Paul Scholes, the only man in the game who can make Big Eck look strawberry blonde, has recently launched a scathing attack on England footballers.
Now, this wouldn’t normally bother me too much, but in his blast Mr Scholes refers to the attitude of players from ‘the Aston Villas’ of football. And this got my attention.
What Scholes actually said was, “I always felt players at clubs like your Aston Villas try to use England as a way to get to a top club. Which, I don’t know, you feel, ‘Are they there for the right reason?’ I think they are very selfish people”.
My first response to this was, ‘who is he talking about?’, ‘does he mean Ashley Young?’, ‘Gareth Barry?’, ‘surely not Milner?’, ‘Downing?’ The list could be quite extensive; however, Scholes retired a fairly long time ago, so it’s unlikely that it is any of those mentioned.
The past or the future?
Who then? Darius Vassell? David James? Gareth Southgate? Again, none of them stand out as ‘Big time Charlie’s’- so I’m at a loss.
Ultimately, I think it was a sweeping statement, a damning and- to us Villa supporters- quite offensive criticism. But it’s very easy to pick fault when you look down from your United perch, isn’t it?
Scholes went on to say, “I just got fed up. When you are going to a team, you want to be part of a team and play well, but there are individuals who are after personal glory. When there is a simple pass of 10 yards, they might try and smack it 80 yards. They will do things to try and get themselves noticed”.
And then that was it. A moment of bitter-tasting reality and soberness. The coffee was ready and I could certainly smell it.
Could this attack on selfishness within the national set-up, directly or indirectly criticising Aston Villa players, just as easily have been written for our very own team at club level?!
A squad or a group of players?
Do WE have a squad of players too selfish for AVFC? Do players see AVFC as the ‘England’ of the Premiership? Are we a mere ticket for the egotistical, self-serving players who want a leg-up into the big time?
I fear the answer is ‘yes’. I need only mention Barry, Milner, Young and Downing. We have all raged at Young’s selfishness in the past, was there ever a player more deliberately putting himself in the shop window? The many months of him toeing the ‘I’m concentrating on my football, not a contract extension’ line was a farce.
Downing seems to feel, albeit taken from media stories, that he is now too good for Villa and owes us nothing, despite the huge risk we took on a Championship player with a broken ankle that had found himself an England outcast.
I hate to think that Villa have become a short term option for any player who wishes to earn good wages and gain some increased attention whilst angling for a move elsewhere.
I’m being cynical, but I don’t believe that Bent, Ireland, Makoun and the like would really want to remain at Villa for one second longer than necessary should their form attract the attention of the “Big Boys”. I just hope these ambitions don’t come at a cost to our club.
I appreciate it is a short career, and that players will always be ambitious. I have absolutely no issue with that- if I was a pro I’d want to play in the Champions League final too. But, like Scholes, I can’t stomach the thought that some players may, to the detriment of the team, put themselves first to feed their own narcissistic hunger.
I think Scholes’ comments hit the nail on the head. Two heads, in fact. England’s and Villa’s.
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