We Wanted Change

The eminently fine Aston Villa Life blog - http://www.astonvillalife.com/aston-villa-blog/you-wanted-change-you-got-it/ - states "You wanted change - You got it!". It goes on to reflect how the club had paid over the odds for players and was paying wages it couldn't afford, and it had to come to the point that it was a route that was unsustainable. "We" wanted change, apparently, and we got it.

But hang on! "We" didn't ask for a change in that respect, did we? As far as I recall it was the owner who backtracked on finding he hadn't the wherewithall to back his commitment. The primary change "we" wanted was a manager who knew his stuff, thinking that an enterprising owner (now that he's re-couped cash from his other sporting venture) would back such a manager.

Now I don't argue with the need to keep spending under control, but the old business adage is that you only get back what you put into it. If you want success you have to take some kind of risk towards that success - if you're timid then you might just stand to fall. And - for goodness sake - this is Aston Villa, not Birmingham City or Coventry City.  The club's motto is "Prepared". I bet Randy wishes it wasn't!

The Aston Villa Life blog article goes on to admit that, "Oh, yes, we are spending on some lower league players for reinforcements" - but the reality is showing up to be the case that all the reinforcements are coming in from the lower leagues - or players from abroad without PL experience.

Now, I accept that players such as Vlaar and El-Ahmadi may well grow in stature as the season progresses. But I feel the key question is whether Ireland and Nzog can also raise their game to lead the way for the young players coming from the lower divisions.

Villa's season, to me, now rests on the ability of Ireland and Nzog (and Gabby?) to do the business. If not, then the club will have failed to address the key questions, which I see as (a) the mastery of the midfield and (b) the kind of supply that Bent expects. And that failure could mean another 16th/17th place at best or ... (the unmentionable).

And "..." will only prolong the agony as I see it.
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Aston Villa's History : A New Book

Aston Villa : The First Superclub 
(the story of Aston Villa, 1874-2012) 

Officially to be launched this Monday (the 27th), the book is in fact already available.

Apart from the history narrative, the outstanding features of the book are:

•         510 pages hardback and jacket, including many images
•         Accounts of the most memorable 60 matches since 1887
•         Descriptions of 200 of the Villa's most outstanding players 
•         Profiles of the club's founders

Please link to the relevant webpage for further details: http://www.lerwill-life.org.uk/astonvilla/superclub.htm 
On that webpage you will see how you might be able to purchase the book for only £20 including local delivery costs.

"An enjoyable read in these times of austerity!"

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Season 2012-13

Well, football forums wouldn't be what they are unless there was gossip going on, would they?!

Looking around I see that there's still talk of Randy wanting to sell-up, that he's not backing the manager and that the squad isn't good enough. And we haven't yet even seen the team that Lambert wants to play!! He's brought in four very useful players but they've not yet all come together.

Let's take the "Randy selling up" idea. I've seen an article written by a guy who is part-owner of a successful company that employs over 100 people. He says that what has been going on in the past 2 years all points to Randy readying the club for sale. I have to agree that is one take that could be had, but perhaps the last 2 years was more to do with Randy just getting his finances sorted out and has now done so through making a bomb out of the Browns? That is, that one of his sports enterprises had to go, and he's chosen it not to be Villa. That Randy is, after all, what he said on the tin - he's in it for the long haul so far as Villa is concerned.

It seems to me that Paul Lambert is the kind of manager that most Villans wanted in, so let's give him the chance of setting out his stall. He's surely already recognised where the defensive weaknesses have lain and has done something about it. He's even brought in a good link man to work with Ireland, someone who seems to have a bit of bite, and that has to be good.

On the question of whether the squad is good enough well, again, it's a question of seeing how the first few months of the season goes before we can judge how good it is.

To me, the one critical factor is Paul Lambert himself - how good a motivator is he? Will he get the best out of Ireland, Clark and Gabby and everyone else? That to me is the critical issue that will determine how good Villa's squad is.

I am sure that the squad as it is is not going to be good enough to compete for the CL, but I believe it has every chance of forming the basis for a good future. Let's give it a fair chance.

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