January Delight

Aston Villa supporters heard the rumours surrounding the clubs attempts to sign football superstars Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio with their usual dose of realism…. ‘Press talk and nonsense’ were the most common responses across social media… ‘Manchester United and Real Madrid/PSG stars don’t move to Birmingham to join Villa’s revolution’!

But as January ticked along, it seemed that in both cases the rumours may actually have some merit.  Could these players actually be persuaded to ply their trade at Villa Park as the club looked to qualify for next years Champions League and go deep in this years tournament (not to mention, win the FA Cup)?

Villa then announced the signing of Marcus Rashford and suddenly the seemingly impossible was reality.  The United star was joining the Villans on-loan until the end of the season and the club had also agreed a £40million fee for the player in the summer, should they decide to buy him.

This triggered a media frenzy with seemingly every other sports story focusing upon Rashford joining Villa – a sign of just how big the move was across English football.

On transfer deadline day, Villa then announced the loan signing of Asensio from PSG, with the former Real Madrid (and 3 times Champions League winner) again joining until the end of the season, although it seems a permanent deal in the summer is a distinct possibility if the club wish to retain his service.

It suddenly seemes that Villa’s season has new momentum and this pair of global-stars could be the spark to fire up the clubs ambitions for the remainder of the campaign.

Early signs are good with (at the time of writing) both signings coming off the substitutes bench for Villa’s FA Cup win against Spurs and PL draw against Ipswich and showing exactly why they are considered elite world players – they have oozed class in the limited time on-field and as Villa look forward to welcoming top of the league Liverpool to Villa Park, fans are getting excited about the prospect of both players starting games for the club.

Early days, of course, but there is no-doubt Villa have shown admirable ambition is securing the services of two of the games biggest names as the Unai Emery revolution continues!

Referee-Watch! – following last months article regarding refereeing standards, it seems things have only become worse! We continue to see horrific errors being made by our so-called ‘elite-referees’ and Michael Olivers performance at Wolves recently, where he sent off Arsenals Myles Lewis-Skelly for a ‘trip’ (subsequently overturned by a review panel) again demonstrated that our top officials simply aren’t up to it and Refs Chief Howard Webb has to go!

Tamworth-Watch! – Tamworth FC continue to impress in their first season back in the National League and have regularly picked up valuable points since their FA Cup exploits against Spurs.  The Lambs now look secure in the league table and can begin to plan for their second year in the Division. A great job by all concerned!

Image Credits: Philip Halling via commons.wikimedia.org & planet_fox via pixabay