Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Sam Smith on January 11, 2011, 10:13:13 AM
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Here is a link to the Villa website and their goodbye note to Steve Sidwell. It is laughable so I have penned one of my own;
http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~2261346,00.html
Villa is pleased to announce they have finally offloaded Steve Sidwell to a Fulham side seemingly more desperate than we are.
We have lost a fortune on him.
Normally we would wish departing players all the best for the future but his derisory contribution doesn't warrant such eulogies.
Steve has only produced three moments of note during his Villa career. A superfluous 4th at Wigan in his first season when the game was won and a sublime strike at Everton after 34 seconds that was his final contribution to the game. If that sounds a paltry contribution in a season where he 'earnt' £2.5 million quid amazingly his contribution in his second season at Villa Park was even less significant.
Whilst pointlessly warming up Steve quickly threw the ball to James Milner who delightfully lobbed the keeper. A moment which likely sealed Milner's move to Man City. Good work Steve.
Having failed to impress the previous manager the new one seems even less enamoured. In the midst of the clubs most depressing run in living memory Steve finds himself 7th in line for a start behind a two untried kids, a centre half and a player returning from a career threatening injury.
Steve makes it into the 'worst signings in Villa's history' 11 playing at the base of a diamond midfield formation with Nigel Callaghan, Sasa Curcic and Gary Penrice.
At a cost of £11.25 million Steve has cost the equivalent of 450'000 adult customers, this equates to 11.8 home games.
On a positive note, the £1.5 million we have saved represents the first in a long line of cost cutting measures which should secure the clubs future when the inevitable relegation to the Championship occurs.
There is an appropriate word which can be generically applied to the modern footballer. You all know it, it is deemed offensive, if you are in company keep it to yourself.
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I prefer the one on the official site, thanks for the link.
Steve Sidwell has joined Fulham for an undisclosed fee.
The midfielder signed for the Cottagers after spending two-and-a-half years at Villa Park.
Villa would like to wish Steve all the best for the future.
Sidwell's debut campaign in claret and blue was disrupted by injuries - although he produced two moments which will long be savoured by Villa supporters.
He scored on his league debut for the club after going on as a late substitute in the 4-0 win at Wigan Athletic and then hit the Premier League's fastest goal of the season after just 31 seconds of the dramatic 3-2 success at Everton.
He didn't make as many appearances as he would have liked last season - and this was due to the exemplary performances of Stan Petrov and James Milner in the central ground.
After making numerous starts in pre-season, most notably during the Peace Cup success, Sidwell was mainly used as a super sub for much of the top-flight campaign.
And he certainly justified that billing with a bit of quick thinking on the touchline in the game against Hull at Villa Park.
Picking the ball up after it had gone out of play, the quick-thinking midfielder threw it to Gabby Agbonlahor who fed Milner. The central star lobbed the goalkeeper to make the score 2-0 and set Villa up for the victory.
Sidwell joined Villa from Chelsea in the summer of 2008
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"Super sub" my arse.
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Interesting stats you raise. Its not Sidwell's fault that he hardly played and made much meaningful contribution to the game (I'm sure he's always tried his best), but it does highlight the nonsense that football finances are in.
Nice bloke apparently, according to someone I knew who looked after his cars when he was at Reading. He is probably better suited at a top level championship club given his abilities. He should have stayed with us!
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Interesting stats you raise. Its not Sidwell's fault that he hardly played and made much meaningful contribution to the game (I'm sure he's always tried his best), but it does highlight the nonsense that football finances are in.
Why isn't it his fault if he made hardly any contribution?
I struggle to think of a more consistently anonymous player whilst on the pitch in all the time I've been supporting Villa. If that's because he's not up to much, then I don't really know whose fault it is if it isn't his.
Still, he's a nice chap, so well worth his 40k a week for 3 years.
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There's two issues here:-
1. Was he taking the piss while here? No, we went after him and he signed, always tried hard and never played up. Decent pro and if Ireland had his attitude we'd have another Jimmy Milner on our hands.
2. Was he good enough, well no.
So from the perspective of point 1 I wish him well, while from 2 still being glad he's gone.
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I struggle to think of a more consistently anonymous player whilst on the pitch in all the time I've been supporting Villa.
Mark Fuckinella
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There's two issues here:-
1. Was he taking the piss while here? No, we went after him and he signed, always tried hard and never played up. Decent pro and if Ireland had his attitude we'd have another Jimmy Milner on our hands.
2. Was he good enough, well no.
So from the perspective of point 1 I wish him well, while from 2 still being glad he's gone.
Would agree with all of that.
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Interesting stats you raise. Its not Sidwell's fault that he hardly played and made much meaningful contribution to the game (I'm sure he's always tried his best), but it does highlight the nonsense that football finances are in.
Why isn't it his fault if he made hardly any contribution?
I struggle to think of a more consistently anonymous player whilst on the pitch in all the time I've been supporting Villa. If that's because he's not up to much, then I don't really know whose fault it is if it isn't his.
Still, he's a nice chap, so well worth his 40k a week for 3 years.
If you were offered £2m a year to play for villa because the management thought you were worth it I'm sure you wouldn't turn it down and would try your best, and wouldn't expect to be blamed when your performances didn't come up to premiership standard.
I'm sorry but this slagging off of players like this is only a short step to booing them when they're performing poorly on the pitch.
I guess it all comes down to jealousy of the money he's earnt. He wasn't the one who wrote his employment contract....
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Its not jealousy, you will have to take my word for that, and actually it is more of a criticism of the article than Sidwell. I do feel he made a paltry contribution to the cause and there may be many reasons for that. It sickens me how detached the whole industry is from reality. I have nothing against the player personally as he always seemed to conduct himself professionally.
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Its not his fault , he just gave for the money and didnt give a crap.....
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Its not his fault , he just gave for the money and didnt give a crap.....
Don't agree with that at all. He patently wasn't good enough, but don't think he can be accused of taking the piss.
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Its not his fault , he just gave for the money and didnt give a crap.....
Don't agree with that at all. He patently wasn't good enough, but don't think he can be accused of taking the piss.
I expected him to at least put the effort in when he played , especially on the money he was on.. Yes , I agree , MON should never bought him too but HE was a load of wasted space.
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Here is a link to the Villa website and their goodbye note to Steve Sidwell. It is laughable so I have penned one of my own;
http://www.avfc.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~2261346,00.html
Villa is pleased to announce they have finally offloaded Steve Sidwell to a Fulham side seemingly more desperate than we are.
We have lost a fortune on him.
Normally we would wish departing players all the best for the future but his derisory contribution doesn't warrant such eulogies.
Steve has only produced three moments of note during his Villa career. A superfluous 4th at Wigan in his first season when the game was won and a sublime strike at Everton after 34 seconds that was his final contribution to the game. If that sounds a paltry contribution in a season where he 'earnt' £2.5 million quid amazingly his contribution in his second season at Villa Park was even less significant.
Whilst pointlessly warming up Steve quickly threw the ball to James Milner who delightfully lobbed the keeper. A moment which likely sealed Milner's move to Man City. Good work Steve.
Having failed to impress the previous manager the new one seems even less enamoured. In the midst of the clubs most depressing run in living memory Steve finds himself 7th in line for a start behind a two untried kids, a centre half and a player returning from a career threatening injury.
Steve makes it into the 'worst signings in Villa's history' 11 playing at the base of a diamond midfield formation with Nigel Callaghan, Sasa Curcic and Gary Penrice.
At a cost of £11.25 million Steve has cost the equivalent of 450'000 adult customers, this equates to 11.8 home games.
On a positive note, the £1.5 million we have saved represents the first in a long line of cost cutting measures which should secure the clubs future when the inevitable relegation to the Championship occurs.
There is an appropriate word which can be generically applied to the modern footballer. You all know it, it is deemed offensive, if you are in company keep it to yourself.
Frankly Genius and much better than the official cr*p
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Its not his fault , he just gave for the money and didnt give a crap.....
Don't agree with that at all. He patently wasn't good enough, but don't think he can be accused of taking the piss.
seconded
Compare his attitude with the alleged attitude of Stephen Ireland and you might notice the difference.
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I expected him to at least put the effort in when he played
We can accuse him of a lack of ability, but not effort, IMO.
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Another of Mon's superb insightful buys, who failed to do anything of note and one Houllier found easy enough to get rid.
For someone predicted to be the next Barry by many he proved exactly what he was a one season wonder.
Now all we need is to shift Carew, Salifou, Osborne, Beye, Davies, Guzan permanently, and any other trouble maker who doesn't like the idea he might have to really work for his wages now Houllier has arrived.
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37 starts, 30 sub appearances in all competitions.
Petrov missed only 4 PL starts in the last 2 seasons and Milner missed 9. He rarely had an extended run in the team because Milner, Petrov and NRC are better players and were rarely injured.
I suspect there are much better examples of expensive “waste of space” players at every established top-half Premier League club and I also think Sidwell will do a good job for Fulham.
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There's two issues here:-
1. Was he taking the piss while here? No, we went after him and he signed, always tried hard and never played up. Decent pro and if Ireland had his attitude we'd have another Jimmy Milner on our hands.
2. Was he good enough, well no.
So from the perspective of point 1 I wish him well, while from 2 still being glad he's gone.
Would agree with all of that.
I would agree with that aswell.
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All in all he was a poor player for us and I m glad we are no longer paying his wages. However he never mouthed off about his lack of opportunities in the papers and never had a go at the club or the managers. For that I wish him all the best. It reminds me of my ex.. A lovely girl just a bit average and it was never going to work. ( she wasn't Ginger ! )
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Another of Mon's superb insightful buys, who failed to do anything of note and one Houllier found easy enough to get rid.
For someone predicted to be the next Barry by many he proved exactly what he was a one season wonder.
Two things:-
1. As his contract wore down he became easier to get rid of ans the amount he'd lose out in lowering his wages became less. And let's not forget we had agreed to flog him there during the summer until Hughes pulled the plug.
2. Whoever said he was the new Gareth Barry??
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I struggle to think of a more consistently anonymous player whilst on the pitch in all the time I've been supporting Villa.
Mark Fuckinella
Atleast he took a half decent corner.
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I suppose its not really his fault he failed to make an impact. If you're not good enough there's little you can do.. Just another example of MON's 'kid in a sweetshop' transfer policy. mind you he did recommend shorey to MON which is pretty unforgivable.
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Greg, love the new sig!
Sidwell, in short was cack. Impressed in one season for Reading, got a move to Chelsea and got paid a fortune, bought by a club who thought he could reproduce the form of his Reading days, and sadly, it looks like that one season was a blip. Still, he has become a very rich man in the space of four years. Well done him. Surprised nobody has mentioned his goal vs Middlesbrough, and excellent pass for Tuncays winner!
As for the comparison with Ireland, ask yourselves this. Forget his attitude off the pitch. If he is given two years, and the same amount of games as Sidwell in that time, do you think his impact would be more or less than that of Sidwell?
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All in all he was a poor player for us and I m glad we are no longer paying his wages. However he never mouthed off about his lack of opportunities in the papers and never had a go at the club or the managers. For that I wish him all the best. It reminds me of my ex.. A lovely girl just a bit average and it was never going to work. ( she wasn't Ginger ! )
See, I kind of have a problem with this. He never mouthed off in the paper about not playing, is just like saying that he was happy to take his salary, and not play. Thats wrong IMO. I think a player mouthing off about not playing, regardless of how good they are, or whether they deserve to be in the team, shows more willing than someone who happily takes his wages, and not earning them.
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Less an impact than Sidwell? Thats quite a challenge,may need to re sign Ivo Stas.
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All in all he was a poor player for us and I m glad we are no longer paying his wages. However he never mouthed off about his lack of opportunities in the papers and never had a go at the club or the managers. For that I wish him all the best. It reminds me of my ex.. A lovely girl just a bit average and it was never going to work. ( she wasn't Ginger ! )
See, I kind of have a problem with this. He never mouthed off in the paper about not playing, is just like saying that he was happy to take his salary, and not play. Thats wrong IMO. I think a player mouthing off about not playing, regardless of how good they are, or whether they deserve to be in the team, shows more willing than someone who happily takes his wages, and not earning them.
I disagree.
Mouthing off to the press is disrespectful to both the manager and club, IMO. If he wants to knock on the bosses door and make his case that way, then fair enough, but don't do it through the media.
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Pound for pound, one of the worst Villa signings ever.
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Interesting stats you raise. Its not Sidwell's fault that he hardly played and made much meaningful contribution to the game (I'm sure he's always tried his best), but it does highlight the nonsense that football finances are in.
Why isn't it his fault if he made hardly any contribution?
I struggle to think of a more consistently anonymous player whilst on the pitch in all the time I've been supporting Villa. If that's because he's not up to much, then I don't really know whose fault it is if it isn't his.
Still, he's a nice chap, so well worth his 40k a week for 3 years.
I totally agree! Amazing how nothing can actually be anyone's direct fault anymore...
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I read 'super sub' and sniggered.
Says something that one of his best contributions was when he wasn't on the pitch.
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There was hardly huge disapproval when we signed him. He looked good for a season at Reading, enough for Chelsea to sign him and spending most of a season not kicking a ball before we picked him up was hardly the best preparation. There is a bit of small time-ism at our club - fans shuddering at big wages, while if we are to pick up even cast-offs from the likes of Chelsea or Man City, we will be expected to pay big money.
Apart from injuries he never really got a run in the team (unlike Petrov, who was played despite being poor for most of his first season). He obviously was not the player the club hoped for. The top six clubs between them have plenty of misfits, misfiring and plain ordinary players, on big bucks. Perhaps only Arsenal have an exceptional strike rate with players they sign. I wouldn't question Sidwell's attitude, he just never looked the player he had been, all too briefly.
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Does anyone remember his cameo Vs Man Utd last season? Unfortunately this will be my abiding memory of him. He was in achres of space, under no pressure and an easy header. He headed it straight to a United player. I guess sometimes you can have too much time.
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I'm amazed he's got a gig at another Premiership club, thought he'd be dropping down a level or two
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here's my eulogy by song:
Der der der der. ...........F***ing useless........
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Steve Sidwell does exactly what it says on the tin.
We should have read the label. Failing that, we should have turned him upside down and used him as a brush.
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I always thought he was slightly hard done by until I saw this fact:
At a cost of £11.25 million Steve has cost the equivalent of 450'000 adult customers, this equates to 11.8 home games.
That's a ridiculous sum of money to pay for such an unproductive player - no wonder RAL was so keen to get the wage bill down.
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All in all he was a poor player for us and I m glad we are no longer paying his wages. However he never mouthed off about his lack of opportunities in the papers and never had a go at the club or the managers. For that I wish him all the best. It reminds me of my ex.. A lovely girl just a bit average and it was never going to work. ( she wasn't Ginger ! )
See, I kind of have a problem with this. He never mouthed off in the paper about not playing, is just like saying that he was happy to take his salary, and not play. Thats wrong IMO. I think a player mouthing off about not playing, regardless of how good they are, or whether they deserve to be in the team, shows more willing than someone who happily takes his wages, and not earning them.
Yes I agree that a player should not be happy about not playing and if he wants to make the point to the manager I would be all for it. I just meant he never moaned publically to the media which I dont think helps. Look at Pires now with what hes supposed to have said;- its just not helped. Same for Berger etc
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Steve Sidwell - the man with custard skin for ankle joints.
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no doubt he will turn into the reincarnation of Alan Ball now he's at Fulham
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It says something that he was kept out of the side lately by NRC, who MON also bought and who he also considered not good enough to get a game.
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There was hardly huge disapproval when we signed him. He looked good for a season at Reading, enough for Chelsea to sign him and spending most of a season not kicking a ball before we picked him up was hardly the best preparation. There is a bit of small time-ism at our club - fans shuddering at big wages, while if we are to pick up even cast-offs from the likes of Chelsea or Man City, we will be expected to pay big money.
Apart from injuries he never really got a run in the team (unlike Petrov, who was played despite being poor for most of his first season). He obviously was not the player the club hoped for. The top six clubs between them have plenty of misfits, misfiring and plain ordinary players, on big bucks. Perhaps only Arsenal have an exceptional strike rate with players they sign. I wouldn't question Sidwell's attitude, he just never looked the player he had been, all too briefly.
Agree with this however paying somebody who hasn't played for most of the season before it seems to be something we're getting frustratingly good at when you consider Ireland.
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He had an operation he didn't need, at the time our injury problem was at its height, in order to be fit for the transfer window.
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He had an operation he didn't need, at the time our injury problem was at its height, in order to be fit for the transfer window.
Obviously you have sources we don't but isn't that statement a bit of an oxymoron. If he didn't need it why would it make him fit for the transfer window. And wouldn't the club have a say on a player having an operation that puts him out of the game if it wasn't required. Unless we are talking a Curcic nose job of course.
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He had an operation he didn't need, at the time our injury problem was at its height, in order to be fit for the transfer window.
Obviously you have sources we don't but isn't that statement a bit of an oxymoron. If he didn't need it why would it make him fit for the transfer window.
To clear up a bit of a problem. He's fit now, isn't he?
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By PA 4:06PM GMT 09 Nov 2010
The former Chelsea player (Steve Sidwell) is to undergo surgery on his troublesome Achilles after initially delaying an operation to help Villa through their current injury crisis.
Presumably that clears that up, unless someone has access to confidential medical records.