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Last update: Wednesday, March 20, 2002 at 9:18:45 PM
Out with the old & in with the new!
by John Lewis
Alan Wright has said, 'Credit to Jlloyd. He's taken his chance with both hands. He's a good prospect and he's done okay. It's disappointing from my side of things because I'm used to playing games. The fact I've missed the last 9 is a little bit frustrating. It's up to the manager. He makes the final decision but I'd like to think I could get back into the team. Given the chance I'm sure that I'd still be able to do a decent job for the club'. I think that one of the most promising things that Graham Taylor has done to date is to continue to give someone other than Alan Wright a run in the left back position. Jlloyd has done rather better than okay, Alan! He has shown not only that he is a good prospect, but also that he has the potential to play for England and to be a regular in our team for years to come, or at least until Ellis is made an offer he cannot refuse! Alan Wright having under John Gregory's leadership kept a former England left back in Gareth Barry out of the side for some reason that is unknown to me, is now being kept out of the side by England's next left back. If Jlloyd is injured we have Gareth who could fill that role and who could do a more 'decent job', in my opinion than Alan now could. I wonder if JG fancies taking him to Derby?
Ian Taylor having made just 5 first team starts this season has said 'It's an important time for me. I want to stay here for longer, so the sooner I get fit and try and get back in the team the better. I haven't got a clue what will happen. No one has spoken to me, I haven't spoken to anybody, so I don't know. All I can do is try and get back in the team, play well and take it from there'. I have a lot of time for Ian, who as a Villa fan has lived the dream of all Villa fans of playing for our club. But all good things must come to an end and Ian is still not getting any younger, injuries are harder to shake off as the years roll on and I think this is shown by the number of games he has actually started this season. I think JG should have accepted Wolves offer for Ian at the start of the season, this is not being said with hindsight as I and a number of others said this at the time. Their reported £1m offer was a good one and although Graham has said 'Ian will run ahead of your front players, is a fit lad and is capable of scoring goals, so I am looking forward to seeing him back', I would still be amazed if he did not join the exodus of 30-somethings from B6 this summer.
Dion Dublin appears to have overlooked his form over the past couple of years on the basis of his first goal in 3 months against Arsenal on Saturday. He has said 'Hopefully the fans know I've got a lot more to offer. I know I have and I just need to be given a chance. When a new manager people talk about players having points to prove. But I have nothing to prove. He knows what I can do'. I think Dion was given a number of chances by John Gregory to show that he still had what it takes after his unfortunate and very serious injury. I can appreciate that it would be very difficult to come back from an injury like that. But it's been 2 years now and whilst fans know he used to have more to offer, I consider he still has to prove that he can do what he did before that injury on a regular basis. I hope he can show this in what remains of the season and thus show he is worth a place in our 2002/03 squad, but I think his opportunity to prove both Graham Taylor and myself wrong will probably come with another club next season.
Stan Staunton who has actually done the business this season has a more balanced view that goes beyond the prospect of securing another contract and considers the future for the club, rather than for himself in isolation. 'Thereâs a new man in here now, and I think there's a cloud over everyone to be honest, in so much as the manager's looking at players. Obviously, it's great for the club that there's 4 or 5 of the youth players coming through. That's what you want to see. But with that you've got to have a solid basis as well, and I think the manager knows deep down between now and in the summer what he's going to do. If he can do that quickly, fair enough, but if not, then he'll have to do it slowly. I don't blame the manager for looking at youth, I think you've got to do that. That's what football's all about. You need 1 or 2 experienced players but you need plenty of young players coming through and a stable team of twenty-somethingâs. You need a nice balance. At Villa we've been too young, or too old, we've never had an in-between side that could grow together and allow players to settle themselves in and get on a run. But I think the manager will do that. He's prepared to give people a chance. He's showing that with Thomas Hitzlsperger, and it's great because we've got a few young lads who if they fulfil their promise will be in there knocking on the door in a few years time. It would be nice if I'm part of that, but I'd fully understand the boss if I'm not'. I think Stan has shown this season that he is one of the older heads that is well worth a place in our squad next year and he also sets a good example for our younger players.
I think our defeat on Sunday exposed the present gulf in class between the top clubs and ourselves. We have now secured only 20 points from the last 60 that were available to us, having got 21 from the first 30. I think this shows that our present squad needs surgery and Graham Taylor has himself said that 'There are one or two things I've seen already in 4 or 5 matches that I know have got to be changed'. We are now below Charlton in eighth place and entry into the UEFA Cup other than via the dreaded Intertoto Cup now appears to be a very remote prospect. Graham has referred to what now seems the likely prospect of our finishing 10th, 11th or 12th . He has said 'That would not be acceptable to myself - and it would not be a very good sign. I think the players owe it to themselves and the supporters to end the season on a high whether there is an automatic European spot or not still possible'. I think 58 points would be a very good final points total given the games we have left and this might just give us some slender hope of EUFA Cup qualification depending on who wins the various cup competitions. But, I think 53 or less is a more likely final figure and that should remove any lingering doubts that Graham may have concerning the need for change if we are to achieve what he has targeted during the next 2 seasons. Ellis said before the Arsenal game that 'I'm not so worried about Arsenal or Leeds, which we're also playing, or Newcastle, surprisingly we do rather better against the top sides'. Let's see if that makes as much sense as his usual comments after the third of these games, but why should he be worried - you have to care to be worried!
Graham will need real money to change the present squad and will a club that used an ordinary 52-seat coach, rather than their first team bus to take the reserves to Sunderland last week provide him with the necessary resources? Perhaps the money they saved on making the first team bus available to others, possibly punters going to Cheltenham who may have been prepared to pay premium rates for the use of it where we were not, may go towards the money made available to Graham this summer? I doubt it, but it certainly looks as if it may have gone towards the 7-0 defeat the reserves suffered that night. For once it would be nice to show some real ambition now. It seems very likely that we will go for Yorke this summer. Why not pay another £2 or £3m to get a younger player in Keane from Leeds whilst he may be available and before he shows the world what he can do in the World Cup and prices himself once more beyond our range. But that would assume that a fee of say £8m is not already beyond our price range and that he would come to a club that turned down the opportunity to purchase him in the past.
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