GREGORY THE VILLAN?
Worryingly for Gregory, both players‚ÇÖ reasoning behind their requests appear to stem from a lack of faith that Villa can challenge the top dogs over a sustained period. The diminutive Villa striker struck a blow for team confidence, claiming: "I cannot play for John Gregory any more, and I don't want to."
After reports that defender Ugo Ehiogu had recently cited a ‚Çÿpersonality clash‚ÇÖ with Gregory when he hinted at leaving the Midlanders, even Villa‚ÇÖs long-serving stalwart and captain Southgate stated: "If I am to achieve what I want to achieve in my career it is time to move on. I want to play in the biggest games possible and challenge for the championship."
This potential mass exodus from Villa Park will no doubt be causing consternation in the Villa camp, especially after they reached the FA Cup final in the 1999-2000 season and led the Premiership for several months during the previous campaign. However, their long-term progress has been hampered by Gregory‚ÇÖs seeming failure to get the best out of his high profile players.
Clearly, if Villa want to progress, they will need to dissuade their star defenders from leaving, as the team‚ÇÖs great strength last term was their back line. They conceded just 35 goals in 1999-2000 ‚Çô the third lowest total in the Premiership ‚Çô and were notoriously hard to beat.
While both Southgate and Ehiogu were clearly important in setting this record as they each missed just seven Premiership games, Southgate‚ÇÖs performances were particularly inspirational. He won an impressive 57% of his challenges ‚Çô 13 percentage points better than Ehiogu ‚Çô and made the highest number of clearances, blocks and interceptions at the club.
Southgate is widely acknowledged as the main pillar of Villa‚ÇÖs defensive frugality, while Ehiogu provides the team with physical strength. However, of the two players, the latter was arguably more important to the team‚ÇÖs successes last term. In the seven games that Ehiogu missed, Villa lost five and drew two, while when Southgate was absent Villa won five of their seven matches and lost only once.
Clearly, to lose one would be damaging to Gregory‚ÇÖs reputation as a top flight manager, but to lose two of his most important players may antagonise the Villa faithful to the point of rebellion. While Gareth Barry is a promising youngster for the future, if Villa were to start the 2000-01 season missing Southgate and Ehiogu, then the fans are likely to have a much longer wait before they taste success once again.
