Why are the Media so Anti-Villa?

[PaulWinch again]

I don't agree with the "the media hate us because we're in Birmingham / they're only interested in the north west and London / concerted campaign against us" nonsense, if we were winning things, they'd be all over us as well.

This week, though, there has been a remarkable onslaught against the club.

As for the Winter article, it is really hard to see how any Villa fan - regardless of what he thought of MON's tenure - could not get angry at the way he left and the ensuing chaos (regardless of whether we're now at a point where we should be over it, it doesn't change the fact it happened).

To see a journalist like Henry Winter suggest he's effectively one of the managers of the season, with this  his only "contribution" this season shows an absolute contempt for Villa fans. Compare this with the widespread dabbing of wet eyes for the Sunderland fans this week after Bent left them.

Anyway, i had a bit of a rant back at HW ("pongowaring" in the comments section). It at least made me feel better about it and a bit less angry. I'm starting to think, though, that the best idea might be to ignore the football press until the end of the season.

Excellent comeback on the Winter article Paulie.

[Monty]

Just seen it, Paulie, and I think it's pretty incontrivertible stuff you've stuck to there. How anyone could argue against those facts is beyond me.

[Jimbo]

I don't agree with the "the media hate us because we're in Birmingham / they're only interested in the north west and London / concerted campaign against us" nonsense, if we were winning things, they'd be all over us as well.

Okay, well let's look at it from another club's point of view. Take Newcastle. Doesn't win stuff. Hasn't won anything in 50 years. Not a London team, or a north west team. Has had miles better press than Villa in the last 20 years. Would it have been covered so positively if the very same club had been smack bang in the middle of, say, Burton on Trent? The Midlands just isn't important in the eyes of the media. I'd be surprised if many people from around the country could tell what a Leicester or Nottingham accent sounds like, for example. It's rarely heard on TV. 

[TheSandman]

Some good comments coming in on that blog.

Lets turn this around: Say Randy did turn off the tap on O'Neill. If you were Randy,  bearing in mind what he had spent past monies on would you have done the same thing? I would have thought about doing it. Why should O'Neill be allowed to bring in a right back when he was two at the club already on top off a player who can fill in in Cuellar and a youngster in Lichaj?



 

[joe_c]

Somewhat less hysterical piece by Paul Wilson in today's Observer

Darren Bent has moved on, and so should his former club Sunderland

Oh, and excellent work by pauliebentnuts/pongowaring in delivering the smackdown to Henry Winter's staggeringly ill informed article.

[hawkeye]

Only just read the Winter article, i have never read such a sycophantic peice of garbage

[Ian.]

Great reply Pongo (Paulie), nice one. There is quite a few good comments back to him. Will he read them? I hope so.

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

To redress the balance somewhat, Gary Lineker has spoken in favour of us in his NOTW column:

On Ian Holloway:

Ollie Is Acting Right Charlie

It's pretty safe to say that Ian Holloway will not get a job at Villa Park any time soon.  The Blackpool boss has been disrespectful to Aston Villa in saying he does not want Charlie Adam to go there if he leaves Bloomfield Road.

Villa are a great club.  They are not one of the giants of English football, but they are on the next rung. Certainly a step above Blackpool.

He then goes to talk about Charlie Adam, but I can't be bothered to type that.

Also on Steve Bruce/Darren Bent:

It's Well S-Bent

In all walks of life you can move jobs if you want to.  I don't see why it should be so different in football.  Managers can go when they want.  Sunderland's talented manager Steve Bruce (below) has probably done that more than most when it suited him.  So he can't whine too much about a player deciding he wants to play somewhere else.

I like Darren Bent.  He has scored goals at clubs where he does not get as many chances as he would elsewhere.  It's a lot of money.  Of course it's probably over the top.  But we saw the results last night and it would cost Aston Villa a lot more if they went down. 

Villa need a striker who can guarantee goals and can steer them clear of trouble.  In which case Bent would be a bargain

So nothing too insightful, but generally pro-Villa on these two issues.

[Sir Paul Merson]

I have noticed that our own evening mail comic has started to take on a blue tint, or am i just imaging this ?

[Nev]

Somewhat less hysterical piece by Paul Wilson in today's Observer

Darren Bent has moved on, and so should his former club Sunderland

Oh, and excellent work by pauliebentnuts/pongowaring in delivering the smackdown to Henry Winter's staggeringly ill informed article.

Paul Wilsons piece was fine IMO, unlike the football sidebar that claimed Bents goal as "biggest disapointment" of the day to all neutrals who would like him to go on a "24M (sic) goal drought".

Eh? There are plenty of fans who whould like us to loose every game, they don't need to be named, but I don't see why neutrals will suddenly have an agenda against us and Bent, particularly in view of our opponents on Saturday.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

Alan Shearer on MOTD is always positive about us.

[DeKuip]

Alan Shearer on MOTD is always positive about us.

Alan Shearer wasn't one of the journos waiting around for the delayed press conference the other night when Bent signed. They don't like being kept waiting, or having to buy their own refreshments at The Holte.
It really can be as simple as something like that with some of the hacks. As childish as it sounds they go home and try and find a way of getting back at whoever's upset them.

All this negative press won't do us any harm. Fans can turn on their own club/manager/players at the drop of the hat, but once the criticsm starts coming from the outside we don't like it and tend to rally round in defence of our club. And what we really need both on and off the park right now is an attitude of "it's us against the rest of the world, let's show em."

[PaulWinch again]

To redress the balance somewhat, Gary Lineker has spoken in favour of us in his NOTW column:

On Ian Holloway:

Ollie Is Acting Right Charlie

It's pretty safe to say that Ian Holloway will not get a job at Villa Park any time soon.  The Blackpool boss has been disrespectful to Aston Villa in saying he does not want Charlie Adam to go there if he leaves Bloomfield Road.

Villa are a great club.  They are not one of the giants of English football, but they are on the next rung. Certainly a step above Blackpool.

He then goes to talk about Charlie Adam, but I can't be bothered to type that.

Also on Steve Bruce/Darren Bent:

It's Well S-Bent

In all walks of life you can move jobs if you want to.  I don't see why it should be so different in football.  Managers can go when they want.  Sunderland's talented manager Steve Bruce (below) has probably done that more than most when it suited him.  So he can't whine too much about a player deciding he wants to play somewhere else.

I like Darren Bent.  He has scored goals at clubs where he does not get as many chances as he would elsewhere.  It's a lot of money.  Of course it's probably over the top.  But we saw the results last night and it would cost Aston Villa a lot more if they went down. 

Villa need a striker who can guarantee goals and can steer them clear of trouble.  In which case Bent would be a bargain

So nothing too insightful, but generally pro-Villa on these two issues.

Only thing I'd take umbrage with is 'They are not one of the giants of English football.' However I think he means we are not one of the top clubs at the moment, as opposed to historically so fair enough.

[dave.woodhall]

I don't mind the media criticising Villa when we've done something wrong. But what have we done this time? Shown a bit of ambition and signed a player who a fortnight ago nobody would have thought we'd get anywhere near.

[pauliewalnuts]

I don't mind the media criticising Villa when we've done something wrong. But what have we done this time? Shown a bit of ambition and signed a player who a fortnight ago nobody would have thought we'd get anywhere near.

I'd also contrast the general press sympathy for the poor Sunderland fans when we signed their best player last week with the lack of sympathy for us in that Henry Winter piece in which he talks of how MON has improved his status this season.

Not to mention the similar lack of sympathy when we lost Barry and Milner. Oh, and then there's the irony of them acting like we've invented snaring players by offering them more money, on a weekend when we played a team which is entirely created in that way.