Aston Villa blog: Let's lay off Alan Hutton
If there's one man who deserves to hold his head high at Aston Villa right now it's that of much-maligned full-back Alan Hutton.
Since his arrival from Spurs six years ago he's seen off numerous challengers for his shirt and also seen off many managers, writes Aston Villa blogger Justin Hawthorne.
He has been bombed out and shipped off on-loan, whilst also becoming the target for fans who simply need someone to blame. But on Monday night whilst watching Villa crumble once again I saw a man who continued to give everything he could for the shirt, despite lacking somewhat in ability.
He's not one to shirk a tackle and regularly busts a gut in an attempt to get forward - hard work which isn't lost on this supporter. What's more, in the 89th minute when new teammate Scott Hogan lay stricken on the turf he was the only player with the heart to go over to give him his support.
It speaks volumes of the type of person Hutton is, regardless of your thoughts of his footballing ability.
Given the same abuse, most people would have thrown in the towel by now and forced a move elsewhere, but not him - he's stood firm and offered his all through some very testing times.
I'm sure plenty of fans far and wide could think of many players who they'd rather see at right back, but if just a few more players wearing claret and blue had his kind of work ethic and mentality you could bet your bottom dollar that we wouldn't be in the position we currently occupy in the Championship table.
In fact, I'd hazard a guess to say we would be fighting for those top spots rather than trying to avoid the drop.
Whilst we're all nervously looking over our shoulders at that dreaded relegation zone, I still believe we are only a win away from turning the corner, and at times in the first half against Newcastle things were definitely looking up.
If Steve Bruce can somehow tighten up our leaky defence and get that bit of luck things will undoubtedly begin to turn in our favour once again.
Whilst our season is now essentially written-off, I for one won't be giving up on seeing some claret and blue success toward end the campaign just yet.
