And I don’t mean by the title of this post that Walsall is proper football, but it’s better than England and it’s Aston Villa. And that’s what we all love first. But this wouldn’t be a post without mentioning Southgate.
And I’m going to say what a lot of people have said or written and that he’s probably a very nice man. And he’s a football man. He played and like a lot of former players that get their badges, he got a job managing a side and like a lot of them too, he failed.
Just because you played the sport doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good manager. But he stumbled into the FA, took over the U21s and then landed the first team role. I’m not saying old boy network, but if it smells like coffee and it tastes like coffee, it’s probably coffee.
And because he’s such a nice bloke, he’s made the England setup a friendly place where everyone gets along and everyone feels welcomed and it’s just nice. And while these days it’s probably important that everyone feels welcomed and comfortable, the role of the manager is to pick players and win games. And not just the friendlies against Malta, but the important matches against the big sides.
And he didn’t do enough of that. I saw a stat yesterday that I’m not convinced about but it said of the 24 matches against sides in the FIFA top ten rankings he took charge of, we won four. If that is true, or close to true, then it’s simply not good enough. Great guy, football man, but it doesn’t mean he’s going to be a great manager.
But enough on Southgate. He’s had his time, made his money and for the World Cup in a couple of years, he’ll be on TV full of insights, sharing his wisdom. It’s a job. But I do secretly hope he gets the Manchester United job.
So back to Aston Villa.
There are rumours that Diaby is soon off and that we are about to sign Amadou Onana from Everton. And no doubt there will be more over the next few weeks.
But things are starting to look quite good for next season. Or I hope so. We’ll never really know until the season gets going and if we start well and things click early, we’re all going to be feeling very optimistic.
And while I am more interested in pre-season for Aston Villa over tournaments for England, we have to remember that these games can’t bring silverware and they are in place for the manager to get to see new players and to bring up fitness. I’ll be following along tonight, but I’m not concerned about the result, but will be interesting to see who plays and how they get on.
But it’s so nice that it’s just one more month to go. August 17th at West Ham. Will be fun and hopefully by then, the new kit will be released!
