

“Carry on what?” I hear you asking. “Carry on selling? Carry on not winning things? Carry on in mid-table mediocrity? Carry on being a joke?”

I can understand if this is what you’re thinking. I don’t think it’s time reach for the panic button or give up hope. It may be time, though, to re-frame expectations, and by “carry on” I mean coming to terms with the fact that things are usually never as bad or as good as they seem. Carry on loving your club, and don’t let yourself get sucked into the negativity. We’re not a joke.

Because, as we all know, it’s about money. It’s about buying championships. And if you can’t buy championships, or you’re not firmly ensconced in the upper echelon of CL-qualifying spots, you’re looking at a hard slog and top 10 is respectable in such a competitive league. Eighth or better is a fair aspiration.

These are facts we need to accept. Consolidate, get our house in order, get harder to beat, then look at making another push for Europa and beyond. A certain level of spending is not going to guarantee us top four, so why throw that money around needlessly right now? Let’s wait and see how much we do spend and on whom.

Sounds like surrender

No, it’s not surrender. It’s realism. If anything, it’s about regrouping and living to fight another day. There wouldn’t be FFP rules coming into effect if money wasn’t ruining the game. I’m not saying they’ll fix things, but their existence is proof of what we all know.

Aligning our ambitions with our resources may seem a bitter pill. It may seem to signal Lerner has given up hope of winning anything. It may seem like a prelude to a sale.

I won’t pretend to know what Lerner is thinking. However, with the Fair Play rules looming, it’s less likely that there are deep-pocketed would-be owners queuing up to buy into the PL if they can’t then go on to buy championships or CL spots. Villa would have to spend well over our turnover to do a Manchester City.

I’m thinking that Villa, or any PL club not in the top four already, doesn’t represent a particularly attractive investment or plaything. I wouldn’t think a sale is in the offing. Even if there were, it wouldn’t be the panacea some might expect, unless there are loopholes to be exploited.

We made a push under O’Neill. The money wasn’t spent wisely. We’re still dealing with the consequences (see: “average players on above-average wages”). This has to be addressed, and it is. O’Neill refused to admit he’d spent unwisely, otherwise he’d be cleaning up his own mess.

However, some will say that if we’re not going all out this summer that we have surrendered our ambitions. You’ll have to make up your own minds about reality versus “ambition”. You’ll have to make up your own minds as to whether football can really be about “winning things” for the vast majority of clubs in the current environment, barring the odd lucky cup run.

And then Downing…

The crocked player we bought for £12m who forced his move to Villa. The one who professed his loyalty and gratitude until his agent told him that wasn’t smart business.

Whether the Fair Play rules will be encouraging spending and moves on the part of clubs and players before things tighten up is an interesting question. It could very well be the case that Downing’s agent is telling him that he needs to cash in now, rather than wait until next year.

This is what will be driving Downing: what’s best for him. It’s not because Villa are a sinking ship, but because there are only so many big paydays in a player’s career, and it seems at least one club may be willing to give him the instant step-up in money and profile.

That said, I’ll not be happy if he does force a move. I won’t be wishing him ill, but I won’t be wishing much of anything good for him, either, especially if he ends up at Liverpool. I don’t like it when players sign a contract and then try to force a move. Maybe it’s just because I can’t get out of any contracts I sign that easily. But he did the same to come to us, so we shouldn’t be surprised if he does it to us.

Downing and Young are simply very obvious symptoms of what’s wrong with the game. Very few teams have a chance to win anything meaningful, and at least they’ve increased in value.

What can we do if not panic?

What we can do is get behind the team and give Lerner and McLeish the opportunity to do some business before we break ranks. It’s the first summer window since O’Neill left. We did some good business in January, and we may yet do some good business this summer.

We can also take a cue from our fabulous away support and show the rest of the league that we’re steadfast. We can look forward to having a manager that might bring us some unexpected cheer and silverware; we’ll have some steel at least.

We can wrap our heads around the fact that we’re not able to buy a title, and instead enjoy the simple pleasures of going to Villa Park and watching a game of football without unrealistic expectations weighing us down. I think we’ll be harder to beat at home, and that, at least, should make a season-ticket investment value for money. And the ticket sales only help turnover. Buy a ticket, and go cheer your hearts out.

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