In days gone by when you saw the team line-up, you’d look to see if a certain player had been passed fit or what slight tactical selections had been made, and then think, depending on who Villa were playing, “Ah, we’ve got a chance here” or “we should win this”. I can’t remember the last time I had those thoughts. Now, it doesn’t matter who’s on that team sheet, the general consensus is this squad is simply not good enough.
Why? Is a question you need to aim at the likes of Tom Fox and Paddy Reilly, who chose the players (and the former manager Tim Sherwood).
Six points from 16 games. That’s three games off the half-way point in the season, which is both a disgrace and an embarrassment. We’ll discuss this situation later, as I’m sure other media and Villa blogs will, but in the meantime, here’s five reasons to be cheerful as Aston Villa fans…
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1. WE SURF WHEN WE WANT
We are rooted bottom of the league and about to get predictably beat by a team about to go to the top of the league, but Villa supporters still had the balls to surf a flag to have a bit of fun with our visitors.
It’s not our fault our team doesn’t have the spirit or fight to back us up on the pitch!
For those who don’t know, the surfer flag was directly based on the iconic design of the infamous Sex Pistols album ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols’ (more details here). It was created for the FA Cup final to be surfed at Wembley, until Wembley infamously banned it.
The aim of the flag was to express Villa’s underdog (punk) spirit against a Sky Four establishment team like Arsenal in a clever way (an Arsenal fans group description, not ours). The flag had plenty of context too, the track ‘Bodies’ on the original album name checks Birmingham and there’s the irony that the lead singer of the Sex Pistols John Lydon is a massive Arsenal fan.
Over 200+ supporters had helped fund the flag, after MOMS was told that the club weren’t taking a surfer to the final and we found out that Arsenal were. Those supporters, like MOMS, didn’t want to see Arsenal supporters have any advantage on the day. Thus with a lot of effort (including raising £3000 in the 24 hours) we pulled it off.
Now, after the Wembley ban, if you think MOMS was going to leave 200+ Villa supporters who’d help fund the flag in the lurch, you’ve got to be joking.
After last minute efforts to get it displayed somewhere near Wembley (again the FA got in the way), we went to the effort of organising it to be displayed at the City Ground in the preseason friendly against Nottingham Forest. The home Arsenal game then was the natural place to give it a proper surf. Fair play to the club for understanding the situation and allowing it to happen.
In the Spanish league, for example, opponents names are officially not allowed on supporter flags, so it can be seen as a bold move by a normally conservative club.
I personally think it was important as Villa supporters to show a little defiance to our current situation and I don’t buy into some haters thinking the flag was ’embarrassing’ because the team are cr*p at the moment. It shows we have more ambition for the club and we’re not happy with current events.
Those social media moaners and haters are quite welcome to organise from their keyboards a 20mx20m white flag, which seems more fitting to their outlook, or maybe cut up their season tickets. Just don’t knock the efforts of other Villa supporters.
The Sex Pistols looked pretty great at the game (and on Match of the Day) and that is something to be proud of.
It’s actually a shame that one flag seems to be a big deal, when there should be different new things by supporters going on at Villa Park every home game.
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