A Statement...
THE second of two club statements was today issued by Aston Villa on their official web-site on the subject of Gareth Barry.
The first was sent out on May 14.
You may remember it seemed to rebuke yours truly and the Birmingham Mail for daring to state that Martin O'Neill would allow Gareth Barry to go if the player asked to leave. It also stated that the manager would play "hard-ball" and would not allow him to leave for less than £15million. Peter Crouch, I said, could still become part of the deal.
"MARTIN O'Neill will not stand in Gareth Barry's way should the Villa skipper eventually confirm, as expected, his desire to quit Villa Park for Anfield.
"But O'Neill has his doubts whether Liverpool could actually afford Barry with the Reds having to offload a flood of fringe players to finance such an ambitious tranfer at a time when boardroom wrangles have split the club in two.
"Rafa Benitez has alleged that Barry is keen to quit Villa but Villa will play hard-ball over the remaining two years of Barry's contract- unless Liverpool stump up around £15 million."
That story led to this statement from the club on the same day:
"Martin O'Neill has reacted furiously to a newspaper report suggesting he has thrown in the towel and will allow Gareth Barry to join Liverpool.
"O'Neill has strenuously put forward his desire to keep the Claret and Blue skipper at Villa Park despite interest from the Anfield club.
"And the Villa boss has reiterated this stance after reading this evening's back page story in the Birmingham Mail, which claimed that he would not stand in Barry's way and that the Villa skipper could go if the 'price was right'.
"O'Neill told www.avfc.co.uk: "I have not said anything of the sort. To suggest I would be happy to sell Gareth is simply not true.
"I did say that no club would want to keep an unhappy player but at no time has Gareth expressed any displeasure about his time at Villa.
"We are doing everything we can. We are determined to keep Gareth at Villa Park. To say that I am resigned to losing him is simply not the case." "
Well, in the four weeks and a day that have followed precisely this has happened:
Barry has asked to leave- as was supported by a club statement issued to just a handful of national newspapers a couple of days ago, a flurry of newspapers reported at the tail-end of last week that O'Neill had "given up the ghost" and admitted that his skipper will have to leave (no such club statements were issued then- I wonder why?) and O'Neill is currently playing hard-ball over a fee with bids that have so far climbed to just £13million.
Villa are quite within their rights to refuse to sell at that price.
In my mind there is no doubt that Barry will be a Liverpool player before too long- and I hope the issue does not get too messy ala Dwight Yorke to Manchester United.
There will be no silly "If I had a gun...." statements from the manager this time, for sure, but this is an issue that needs to end quickly.
The Villa manager, and for that matter Randy Lerner or Paul Faulkner, have a number of issues with which to contend.
Firstly, do they hold out for £15million, or £16million or £18 million until Liverpool sell Xabi Alonso, John Arne Riise, Jermaine Pennant etc and then finally stump up the cash but by doing so eat into valuable time?
Whilst Villa are holding out for their money- and they are quite within their rights as Barry is as good or even a better player than either Michael Carrick or Owen Hargreaves- both transferred to Manchester United for around £18 million- they run the risk of potential targets sealing deals with the likes of Manchester City, Spurs, Portsmouth, Newcastle or Everton.
It's a dog eat dog world out there. The likes of Sidwell, Bullard, Huddlestone, Milner, Lennon or Scannell cannot wait until mid-August for an official approach from Villa.
Martin O'Neill had, six weeks or so ago, spoken of his fears of the Webster Ruling- the possibility that players can now buy out their contracts.
Never mind his worsening relationship with Rafa Benitez- those two do not have to get on- what about O'Neill's relationship to Alex Black, Barry's long-time agent (and also the agent to another rising star at Villa- Barry Bannan)?
O'Neill can risk that particular relationship ebbing away, but at what cost?
Barry in six months will be worth a fraction of his current market rate. And in 12 months you will be halving it just as Liverpool are having to do over Crouch (£15million is having to become £8 million in a matter of weeks).
O'Neill's desire, with five weeks until the InterToto campaign begins, is to bring in two goalkeepers, a right-back, a centre-back, a left-back, at least two midfielders- or three if Barry leaves- and a striker.
His squad is already four down on last term.
One can only hope that he is already well down the road to achieving this and is not reliant on the Barry fee from Liverpool.
As one Villa fan put to me today: "That would be like the Ellis era all over again".
For all the good that Lerner has brought to Villa- and there has been so, so much topped by a simply brilliant deal with the Acorns Hospice and also including: the free scarves, the Holte Pub, the 1982 celebrations, cheap seats at the front of the North Stand, free coaches to Chelsea, the completion of the training ground, the new club badge, the gold leaf Roman mosaic, the big screens outside Villa Park etc... on the transfer front his worth to Villa is very much unproven.
Villa have spent, off the top of my head, somewhere in the region of £30 million on new players since his arrival.
The £7million for Stiliyan Petrov was financed, according to Ellis, by the sale of the Serpentine Land shortly before his departure.
But even including that sum there has been around £45.5million spent on: £9 million on Curtis Davies and Ashley Young, £8 million on Nigel Reo-Coker, £4 million for Marlon Harewood and Zat Knight, £1.5 million for Wayne Routledge, £1.5million for Scott Carson and £1million for Shaun Maloney £500,000 for Moustapha Salifou.
Then you take away all the sales: Gavin McCann (£1m), Liam Ridgewell £2.5m), Luke Moore (£3m) Gary Cahill (£5m), Peter Whittingham (£250,000), Steven Davis (£3million) (£14.75m).
That is some way short of Villa's competitors and is the chief reasoning, I would assume, behind Barry's decision to jump ship.
He has perhaps six years left at the top of the game and wants to win something.
Villa fans should have faith in O'Neill's ability to spend wisely. Ashley Young was a gem after all.
The worry is that in the last two years prices have doubled- or trebled. Look at James Milner who was within an ace of signing for £4million, or Barry who was set to move to Portsmouth or Spurs for £5million.
Five weeks and counting..... it promises to be an almighty few weeks for O'Neill and Villa.
And on the issue of statements, I'm thinking of issuing my own. Something along the lines of: "Bill Howell has today decided against having tea with his conflakes and will opt for juice..."
Actions sometimes, you see, speak louder than words.
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Mat Kendrick - is the Birmingham Mail's man at Villa.
Come one Bill. Stop the obsession, fan stirring and the stealing from forums.
Another impeccably researched story, Bill.
Typical journalistic kite flying and scare mongering.
Serius football fans rarely pay any attentio to this sort of tosh.
You are without a doubt the laziest and worst journalist around.
Do you actually research your stories or just make up things as you see fit?
Lerner paid for petrov. That is fact.
If i was as bad as you at my job i would have been fired by now, how you stay in yours beggars belief.
The worrying thing is you appear to be the papers leading journalist on Villa's story, and you portray us badly every time.
Next time you do issue a statement (as if you are actually important enough to do so!) I hope it reads "Bill Howell has decided to resign,he chose to do this on the basis that the Birmingham Mail were hours away from sacking him for poor performance."
bill howell you are not a villa fan!! you are a enemy of villa!! i am sick of you trying to put a spaner in the works at villa. leave mon alone, i am sure he will buy qulity players in soon enough!!!
are you sure youre not a BLUES FAN!!!
another howeller from billyboy.
Bill, The reason you get so much abuse from Villa fans is because you fabricate/copy rumours with little to support them while claiming to be the Mail's man at Villa. If you need to make up a story drop the tag. We do expect accuracy and truth if you really our the man at Villa.
You lot really are a bunch of jokers who don't live in the real world.
All Bill Howell is saying is that Gareth Barry will not be an Aston Villa player next season.
Anyone disagree? Anyone want to put money on it?
Just get a grip on reality and work out how football works. Or better still, go and ask your mate the General why Barry is going to depart for pastures new.
You may carry on picking on Bill if you like. But it's you lot that are living in cloud cuckoo land and getting the hump that what you are reading is actually the truth.
Bill,
'Our man at the Villa'? MON, Lerner, et al. don't speak with the media like other managers/owners do and certainly not with inconsequential, regional rags like the EM. This fact eats you and Tom 'Blue Nose' Ross up and leads to you making up stories, copying and pasting from forums and trying to wind up the club hierarchy.
Just cover Blues and the Baggies and leave Villa to the big nationals.
Why would MON ever speak with you now?
So presumably Dan H, all the Martin O'Neill or Aston Villa player quotes that appear in the Birmingham Mail are copied and pasted from forums.
Interesting.
Next time you read some, why not give us the link to the forum which they appeared in first.
Bill, what did the headline of your story state? That MON had said that he was resigned to allowing Barry to leave. At the time of the story Barry had not informed Villa that he wanted to leave and MON had issued a 'hans off' to Liverpool.
Your story was a disgraceful piece of tabloid journalism full of lies.
Bill is a Baggies fan for anyone wondering. I didn't agree with a lot of what DOL said but when he refused to speak to you he was spot on.
A Realist - you are either Bill, his mom or a complete prat!
Keef,
Why not come back with some concrete facts instead of resorting to insults.
I'm not Bill or his mom - maybe I am a complete prat - but I am fed up of moaning Villa fans who can't face up to reality.
Two questions: Do you not think Barry had perhaps told Bill in private conversations that he was hoping to leave this summer?
And I'm still waiting for examples of quotes being lifted off forums.
We all need to face facts. Barry is on his bike and there's nothing we can do about it. Let's get as much wonga as we can, and MON can carry on rebuilding the squad.
MON is clearly trying to emulate what Brian Clough at Forest and Ron Saunders at Villa achieved - success at the summit of club football through good, old fashioned values of hard work and commitment. Sadly those virtues, admirable though they are, will achieve very little in the modern game. I do not believe he will ever grasp this essential reality or that he will ever sign the quality players that we need to restore ourselves to greatness. The only consolation to be gained from all this is that I feel sure he will be gone in 12 months time.
MON is clearly trying to emulate what Brian Clough at Forest and Ron Saunders at Villa achieved - success at the summit of club football through good, old fashioned values of hard work and commitment. Sadly those virtues, admirable though they are, will achieve very little in the modern game. I do not believe he will ever grasp this essential reality or that he will ever sign the quality players that we need to restore ourselves to greatness. The only consolation to be gained from all this is that I feel sure he will be gone in 12 months time.
MON is clearly trying to emulate what Brian Clough at Forest and Ron Saunders at Villa achieved - success at the summit of club football through good, old fashioned values of hard work and commitment. Sadly those virtues, admirable though they are, will achieve very little in the modern game. I do not believe he will ever grasp this essential reality or that he will ever sign the quality players that we need to restore ourselves to greatness. The only consolation to be gained from all this is that I feel sure he will be gone in 12 months time.
A.Realist, you are missing the point. Bills story stated that MON was resigned to losing Barry when this simply was not true. Barry did not tell MON he wanted to leave until after the England vs Trinidad match. Whether or not Barry had told Bill he wanted to go, MON was not resigned to losing him. The article was full of lies and that is why MON was so angry. Or are you suggesting MON was the liar? The reason the Mail ran their “please stay Gareth� campaign was to try and make amends to MON and Villa. What was the article’s headline? That is fact!
Bill, go follow your beloved Baggies and leave the Villa alone.
A.Realist, go sort yourself out.
A.Realist
And another fact is that you can no longer read that fanastic piece of journalism on the Mail's website. The only one I found that couldn't be read.
Amazing that isn't it?
Like a bad penny I'm back again.
What I would say Keef is that if the Mail have removed that particular story you mention then it's a joke. Presumably they've also gone out and made sure every single paper copy from that edition has also been incinerated?!!!.....
However - the Gareth Barry quotes circulating today, in my opinion, once again back up the sad fact Howell was reporting that the player was always going to leave this summer.
Check this out.
"There's no going back, it's time for me to move on. I'm desperate to play Champions League football and that's why I have to leave Villa.
"Villa kept saying they wanted me to stay but I have not heard from the manager for weeks.
"It's seven weeks now since the season finished but while the gaffer's found time to be a pundit for the BBC at Euro 2008, he hasn't found the time to speak to me.
"Have Villa offered me anything to try to persuade me my future is at Villa Park, not Anfield? Not a thing."
Now, whatever the ins and outs, if Howell had been privy to the fact Barry wanted to leave all along, how else would you have expected him to report it other than the way that he did?
As a lifelong Vlla supporter,
Sadly this is what happens with the internet. You get Villa fans who have one/two contacts whose aunt cleans the floor in the ticket office every other saturday and they then try to pass that off as being mates with MON. Nor does he get all of his info from an old vietnam war vet whose knowledge of football is negligable to say the least.
So what if Bill isnt a villa fan. GOOD! He doesnt have to be. Id rather read Bills stuff than certain other villa writers who refuse to write anything remotely negative due to their affinity for the club.
Fact is that people cannot cope with the fact that Bill has more contacts and 'ins' at villa than most of us fans. He doesn't need to read Krulak's propaganda on villatalk when he can talk to oneill himself or barry and other people at the top. Get over it. It's his job.
I'm an accountant by trade yet I'm sure nobody here of a non-accounting background would start telling me how to do my job. Likewise I don't think people are in any position to question someone of bill's experience and ability.
He doesn't fall into the trap of taking everything a mad old american says on villatalk as being the gospel like so many do.
And before you ask reef, no I'm not bill, im not bills mum or his mate. Just because I defend him and dont resort to the hateful bile doesnt mean I wont criticise him if I need to. I see no need to because hes done nothing wrong.
I wouldnt know bill from adam (other than recognise his picture from the blog or paper). But what I am is someone who sees beyond a tiresome and vile hatred of someone who is paid well to do a job that most of the resentful people would crave to do yourselves.
Jealousy aint pretty. Nor sadly is reality in this sorry barry saga. Hating bill for it is passing the buck
keep up good work bill and dont worry about winning peoples approval. Some fans simply cant cope with your priveleged role.
Sadly this is what happens with the internet. You get Villa fans who have one/two contacts whose aunt cleans the floor in the ticket office every other saturday and they then try to pass that off as being mates with MON. Nor does he get all of his info from an old vietnam war vet whose knowledge of football is negligable to say the least.
So what if Bill isnt a villa fan. GOOD! He doesnt have to be. Id rather read Bills stuff than certain other villa writers who refuse to write anything remotely negative due to their affinity for the club.
Fact is that people cannot cope with the fact that Bill has more contacts and 'ins' at villa than most of us fans. He doesn't need to read Krulak's propaganda on villatalk when he can talk to oneill himself or barry and other people at the top. Get over it. It's his job.
I'm an accountant by trade yet I'm sure nobody here of a non-accounting background would start telling me how to do my job. Likewise I don't think people are in any position to question someone of bill's experience and ability.
He doesn't fall into the trap of taking everything a mad old american says on villatalk as being the gospel like so many do.
And before you ask reef, no I'm not bill, im not bills mum or his mate. Just because I defend him and dont resort to the hateful bile doesnt mean I wont criticise him if I need to. I see no need to because hes done nothing wrong.
I wouldnt know bill from adam (other than recognise his picture from the blog or paper). But what I am is someone who sees beyond a tiresome and vile hatred of someone who is paid well to do a job that most of the resentful people would crave to do yourselves.
Jealousy aint pretty. Nor sadly is reality in this sorry barry saga. Hating bill for it is passing the buck
keep up good work bill and dont worry about winning peoples approval. Some fans simply cant cope with your priveleged role.
I agree Richard. And posting it twice might just get the message through!
First Bill was the target and now it's Barry himself for daring to speak out!
Everyone needs to get over it, this is football, not tiddlywinks.
If any of us were offered the chance to go and work at a bigger and better organisation and get paid a lot more money for doing so what would we do?
Barry has given great service for Villa for a very long time. Perhaps he was a bit naughty in speaking to the NOTW but just let him go and we can all move on.