The Villa are good now. The day Blues fans have been dreading is finally upon us as the claret and blue side of the West Midlands readies itself for years of competing at the very top of the best league in the world.
Some may say that Aston Villa deserve nothing less than to be rubbing shoulders with the big boys and forcing that ‘Big Four’ to jump up a digit, or alternatively get rid of some dead wood. After all, Aston Villa do have a prestigious history that extends far beyond that of Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea, being one of the 12 teams that started the first division back in 1888. If you believe Wikipedia (which you shouldn’t) it was actually Villa’s director William McGregor who founded the league.
So yes, Villa do have a prestigious history, one that many ‘new-money’ teams aspire to buy, to which many fans revel in reminding them of the impossibility of such a feat.
However, football has to be played in the here-and-now, not in yesteryear; in this quality Villa have previously lacked lustre. Sure Villa won the league cup twice in the 1990s and reached the F.A. Cup in 2000, but for a team of Villa’s credibility, such achievements leave a lot to be desired. And the Villa fans have done a lot of desiring, relying heavily on the aforementioned history whenever a Bluenose would pipe up about the huge defeats Birmingham City incurred upon their fierce rivals when the former arrived in England’s top flight.
But the days of Enckelman-slips seem like a distant memory when we glance at the Premier League table today. Villa sit very pretty in third, two points ahead of Chelsea and only five from that illustrious number one spot.
As a West Ham fan that grew up in Birmingham, it breaks my heart to see Villa doing so well. The club is a shining beacon of light to the rest of the glutinous trophy-hungry toy ships of billionaires mingling around them. Even my beloved West Ham should take a leaf, no, a few chapters, out of Villa’s book. But that is what hurts so much. I had to turn up to school and face the ridicule of my tactless peers when the ‘mighty’ Irons succumbed to relegation in 2003. When this happened I hung tight to the fact that Villa were mind numbingly boring; firing out mid-table after mid-table finish. I defended West Ham with the fact that at least relegation is heart wrenching enough to provide us masochistic Hammers fans with the entertainment that is our life-blood. However, this defence will no longer hold up if Sheffield United get their way and we are dumped into the Championship again because, as I said before, Villa are good now. Not only this, but Villa will get better and better. Randy Learner, Martin O’Neill et al have laid foundations which will ensure Aston Villa have a future in the top four, three, two or even one of the Premier League.
Villa do everything right; they buy English players, don’t pay through the nose for them, play attractive football, invest in their already stellar youth system, give money to charity, and generally show the Liverpools, Tottenhams and Manchester Cities of this world that they really should be ashamed of themselves. They do things so well that I could easily fall in love with Aston Villa. But the Villa fans that made me cry about going to school when West Ham lost to Stockport years ago have guaranteed that will never happen. There is also a great deal of Villa fans who will show zero humility in this golden age they have entered.
So, I will carry on hating Villa fans with a shameless glint of envy in my eye as I see them crawl out of the woodwork to promptly hop on the fastest bandwagon in the West. But I will gladly embrace those who have been waiting for this moment in time for years, and who will enjoy every minute of it with proud modesty.
Up the Villa…until you play the Irons.
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