Gareth Barry could have made an honourable exit from Villa Park, head held high after 10 years terrific service and an understanding nod from the Villa faithful about the lure of the Champions League and Liverpool.
Instead, Villa’s captain and formerly most celebrated player will now have to skulk out the back door and brace himself for terrible stick, whenever he runs into the path of the claret and blue faithful again.
Barry will go. His position at Villa is now untenable.
It always was been, from the moment he allowed the thought of playing at Anfield alongside Steven Gerrard to overwhelm his general contentment with life at Villa.
The point is that the inevitability of the deal has not been affected one jot by yet another ill-advised, unnecessary and brainless piece of bad-mouthing of the club and a manager who has helped get him into the England team.
Why players do this still goodness only knows.
Barry is hardly the only culprit in this verbal stupidity. Emmanuel Adabeyor is at it at Arsenal.
Even more disappointingly, another offer from Liverpool was barely opened at White Hart Lane before Robbie Keane stained his reputation for carrying himself with dignity through a money-spinning career, by demanding his exit from Tottenham.
Closer to home, Aaron McLean has now handed in a transfer request at Peterborough in an effort to advance the transfer he wants to Wolves. At least he is being up front with his employers.
It is understood that Barry’s rant at Villa in one of the Sunday tabloids was agent driven.
There are whispers around the club now that the England midfielder has been so dismayed at the reaction he is thinking of ending his relationship with Alex Black.
Unfortunately, he should have thought of that before approving the strategy.
Sitting alongside him at Villa is a man who should know all about the pitfalls of such behaviour.
Curtis Davies was always going to get a deal out of The Hawthorns last summer. Albion knew he wanted to go and there were buyers in the market place.
All he had to do was sit tight and acknowledge chairman Jeremy Peace’s right to drive the deal to its best vantage point for the Baggies.
But no. Davies had to open his mouth, withdraw his labour and generally stamp his foot like a petulant, impatient child because it wasn’t happening quick enough for him.
Yesterday, his take on Barry’s situation was predictable, urging Villa fans not to turn on the skipper.
He said: “It’s a shame it was sour when I left because I felt I had done well for the club in the time that I was there.
“It’s just a shame that when things get drawn out like with my deal getting left to the last minute, the fans thought ‘he’s jilted us’.
“But it’s football. You can’t please everyone and a lot of times you need to look after your family.
“People talk about loyalty, but my only loyalty is to my family and to look after them. If you can move on to a better club and earn yourself a better living and play better football then it’s something you need to do.”
No one denies you that right. It’s how you do it which is important to them.
Davies got his sale to Villa in the end. But with him went any goodwill he built up to be replaced by disgust from the Albion faithful, who considered his behaviour and comments a betrayal of their support and the club’s reputation.
He will have to deal with the wrath that comes his way when he steps out to face the Baggies this season.
He will also know that not one word, not one headline and not one of his actions made any difference whatsoever to his transfer to Villa.
Barry now finds himself in the same boat. O’Neill knows he must sell and is merely driving as hard a bargain as possible – which is his right.
Liverpool want something he has got and he’s not going to let them walk off with it without paying top dollar.
All Barry had to do was sit tight, keep quiet and let the forces of football work towards the transfer.
At Paul Merson’s event in the Holte Suite last week, Barry’s future was the subject of much debate.
While the 300 Villa fans who attended were not exactly thrilled at the prospect of his departure, they too accepted it as inevitable and were still largely respectful of the player’s contribution.
Stick those same 300 fans in the same room tonight, I will guarantee there will be a marked chilling of their reaction to Barry’s exit.
That is the price the player has paid for his needless indiscretions in print.
28 Comments
I can not help wondering how much Gareth’s good friend is behind his outburst as well, I can just imagine the whinning,cheating,diving person that calls himself a friend of Gareth’s being on the phone telling him what to do and say.
What amazes me is that he has the gall to spill his feelings in a tabloid, but not the bottle to put in a written transfer request.
Why? Because he will loose MONEY. Get real Gareth you can not ask for a loyalty payment from the real world when you leave, why should you have one now.
Great article.
Not only what he said, but to say it to the NOTW whos sister paper is the Sun is a insult to Liverpool fans as well as villa’s fans.
You will walk alone Barry for at least a season so sit down and shut up!
I wonder how long Barry will stay in the England set up when he is on the bench at Liverpool or left to rot at Villa?
Martin O’Neil had to keep him away from training -does he need a player like that around the rest
Great article. It’s good to see that O’Neil and the club are coming out of this the right way. Because of Liverpools obsession with keeping it in the press, everyone knows what is going on.. So why did Barry have to do it?! He has let a lot of people down through listening to bad advice.
Sums up the situation perfectly I feel. I was sad he wanted to leave but since he disgraced himself and the club in the NotW he can go to hell.
Martin, don’t sell him for a penny less than 18 million and if the scousers can’t afford to pay it let him rot in the reserves or flog him abroad. We don’t want to strengthen a team we are trying to catch anyway.
Barry, you’ve been very poorly advised son and you’re not half the man I thought you were.
Jon,
Absolutely, you have hit the nail on the head with those comments. A couple of months ago I personaly would have been happy for us to get £12M to rebuild for him - yes, it would have been sad to see him go but now I think MON is doing the right thing and tryng to get every penny possible and excluding him from training may make him wake up and smell the coffee, although it is far to late now to be a Villa player ever again. As you said he can rot either on the Liverpool bench or in the reserves for all I care.
can not wait 4 liverpool at home ! i bet this ones on sky ? sunday i bet
MON is right to demand the best price for Barry. After this gaff I agree that Barry will need to scapegoat his agent in order to redeem himself. Otherwise he can sit at Villa and watch his chances of England disappear.
Very good well written article.
what i find very very funny is that if u watch setanta sports news all the e-mails off liverpool fans are saying keep alonso hes better that barry and we dont want barry so the total outcome now is we at villa dont want him,the liverpool fans dont want him,ive never heard benitez actually say he wants him the only one who wants him is gerrard its true
This business about Barry’s “rant” being agent driven doesn’t wash with me. The guy is an adult. He should have realised what damage he was doing to his reputation at Villa Park when he spoke to the press.
Now he has well and truly burned his bridges at Villa, the guy had better pray that Liverpool stump up the cash to complete the transfer. My guess is that they haven’t got the cash.
Though Barry has a good football brain, I’ve never thought he’s the brightest star in the sky. I think he wanted someone to make a decision for him and his low-life agent has been shouting the loudest. His agent has the most to gain with no risk. Barry has put his whole career on the line, very foolishly in my opinion. Up the Villa!
What a brilliant article Martin Swain !
You have hit the nail right on the head.
Gareth Barry GET A LIFE ! What are you doing to your reputation! After all MO’N did for you. Like the other readers have said I just hope that you don’t lose your England Place as there are better up and coming youngsters who will push hard for your place next season.
Fairplay to Martin O’Neill for holding out for his valuation as players who are not as good as Gareth are going for more money.
Barry should have sorted all this mess before he went away with England but he chose to keep MON waiting as well as his loyal fans, MON should now repay him by making him wait for the same period of time and see how he handles it.
The sooner this saga is over the better, lets take the £15mil now because next year he can walk for peanuts.
A terrific article, which I think sums up the whole Barry to Liverpool situation perfectly. It seems, too, that Liverpool are now at it again; having riled Villa and Newcastle, they’re now appear to be trying to unsettle Keane at Spurs. Why do the authorities do nothing about this sort of seedy, underhand behaviour? As for Barry, well, we all thought that he was one of the good guys, and a model professional. Turns out that he’s just another selfish, money-grubbing mercenary, and judging by his ill-thought-out actions, a fool as well. Good riddance to a disgrace to the claret and blue shirt!
Barry has shown himself to be like the majority of footballers….lacking in both intelligence and common sense.
However the main parasite here is the agent. The football agents are just leeches feeding greedily on the current favourable financial position in football. They give nothing to the game and just take huge unjustifiable sums out of the game.
Straight swap for Alonso.
The article is wrong on Robbie Keane, he has not asked for a transfer or demand an exit from tottenham as you put it, do some research of your own and not just quote tabloid nonsense and stain the reputation of a player.
Just because o’neil says bazza is worth 18mil doesnt mean it’s true. Small clubs always over price their players and this is no different. I hope we dont buy bazza and he stays at villa…
but then again it would be nice when we turn up and pick-up our usual 3pts at villa park, with the bazinator getting an hatrick
Great article mate!! It makes a change for an article to give a well balanced opinion on anything nowadays - or is it that I just agree with it?
So, what now? He can’t play for us again, I don’t think Liverpool can afford him (I’m with you Tom!) so does he fill the void at Villa Park so recently vacated by Thomas Sorensen? Martin O’Neill is a stubborn bloke! I can see him banishing Barry to the reserves unless he (Barry) does something drastic to make Martin forgive him! I just can’t think what that may be!
Villa Park - Sat August 30
Anfield - Sat March 21
Should be good games.
Maybe Barry was forced to take a stance because O’Neil was too busy doing a commentating job on TV rather than discuss Barry’s future. O’Neil is not a great man-manager and he failed to keep his best player on board.
I don’t blame Barry one bit and I’m sure any reaction he gets when playing at Villa in the future will be muffled by the victory his team will enjoy.
O’Neil has of course supported such behaviour by accepting curtis Davis to his club to the chagrin of WBA. If it’s good for the goose it’s good for the gander and O’neil should not whinge or get his mates in the press supporting him.
Forget about loyalty. Players owe their fans nothing except their efforts on the pitch. They should be able to go where they want to maximise their income because football is just a money making machine with everyone in it to make a buck - and this very much includes O’Neil.
I wonder how long he would stay at Villa if man Utd or indeed Liverpool came in for him.
The only loyalty is shown by the fans and what do we get in return. Walsall board selling their best players mid season to condemn them to League (1) for another season is not being loyal to the fans. Villa raking in fortunes via tele money and still upping prices at the turnstyles is not being loyal to the fans.
Lets forget about loyalty lets just make the decision whether or not the club we love is actually worth the trouble and expense if all they give us are bigger bills, childish players and massive complacency.
phil lynch:
“Small clubs always over price their players and this is no different”.
i agree! we seen the valuation on scott carson and peter crouch
gareth barry is slowly becoming a scouser, he is already jobless and desperate
up the villa
E11 Wolf,
The reason loyalty is being mentioned is that Barry has not handed in a transfer request. If the transfer goes ahead without him handing in the request he gets a £3M LOYALTY bonus. Something he clearly does not deserve, as he is not being loyal and also has effectively handed in an unofficial transfer request in the media. If Barry were to hand in the request. We could possibly let him go for £15M. Although, I doubt it, as this all stems from Houllier the 2nd holding out for £10M for Scott Carson. Well done Martin!
E11Wolf, cant understand what you mean about O’Neil not being a good man manager but everyone has an opinion of course.
Your comment on Liverpool or Man Utd coming in for him, well I can only answer that by reminding you that England came knocking not so long ago and he told them no, he had a job at Villa and yes I know he applied for the job once, but at that time he was out of work.
Adam G 25 i didn’t know about the 3 million but that makes my point stronger. he is a greedy, ungaretful player who couldn’t care less about the fans and he’s trying to screw more money out of your club. Its the fans of course that suffer the disappointment.
As for O’Neil - word has it he left Celtic in a right mess and who on earth would take the England job at that time. He left Celtic due to family illness and I bet the guy has been worried out of his wits for a long time and having the press on his back while managing England would not have been a preferred option.
I am just fed up with these players continually ripping off the clubs we love. Fans of every club deserve better (even you lot)…
Good luck next year but without Barry it might be a lot harder for you. I hope you stuff Liverpool.
curtis davies will do the same thing as barry in the future judging his comments dueing this barry saga