I am a Liverpool fan.
I think its only fair to get that out in the open before I write the following blog because I know that any comments that I have here could be immediately dismissed as “well, you would say that, wouldn’t you”. But I do want to comment on the Gareth Barry situation and particularly the response he got from the Villa fans last night.
I don’t think its at all surprising that you’re going to get booed when you publicly announce that you intend to leave your club for a rival. I can’t agree with those people who use the line of reasoning that, “well, its their career. You wouldn’t expect to be told to stay in your job if you had a better opportunity elsewhere”, because, whilst that is logical, logic plays very little role in football generally and even less of a role when it comes to supporting a team.
But what I can’t agree with on this is some of the shouts he received. In particular, “You’re not fit to wear the shirt”.
Let’s look at Gareth Barry’s career shall we? Since moving from Brighton as a trainee in 1997, he has made over 330 starting appearances for Villa scoring a total of 35 goals. In April of this year he became the longest serving player at the club as well as the youngest player ever to reach 300 premier league games. He has been voted Fans’ Player and Players’ Player of the year. He has also been Villa’s captain.
If there’s any player fit to wear that shirt then surely it is him. But because he has decided that he needs to move on, he’s now a disgrace. I’m sorry but its not right. Feel upset about him wanting to leave and by all means boo if you want. But give the man some respect for the decade of loyal service he has given your club. There are many total mercenaries in football (we can all name them), but he clearly isn’t one of them.
I’m not happy about the way the deal has been conducted. We’ve certainly not covered ourselves in glory by allowing it to be dragged out in the press for so long. But don’t blame Gareth Barry for that either. The fault here lies with Rafa Benitez and Martin O’Neill. Equally.
It may be that he doesn’t move. I doubt it but it may be. And if he doesn’t and he has to stay I’m sure he will give his all for yet another year. But if he does move, feel hurt. And then thank him for what he has given to your club.
Tags: aston villa, gareth barry, liverpool
