I am an Aston Villa fan. For the last fifteen years, ever since I've been into football, Villa have been my team. And it's been a rough ride! Always one of the biggest clubs in the Premiership and with one of the most successful histories but never with quite enough talent to break into the top four or five, it's been entertaining supporting them to say the least. I've seen them reach several finals and lift two cups (the league cup, both in 1993/4 and in 1996), but as for the league itself...I've seen them go from escaping relegation by a single point to finishing sixth, with just above midtable seeming to be the average place.
I've seen great players come and go, the most prominents of my heroes being Mark Bosnich, Dean Saunders, Gareth Southgate, Paul Merson, and then of course Gareth Barry. Of course Gareth Barry. Gareth Barry who has been at the club for ELEVEN(!) years, and learned from Southgate and the others, becoming a greater play perhaps now than the man himself ever was. Gareth Barry who emerged as a left-sided defender or centre-back, who later went on to play on the left wing or even in central midfield where he plays at present-arguably his strongest position. Gareth Barry who was overlooked on the England front for years, but is now an England regular. Gareth Barry who is the inspirational Villa captain, a leader who is helping Martin O'Neill take us to greater things. Gareth Barry who every Villa fan holds in very high regard, for we know how much he has done for our team. Gareth Barry who, it turns out, Liverpool are persistently keen to sign.
I've also seen managers come and go, including Ron Atkinson, Graham Taylor and David O'Leary (a group I like to call 'The Incompetents') and then there's Brian Little and John Gregory, both of whom did wonders for the club but never quite seemed to establish us as the side every Villa fan believes we can be. Then Martin O'Neill came along. He was the man who would start the revolution that had been long overdue, and I daresay he'll follow it through to completion too. Doug Ellis left as chairman also, taking his stranglehold on the club's finances with him. The new chairman, Randy Lerner, is a billionaire, who trusts O'Neill, which helps given that players cost so much these days. Talk of an £80million war chest to spend this summer is good news, and Villa's finishing sixth this year (a dramatic imporvement on the 11th and 16th of the last two seasons) is definitely something which O'Neill seeks to build on.
O'Neill is a persuasive man; a great, hard-working manager whose track record speaks for itself (when he was Leicester manager they always beat Villa, going into cup success, and he established Celtic as the greatest team in Scotland, ending many years of Rangers' dominance). He usually gets who he wants, and he also knows how to get the best out of players. It's no coincidence that Barry is now an England regular, after O'Neill made Barry captain and helped him significantly improve his game. O'Neill will, I believe, make some great signings this summer (come on Henry, you know you want to come to Villa Park and break Alan Shearer's goalscoring record) and Villa will continue to threaten the big four until at last we become one of them and even (why not?) begin to challenge for the league...but it seems increasingly likely that all this will happen without Gareth Barry. O'Neill is willing to dramatically break the Villa wage structure to keep him, and if we win the Intertoto Cup this coming year then he will be playing the European football he so desperately craves anyway. He doesn't need that to get into the England team though or he wouldn't be in it now. Eleven years is an extraordinarily length of time for a player to remain at one club, so I can't really begrudge him leaving or accuse him of being unloyal, but I guess I just wish he would make his mind up, as this saga has been going on too long for all those concerned.
Thank you, Gareth Barry, for the last eleven years. They've been enjoyable and entertaining, and you've played a big part in the great team Villa are now-even computer games are recognising that Villa are no longer pants but can actually play football!
But if you are going to go, please just get on with it and put me and every other Villa fan out of our misery. We can only hold our breath so long.
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