Loud Chorus From Press – Go Doug Go

The big guns are now fully blazing as yet another top reporter says it as it is at Aston Villa.

Yesterday, we had Martin Samuel talking in the Times about Villa having the potential to be massive, today we have Oliver Holt chief sports writer for the Mirror – and regular guest on Jimmy Hill’s Sky programme, Jimmy Hill’s Sunday Supplement.

Holt has come out with a classic headline as well, although I’m led to believe the reporters don’t write the headlines, just the articles! The article is called:

DEADLY SINNER HAS TURNED VILLA INTO A MIX OF DAD’S ARMY & DAVID BRENT

He admits that some of the problems were down to the now departed manager David O’Leary but warns, quite rightly:

But let’s banish right now the idea that Aston Villa’s problems ended last night when the Irishman got the bullet. Let’s banish the theory that suddenly everything is possible again at Villa Park now that he has been removed. O’Leary may not have been the most popular manager in the old club’s history. But he was never the real problem.

Adding:

The real problem is still there. The real problem is an octogenarian chairman who is presiding over a club in stasis. No one can take any particular pleasure in criticising an 82-year-old man who has devoted so much of his life to the well-being of a football club. But the inescapable reality is that Doug Ellis, an admirable man in many ways, has been a roadblock to progress at Aston Villa for a long time now.

The press know it, the pundits know it, the ex managers know it, the fellow Premiership chairmen know it, I’m sure our current board of directors know it, the fans have known it for years and now we have to hope that Doug Ellis wakes up and realises his tenure at Aston Villa has to come to an end. He does not have to sell his shares immediately in order to step down, he could relinquish control and stay on his yacht in Majorca where he has apparently been whilst the club descends into crisis.

And Oliver Holt adds It is too easy to dismantle his rule at the club now. It’s like shooting fish in a barrel. The man is simply too old. He is out of touch. It’s difficult to know where to start.

There has never been a better time for approaches and it appears the vultures are at last circling, the Ellis empire is crumbling into decay and his time will soon be up. Long live the Mighty Aston Villa.

Full Mirror Article – click here