As we all know, money has both enriched and destroyed our game for differing reasons. Whilst you may find few people who can state that the coverage on Sky Sports is worse than old terrestrial reporting, the suggested improvements to the sport in England are far from clear cut.
Yes, the Premier League can boast some of the best players in the world, though the league has still to attract the very best players, in particular those who play for Brazil and Argentina. Of course, part of this reasoning is because players from South America will be more acclimatised to the Spanish and Portuguese leagues because of both the weather and languages of those countries, but a lot of the Premier League’s “pull” is financial.
Which is why, in some way, it always make me laugh when trite phrases about Manchester City buying the league are trotted out. Sure, there is an irrefutable link between City’s recent progressions and the financial investment they have been afforded, but this is the Premier League – every club competes this way.
Aston Villa’s attraction of footballers has often been based on paying more in fees or wages than rival bidders (see O’Neill, Martin), and the English top league’s attraction is not technical or based on sunny climes – it is mercenary in nature, and player moves are based on financial gains, with the English Premier League spending more money on average on wages than any other rival league.
Villa may not be competing on the same level as City or Chelsea, but their wealth, whilst not as relatively high as a few other clubs, is still both absolutely high, and significantly higher than many clubs in the Premier League and lower leagues in England. Villa have also arguable been inefficient with their spending with Tottenham paying less in average wages in the last European football financial report.
When making a comparison to the club’s unrestrained spending in past seasons, Villa must be lauded for their current financial approach to the game – not because it cultivates instantaneous success, but rather because such prudence means the club is able to operate for the foreseeable future.
Of course, I thoroughly understand the necessity for fans to want to see success in their lifetimes, and that some fans lives may be further into their twilight years than others. However, if we are to learn any lessons on spending, and the impact it can have when done badly, we need look no further than the Glasgow Rangers saga, slowly and painfully unfolding across the border.
Rangers are obviously not an English club, but their disregard for adherence to a solid and financially astute plan has resulted in them playing their next competitive season in the Scottish Third Division – the league where footballing behemoths such as Elgin City, Peterhead, and Stirling Albion reside.
Would we seriously wish such a fate on our own club? The answer to such a simplified question is, of course, almost rhetorical – no fan wishes their club to get into financial hardship.
With all that said though, it is easy to get wrapped up in the bubble world of the Premier League, forgetting the rest of the world for a moment as Villa scramble to whatever short term objective that has been ingrained in the psyche of fans in this particular moment. It is just as easy to forget that, for all of the lack of silverware in the past decade and a half, the club have also been an ever present in the Premier League.
For some, such an “achievement” may well appear to be an accepted basic, as though Villa have a god-given right to such a status, regardless of how they do or don’t conduct their operations. One would hope that recent scrapes with relegation have taught us a lesson on context, and how things can change very rapidly.
Just as having more money in real life can impact one’s own perspective on value, so clubs that are relatively poor in Premier League terms but absolutely rich in overall terms continue to feel frustration. Villa fans may, at least in some capacity, want to exchange places with the success and financial backing of Manchester City or Chelsea, but this is no different to how lower league teams might feel about wanting to swap places with us too.
After all, do fans not think that former giants of the game, like Nottingham Forest or Leeds United, would swap places with Villa in a heartbeat? The financial adherence narrative trotted out by chairmen running teams that haven’t won anything may well be sneered at by fans of their respective clubs, but what else is there to do? As my Dad once said to me, you can only do your best, and that only context will dictate if your best is good enough.
For all we know, the best Villa could do, especially considering the incoming restraints of Financial Fair Play, is more of the same – that is, no silverware but no relegation either. Such a statement may sound nihilistic, but the fact is that most clubs in the league do not win anything – only a small number do.
Such a future may well seem humdrum to some sections of the fans, what with a lack of silverware providing less excitement than even a simple league cup win. The importance in these situations is to look at what you do have and be content, rather than looking at what you don’t have and being jealous of those that do have it – an attitude that will take a person far if they adopt the same principles in their everyday life.
So let’s not dwell too much on what may or may not happen in the future – it will reveal itself in time – but a realistic set of expectations, one I hopefully see being displayed after Villa’s past two tumultuous seasons, will leave many Villa fans feeling more happy than angry as we approach the 2012/13 season, especially considering the attitude shown to date by our new manager, Paul Lambert.
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