This Sunday, Liverpool and our 2010/2011 Player of the Year will be providing the opposition at Villa Park. Like most Villans I found Stewart Downing’s exit from our club to be utterly classless. His callous comments while on England duty disrespected both the club and the fans. While a lot of what he said on his way out the door was factually correct, we deserved not to have our faces rubbed in it.
In all honesty, Liverpool do have greater resources and can pay higher wages than Aston Villa. Our hope is that, for a day, our team can close that gap even if it is for but a day. A decisive Liverpool win or if, God forbid, Downing scores that would just be another insult. In a year where ambitions and expectations have been lowered this is one of the few Villa matches that will be ranked as a “must see”. With Small Heath Alliance playing Championship football this year and no Second City Derbies, the atmosphere at Villa Park will likely be as hostile as it will be all year.
What Downing did is not altogether different from what Ashley Young and James Milner did in leaving the club. What was clearly different is the manner in which he helped facilitate his own exit. The question this leads to is why does this matter? Dispassionately, most educated fans realize that players are by and large mercenaries who will leave any club at the drop of a hat for prestige and a fatter wage packet.
Players come and players go and it’s up to club management to recruit players and replace the players who leave. Downing left and was replaced by Charles N’Zogbia. James Milner left and was to be replaced by Steven Ireland. That is the way the game works.
If Downing had been less vocal as he left our club, if he had actually thanked the club for signing him as he was on crutches, and if he had thanked the fans for their support while he was a Villa player, he might have received the polite reception that Ashley Young did upon his return. If, like Young, he had not made any false promises about signing a new contract and how happy he was at the club, that would have made a significant difference with supporters as well. Even if he had done or not done all these things, Villa would still be in the same situation whether he left the right way or not.
When reflecting why this actual matters it all boils down to human nature. Most of us are more concerned with the appearance of how things are than on how they actually are. In this case, our best player would have left, but many fans, if they felt a little better about the situation, would’ve been less hostile to the man himself.
In life, we expect the people in our lives to go through with niceties, we act in a certain way to paint ourselves in a positive light, and frequently do all that we can to avoid having ourselves seen negatively. The fact that Downing couldn’t be bothered to try and make his exit look like the cash grab, glory hunt it was is even more galling to Aston Villa supporters.
Downing’s seeming 180 on his future with was an added feeling of betrayal. While we were resigned to Ashley Young leaving in the summer, Downing’s comments to Mat Kendrick at the awards dinner gave fans false hope that he would stay with the club, and would be one of our cornerstones as we sought to move up the table and compete for the domestic cups.
The situation the two clubs are in likely would not be any different if Downing had left on better terms. We can still dream of coming away with all of the three points. We haven’t beaten any of the “big clubs” yet this year. A win over Liverpool and Downing would also take pressure off the backroom staff and the players.
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