Win pales to Buck Chinn’s death
Wednesday 28th April 2010, 11:20AM BST.
Two things have dominated my thoughts this week, writes Villa’s Sporting Star columnist Dave Woodhall.
The first was last Sunday’s win over Blues.
I know we try to play down their significance in our lives but the truth is that if a vote was held on who we’d rather beat, they would be the majority choice.
They’re our closest rivals in terms of geography if not football, so beating them will always be special. That it was such a vital win is a bonus.
In truth the Villa, once again, were a long way off their best. Blues, admittedly, came for a point and were time-wasting soon after the start of the second half, but Villa seemed to run out of ideas not long after. There was no-one who could put their foot on the ball or dictate the way the game was played out – which has been a problem all season.
It was going to take something special or a mistake to get the three points, and with nobody capable of anything special, the error came courtesy of a mistimed tackle. And no, there was nothing wrong with the penalty award. Nowhere in the rules of football does it say that a slight touch on the ball means you can’t have committed a foul. It was good, though, for Alex McLeish to admit that the game was one of a big club against a smaller one.
Villa moved into fifth place in the table, ahead of Manchester City, who we play on Saturday. That game’s of significantly more long-term importance than beating the Blues but I doubt if a win would be celebrated quite as much.
The other bit of news was less welcome, concerning as it did the sad death of Buck Chinn, former chairman of the Villa Shareholders Association and a man who gave so much to championing the cause of the ordinary fan.
Buck had been suffering from cancer and died on Monday morning. He helped me and many others and was an inspiration to all of us who believe that supporters deserve better than to hand over their money and keep quiet.
UK Sport
Latest Blog — A week is a long time in football
This time last week we were staring down the barrel, third from bottom with a worse record than at the same stage last year, writes Saddlers blogger Mark Jones.
Saddlers Blog
Business Awards
Book a Business Awards table
Join our celebrations of the region's best in business on Thursday March 22 - book your table now
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Express & Star and Shropshire Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases
OUR NEW APP
Get the new E&S app
Download the Express & Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
expressandstar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
