As you are all aware, the transfer window closes for English clubs at 11pm on Wednesday 31st August 2011. At present, we have seen a glut of players leave the club, some for lots of money, some for not very much. Either way though, one would argue that we have made enough changes to brings some players in.
In fact, in just the past week, we have seen both Luke Young and Jean II Makoun depart the team. Whilst it would be a push to say that Makoun was a regular, it wouldn’t really be one to say that he does need to be replaced. You can’t, after all, afford to lose an abundance of players, and expect them to be solely replaced by Shay Given and Charles N’Zogbia. Good though Given & N’Zogbia are, they aren’t miracle makers.
You see our problems start when we evaluate the squad. As has been mentioned before, a whole host of names have left the club since the wage bill was deemed too large to manage, and many of these have not been replaced. Now I know the whole rationale is to lower the bill to a more manageable level, but what does this tell us?
Well the signals are somewhat variable, and open to interpretation. Take for example, the fact that two of our best players last season, in Young and Downing, have only been replaced by Charles N’Zogbia. Nobody will doubt the ability of Charles, but he can’t play both sides of the pitch simultaneously.
Nobody was expecting that we would sell Young & Downing and replace them with two more players on £50k+ a week, but the fact remains that one of those players hasn’t been replaced at all. Some will say Marc Albrighton can take the other slot but, inexperience aside, just where does that leave Villa in terms of squad depth? Not very deep shall we say.
Overpaying when in the red?
So the signals could mean either Villa are continuing to overpay for players, or they are just not able to sustain a big squad of good players. Both problems are alarming, albeit for differing reasons. Overpaying may be a way to get players to play for Villa who wouldn’t otherwise come, but it continues to ruin the finances if it is still being used. Lessons, some may say, aren’t being learned.
For example, would you, in the current climate, pay a player a £5m signing bonus? Yes or no?
I am betting most of you would say no, although once I tell you who received it, I am sure others will justify it. In case you hadn’t guessed already, it was Darren Bent. £5m could have gone towards Scott Parker this window, or towards a full back. Either way, what’s done is done. I can’t change what happened, but I can try to keep you informed on what is going on. Make up your own minds people.
If money talks, should the club?
The other major problem besides the wage expenditure is a blatantly obvious one – how club relations are managed. Nobody is expecting Paul Faulkner to stand on the steps of the Holte End reading out the finances publicly, or for Charles Krulak to tell everyone just who our transfer targets are. Obviously not, as both ideas would be foolish and would basically give our rivals a heads up on what we are doing.
What the club COULD do though, and what they DO do, are totally different. Gary (aka Steamer) made a suggestion stating that me and some of the guys who help me run this site could do a good job helping Villa with communications, with, dare I say it, PR. Whilst I’m not so egocentric as to immediately laud myself as the man for the job, I do see the point being made.
Gary, like many of us, is just frustrated. He, like you, is sick of the tedious, bland, anodyne statements that are issued sporadically. They say something, but they don’t. They detail nothing, but tell us what we already know.
“Thanks guys,” we’d say, “but we already knew what you’ve just told us. Please don’t insult our intelligence.”
Apart from stating the obvious, all the statements seem to include are vague, generic phrases about “intent” with no real understanding or explanation as to how, or when, that intent will be proven. I honestly would expect more insight if I picked out a series of random words that were written on balls from a bag. It really isn’t conducive to maintaining fan morale.
So, yes, we do understand the need for cost cutting. Yes, we do understand that the squad may be a little lighter than in Martin’s heyday, but we also understand the club.
For many of us, paying customers for years and, for some, decades, we believe we’re entitled to know a bit more about our club. We don’t want to know anything too intrusive. For example, we’re not looking to get daily updates on the cost of running the sprinkler system at Villa Park. We do, however, have some interest in knowing about how the club is run.
Why? Well for many of us, we used to actually own part of this club in shares prior to the Lerner takeover.
For some of us, like me, Villa Park was an imposing sight of their childhood, growing up a literal stones throw from the ground. Aston Villa isn’t just a series of stands to me, it is part of who I am. Part of who we all are.
We obviously no longer own the club, but it doesn’t mean we should be shut out and kept in the dark about reality. It is a bitter taste to be so close to things when Doug ran the club, but so removed from things now. Nobody is suggesting we should be going back to the times when £3.5m for a player was a lot, but we’d like a bit of personality.
You know what I mean. A bit of substance to go with the style. It’s all very well renovating the Holte, sponsoring Acorns, and working on other “positive” projects, but without a real connection, it all seems false. It feels like we’re not run by a fan of the club, but by some faceless corporation that speaks only in discrete memos, or via email, in what is a silent and clinical environment. In short, it feels rather distant, rather dis-associative.
Transfers
Anyway, I digress somewhat. This is supposed to be about transfers rather than the club itself. I’d love to elaborate on who and when people are coming, but the reality is that cards are being played close to chests, thus, given the lack of real truthful information, there is only this succinct statement to make:
Randy, give us a solid set of players, preferably including a defensive midfielder. Oh and, if possible, try to use Villa’s stature as the method to beat other clubs to the deal.
As opposed to paying Habib Beye £40k a week when we signed him to stop him from going to Hull City. Or, are we hearing, by proxy, that expectations aren’t as high as some fans would like?
The Author
