December 2008 Archives

A whole week appears to have gone by without Curtis Davies winding up those folk who used to pay his wages down at 'Olbiyan'.

If his remarks when he left about being a big fish in a small pond weren't enough, then his latest rubbed a little more salt into the wound.

Prior to the Fulham game he aired his views as to why Zoltan Gera had opted for Fulham and had not stayed on at The Hawthorns.

Davies' take was that Albion had messed Gera about and that his contract with the London club would be better structured.

"At West Brom I think he was given a raw deal in the way they tried to deal with his contract and I don't blame him for leaving really", said Davies.

It actually wasn't too far removed from what Tony Mowbray said of the player before Albion's game with Fulham earlier this season. Mowbray said: "It appears to me it was about security for Zoltan when he left without going in-depth about contracts.

"I'm talking about the way our contracts are structured slightly different to the way they are at Fulham. He probably gets slightly more security for the next four or five years at Fulham."

But that will cut no ice with Albion fans at Villa Park next month. It's easy to forget that with all the European, Premier League and FA Cup talk the derby takes place in a little over five weeks.

Davies' honesty, as ever, needs applauding in an industry where it shines like a beacon and where managers cannot use the term Mickey Mouse for fear of an FA charge.

But sometimes, just sometimes, an occasional: "That was his decision and the one he felt he needed to make might have sufficed."

I happen to think Ashley Young is the most mis-construed footballer at Villa Park.

There he was on Saturday evening, waltzing out of the doors of Villa Park like there was no tomorrow.

He paced through the 'mixed zone' - where reporters of TV, radio, evening, daily and Sunday titles all mix in their hope of an interview- uttering a "no thanks" under his breath when asked by one reporter for "a two minute chat".

It was sort of at the pace you or I would be walking at if we'd seen our bus pulling towards the stop, some 50 yards ahead of us.

You could have argued it was almost rude even though it happens a fair bit in this industry.

Anyway, it turned the air blue amongst some of the scribes. His name was mud.

But I think there was a reason.

There are the men who talk no matter what: the Martin Laursens, Brad Friedel's, Luke Young's and Curtis Davies.

Gareth Barry was firmy in that camp for eight years and now I think is finally stepping back into that frame.

Then there are those who say nothing. Marlon Harewood, for whatever reason, Gabby Agbonlahor has taken to keeping himself to himself for I do not know why, although over the coming weeks I will endevour to find out.

Ashley does the odd bit of media, but he's not a popular chap with some folk at all.

That's because his answers appear too, well, thought out, too rigid, too stone cold almost.

"When are you going to sign your contract Ashley?"..... "It's not about me it's about the team and getting three points"... sort of stuff.

The thing about Ashley is that he has a confident way about him.

On the pitch you see him shaking his head when a colleague misses a chance.

He can too often admonish an opposing full-back with a vocal blast of verbals.

He can too easily have a pop at a referee.

Off the pitch his clothes can be quite brash. There was a recent feature in the match programme: "Silver of Gold?" and I think he answered: "diamonds".

His manner can often seem dismissive.

But I think I have been wrong about him- and my opinion changed at Arsenal in the moments following that historic 2-0 win. I've said before he was almost in tears after that win.

And his demeanour seemed so fragile. Gone was the pretence of confidence. I was face-to-face with a human being after all, and a shy and polite one at that.

Only last week he gave a charming interview to the Mail up at the training ground.

So back to the incident of him steaming through the mixed zone after the draw with Fulham.

Here's my take on it.

John Carew is a close friend of Ashley's. John Carew was recently brought to task by a certain reporter who received a call off a certain supporter who spotted him out late one night, prior to the Ajax game.

That particular reporter just happened to be the one to ask Ashley Young for a spare two minutes.

Elephants might forget. But not footballers in this instance.

It reminds me of the call I took in the days following the home draw with Portsmouth. Following a night out in a bar in town there had been a heap of shennanigans.

I never printed a word. The individuals involved do not even know that I know. They still talk to me today- and in this job, that's pretty important.

As for Ashley? I shall speak to him perhaps next week before the Bolton game, or perhaps before Hamburg, or maybe I'll leave it til nearer Christmas- a London boy going back to West Ham on December 20th.

I jokingly asked Gareth Barry if he fancied doing our interview in the pub down the road instead of him having to curtail it in ten or so minutes in order to avoid the fine for being late for training.

"You mean in the Dog and Doublet?", he asked, looking reasonably keen although just for that one micro-second.

"We've not been up there since the days of Dion Dublin".

I was impressed. It may only be a cough and a sputter away from the Bodymoor Heath training HQ, but Gareth has always had that common touch about him.

I just doubt that Olof Mellberg ever went to the local pub. I doubt that Martin Laursen ever did.

I'm not advocating footballers take up drinking again before or after training, although it never did Paul McGrath any harm. They can have a cola if they want- although I personally think that leads to unnecessary glass washing.

My point about Gareth is that he is at the heart of everything Villa. He has a feel for the place and iots surroundings.

He even reads the local paper.

Which makes it such terrific news that Barry is back on song both on the pitch and off it.

The twinkle is back in his eyes.

He's back talking with a real passion about the game he loves, the club he loves, the past (including being booed by his own fans at Walsall) and the future.

Ahhhhh........ the future!!!

Will he sign a new deal at Villa?

I really would not rule that out, regardless of whether Villa really can pip Arsenal to fourth in the table.

I think Villa could still finish fifth or even sixth and then Martin O'Neill and Randy Lerner will offer an incredible contract to try to tempt him to stay.

The good news appears to be that there are no longer any barriers to communication between O'Neill and Barry.

My guess is that Barry may well move on. Probably to Liverpool, possibly to Arsenal or Tottenham or Chelsea... who knows?

They'll all be keen to sign a 28-year-old for £10 million or thereabouts.

I really can't see Barry even contemplating buying out his contract next summer. That would erase him from all good-will at Villa Park.

The point is that I can now see O'Neill and his former skipper working together to map out the future.

With one year left on his contract he won't be able to go anywhere unless O'Neill and Randy Lerner give the say-so.

But I cannot see a repeat of the mess of last summer. Come next March, April, May...whenever it is... all the talk will be done behind closed doors and not on the back pages.

And that surely is a good thing?

As for the "Dog and Doublet"?

They serve an excellent pub lunch. In warm weather you can sit right next to the canal, and they serve an pretty fine pint of chilled mild.

The Christmas trees went up at Bodymoor Heath on Tuesday morning.

And that's not the only seasonal thing that has come to town.

Flu.

Have you noticed that footballers never get 'a cold', or 'a bit of a sniffle'.

No, it's always a raging 'flu bug'- one that will always lie the unfortunate sufferer bed-ridden, well nigh unconscious for days.

Well, I'm hearing that Moustapha Salifou and Luke Young were none too well at training yesterday, and coupled with Nicky Shorey and before him Nigel Reo-Coker being unwell, I just could not hope to guess what side will take the field tonight.

Guzan, Harewood, Knight, Gardner- all certs.

Cuellar, Davies, Milner, Shorey, Salifou, Reo-Coker, Sidwell, Delfouneso- all probables.

And maybe an Ashley Young thrown in for good measure.

The Ajax game didn't just catch the imagination is positvely stoked it.

MSK Zilina, with all due respect, hardly set the pulses racing.

But Dr Jo Venglos is in town and looking do different than he did in the late 80s.

With just one point needed to qualify, and with half a dozen changes expected, there is a danger of Villa playing this one at a canter.

It's live on the telly, it's a cold night and they don't sell beer in the ground. I can't see a decent crowd at all. I hope I'm wrong.

Topping the group gives Villa such a bonus in having to face a third placed side in the last 32.

Finishing second and your in big trouble- facing a Champions League drop-out.

So the incentive is there and perhaps this couold be the night when Marlon Harewood turns back the clock to around last November, January or February when he scored those memorable goals against Blackburn, Liverpool and Reading.

He scored a cracker against Litex Lovech in October but has played just 43 minutes since and you can't tell me he'll be at the club come February next year.

No Harewood's loss is Emile Heskey's gain.

But of course the focus of the fans tonight will be on Nathan Delfouneso, the latest in a long line of home grown strikers following in the footsteps of Darius Vassell, Luke and Stefan Moore and Gabby Agbonlahor in recent times.

Let's hope turns out to be more of the former or the latter and less of the inbetween.

There was so much expectation on the shoulders of Stefan, particularly when he got that first goal against Charlton having nutmegged Richard Rufus.

But he quickly faded away to be replaced by an even more exciting prospect in younger brother Luke.

Luke enjoyed some sparking moments in a Villa shirt, mostly against Middlesbrough, but when push came to shove he faded too.

And worryingly for Albion he is getting dimmer and dimmer.