So things have come to pass and it looks like, as many may well have predicted, that the tenure of Alex McLeish will be extended by another year at least. Brett Holman is signing at the end of the season, other players are being looked at with a view to transfers, and thus the planning for next season has started.
It makes a lot of sense to be planning already, even though technically Aston Villa aren’t mathematically safe from relegation. I have to say technically because, in all honesty, whilst Villa still could go down, the likelihood of three of the five teams below us all going on winning streaks seems pretty unlikely. In fact, I highly doubt Villa will finish any lower than 15th now.
The Future Is Now
So with Holman signed up to be a player who will be wearing the claret and blue strip we are famous for, sights turn to other targets. As has been stated on multiple occassions, free transfers seem likely to be a favourite for signings come the end of the season, although it does not mean that all transfers will be exclusively so.
With aging players in the team, the likes of Emile Heskey and Stiliyan Petrov for example, free transfers offer a seamless transition in terms of outlay, especially if the incoming players take less wages than some of the current squad. Some may think that players such as Brett Holman are far from the flashy level that fans might expect, but the question is – what exactly are those fans expecting?
I know, obviously, that it is not like our hardcore support imagine Lionel Messi is a realistic target, but who is? More to the point, are they going to be any more decorated in terms of experience than Holman?
People may laugh off those suggestions stating that Holman isn’t a big enough name and, more importantly, is far from prolific, but a counter argument is a) he also plays wide, b) he is not playing as a primary striker, and c) he won’t be playing as a primary striker given Darren Bent’s inclusion in the squad.
Given Bent has first dibs on the single striker position, and it is evident from McLeish’s tactics that he prefers a lone striker, few players of significant current stature are going to want to join a club where they either have to a) play in a non-preferred position (such as Gabby Agbonlahor has had to most of this year) or b) sit on the substitutes bench when Bent is playing.
For example, I was talking last night to a good friend of mine about Pavel Pogrebnyak, a target that Villa are eyeing in light of his contract expiry at the end of the season. Given his goal yield in five games, it is evident that Pogrebnyak, much like Demba Ba last season, will have a future in the Premier League, even if it isn’t with the club that introduced him to it.
Villa Signing Pavel Pogrebnyak – Just A Dream?
My argument was that a player like Pogrebnyak is really what the club needs, and assuming they can pay him a good wage, they should be able to secure his signature. My friend then said “But is a 28 year old striker, especially one who plays for his country, going to want to play second fiddle to Darren Bent?”.
The obvious answer is “no”, and sadly this is part of what worries me about progress at the club. It isn’t so much that McLeish picks one striker up front, after all, that is just a personal choice in tactical terms, it is the fact that Bent is seen as a permanent fixture regardless, and that a player like Pogrebnyak is probably going to favour playing for a club where players are picked on form, not on clauses inserted by chairmen.
Earlier this season, Bent went almost ten games in all competitions without scoring, but yet he was continued to be picked. In any other team, besides one that has contracted him to play regardless, he would have been dropped. I understand that some say Bent has to be persisted with as he “has a reputation for scoring goals” but since when does repetition qualify as intelligent planning? Does it work to an infinite level – i.e. if Darren Bent doesn’t score for 20 games, do we still pick him?
If Bent is to be the sole striker, and he arguably works best in that role compared to being part of a front two, then we are surely looking at few strikers who will want to come to the club to play, or rather not play, given the Bent situation.
Agents, the people who have to negotiate contracts with football clubs, know all about clauses in player contracts, and their effect on teams. Why? It’s their job – I mean, do you think an agent of top football players doesn’t know about the workings of clubs through either their players, or through agents of other players they might know? Do you think they will act on that information or not?
There’s much to be said for contracts, what you offer, and how it can affect your chances of acquiring players. Set the balance in favour of any individual in particular, and you risk upsetting the apple cart, not only in your current squad, but in terms of attracting players to your club in future. It doesn’t matter who that player is, reliance and focus on one player is not good for the club, and I would be saying the same thing if that one player was Agbonlahor, Stephen Ireland, or any other big first team player.
The Future Starts Here – It’s Yet To Be Written
So planning is underway, and there are many targets still to be acquired, but the question now is not if Villa have the money to buy them, since Randy Lerner invariably does, it is whether those players are going to be interested to play in a team where they may start off playing second fiddle. Such a proposal may well sell to the likes of young and inexperienced players and/or those unproven in the Premier League, but for the likes of players who are neither inexperienced nor unproven – like the players I rate in Junior Hoillett, Steven N’Zonzi, Pavel Pogrebnyak, or even Momo Diamé – a signature may well be more difficult to acquire than just throwing money at the problem.
I do concede it will be easier to find non-strikers with money than it will main strikers – I am qualifying Keane as a secondary forward rather than a traditional striker/number 9.
Getting back to talking about clubs and change, look at QPR – a new, and supposed quality, manager, money spent, players bought, and yet they are closer to relegation than they were under Neil Warnock. It goes to show that football nowadays is as much about the politics of appeasing rich chairmen (see multiple Premier League clubs – Man City, Chelsea, QPR, arguably even us to a lesser extent) as it is the managers or players, and many chairmen actively know nothing about the sport.
Money may well have brought fabulously talented players to our league but it also has, arguably, ruined both the game and the competition completely. Is football dead? Not yet, but the next few years will prove critical to determining it’s prognosis in its current bloated form.
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