Well guys it isn’t often that I’m left stumped, speechless. I’m usually a man of many words particularly when it comes to the one thing I love most in life, Aston Villa football club. But this week I have a confession to make: I’m struggling.
That’s not saying that there isn’t anything going on at the club, because we all know that isn’t true—we’re being linked to practically every player under the sun. But browsing over the last half-dozen or so articles it seems that everything I would usually pick up on has been well and truly bled dry. Leaving me in somewhat of a quandary. So to dig myself out of a little hole this week I’ve chosen to write brief bulletins rather than a free-flowing article.
Stiliyan Petrov
The first thing that I’d like to pick up on is the truly magnificent scenes from the training ground last Thursday as captain fantastic Stiliyan Petrov celebrated his 33rd birthday. The fact the video uploaded by avfcofficial to YouTube has had almost 100,000 hits (at the time of writing) shows just how much support that this trooper has from the fans. All of the players are a credit to this wonderful football club.
Paul Lambert’s transfer philosophy
Paul Lambert worked a minor miracle at Norwich City, winning back-to-back promotions from League One and the Championship and turning them into 12th-placed finishers in the Premier League on a shoestring budget. And it looks like he’s going to work this same philosophy at Villa, too, by bringing in players who appear to have a great deal of promise for very little money.
We’re now in a win/win situation. Should one of the new faces go onto have a wonderful career at the club then we shall be praising Lambert for a wonderful piece of business, whereas on the other hand, should a player turn out to be a flop, the club can quite easily cut their losses.
Expectations of the fans
I believe that the appointment of Paul Lambert and his transfer philosophy has realigned the expectations of a typical fan.
In recent years—particularly when Martin O’Neill was at the helm—many supporters believed that splashing the cash was the only foreseeable way to get Aston Villa competing towards the higher reaches again. But this isn’t necessarily the case.
Lambert was able to squeeze the very best out of the players he had at Norwich City, and on paper Villa have better players. If he’s capable of working the same sort of magic here then perhaps the sky’s the limit.
At this moment in time there’s a real feel-good factor among the Villa faithful but—dare I say it—also an ounce of realism.
Fixtures
And that brings me nicely onto the opening fixtures of the 2012/13 season. Between now and the end of August there are of course going to be an a lot of changes, not just at the Villa but also for our rivals. However, when you look at our opening 10 games of the new season I think there is a genuine opportunity to put some big points on the board.
West Ham, Everton, Swansea City, Southampton, West Brom, Fulham, Norwich City, and Sunderland are all “winnable matches” in my eyes.
Only 38 days to go until the big kick-off!
Up The Villa.
The Author
