Spelar-revolt i Villa
En riktigt ovanlig händelse utspelades idag på Villa Park
En händelse jag inte sett någonstans inom toppfotbollen förut har just utspelas hos Aston Villa denna dag. Spelarna hos Aston Villa har tillsammans skickat ut en pressrelease där man sågar ägaren och VDn för Villa, Doug Ellis, jäms med fotknölarna för uteblivna satsningar och de just nu pågående nedskärningarna i klubben.
Spelarna sågar framför allt uteblivna spelarköp men man nämner även sånt som att man inte vattnat planer och inte betalat kaffet på flygplatsen för läkaren som behandlar Martin Laursen. En del stora satsningar, som att uppgradera träningsanläggningen på Bodymoore Heath har också åtsidosats och det är en annan kritik.
Jag kan inte med ord förklara hur stolt jag är över spelarna som gör detta som vi supportrar har tjatat om länge. Fortsättingen av denna utveckling kommer att bli fruktansvärt intressant att följa. Framför allt svaret från Doug, då ska jag knäcka en bärs och spetsa öronen.
Uttalandet i sin helhet:
"People talk about Aston Villa being a big club and winning the European Cup in 1982.
"We feel it should be a big club but if the chairman has got ambition, he needs to start showing it. It has to come from the top. So many other clubs are doing so much to show their ambition apart from us. As players we're all ambitious and we want to improve on last season. "The chairman should be behind the club and not working against what we're trying to achieve. There have been a series of cutbacks and we feel we have to mention this because they are now starting to affect us. "At the end of last season, the chairman refused to pay #300 for the pitches to be watered. The training ground development, which we were all looking forward to working in, has stopped. "Now we have lost a masseur because the club refuse to pay for one and are clubbing together to pay for our own.
"We have also heard that the physio, who was on his way to see Martin Laursen, could not claim back for a cup of coffee at the airport. "We've had no explanation for the cutbacks and we feel if the manager (David O'Leary) can't get one, then we have no chance. "Maybe the chairman thought he would have left by now because of the takeover. Supporters are concerned with what happens on the pitch and rightly so. "But we feel with all the cutbacks, it is difficult to attain the targets we all share. "In the second half of last season, there was no investment in the team, a loan player - Eirik Bakke - was sent back to Leeds, and now we're unable to sign James Milner from Newcastle. "There are no positives coming out of the club. We need to see a plan where the club is going and all the players feel the same. Every penny is being watched."
