Bad news x3

By Bill Howell on Mar 8, 08 10:33 AM

Bad news always comes in threes.

And sure enough after Curtis Davies and Stephen O'Halloran were put out of the game long-term within an hour or so of each other, along comes Jonathan Hogg to complete Villa's misery.

Forget Martin Taylor for a second, had a reserve game at Orient been featured at all on Sky Sports earlier this week, then all the talk would be of Danny Rose.

Apparently, after an age and much pondering, Rose received a yellow card. A young player meanwhile could be left without a career. There's justice for you.

Only one of the three players had a chance of featuring for the first team this season, but the effect at Bodymoor Heath has nevertheless been great.

19-year-old midfielder Hogg is, by early accounts, facing a battle to save his career after what even the official site describe as "a horror tackle" in Monday's reserves defeat at Spurs.

Not only is his cruciate ligament damaged, but also his anterior ligament, I believe.

Effectively, and I hope you are not eating, his lower leg is hanging by a thread.

The culprit? A former Leeds United prodigy signed for £1million by Tottenham who goes by the name of Rose.

Hogg will shortly head to America for surgery and he admits his leg does not good: "It was a horrible challenge and my leg's a mess."

I am told that Villa- and that means Randy Lerner and Martin O'Neill inparticular- will do everything to try to get the lad back.

O'Neill's own career was ended prematurely by a knee injury and he went out of his way to try to facilitate a route back for Mark Delaney last year.

It speaks volumes for the man. We just hope Hogg can make a full and speedy recovery.