Where did this Barry to Chelsea rumour begin?
Thursday, 10 April 08, 01:33 PM · Comments (22)
First off, I've been a little busy the last few days, stuck in the throws of trying to end a couple of projects, so I may have missed where all this began and my searches may have all been a waste of time.
It goes like this; I woke this morning, had a coffee with my Marmite on toast and got to work. About five minutes later, at approximately lunch time, I read a story, note the word story please, by Bill Howell.
In the fairy-tale, eloquently titled, 'Martin O'Neill: Gareth Barry is not going to Chelsea', we're told that nobody has contacted Martin O'Neill about Gareth Barry and that he has been 'linked in the media to a move to Stamford Bridge'.
I thought nothing of it at the time, because I fully expected to see loads of articles about it today, but I haven't.
Then, I'm talking to a stakeholder in one of my projects I'm hopefully going to finish soon and as normal, at the end of the conversation, we turn to football and our respective teams. He's a Chelsea season ticket holder and spends more time on Chelsea websites than he does doing his job, so I jump in and ask him how Barry will fit into the Chelsea midfield if fat Frank leaves.
He hasn't heard any of it, not for a good few months anyway, and when he did a bit of searching while we were on the phone he actually referenced this post, made in October last year as the last time he remembers seeing anything about it.
Then I did a little search on Google, looked at NewsNow and then checked out a few Chelsea sites and some other Aston Villa sites - nothing until this afternoon.
Then, when I had finished my searching, I came to the conclusion that the first mention of it was from Bill Howell, at about lunch time.
Now, my get out of jail free card here is the fact I'm a bit of a lazy git when it comes to Bill Howell. I put about as much effort in as he does and while I may have suggested the other day that he was on the payroll, for writing what he's told in exchange for the odd exclusive, for which I may one day have to make a public apology unless I can prove it, isn't this whole Barry to Chelsea story a little strange?
What I mean is, why issue a 'hands off warning' to stories that nobody has heard or seen, especially when Martin O'Neill hasn't heard anything from Chelsea?
Look at it this way; Martin O'Neill doesn't discuss speculation, so why start talking about it now?
The really cynical side of me could say that Martin O'Neill is actually interested in selling Barry and is putting it about that a top Premier League team is interested and by doing so, alerting everyone else. But I'm not in a cynical mood tonight as it's my son's 4th birthday and I'm quite chuffed with myself.
But the question remains; why is this a story?
Most will know I'm not a big Barry fan and I ultimately think we need better in the middle than him, but if Chelsea are really interested in Barry I would be very surprised. I also don't actually want to see him leave, but the reasons for that are for another post.
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22 Comments · Add yours
I've told you before that this Bill Howell talks so much bullsh1t that he hopes that some of it will turn out to be true.
Yet another post about bill.... [i]yawn[/i]
its not about bill Villain of the North
its about why has this story just popped up out of nowhere?
He has been linked to Chelsea for some time, you even posted about it here LINK
yes Bumhug360
we even referenced the talk from october last year in the post above - the point is, why talk about it now? there hasn't been any speculation
Someone has obviously decided that, as Barry had a great game against Bolton, Chelsea will renew their interest (if they had any in the first place).
Had he not scored 2 and set up 2 in the last match, I don't think we'd have seen this 'rumour' resurface.
I think if Lampard leaves Chelsea will replace him with someone better than Barry. No disrespect to GB, he is one of my favourite players but I dont think he is as good as Lampard. Honestly though you cant compare the two that much, Barry isnt really an attacking Midfielder and Lampard is. Why would Chelsea sell one of their highest scoring players and replace him with a player that doesnt get into double figures and in all probablity only score about 2/3 per season if he didnt take the penalties.
I could see a Lampard & Ronaldinho swap deal though myself. Lampard apprently wants to play in spain, Ronaldoinho apprently wants to leave Barca. RA has been after Dinho for some time so I really think it could happen.
Barry could end up at Chelsea but I doubt it, sad to say but what would he offer their squad?
Who would be a sports journalist when there are no stories to write?
I don't care where the story coame from - this story's good. Let's continue promoting it, if we manage to flog Barry to Chelsea for £10m we can finally look for midfielders able to allow us to progress.
all i can say is that if the story is true Barry should take a long hard look at steve sidwell, good player lots of potential not a chance in hell at chelsea
is Barry better than essien, or makelele, or even mikel? he's not gonna be that stupid
Apparently Chelsea are after Bill Howell as a permanent replacement for Avram Grant. His knowledge and foresight have alerted a range of clubs including Whattaloada Ball Locks FC and Talksowt Isars from the Russian lower leagues. Sepp Blatter reacted strongly: "Bill Howell is indeed a man of international mystery!"
Then a wolf turned up and ate Bill and howled.
Fergie was on the BBC this morning saying he might be interested in a straight swap for Gerrard but he doesn't think MON will go for it.
It's just another one of those putting 2 and 2 together and getting 16 from the media. Barry becomes England regular and all of a sudden, he's obviously too good for a team like Villa, so gets linked to a big 4 club.
Hate to say it as a Villa fan, but Barry isn't really good enough for Chelsea anyway. He'd make a decent squad player but his career would go the same way as Sidwell.
LOL @ Aarlui.........It seems Van Buyten is to stay in Germany. Ive seen that we have been linked with Pennant as he is likely to leave Liverpool and Nelson has admitted that he may end up at Villa in the summer also. I think that both would be seen as positive moves, although i think Pennant will most likely head up north to Newcastle. By the way, because of all the Benjani nonsense of January, Defoe only signed on as a loan for the remainder of the year (obviously with intent of a permanent move as soon as the season finishes) my point is there is still hope!!! Haha, I wish........
Nan was a fan - I don't think it would be very fair of Fergie to swap another team's players for one of ours?
Marmite on toast - good choice Damien.
Think I might go and have some myself now actually. Hope your son had a good'n :)
defoe signed for pompey on loan on deadline day then permanantly a few days later (same with mascherano)thats why pompey kicked up a fuss about him not being allowed to play for spurs
nan was a fan - gerrard doesn't play for man u and fergie doesn't speak to the BBC
you claim to be a villa fan and don't rate barry? he's outperformed virtually everyone for the past 10 seasons. you, sir, are a joke.
and enough about bill howell. i get it. you don't like him. congratulations.
Barry is a Legend!
rich payne
you are a muppet. are you bill howell in disguise?
read what i've said above and you dare to question my support tor aston villa. barry hasn't outperformed everyone for 10 years - when you make claims like this - that almost everyone would disagree with - it makes you look stupid. sure barry is a decent player, but he'll never play central midfield for a top 4 team - sure he might sit on the bench and come on .. but he'll never be considered a starter - and that goes for us too - if we want to be champions league in three more seasons - that will only happen without barry in the middle - thats my opinion
howell has alwys had bullshit in his pen, not ink. the turd.