Don't blame Deadly!! (Aston Villa F.C.)

Member Name: gailsmith

Product:	Aston Villa F.C.
Date:	23/12/00 (52 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Could do well

Disadvantages: Players won't give everything for their club

It's that time of year again - scrooge always gets it in the neck at Christmas.
So Doug Ellis won't be in the bit surprised at the deafening demands for him to put his hand in his pocket.
Aston Villa are standing still, cry thousands of fans brandishing pound signs on their protest placards.
Treading water for want of investment in the team rather than another posh new stand, just opened.
All this, fanned by requests from two of the club's internationals, is perceived as clear evidence of a lack of ambition by Villa's chairman renowned for his obsession with book-keeping.
Deadly Doug is an easy target and there may be more than a little substance to accusations that he is happy enough with survival in the top half of the table,the occasional involvement in Europe and the Worthington cup to plonk on the mantlepiece from time to time.
And that when it comes to speculating in order to accumulate regular appearances in the Champions League, Villa should be dismissed from the equation.
This is a multi- millionaire so money-concious it is said he drives to Luton for easyjet flights to board his boat in Spain, rather than paying a more expensive fare at neighbouring Birmingham airport.
If that is the case then how could such a man be expected to make unlimited funds available to the Villa team's flight of fancy that carries no guarantee of getting there?
Having taken a minute or two to consider the state of affairs at Villa Park, it strikes me there is more than a tight-fisted chairman at the source of the trouble, even though not nearly enough funds are available for the liking of boss John Gregory.
No mananger has ever enough - not even David O'leary, who has just spent £18million on Rio Ferdinand.
They are now 7th in the league after winning 2-1 today away to Leeds. If they win their match in hand then they will be 6th - just 3 points off a champions league place. And Gregory admits he has "a subs
tantial ammount of money" at his disposal for new recruitments. Hardly surprising, you may say, after the sale of Ugo Ehiogu to Middlesborough for 8 million. But its not as if Villa haven't spent plenty in recent years. I'm thinking of signings like Steve Jones, Paul Merson, Dion Dublin, George Boateng, Alpay, David James,David Ginola and others now departed.
Hardly the role call of a club run by a pathhological skinflint. Gregory might be better advised to run his eye around the dressing room instead of the boardroom.
Thats where he'd find the roots of Villa's failure to make the dramatic progress to be expected of a manager who began with the potential to be one of the very best.
First, there was the transfer request of Garath Southgate, so upset by his penalty miss against Germany at Euro 96, that he agreed to make a TV commercial for a pizza company with a paper bag on his head. Then, only last week, keeper James followed suit, asking to leave and apparently citing the same justification - that convenient complaint against a club not throwing good money after bad. Lack of ambition.
Let us remind ourselves about Mr James. He had lost his place at Liverpool and was plying his trade in the dazzling surroundings of the Pontins League, until Gregory took the risk and bought him. 18 months on after glowing reports from his boss and an England appearance, James rewards his rescuers by wanting to jump ship.
Was it a lack of ambition by Villa or the knowledge his services were desired elsewhere? James we learn has now withdrawn his request. But the damage has been done long before his declaration that he would not be signing an extension to his existing contract - which still has 2 and a half years to run. And then there is Ginola, who seems to infuriate every manager who depends on him for their living - not least George Graham, who inherited him at Tottenham. That working relationship was never going to survive, so imag
ine Ginola's relief when Gregory took him to Villa for £3,000,000 in the summer. But how deep was Ginola's gratitude? Not enough to avoid doubts about his fitness cast by his boss prior to scoring Villas equaliser against Man City last weekend. Despite the bare chested celebration, shampoo man Ginola had been criticised because Gregory believed he was worth it! Something else transpired, the fact that Ginola has not shifted his backside from London on a perminant basis. He commutes to Birminham prompting Gregory to complain: "It's up to him whether he moves but all this time in a car is bound to have some affect on him". And so, the symptoms on Villa's dissatisfaction spread from the chairmans office to the left flank of the team. Questionable attitude seems to be even more prevailent than questionable ambition. The snipers will continue to take aim at poor old deadly. Funny thing is, the protesters blame him for doing precisely what they should demand of the players. Living for the club - staying put.

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