Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: sfx412 on December 23, 2010, 01:18:12 PM
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Having moved about for various jobs and commuted often, I am totally in favour of any club that forces its players to live within a decent mileage of the clubs training facility.
I have been surprised that the club has allowed so many players to live so far from Villa, for me it shows a lack of commitment, although I can appreciate it would have been hard for Mon to complain as he lived miles away too.
When you see the latest suggestions that players like Ashley Young are keen to move to London, as its nearer their home, I can see why Houllier has changed the rules.
Loan players, new recruits or those on short contracts can be excused but committed players who don't put down their roots near the club suggests to me they don't expect, long term to be staying there.
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I work for the local authority and it's written into my contract that I have to live within 20 miles of my workplace.
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I live local to my work place and that's what they were looking for when they were recruiting.
Obviously the clubs do their research on the player, they should ask they player during contract negotiations if they're willing to move closer, if it's that important then we simply pull out of the deal if the player isn't willing to move.
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I wouldnt have anybody who doesnt live within 20 miles of Bodymoor Heath. It should be in their contract when they sign and if they havent moved within 6 months its breach of contract.
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I wouldn't sign a contract with an employer that dictates where i have to live, and i think it's ridiculous to expect footballers would do the same.
These pricks are mercenaries, forcing them to live in Little Aston won't help them play any better.
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It's all about performing on the pitch, where they live not so important
MON did a decent job over 4 years hacking up and down the M40 from Beaconsfield
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Surely the club has to atract players - they can't really do that if they force the player to leave where they may live happily with a family, etc.
Until players start applying for jobs at football clubs, rather than being asked to join, I don't see how any employer can have any say over what area an employee can reside.
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As long as players turn up for training on time, who cares where they live? 90 miles down the M6 in the average supercar isn't going to stress them out unduly I wouldn't have thought.
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What time does training start ? 10am ? 1030am?
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Doesn't bother me at all, it potentially opens up a bigger pool of talent to us as well.
McGrath, Alan Wright and now Brad snr all made (or still make) the commute from the North West and they were amongst our most consistent performers.
Foreigners tend to think that London is England too and if we got an absolute top name to sign for the club I'm sure most Villa fans wouldn't be too distraught if he based himself in Knightsbridge rather than Sutton Coldfield. Modern footballers today don't live in the real world anyway, so they can just get a chauffeur to drive them to and from training and have a kip. It's not as if they have to drive themselves.
GH is making a big deal of this, but in line with some of his other public decelerations I expect him to row back on it. Having Robert Pires making the commute from Hertfordshire (even if only on a short term deal) sends out mixed messages.
The test for me would be if the club managed to convince Ashley Young to stay but Ash still wanted to live down south. Would GH say "Sorry, you need to live closer to Bodymoor Heath or no deal" ? Doubtful. So you'd have one rule for one (or two if Bob Pires is here for any length of time) and one rule for everyone else. It would be unworkable.
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A footballer with a wife and kids at school need a stable base rather than moving house every 3 or 4 yrs
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Gary Barry had a stable I recall, and Matty Holland wouldn't join us from Charlton along with Kinsella because his wife wanted to be near her stables.
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As long as they do the business on the pitch i don't care were they live.
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It's completely irrelevant where the players live.
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It's completely irrelevant where the players live.
I disagree. Considering the money they're earning, asking them to live around the Birmingham area is not much to ask.
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A previous manager, I think Graham Taylor during his first spell, had a policy that players had to live within a certain radius of Bodymoor Heath.
I'd prefer it if they did because it makes them a tiny bit more accessible.
The trouble is that most of them are now so highly paid that property in the West Midlands/Warwickshire just would not cut it. Sure Little Aston is out of most of our league but there can only be a certain number of desirable residences for young millionaires to live in.
If they do it on the pitch I don't care if they live in Mayfair or Mere Green.
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Home location is no longer a factor based on how much a Prem footballer earns
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Alan Wright never moved close to Villa Park, and he was always committed to the cause.
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I live 10 minutes from where I work. I wouldn't want to live the distance from work that some of our players do, but that's my personal preference.
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In this day and age I don't think it really matters where they live, especially as they can all afford a chauffeur should they not fancy driving the circa 200 mile round trip from Alderley Edge/Hampstead to Bodymoor Heath.
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What is this Ashley Young and London talk? He lives in Hagley - Stourbridge
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What is this Ashley Young and London talk? He lives in Hagley - Stourbridge
Not any more, by all accounts.
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Comaparing footballers' contracts of employment with those of lesser mortals is pointless, but it won't stop me. A bright management spark where I work came up with an idea of only accepting job applications from people with certain post codes. His idea died a very quick death.
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of couse players should live within a reasonable distance of the club, they need to come to understand and be a part of the culture and comunity of the club. We dont want players who just comute in, do the required amount of hours at the training ground and then just piss off back to manchester or london, it does not work unless there is a real comitment. Its the same in business i know a lot of people that have thier home and family away from the place they work, they stay in the area 3 to 5 days per week so that they can mix with thier coleagues and be a part of what is going on.
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Luke Young lives a fair bit away too.
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If we measure commitment on how close to VP or Bodymoor Heath a player resides then the likes of Alpay and Tony Cantscorino would poll well as they both lived in Sutton Coldfield during their time at the club.
Whereas, as I mentioned earlier Alan Wright and Paul McGrath both travelled in from Manchester.
Anyone want to seriously make the argument that the former two were more committed to the club than the latter two? No, thought not.
It would be preferable if most of the players were closer to work, purely from a logistics point of view and particularly at this time of the year when the weather can cause delays et.c But that's all it should be, preferable rather than compulsory.
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It's not as if they'd be worried about petrol costs. Couldn't care less where they live.
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i know mcgrath used to stay in birmingham during the week, i doubt that driving home was on the agenda
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the players arent fit enough, the players live too far from the training ground etc etc - I dont know about the rest of you but Houllier seems to be looking for tired cliche reasons why he cant get the best out of the players at his disposal.