The Stupid Continues

In Sydney it’s FC till I die, but over in England my team is undoubtedly the claret and blue of Villa. Villa? Why Villa? Before you jump on your high horse and have a go at me for not supporting one of the Big Four, for pretending to be indie, let me explain.

I started watching football when I was a little kid. During the ’90 World Cup in Italy, the first World Cup I watched, the amazing charge by the Brits into the semi finals was the highlight for me. Leading the way for them was a young striker by the name of David Platt. He banged in goals, I liked the way he played, and he was playing for Villa at the time, so I started following Villa. Simple.

Being a Villa fan doesn’t amount to much in life. You’re always stuck in a rut of mediocrity. I’ve endured season after season of “maybes” and “nearly theres,” although joy had been sporadically tasted with our League Cup win in ’96 and the several lofty months in '97/98 when we sat upon the top of the League ladder – at Christmas!

But after two decades of mid table finishes and relegation dogfights, I was glad to hear that there would be a takeover in 2006. The old regime had become stale, there needed to be an injection of new energy and excitement. The takeover group – led by Cleveland Browns owner Randy Lerner – promised cash for transfers and gave total freedom to the manager.

Last season we finished sixth, despite having a paper thin squad. This offseason, the owner pumped money into our war chest and the manager spent over 40 million pounds on new players. Here we come Big Four, look over your shoulders, the Villans are coming to knock you off your collars up wankers club.

However, just when I thought we were on the cusp of breaking into the elite Big Four, Man City happens. Their endless supply of funds suddenly makes us look like a weekend amateur club. While we consider Jamie Milner our prized purchase this summer (not exactly cheap at 12 million pounds), City throws a lazy 32 million pounds at Real for Robinho. While we're looking for a striker, and getting giddy at the whispers of Madrid reject Javier Saviola arriving on loan, they’re coming out and proudly declaring that come January Ronaldo and Fernando Torres will join Robinho in their front line, regardless of cost.

Villa simply can’t compete with that. And the sad thing is that City is just a spur of the moment plaything for the Abu Dahbi group. From their proposed transfer targets, it clear that they do not have a football brain. They have no concept of how to win football matches, they just want to sell replica shirts and get TV rights. Someone needs to tell them that you don’t win jack with eleven strikers, regardless of how high profile they might be, on the field.

Money can’t buy everything, this was shown when Dimitar Berbatov rejected City’s millions and chose to join rival Manchester United instead. This was supported by comments by Ronaldo, Gianluigi Buffon, Kaka and Cesc Fabregas, who have come out and said that no amount of money would make them play for City. It’s good to see that in this age of Robinho’s, there is some decency left in the footballing world. These guys, like many other top guys, need to challenge for trophies and play for clubs with prestige and history. City doesn’t offer that, and once the owners realise that they can’t turn mediocrity into champions overnight, they’ll get tired and leave.

But where would that leave City? I’m sure between now and then they’ll spend heaps more cash. They won’t get all the transfer targets they want, but they’ll definitely end up with some of them, which would obviously improve their squad. But these guys will come with massive contracts, amounts which cannot be sustained once the oil barons pull their plug. It’s all fine and dandy to pay a benchwarmer 50,000 pounds a week when you’ve got the money, but once the owners leave and you have to sustain an overpaid squad on just stadium intakes and advertisements, it’s going to be tough. Signing big name players to long-term, oversized contracts can lead to disaster, just ask Leeds fans.

Reports this morning are that Newcastle are about to be bailed out by some oil barons. The long suffering Geordies are about to be injected with the ecstasy of their very own sugar daddy. In what looks to be another short term investment, Newcastle are about to sell their soul (admittedly the fans have no say in the matter) and succumb to the modern business that is the Premier League. This must be a bittersweet pill for the fans to swallow, as they know that although the incredible money will transform them into the elite overnight, it is against everything that this proud club is built on.

What will that mean for Villa? One step forward, two steps back unfortunately. We’ll just have to weather the storm, pray that these rich Arabs get sick of their toy and leave.

Or maybe we’ll get taken over as well.