Bye bye transfer window, see you soon AND a message to the boo boys!

February 4, 2009 by Martin Banks
Filed under: Aston Villa, Transfer News 

booIt’s freezing out there and the roads and pitches are covered with snow. Games are being called off all over the place and Villa have a date tonight against Doncaster. Oh hang on a minute. Am I talking about football? Yes thats right, the transfer window is over and now we can concentrate on our real goals, which is to finish top four and do well in the FA Cup and UEFA Cup.

A top four finish is the most important aim, because if we achieve that we can attract some real good players when the transfer window re-opens in the summer… oh damn! I’ve slipped straight back into transfer talk. OK, so we all love the excitement of new signings at the club, there’s no way to deny it. So let’s have a round up of the transfer window’s activity.

Transfer window activity

Well, not much happened really. A bit of an anti-climax in the end for Villa fans. The January transfer window in the past has brought us such key players as Ashley Young, so there’s no doubting it can be our friend but Martin O’Neill made no secret of the fact that he wasn’t going to be ripped off and that he foresaw it being difficult to attract players during this window.

The total of our business this window really was one-in-one-out, with Emile Heskey pulling on the claret and blue and Wayne Routledge returning from his Cardiff loan in order to leave for QPR. Heskey was a great signing, love him or hate him he can help add to our strike force with a different angle to what we have already. Heskey can get in between the midfield and our attack and flick headers on or lay balls through, giving us lots of potential for him to play with Gabby and even big John.

The loss of Routledge is no big thing, it does mean we are short of wing coverage but it wouldn’t be very often O’Neill would’ve picked him over NRC or Gardner anyway. Good luck to him at QPR, I think he is much better suited to the Championship and should do well there.

What was with all the gossip?

Plenty of rumours came our way this window, but where they were originating from is unclear. It seems apparent that lots of them were made up, but then again, we know that MON was VERY busy during the window but to little avail, so maybe many of the rumours were true and we did have a sniff at lots of players, they just didn’t come to fruition.

Round-up

  • Charles N’Zogbia, despite being heavily linked with us, went to Wigan.
  • Robbie Keane was very loosely linked to us but he has gone back to Spurs…
  • …just like Jermain Defoe who was also rumoured to be heading our way.
  • Talking of Spurs strikers, the odd mention of Darren Bent didn’t end up being true.
  • Daniel Sturridge and Michael Johnson stayed put at Man City, but don’t rule out Sturridge coming in the summer.

For more links that were made, click here, and see just how many rumours floated around Villa Park that petered out to nothing in the end.

One of the major links throughout December and January was Heskey and MON got his man there, and at the right price too, so he’ll no doubt be happy with that.

The real aim for Villa now is to continue in this rich vein of form that has put us 4th in the Premier League, 5 points clear of Arsenal and within spitting distance of Chelsea (hey you lot, it’s a saying, stop thinking about actually spitting on Chelsea:) ). If we can continue as we have so far and get Champions League qualification, then we can attract some real good signings. But don’t delude yourselves it’s going to be VERY difficult, the Big Four will really start to show their stamina from now on in.

Villains not Villans

I wouldn’t normally talk of fans behaviour as everyone has the right to support their team in their own way, but after consideration I felt I had to say something about this.

At the end of Saturday’s game there was a chorus of boos from the fans at Villa Park. This was disgraceful. Don’t worry, I won’t get on my high horse and say those fans are unwanted at the games or anything like that. But what we do need to remember Villa fans, is that we are punching above our weight this season. We have broken into the top four, a feat that no team has done for far too long. We are having a superb season, winning many games that historically we would have lost.

Yes, the game against Wigan was frustrating, but it was even more frustrating for the players on the pitch who tried their heart out to score. Personally, I don’t get ever get involved with booing, but I overlook it if we have played with no heart and no desire. But that wasn’t what happened, we tried hard but we just didn’t get the rub of the green (for a change!). We gave everything to get that ball into the Wigan goal and on another day we could’ve won 3-0.

So I’m not going to sit here and say that the fans who boo’d should never go and watch the Villa again, what I’ll say is that they shouldn’t boo the team unless they reallly deserve it. If we go out next week and show no bollocks, no guts, and no desire to win, then OK, if you have to; boo. But at games liks Saturday’s, where we bombard the opponents goal for pretty much the whole of the last 45 minutes, then either clap the boys off, united in our disappointment that we tried and failed or, if you can’t bring yourselves to get behind the lads, shut your mouth, leave the stadium, go to the pub, drink Stella and swear amongst your mates.

Come on Villans: SUPPORT YOUR TEAM.


Comments

4 Comments on Bye bye transfer window, see you soon AND a message to the boo boys!

  1. VillaVillaVILLA on Wed, 4th Feb 2009 8:59

    2. Good article, completely agree about the boo boys, it’s POINTLESS!!! What were people booing? That we didn’t get three points?! The boys have tried their HARDEST out there and as you say not got lucky. I will not be booing anytime soon and will be cheering loud tonight! UTV!

  2. Dean Palin on Wed, 4th Feb 2009 9:11

    3. Well said that man – i heard that from my spot in the Holte, and i must say its poor form to boo your team when we hammered the living daylights out of Wigan for the 2nd Half.

    Like said, if we play crap – then fine….boo if you need to, but we’re sitting in 4th in the league, when a couple of years back we finished 16th – i think the only reason they boo’ed was that they’ve got themselves all worked up into a frenzy about going 2nd that when it didnt happen and give them something to gloat about down the pub, they felt it nessecary to boo. Get a grip i say.

    The Villa are making me more than proud this year (not saying i’m not always proud to be a villa fan) and long may the re-invention continue! UP THE VILLA!!

  3. Zidave on Wed, 4th Feb 2009 9:29

    4. Not to mention everyone who has been crying out about MON not subbing, Carew was subbed in the 62nd minute. That is also a direct implication of MONs intent to win the game!

  4. Simon Preston on Wed, 4th Feb 2009 20:15

    5. I’ll repost my comment as well:

    Well said about the boo boys. Are they not aware of the days before the Learner/O’Neill era? We haven’t had it this good in a very very long time. People are talking about us, we might start getting some silverware in the cabinet again and who knows, maybe in a few years Villa will become a dominant force once again. A goalless draw against Wigan isn’t exactly a disaster. They’re a decent squad who are also chasing for a European spot of some sort. I even found myself agreeing with former Bluenose boss Steve Bruce on what he said after the game.

    Booing our beloved Villa is not on. We still have one of the smallest squads in the top flight and for them to still be battling it out amonst The Big Four then they are obviously doing something right. We should be giving them a standing ovation after each match whether we win, draw or lose!

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