There’s an interesting article over at the Telegraph, where Gareth Barry discusses his possible move to Liverpool and his ultimate decision to go to Citeh, while he was a Villa player;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/everton/10468897/Everton-v-Liverpool-Gareth-Barry-preparing-to-show-Kopites-what-they-missed-in-221st-Merseyside-derby.html
Bear in mind, my memory of what went on factually, is quite sketchy looking back.
But he left me with a bitter taste in my mouth, as I think he went purely for the money, regardless of what he said.
First off, let’s look at his initial comment;
“I was very, very close to joining Liverpool,” Barry said. “I made it clear to Martin O’Neill (the Villa manager) I wanted to leave but ultimately they did not stump up the transfer fee Aston Villa wanted.”
So Barry wanted away.
I can’t remember where Pool were in the league then and can’t even be bothered to look, but I do know we finished 6th.
So no massive jump up in league position then.
It then transpires that Benitez tells Barry he probably won’t be playing centre mid and might have to go to the left or even Left back.
Barry didn’t quite fancy that, which makes him sound somewhat principled.
But the fact is Pool couldn’t raise the £18 mill we wanted.
I very much suspect he would have gone anyway, if they had paid the fee.
The article goes on to talk about how he knocked back Pool when Man City came in for him, the next season.
He rightly cites the fact that Citeh weren’t in the Champions league and turning Pool down was a gamble.
But does anyone else think Barry went for the money alone?
Yes, he’s been justified in winning a Premier League and FA cup medal as it happens and fair play, he is/was a decent player. Indeed, some were calling for us to go and get him recently.
Given that the difference between staying at the Villa and becoming a legend and moving to Citeh probably means around 10 million in the bank, as opposed to £20 million, you have to ask was it worth it for him?
Well, as it turned out, his decision was perfect.
He won medals and massively increased his wages; a win-win situation.
Unless you’re a Villa fan, where he will always go down as a Judas, to me.
He should have stayed and gone down in the annals of history along the likes of Charlie Aitken in my opinion.
He certainly won’t be remembered much at Citeh, that’s a certainty.
I too felt it was more about the money at the time. Anyway, I doubt he has any regrets and he hasn’t missed much at Villa! Randy Lerner has proven him right..Don’t think we should hate on a guy who wants to compete at the top at some point in his career especially after many years at Villa.
i feel better about barry than that slimy shitbag downing. the sight of the ugly tit makes my blood boil!
I think he gets too much stick from Villa fans. He put in 10 years at the club and never let us down once. Villa failed to make the top 4, so he decided to make the change himself. Downing was a different story.
So a player with ambition should have stayed at a club that was struggling for a top 4 position, than go to a club taken over by the filthy rich, making massive improvements and were going places? Seriously? Never got that people think players should just stay at one place and “be a legend”. Seems a bit “selfish” I guess you can say as fans when it’s the players life and not our own and we want him to go out without trophies under his belt or a doubled wage just to make us happy and not himself. No point in staying where he didn’t want too and shouldn’t ever be considered a judas for it.
Anyone who slags Barry off, calling him a Judas should be banned from Villa Park for life. Of course it’s disappointing when a player like him want to leave, but get a bit of perspective. Here’s a man who gave us 10 years of 100% performances and could see the writing on the wall. He never went to Middlesborough like Southgate, he went and won the bloody league. The truth is he knew before the fans that we were going nowhere fast and went off to improve himself. I don’t believe the money makes that much difference. If you’re never going to have to work again why does it matter if you’re earning 50k a week or 95k? Either way it’s obscene. It shows the mentality of Villa fans when players like Barry and Dwight Yorke won’t go down as Villa legends because they went off to better themselves, while players like Gabby and John Carew will. As mentioned by Benno, Studas Downing is a completely different story! UTV
I’d always surprised how the same fans who call Barry judas, traitor, etc still hold Milner in high regard.
Barry gave our club 10 years + service, and left at his peak to win trophies, a goal which he later achieved. Milner pissed off after 1 good season in central midfield role and at the first sign of an offer as well.
For me you cannot ever put GB in the same bracket as the likes of Downing, Young and Milner
I’ll go with most of the comments so far, Barry could see Villa going nowhere, only mediocre finishing in the league, if he wanted more you cannot blame him for that can you. You don’t in this day and age find many players that are like Gerrard, Obonglahor, or Lampard, club only players, no he’s not a Judas to me, even the best person in today’s world looks after his own kind in life. Good luck to him.
Agree bill lambert is a complete useless twonk for not having him back. He would improve our midfield over night. Lambert is so short sighted as a manager it’s unbelievable he is still in a job
Charlie Aitken….the only TRUE Villa legend in my lifetime.. No one else comes close. Gabby could be the next one!
I’ll see your Charlie Aitken and raise you a McGrath. I’d stick Ian Taylor in there before Gabby.
Agreed… Tayls should be in there..memory lapse!
Barry was and still is a top class player, even now at 32 he pisses all over the diabolical midfield lamberk has assembled. No doubt that Gareth made the right choice, he has the medals to prove it now, everyone outside of the lamberk/lerner sheep can see that if you ever want to achieve anything in the modern game, you need to stay well clear and get out of the shambles that is AVFC,
I’d have gone. Could’ve paid off me mortgage. Our club has underachievement and failure running through it like a stick of Blackpool rock.
Well, that certainly provoked a reaction didn’t it?
Which was the intention in a boring period where there’s nothing happening, tbh.
I have to say, I’ve asked myself if I’d have made the same sort of move in my line of work and the truth is absolutely I would.
But it’s different in that I’m not already set up for life.
I don’t know, it’s not that I hate him. I don’t hate anyone.
It’s as was said above; it’s the utter disappointment.
Especially when you see how he could easily improve our midfield at the moment.
That’s the point Badger, he was set up for life so the talk of a move for money is tosh. He went for footballing reasons and the history of the premier league will show that he made the right move. Even now, edged out by City’s management, he’s still managed to play for a club with more going for it than ours. As I said in a previous thread, Everton are in no way better off financially than Villa but appear to be much better managed. The real disappointment was the realisation for most Villa fans of what was the start of where we are now. Sell, sell, sell and hope we stay up.
Barry’s alrght by me, gave it his all for Villa and is a very very god footballer who deserves/deserrved a PL title winning medal at the very least, he never would have got that with us, unfortunately. Talk of him being a Judas is a little harsh imo. Money will always play a factor as it does with any of us who are doing a good job on mediocre wages, we look for a new job with better pay and hopefully we enjoy the new company. UTV