Aston Villa, once a club competing in the upper reaches of the table now find themselves on the opposite side of the table. Sixth from top to sixth from bottom in two years. That’s some turn around.
To be frank though, has it really been anything of a surprise to anyone? I mean, really? People may think that our circumstances are shocking, unbelievable, and/or unexpected. For me, they are none of those – these circumstances have been nothing besides predictable.
The World Of Aston Villa & Its Associated Downfall
Facts of the matter is that we’ve not replaced players who were at the spine of our team. Ok, that’s not entirely true – we’ve replaced one human being with another, but not of the same quality.
Remember Gareth Barry? Chided by fans for being “too slow”, “unable to pass”, and every other insult you’ve heard slung at a player? Well he’s doing pretty well now, being one of the central pieces in the Manchester City title push. Mr Dependable. Gets the job done. No qualms, no worries – just does what he is told.
How we could do with him back in our team now. Even at 31, he’d displace any midfielder we have to offer, with the possible exception of Stephen Ireland. Seen by some as not good enough back when he wore claret and blue, he’s proved those people wrong – he’s won more at Manchester City in almost three years than he did in 12 years at Villa.
Of course, he only left because he was a mercenary. Yeah, right. A mercenary? You mean he got a pay rise? Who cares. Didn’t Ashley Young get a pay rise to go to Manchester United? Is he a mercenary too? Or is said viewpoint just selectively forgotten because City weren’t title contenders when Barry left, but United were when Young did?
Barry left because he thought City was a better option for the remainder of his career, and he was right to do so. City have climbed the table just as quickly as Villa have plummeted because, even ignoring the money situation for a minute, City have a footballing plan, and Villa don’t.
We can run out trite phrases about business plans and… Oh I’m falling asleep even thinking about it. As much as business is a critical part of how the club operates, I pay money to watch games of football, not stare at spreadsheets.
I can look at spreadsheets for free, at home, and bore myself on my own timescale. No concerns about parking, no queueing, no bloke behind me grumbling. If I wanted to study finances, I’d have gone back to University and become an accountant or, as it happens, I wouldn’t have, preferring to stick hot pins in my eyes instead.
We’re Solving A Problem – Be Grateful
If you really want to know what irks me the most about this ridiculous situation that we are in – we created it ourselves for God’s sake!
All this financial pruning in the name of good practice, well it’s only necessary because whoever let that happen is obviously a complete idiot, right? I mean, they must be, otherwise we wouldn’t be where we are, wading knee deep in overpaid footballers who other teams would only take if we paid them to leave. Thanks for that Habib. Top efforts there son. I don’t know how you sleep at night.
So let’s get back to solving this “problem” we have. Finances? What a mess. Absolute calamity Mr Lerner. Must be cut immediately. Preferably at warp speed because of the Mayan prophecy. You see Randy, we’ve only got till December then Planet X/Niburu/Heskey’s last shot on target is going to collide with us and it’s going to cause us all a bit of grief. Remember those riots we had last year? Imagine that only instead of hoodies, you have a planet, oh and instead of bricks going through windows, it’ll be the world stopping spinning.
I’ll stop there because such a tale is utter, utter tripe. Which is quite fortunate, because so is the whole problem. We’re expected to be patient and watch the wage bill get cut with more savagery than Sweeney Todd managed in his barber shop and he was, if you didn’t know, a real character. His pies had more PR than Villa’s too.
Only one thing though – we’re only in this situation because it was left to happen by our own man in charge.
People can blame Martin O’Neill all day long, and many will, but unless Randy was off sunning himself on a beach for the whole tenure of our once favourite Ulsterman, then the figures rose progressively – one wage at a time.
Martin may well have bought some rubbish, but I doubt even he could manage to hide Curtis Davies down the back of a sofa pretending he was a cushion. Shame really, probably because the cushion would have a) been cheaper, and b) managed a more successful Premier League career.
The wage bill rose because it was allowed to rise. O’Neill only spent the money he was given. He didn’t nick money out the safe. He didn’t threaten the finance people with a sock full of pennies aimed at the backs of their heads. He didn’t do any of that – he spent what he was given.
Of course, our owner eventually got wind of it and implemented ways of controlling the situation, but it was too little, too late. The horse had bolted, the game was over,
Villa were in a mess. Villa are now in less of a financial mess, but we’ve done our very best to make sure that mess has been replaced with an even bigger one – a football mess – largely because we tried to do too much, too soon, whilst using a scapegoat.
A scapegoat I hear you say? Surely our beloved club couldn’t do that to their own people, right? Well the club were willing to just let it look like Martin O’Neill walked, but then strangely had to pay money to him in a tribunal. Interesting. Surely if the man walked, you don’t pay people to leave? I’ve never been paid to leave a job when I’ve gone of my own accord, have you? I didn’t think so either.
Now this season, what do you do when your finances are a mess, and you can’t get your first choice manager? Round of applause please, Roberto Martinez was our first choice! Hurrah! *rolls eyes*
No, you get a hated man in to do a hated job. You get him in because, if he messes up, then you eject him. If he does well, what a masterstroke! You can’t lose!
Well, that is unless you go down, at which point you invariably can lose, and lose heavily. Either way, McLeish is disposable to the club – a pawn in the power game at Villa Park. I’m sure many of you would respect the board more if they sacked McLeish, right? The board know exactly what they are doing.
Contracts Shouldn’t Contradict Team Efforts
Take a look at the manager’s contract – reportedly a basic salary with two sets of incentives. The first set of incentives is, in my opinion, a fairly logical one. Win matches, score goals, and get more salary. Excellent motivator in my opinion. Shame about the 0-0 draws then.
The second set of incentives is based on spending. Yes, that’s right, the club are paying the manager more money based on how little he spends. Indirectly, they are setting up the manager’s role that spending less moneys is in his own personal interests – something that could potentially contradict the team’s survival.
First set of clauses I’ve mentioned? Wise. Sensible. Great.
Second set of clauses? What in the hell were you thinking? You want to reward someone for saving more money than usual? Were the existing cuts not deep enough?
Great idea if this was a paper company, less so when it is a paper thin football team.
The club has become more interested in money than football.
If they’re going to be like that from now on, what’s our motivation, as fans, to turn up? To indulge in football masochism? To sit there and watch the memories of our club get tarnished in the present day? I wonder why people might not be renewing.
Bottom line is this – we’re expected to be patient because there’s a “problem” we need solving. Well I’ve been patient enough already, and nothing is changing besides the invisible side of the game. Villa are teetering on the edge of the abyss because they’ve employed a manager with clauses that oppose aspects of fixing our issues. The club has signed stupid contracts with players to cripple our team based on automatic selection criteria.
Randy – if you’re reading this, wake up. If something isn’t done in the close season, and I don’t mean the signing of Brett Holman, you’re going to have a shock next season. If you are happy because you’re prioritising corporate money over consumer money, well best of luck with that, because you may find Villa Park rather more empty come August.
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