As a neutral, and I am for any one particular protest, it was interesting to speak and hear from from so many people on Tuesday night.
I wholeheartedly encourage and support an individual fans right to protest in their way. If that means walking out on 74 minutes, as thousands did, so be it. It’s a powerful gesture. If that means roaring songs from all four corners of the ground, as many did, it has equal weight. If it means posting old ham sandwiches to Tom Fox; grand.
What baffled me was the media response, particularly locally.
How can it be that the BBC’s Midland’s Today programme [2.3.16] described the ‘Out The Door On ‘74 protest’ as culminating in a “flood”, whereas Gregg Evans of the Birmingham Mail claimed to only see a 1000 people exit the ground? Evans particularly, I fear, is terrified of being banished to covering Hednesford Town fixtures [*if he’s fortunate].
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I stood at the steps of The Holte and filmed droves streaming away after the 74th minute. This overlooks the fact that thousands had rightly voted with their feet before kick off, with the PA announcement of an attendance of 29,000 being utterly laughable. [*The farcical notion of counting season ticket holders as having attended is not an argument anybody with a braincell is going to enter into.]
There was an unwarranted expectation of an “exodus” & complete guesswork on the part of spectators/media as to how many left the ground.
The fact is that it wasn’t everyone, however, it was a significant amount of people.
To determine that it was a non-event would be misleading, and for what end, I simply don’t know. This was certainly a well supported action by a large section of hardened, disillusioned Villa fans.
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In other news, Carlos Sanchez’s agent appears to be making efforts to move the under-achieving Colombian on. After some dubious earlier reports from Spain, more reputable sources are suggesting that a move their is on, with the likely destination being Deportivo La Coruna.
Sanchez, whilst a talent in some respects, has always been a concern in the Villa side. Awfully casual in his approach, it has been a slow and arduous acclimatisation to Premier League football.
For all of the smart footwork and flicks, too many lost balls and miss-placed passes have cost us dearly. Perhaps he was a “luxury” that we simply couldn’t afford in the squad?
Ironically, Sanchez is equally an expense we cannot afford in The Championship. Adios?
When you sleep on a defeat such as the one inflicted by Everton, you realise just how far we have fallen as a football club. It was an embarrassing show of lack of competitiveness.
Everton breezed it. Referring to the game as a “training match” would do a disservice to physical exercise. Humiliating, once again.
It is astonishing that we have conspired to put ourselves, under no real duress into this position. It is equally as astonishing that despite our woeful points tally, anybody with an IQ exceeding that of a Balti Pie could have negotiated enough points to secure safety. It is awful to endure this now, but we will look back and wonder quite how we managed to achieve such mediocrity.
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