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Barry move a big mistake – Taylor
Thursday 4th June 2009, 11:00AM BST.
Holte End hero Ian Taylor has accused former team-mate Gareth Barry of making a big mistake in joining Manchester City.
Barry’s 12-year stint at Villa Park came to an end on Tuesday night, when he signed for mega-rich City for £12million in a deal believed to be worth £90,000-per-week.
The England midfielder, who has arrived in Kazakhstan for Saturday’s World Cup qualifier, had previously insisted his only reason for leaving Villa would be to fulfil his ambition of playing in the Champions League.
But City, unlike Villa, have failed to even reach next season’s Europa League after finishing 10th in the Premier League.
Now Sporting Star columnist Taylor, who played alongside Barry between 1995 and 2003, has given his take on the shock move.
He said: “He said he wanted Champions League football and it’s far from it. I think he should have only left if he was going to a top four club.
“The potential might be there at City because of the money they have but, ultimately, Villa are in Europe and they’re not.
“If he had decided he was going to leave and it’s true Liverpool were still interested, then why didn’t he go there?”
Barry outlined his reasons for leaving the club in an open letter to supporters yesterday, claiming he had a ‘massive fear of going stale.’
But some sections of the Villa support have been angered by his defection, arguing he has put cash before his career.
Former Villa midfielder Taylor believes the move is a ‘sideways step.’
He said: “There will be very disgruntled Villa supporters out there, but money talks in football. It’s a sideways step.
“It’s not very often that a player writes a letter to the fans, but it looked like a bit of a guilt trip to me.”
But Taylor insists Villa should not be criticised for cashing in on the player, who had just one year left on his contract.
He said: “Villa were caught between a rock and a hard place. It was a really difficult situation. They made Gareth Barry what they thought was an excellent offer.
“Clearly he didn’t want to sign that because he could get more elsewhere, and they would have lost him for nothing in a year.”
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I tell you what GT has been talkin a lot of sense over the last few weeks…. I completley agree with everything he’s said here
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A sideways step? so hes gone from a team who ‘surrendered’ their uefa cup spot,because it was all a bit to tough,to go to a quarter finalist and with a touch more luck at least semi finallist, and also a team who managed to win a few games in the second half of the season,how did villa do after christmas by the way?? i agree it is a sideways move from the slow lane to the fast!!!
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I completly agree. Hit the nail on the head. Apart from the sideways step lol
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Perhaps he fancy’s playing with Eto’o,Kaka,Tevez,Villa,Ribery oh Robinho and Stevie Ireland judge if he went for money at the end of summer this is why he chose City instead of the Scouse
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GT’s getting very tanned in his old age then Aaron he’s practically Black!
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It doesn’t matter who he’s signed for, he’s gone! What differance does it make to Villa??
Me thinks Villa fans are green with envy and finding it difficult to except, Man City are richer and more ambitious.
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Hmmm..villa are in a european competition but maybe barry didnt give a stuff about that since villa themselves dont!!!!!!!! think it through muppet. City will be in champions league within a couple of years. Villa wont. Though you may be in europa for a few years but whats the point if you chuck games?
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Areon – Who’s GT?
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G.T or I.T?
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Aaron – Who’s GT?
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Aaron you numpty. The article was Ian Taylor not Graham.
Agree with Ian though, he was such a legend.
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Regardless of what Liverpool fans may think, or say in public, they cannot argue that Gareth Barry would have been a good acquisition for them, but the fact is, Liverpool were never going to come up with the cash anyway.
Has he made a mistake leaving Villa for Man City? finacially of course the answer is no and as far as Europe is concerned, I think Gareth is looking to 2010/2011 season, by which time, with all that cash available, they will have bought a European ticket. All Gareth has to do then is hope he is not surplus to requirements before he gets his hands on some European silverware.
However, thanks for the 12 seasons Gareth, and of course the little matter of £12 million.
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what good did european football do you last season,you chose to opt out at the quarter final stage, after an early season start to qualify,this is not the actions of a club with european ambitions, obviously city have got the potential to be up with the best, surely you have noticed that football has become a giant game of three card brag, the player with the most money eventually wins, wake up
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Two points. Did anybody stop to think of how smoothly the transfer deal went through following the initial inquiry? Could it not have been the case that Villa REALLY did not want to sell to Liverpool after their steam-rollering attempts to force Barry to sign for them last summer?
And could it not be that having seen exactly what was likely to happen from City’s experience with Sylvain Distin a couple of years ago, that Villa consider they have come out of it well – as do we?
Win-Win for the top four challengers. Lose-Lose for the top four clique…
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Taylor is a puppet and does not have a clue what he is talking about, who cares what he thinks.
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i get feed up of people going on about the uefa cup, it was finanically work very little to us, and judge emnt needed to be made. could we get into the european cup, which would of given us great rewards and the posiblity of getting better players, only people with one dimension thinking, or with the benifit one hind sight could disagree. As for GB, we will mis him, but i wish him good luck, he gave us many years of good football, Man City look as if they are going to pay high wages and bring in very good players. But that out lay has to be finanically surstained by the club. After all its the club that will own the debt, and the surports that will have to pay it off. No rich man throws money away to the degree of hundreds of million pounds. just look at Leeds, and Newcastle. Liverpool need to finace a new griund and pay for it if they are to compete in the long term with the top teams and are in debt at the moment. If the Russain goes home then good night Chelsea. Arsenal are only club being run for the long term. Some times you have to use your brains not your heart
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As a Villa fan, I have to say IT’s comments are borne more out of frustration than malice. No supporter likes to lose one of their best players, especially to an inferior team, but money talks far louder than trophies or medals nowadays. This is the monster that is now the professional footballer. Imagine this scenario. City and Liverpool both had bids accepted and both offered Barry the following terms;
5 Year Contract
Basic Salary £30,000 per week
Win Related Bonus’s £100,000 per Week
Which club do you honestly think Barry would sign for? The club with potential or the already successful club? Footballers nowadays don’t have to win to pick up their money. If they do win, they get a bonus on top of their salary. Of course Barry is going to follow the money, it’s human nature.
My only gripe with him is that, in his letter to Villa fans, I wish that he had added the word ‘MONEY’ along with such words as ‘Ambitious’, ‘Challenge’, Honours’, ‘Successful’ etc!!!!!
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what a muppet, whoopy doo, villa are in the europa league and were not. Barry has made the decision based on the fact that we will be in the champions league before villa….fact
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I really think that instead of slagging Barry off, Villa fans should have the decency to say thank you for 12 years of excellent and loyal service.
P.S If someone offered you (or me) double your wages, what would YOU do??
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Italia 7482- How did vulla do after Christmas…. well we kept winning for a start and was in 4th spot up utill the end of march so a lot better than you think!!
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I like hearing from these City fans.. it makes me laugh as they are definatley infiror to the Villa in the fact that spent well in exsess of 70 million and could only just scrape the top ten :) I can see an 8th placed finish for City this season/// hahahahaha
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Whoopteedoo!!
City have a Billionaire Arab owners that believe any non-arabs are scum (Fact! I worked on the palm Jumhera projects over there)owners that’ll splash the chash
Whooppee.
Let’s all dance around the proverbial maypole.
You’ll achieve NOTHING!
Man City is just a marketing tool for the Arabs
They are businessmen that sell houses in Dubhai & OWNING a club associated with Manchester (Everyone knows Man Utd), gives their portfolio extra power as they advertise in their portfoilios “Owners of Premiership Football Club MANCHESTER City”.
The “Manchester” Part in Capitol BOLD & the “City” part just Capital “C”
Potential Investors only hear the MANCHESTER part & assume its UTD!
The £30 Million wasonly to appease the fans & make a bold statement & it worked!
They purposely scuppered the KAKA deal as they didn’t want to buy him but just gain publicity & that worked too.
Why do you think they haven’t bid for KAKA now then even though he’s going for half the price?
Modest buys form now on with maybe 1 £20 million player along the way.
Add that to a mediocre Manager & you lot have BOB HOPE of getting anywhere near the TOP 4
Dreamers & jokers!
Oh & all you City dross this is a VILLA topic NOT your Sty!
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Steve… that is not fact. There is no empirical evidence for your suggestion. Perhaps it is an extreme possibility given their wealth and spending power, but it is certainly not a fact that City will get Champions league before Villa (not denying its unfortunate likelihood though)
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Manchester City won’t qualify for champions league next year- dream on Manchester City fans. Gareth Barry might be too old once (and if) City manage to break into the top four. Money can buy players but not a guaranteed team spirit and success in the premier league- as Newcastle have recently found and was illustrated by Chelsea’s pre and post Hiddinck form this season. Mercenaries don’t care as much as fans about winning and real teams enjoy lifting their game and putting one over ‘got-rich quick’ clubs fielding transient signings. I’m afraid Gareth has sold out to the green devil- money. Although I did think he was coasting this season at Villa and that, like Ronaldo, his mind was clearly elsewhere. I hope other people at the Club noted this too and foresaw his move and a good replacement is lined up.
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If anyone on here was offered the chance to treble their salary and guarentee it for 5 years we would all take it. He’s gone to a bigger club anyway where’s the problem?
Boing Boing
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