May I Applaud The Vital Villa Subscribers?

Like so many other Villa supporters I have followed the Barry Saga from the beginning, when Benitez first indicated that he had an interest in signing Barry and he, silly man that he is, allowed his head to be turned by that news and by Gerrard sounding off about him as well.

Yes, they were out of order making their approach for Barry the way they did, and insulting to our great club.

But then they expected Villa to do as they have in the past and ‘roll over’. Not this time however, MON and Randy are made of much sterner stuff than the posturing
self-congratulatory Ellis and so, quite rightly, MON has said, ‘You want a
player who is contracted to this club then you pay our valuation’.

It is as simple as that.

But that is not what this article is about, it is simply this: from the time Barry’s article appeared in the NotW and Murph’s excellent article in response appeared on Vital Villa, like so many of you I have read and re-read the articles and the many comments that we Villa supporters have
made about the situation.

There is pain and hurt expressed and disappointment is clearly there, mainly at Barry’s disloyalty and stupidity at allowing himself to be persuaded to make such a very silly comment at this stage of the negotiations for his transfer.

There is also a lot of justifiable anger
at what Barry has done and the insults he has aimed at MON and Randy and
at Aston Villa.

BUT, and to me this is the important part, regardless of the hurts we all feel, there has been little or no viciousness and bile
poured on the man. Many of the subscribers have tried to be measured and reasonable in their response and have written constructive comments in, generally speaking, good well written prose.

Strangely, the intended recipients of Barry’s services in the future, the red scousers, seem to be more aggressive and rude in their comments about us, the genuinely aggrieved, than we are, overall, about Barry and them.

Yes, I know I have had to use a number of adjectives, such as ‘overall’ as qualifying words because one or two subscribers have let their feelings run away with them a little, but that is really small beer.

Overall, as I have said, the response from so many of you has been measured and reasonable and well expressed. It makes me proud to be a Villa supporter and a subscriber to Vital Villa when we respond the way we have when, in truth our Club and its leaders have been grievously hurt by
the actions of one that we had taken to our hearts.

One thing is for certain, Barry will not be held in anything like the esteem at Anfield
that we held him in. He may be wearing their shirt, but it will take him a long time, if ever, to become one of them. He will always be seen as a turncoat and therefore unreliable.

By – Obediah