Sky Blue thugs: Any takers?
Monday, 07 May 07, 03:22 AM · Comments (12)
The links between an Aston Villa weblog and the Manchester Derby may seem tenuous, but I want to make a couple of points which I think are related.
Firstly, regarding the regular linkage of Joey Barton's name with Villa. Barton has been suspended until the season by Stuart Pearce and probably will never play for City again. I've watched players of sublime talent who have had their problems off the field: Best; Bowles; Hudson; Gascoigne and Adams, to name but a few.
As well as our very own McGrath and Merson. Alcohol, drugs, gambling - they seem to be ever-present dangers for the young pro - especially, it seems, the most precociously gifted.
I think most of us recognise that wealthy, famous young men run that gauntlet, and accept it. But thuggery? No thanks - there I draw the line.
Joey Barton is a great midfielder - good enough on the merits of his talent alone to challenge for a regular England squad place. But he also displays the characteristics of a violent thug and a disloyal troublemaker.
In times when Aston Villa's leadership are talking of honesty and integrity as core values in building our future, we should have nothing to do with a player like Barton.
Equally, the disgusting stamp on Ronaldo by Michael Ball in the opening minutes of yesterday's derby made me reassess Villa's position at the pinnacle of the Fair Play League. Though it carries the promise of a back-door UEFA Cup place, I had always thought of it as the "softies league".
I've changed my mind: I'm proud to support a club which plays its football cleanly and fairly, and proud to have a manager who I suspect would never condone such premeditated thuggery from a player wearing the club's badge.
Ball is a mediocre left back, in terms of talent not even on the same planet as Ronaldo. As well as the appalling violence of the challenge itself, what I hate is the fact a) that Ball waited until the ball was gone, the Portuguese was on the floor and the officials were looking away (i.e. pure cowardice) and b) that the incident took place so early in the game that you wonder to what extent it was management-approved and totally planned. Pearce claimed not to have seen it afterwards: you make your own mind up.
We all loved Psycho as a player. That some of his players seem to be turning into sad travesties of that image is doing Pearce, City and the Premiership no good at all.
I hope there is no market whatsoever for Joey Barton's services amongst prestigious clubs. And I would be mighty upset if O'Neill entered that market, whatever his talent.
As for Ball, I'm glad Ronaldo punished him on the field. And I hope that FA throw the book at him off it. I'd scarcely heard of the guy before the game, and I wouldn't lose a moment's sleep if I never heard of him again.
Fair Play League: maybe it should be given even greater weight.
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12 Comments · Add yours
Ben Thatcher is another one who has done City and Pearce no good with his thuggery attitude. Neither club nor manager deserve it.
However, maybe under the right manager Barton will change his attitude. He appears to be disappointing with the lack of ambition at City. Maybe that's just a come-and-get-me plea, but if we show ambition and do well then he might start to grow out of his childish attitude.
I'd still like to see him at Villa.
I dont think its just moving Barry into a midfield of three that has changed things for Villa. In my view the major change happened in the Everton home match. If you recall we were poor in the first half. McCann was substituted and Petrov played the holding role. Second half although we were not brilliant it was a far better performance. I dont think Petrov and McCann work well together for Villa. Petrov is a better passer, wants a higher paced game and has far better vision. Whats great is that when Petrov moves forward one of the other two will cover and so you get more movement in the team.
We are now playing as a team and passing the ball. The interchange between positions is very good. As for summer signings I think our number one priority is to get a top class right back.
barton is overrated and reo coker would be a far better buy, he has all of bartons best qualitys and none of his childish antics or tantrums. reo coker has already said he wants to move after this season and he will take less babysitting. they both would cost about the same then all we need to import from europe a top class right back, right midfield and one more striker with that we will be challenging for europe next season.
UTV!
I'd have Joey Barton ... if MON can't keep him in line then nobody could .. it would be the final nail in his coffin if he messed around at Villa ...
No-one at Man City is good enough except for Micah Richards, even Distin looks a bit too old for a team that O'Neill wants to build of young talented players. Reo-Coker again is second rate. We are playing well enough now and we just need 1 right back and another striker and a couple more squad players to challenge the first team or keep them on their toes.
aston villa are the best, they were meant to be. we are all pary of aston villa , everyone who supports them i part of the team,go the villa, thats the spirt we always nees
wouldn't want to see him at villa, hes a very overrated player, ive seen sunderland linked with him and id love to see how that cocky little **** wud act under keano
I'd love to see Barton at Sunderland, Roy Keane, a former Man utd player and a little thug of a City player, what a great team-up that'd be to watch!
After the pleasure of visiting Bodymoor yesterday for the tour, I got talking to a very nice bloke who works there when I was getting back on the coach.
I asked....... ''was MON here today'', he replied ''yes, but after cutting the ribbon and talking to the press he got taken to B'Ham airport and flew to Spain to go and watch Madrid in action''.............I asked ''why has he gone to watch them play''....... in a very naive manner. He replied ''apparently he has gone to look at a player''.
I kid you not people, and very interesting when you consider all we have heard over the past week is we will be going for WORLD CLASS PLAYERS !!!!!!!!!!!
after that insident between barton and dabo, i wouldn't have him in the team. villa are not a team of thugs, and we don't need a thug playing for us!
I completely agree Doc, completely. I think Craig Bellamy is in the same league, although not as bad.
i think Barton the player would be a great addition to the villa team, much better than mccann. however not so sure about Barton the man. i dont know the bloke personally but he seems like a disruptive influence. That said Oneil seems to be able to handle characters like him and at the same time get the best out of them. 5mill for a player of his quality would be a bargain.