A regular visitor to the site yesterday made a comment that got me thinking. The comment was about how he had supported Aston Villa for 40 odd years and that it is only recently that we as supporters had an opinion about who the manager would be, or aired it in such a way.
He mentioned how when Ron Saunders was appointed, it surprised a few and how whoever the manager is, we have to give him a chance and you know what, he isn't wrong. He is spot on.
Okay, 40 odd years ago there wasn't the internet but there was banter before the match on the decisions the manager was going to make and there was more banter in the pub after the match, but the game was different then. The game was more honest, more real.
Football couldn't be any further away from the supporters than it is today and that is something that has to be fixed and when we are fed the blarney and the hope and the expectation, there will be a reaction to it and we live in a media fulled paradise now when the local press are more interested in visitors to their website than they are reporting the news. I'm just trying to balance it out, but robm, the user that left the comment, still isn't wrong.
Rain or shine, support the manager
So, if it is second choice Steve, he will be the manager of Aston Villa Football Club but one thing we know for sure is that no one man is bigger than this club, so as manager, he deserves his chance and our support, until the day comes when it is clear as day it isn't working. But until he has had a proper chance, we need to reset and take up our default position.
I'm not saying we can't or shouldn't have an opinion and I'm not saying, if it is second choice Steve, that I won't be a little underwhelmed, but if it is, our expectations are going to be low - it isn't going to be hard for him to to meet them or, fingers crossed, do better.
But, the season coming up is going to be tough. Tough because there will be a new manager and because he will do things differently to the last one and the one before that, so we have to be aware that top six isn't a formality. We have to have honest expectations that we are a top six side, but we can also have honest dreams of better too.
This season is all about setting a benchmark and it is one of transition. Martin O'Neill did in his first and Gerard Houllier did last season. This season, for the new manager, is about getting to know his players, getting them to play the way he wants them to play and figuring out what he needs to do to make things better.
Don't get me wrong, I will still be opinionated and I'll still probably annoy a few of you with my views and philosophy of football, but I'm going to draw another line, this time under the manager situation, because until the club tell us what is happening - it is all just speculation and it is becoming a little bit silly now.
Going back where you don't belong
I was going to talk about the speculation from last night about Martin O'Neill and I had this analogy about going back to a previous job or getting together again with an ex and I was hoping most of you would be able to relate to one of those and how we all know, before agreeing, that this is likely not going to end well.
But then I remembered that this came from the radio station that is called Talk Sport and I figured and hoped that most of you would be able to see why most people refer to that particular radio station as Talk Shite.
So, as the line is almost drawn, I will say this on it; nobody really knows apart from two or three people and I yes, I've read all this 'Aston Villa approached Carlo Ancelotti' paper talk but until the club tell me they did, I'm more inclined to believe the Italian when he says nobody did and that it is just 'fantasy'.
So, my line is drawn. You don't have to and when the announcement is made, which I'm expecting fairly soon, we can all share our feelings of excitement or something else, but until the announcement is made, I'm going to leave it alone as it is just all gossip. Instead, I'm going to look forward to next season, the player speculation and a certain Under-21 tournament kicking off this weekend.