Dave’s Villa Blog

A STATUE TO A GREAT

04-04-2008

Never mind that Villa’s defenders stood around like statues as Manchester United waltzed around them last weekend - Dave Woodhall says it’s time to erect a monument to one of the great men of football.

We lost at Old Trafford again, but there’s no point in dwelling on it. They’re better than us, in fact they’re better than anyone else in Europe at the moment and there aren’t many teams who could live with them on current form.

Our collection of makeshifts and out of form players certainly never had a chance and the best part of the afternoon came with the final whistle. It was all over, we’d got away relatively unscathed and we haven’t got to go through that again for a few months.

Bolton on Saturday is a big one. With our European hopes fading we need the confidence boost of three points if the season isn’t going to fizzle out completely. Martin says we’re going to spend big during the summer, but to get anywhere near the level of players in that we need, we’ll have to offer them at least the promise of the UEFA Cup.

However, there’s something else I’d like your help with regarding Saturday’s extravaganza of football. The Aston Villa Supporters Trust are currently raising funds for a statue of William McGregor, Villa committee member and by virtue of being the founder of the Football League, the most important figure in the game’s history.

The club have been more than generous in helping the Trust in this aim and on Saturday volunteers will be collecting outside the ground for the fund.

Stick your change, or even better a note or two, in one of their tins. Best of all, how about offering your services for an hour or two before the game to help rattle the said tins? The more people that can help, the quicker this statue will be erected and the debt that football in general and our club in particular owes to such a great man can be acknowledged.

If you can help put - and don’t worry IT WILL NOT RAIN – or if you want more details of the McGregor Statue appeal or the Supporters Trust, either look at www.villatrust.org.uk or e mail Trust chairman peter_warrilow at tiscali.co.uk (replace 'at' with @ sign)