The Blues Back in the Premier League, A Villa Blogger’s Perspective
Jun 1st, 2009 | By KevB8ll | Category: Blues News, By Other SupportersFirstly, I’d better introduce myself; I’m Martin Banks, an Aston Villa blogger. The enemy. Scum, some of you may say! I have been asked by Kev of Joys and Sorrows to do a piece on what us Villans think of your hopes for next season. It will be very weird for me to blog about my arch-rivals when I am more accustomed to writing about all things claret and blue. But whilst I always ensure to maintain a healthy hatred for the Blues, I am a diplomatic kind of fella and I can acknowledge your potential (even if I’m secretly hoping you get humiliated by relegation again 
).
I used to own a record shop in Birmingham, so I was in constant contact with plenty of Bluenoses then, even having 2 working for me. The banter was great, digs flying around the shop constantly and magnifying ten-fold when we were due to play each other or if one of us had suffered a loss the weekend (which was no rare thing for either of us during many of those years).
As a Villa fan and blogger, I wouldn’t normally type ‘Birmingham City blog’ into Google, but when Kev got in touch with me to do a piece on the Blues I thought I’d see what kind of company Joys and Sorrows was amongst, out there on the world wide web. Sure enough, there it pops up, number one in Google’s findings. Fair play to the lads at Joys and Sorrows cuz I only reach 3rd ranking when you search ‘Aston Villa blog’ and that’s my exact web address!
Anyway, if you’re one of those who just can’t stomach the opinions of a Villa fan, close the box now and come back tomorrow (I’ll be gone then I promise), cuz here I go, diving into the questions from Kev:
1. How do you think we will fare this season?
A lot of this will depend on the warchest you have to spend and, more importantly, how wisely it is spent. I don’t think you’re in need of a complete overhaul, but you definitely need a few players in to bolster the squad, even if just to cover for injuries. Last season saw you suffer heavily from injuries, and had you been in the Premier League at the time you would have been hit for six. The Premier League is an unforgiving league and injuries to a few key players can see a season wrecked. Just look at Arsenal, they had some key players out for a few months and we jumped straight in their grave. OK, so they (and no doubt many Blues fans too) loved when we crumbled and they got 4th spot back, but you get my point; if a team with a squad like Arsenal’s can struggle so badly with injuries, then us normal clubs have no chance.
2. Where do we need to strengthen?
I won’t fabricate and make out like I’m a Birmingham expert, I don’t tend to watch much Championship football (purely because it’s not the league my team is in) so I’ll be back up to speed with your boys next season moreso, but I know this and that. As mentioned I think your main strengthening needs to be done in your depth. A small squad (or more to the point a squad with only 12-15 players worthy of the first team) makes competing on a number of fronts very difficult, just look at how poor our team for the Carling and UEFA Cups were. So you either need to concede the cups and focus your main team on the league fully or bring in a few players to help pad out the squad.
3. Which players we have do you think will step up?
I am still a big fan of both Liam Ridgewell and Kevin Phillips, but whilst I can see Ridgewell stepping up to the Prem level, I think it will be a bit too much for Phillips. Don’t get me wrong, he’ll still get you the odd goal and he’s good at getting those important goals too, but I think he will only get a handful this coming season. I’ve always thought that Maik Taylor is a damn good keeper, so he will serve you well next season, but like Phillips he is getting towards the end of his days so maybe a good back up would be required if you don’t have one already (I know nothing of Colin Doyle). Cameron Jerome and James McFadden could both do well next season if they keep their heads up and, loathe as I am to admit it, Damien Johnson will also be fundamental for you in the middle if he stays fit and on song.
4. What has changed in terms of playing styles since we were last up in 07/08?
The team has really got to know the manager now and have gelled into a style that works for them. McLeish was accustomed to success up in Scotland, winning 5 cups and 2 titles with Rangers and then being the most successful manager of all time for Scotland (in terms of win percentage). Then when he came to Blues he had the bitter taste of relegation in his first season, which was a shock to his system. But he recovered well and got the team together and the club straight back up, playing with much more confidence and more as a unit.
5. Have you visited our ground? What did you make of your Birmingham away day experience?
Not myself no, but my brother went once and didn’t recommend it.
6. What do you think the score will be when we play you this season?
It will be 3-0 to us and one of your players will throw the ball into your own net. You’ll look like such fools and we’ll howl with laughter… man that was f*%#ing embarrassing!! Seriously though, I don’t want to predict it until we have played a game or two and the window has closed. We were sensational last season, beating every man and his dog, and then we suddenly imploded, so it will depend on which team we are next season; the good one from the first half would beat you, but the crap one from the second half of the season could get embarrassed. I desperately hope for another 5-1 though, that was a true joy.
I want all the Birmingham teams to do well. Villa. Blues and West Brom. The blues need two decent central defenders. A midfielder and a decent striker. If we spend say five mill. on each of these. We will have a chance. Also we need a younger goalkeeper.I fear that as usual the owners will not cough up the gelt. They like as many players as possible for around one million. Best to go with a few good players than a load of has beens. But hey what do I know.
Just a few points;
* a well balanced appraisal given the source
* You’ve never been to our ground once? Why?
* Your record shop sounds like a scene from High Fidelity (good book, crap film).
Nice balanced article for a Viler. Thank you for your input. I wish all discussions on football between rival sets of fans were so rational. Ben’s right about the players we need and the sort of sums we need to pay for them. The four positions mentioned are an absolute necessity. Let’s hope Big Eck gets the chosen personnel right.
As a somewhat older Villan than most all I can say is that I grew up, like a lot of my peers, watching the Villa one week and the Blues next. I even remember the Blues winning the League Cup in 1963 at Villa Park (although the 0-0 2nd leg at Villa Park was probably the most negative game I’ve ever seen!).
Although a Villan first I always considered myself to be a Brummie second and therefore I considered it a duty to do my bit for “the mob across the City”. I had Bluenose mates who also came down the Villa (and stood on the Holte) with me.
Latchford and Francis were good to watch (unless they were playing against us) and one of my favourite ever Blues players (hard as nails Malcolm Beard) also joined us. And one of our favourite players (Stan Lynn) joined you and to be honest I don’t remember it creating the same amount of fuss as it would today if, say, Gareth Barry joined you.
My last ever game at St. Andrews was a game in the 70s vs Millwall which had so much violence in it that I decided the time had come to “stick with my own”.
Good luck for the coming season and if you can stay up (along with the Wolves who I also like) in place of one of the teams from Greater Manchester (Bolton, Wigan, Blackburn etc) then that will be a good season.
Thanks Old Thingy.
Well Mr Banks !
You’ve opened up new realms in the pantheon of ‘winging it’.
Blimey mate, if you know so little about football, why on earth did you agree to the invite from J & S.
That you haven’t been to St Andrews, basically says it all about your comitment to and knowledge of footie.
FYI – Arsenal used 22 players all season and four of those only started 3 or less games. Big Squad ??
Full marks for bravery in trying to bluff your way through the questions.
Nil points for knowledge of footie though.
And by the way, not all bluenoses regard the villa as scum !!
Backlhanded insult there.
I used to know a villa girl.
Do you know what protection villa girls use when making love ?
.
.
.
A bus shelter
See u next season mate – obviously at VP – as you and Tom Hanks have difficulty in following footie……
As a villa fan i hope birmingham and wolves do well and stay up.Alex M is a good manager and i know he will win stuff with blues. Theres a high chance of them getting a new ground,big signings could be coming to ST Andrews like Benitez,onyewu,joe hart and at least 7 or 8 more players.Since moving away from birmingham and hearing everyone put down all the midland clubs i then ended up hating man u,arsenal,liverpool,chelsea and everton. but what they are forgetting is Birmingham,villa,wolves and west brom are the only teams that has more english players than players thats from aboard.Please can anyone name me at least 8 players in each of the teams with ease,because i cant.Good luck blues and wolves maybe the league cup can finally come to the midlands.
Thanks Letsby, an interesting take – but I disagree, I think Martin has done a good job considering he doesn’t support the Blues.
Thanks for your comments Midlanders City.
Cheers for the chance to do something out of the ordinary Kev, it was enjoyable. The comments are very positive for what I was braced for. Maybe you Bluenoses aren’t such a bad bunch after all.
Letsby avenue, one of those are you? Yawn, you bore the crap out of folk. Try to enjoy life mate. It’s too short to spend it as tightly wound as you seem to be. Maybe you were on your period that day
PS I never mentioned the size of Arsenal’s squad, I’m saying that the people on their bench far outweigh ours. Let’s take an example from last season; they had Walcott, we had Harewood. Or maybe their key transfer; we bought Heskey, they bought Arseshavings!
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