With all the troubles we have been having recently, and that are still ongoing, I found myself asking myself what makes me “feel” a Villan? I mean why am I a Villa fan?
I grew up in a time when all the other kids picked a different team each week. Liverpool seemed to be the team of choice back then, then slowly Man Utd shirts start to appear everywhere, before later becoming the blue of the Chelski revolution.
Now back then, it would have been fairly easy for me to nip down to JJB Sports, changing allegiance as teams got better and worse, and it would have gone unnoticed. Now if I would have done that my years of following football, life would have been so much easier wouldn’t it?
So why didn’t I? After all, Villa had been the most successful in the years before I was born, so what made me stay? What made me believe?
Aston Villa, as a club, has never promised me anything.
There’s never been a promise of success, of winning cups, or having the best managers, or even getting the best players. Of course we all want to win things, we all want to have the best players or manager, but that is just because it’s our club. However, we are competing in a league and everyone else is trying their best to get better too, so we can’t just expect success, even though we obviously want it.
Going into the later parts of the season, I thought it would be a good idea to ask this question, as I’m sure many of us feel abandoned, as though the club has turned their backs on us, as though we are not trying anymore and just having to “make do” till a time when the owner, and thus the club, can reinvest.
Now I understand some peoples choice to stay away, and that is their right to do so, but for those of us who do still attend, then I think we can make a real difference. At the moment we need all hands to the pumps as it were, so lets leave our issues with the manager and the board to one side, at least till the summer, so we can focus on results. After all, we all want the same thing, whatever our opinions on players, the manager, or the board – the best for our club.
I am a firm believer in having a positive mental attitude, as those who have read my comments will know. So if we can take that attitude as fans and put the effort in to getting behind the team, Villa Park might start to get the atmosphere back. Having that feeling of support would give the players so much confidence, just as we have seen recently with Stephen Ireland.
Speaking as someone who regularly goes to away matches, our away support never lets us down, we sing when we are winning, losing, or drawing. So maybe if we had the same attitude at home, maybe it could lift the clouds at Villa Park. Perhaps our success away from home might be due to that support as we have done better this year when we aren’t at Villa Park more than we have done at home.
I’m not blind, and I know we have issues deep issues that will need resolving at the end of the season but, till then at least, we can have an impact and we can help. We can be supporters, and we can try and make a difference.
If we try it, it might actually work. Surely that possibility makes giving it a go worth the effort? We criticise the players when they don’t perform, so maybe we can lead the way.
Who knows till we try? If we do, then things might actually get better.
The Author
