While certain fans have taken issue with the transfer activity at the club over the summer, guest blogger Matt Turvey of www.astonvillalife.com discusses a frankly more worrying matter at the club following poor attendances thus far this season and asks his fellow Villans to support the club in their time of need.
After last weekend included a 30,000 attendance for a local derby, you might be forgiven for thinking things are far from right at Villa Park. After all, when you can’t pack the stadium out when you play one of your fiercest rivals, when can you?
Ok, we will probably get higher attendances at the prestige matches such as United, Chelsea, and Arsenal, but it’s a worrying time for the club.
You see, we’re in a bit of a chicken and egg situation at present. We are all well aware of the problems revolving around the wage bill, and this needs to be remedied in the near future. Thus it has made spending tight, and thus we’ve only seen a few players in, although Enda Stevens will arrive January 2012, and we are likely to have seen a few last minute deals come 11pm.
I’m obviously writing this piece ahead of that, so I may well be wrong, although current links only include Hutton & Jenas. Neither player overly excites me, and purchasing players who aren’t going to do much for the squad is simply compounding the wage issue.
After all, if we are cutting wages, buying some more uninspiring purchases on (likely) increased wages isn’t the smartest long term solution. Why? Well what is the sense in selling players such as Makoun and bringing in players who aren’t any better? It simply makes no sense.
All I would hope is that we have used the loan system fully to our advantage. Given our current financial circumstances, a loan with a fixed fee to buy option would provide the most suitable solution for the club, as it would let us effectively trial the player for the cost of a wage. Not bad considering.
Beyond those mentioned, the noises that are made regarding reinforcements are a bit puzzling too. Most of us see that a defensive midfielder is a requirement as Stiliyan Petrov can’t keep playing forever. Therefore when creative midfielders are mentioned, it’s a bit strange.
It is all made stranger still because we have a flair player in Stephen Ireland amongst our ranks. Has he already become the forgotten man after recent words about a clean slate?
So the questions will soon be answered, in fact, by the time you read this, they will already be done. The main question I have to ask is are you happy, and what exactly do you see as the future of the club following these moves?
It’s going to be a challenging season for a number of reasons no matter who comes in, but the fact remains that I, like many of you, will still be a Villa fan. After all, we did not choose, we were chosen.
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