Many of you will know that I’ve often slated Mat Kendrick as having been a gutless Evening Mail reporter for never having really reported things as he genuinely believed.
His reasoning was pretty obvious, in that he probably didn’t want to face the wrath of the club, which probably would have resulted in his being barred from press conferences and the players being ordered not to talk to him.
A club that doesn’t believe in any criticism from reporters or even the fans. A gestapo type attitude, in my opinion.
My gripe with Mat was that as a proper Villa fan, even though he hinted at things, he should have been a lot more forthright in his real views, given that he had the biggest mouthpiece of any Villa fan.
Anyway, it seems he’s now corrected things somewhat and made his views quite plain, in a very good piece saying that Paul Lambert should be sacked;
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/comment-should-aston-villa-sack-8444965
The Mail have been quite canny in their efforts to not upset the gestapo, because they simultaneously released an article by Gregg Evans stating why Lambert should stay, just to balance things in the name of fair reporting;
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/comment-should-aston-villa-sack-8443794
We all know that it’s a minority who want Lambert to stay, but fair play to the Mail anyway in the way they’ve played this. After all, you can’t ban someone for presenting a balanced view, can you?
The only disappointment with Mat’s article is that he should have written it when he was the lead reporter. I’d imagine that if he had got banned for telling the truth, it would have made for a fair old story for the sports press in general and demonstrated the sort of thing that many Villa fans feel is generally wrong with the club under the current regime.
Whatever, fair play Mat for finally telling it how it is.
And I apologise for slating you.
