Skashion said:
Villan10 said:
Milner wasn't booed and nor will Ashley Young when he leaves. Barry was. I didn't agree personally because I think the service he gave us over ride the comments he made and the things people didn't know.
What people don't understand is that Gareth Barry was pretty average and on the verge of a £4 million move to Portsmouth when O'Neill came in, O'Neill made him into the England international, he was absolutely brilliant 07/08, just brilliant. Deservedly linked with a top club......then went public to the papers about How he needed to move to play Champions League football and how he wouldn't ever leave Villa unless he was moving to a club in the Champions League. (which just wasn't needed, why go public????) He didn't go and got mixed response but mainly applause during pre-season. Then we got into the season, for every brilliant performance we had saw from him the previous season were 3/4 very lazy displays. Again, plenty believed he weren't giving his all and had his mind elsewhere, maybe not true but easy to see why when comparing seasonal performances.
Then, he moved to Man City. Personally, I accepted it and so did a few others, saw the potential in Man City and that they were going to progress more than us, HOWEVER.....He was quoted saying, "I'd never thinking about leaving unless I was moving to a club in the Champions League" .....potential or not, he moved to a team who had just finished 10th in the Premiership, which many people believed to be money and to be honest from what I've heard inside the club, that's what it was down to (again, nothing I'd boo a player for, he doubled his salary and some other extraordinary bonuses that simply he couldn't turn down)
The thing was though, too many, he lied. One thing football fans don't like are people who say one thing and do another, even if circumstances change.
Those are football fans, it'd be the same at any place.
Milner also was when he was substituted on in the Eastlands league game.
So basically your excuse for the majority of your fans booing a long-time servant like Barry, like I said earlier, is that the majority of your fans were short-sighted and couldn't see where City were heading. I still wouldn't accept that as a reasonable answer anyway.
He only lied in the minds of your short-sighted fans. He can rightfully claim he left the club with the aim of playing for a club who'd be playing in the Champions League.
However you weren't in the Champions League, at the time, Aston Villa were closer even if potentially that weren't going to be the case, at the time of the transfer, Villa had finished 6th, Man City 10th and Barry's comments were about he'd never leave Villa unless it was to play for a team in the Champions League. Man City we're not in the Champions League, so not using the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to see why fans were annoyed. Also after a season where we were 3rd with 26 games gone and 7 points clear of 5th, so we felt we were close to the CL door. We certainly weren't a club on the way down and getting further and further away, which is part of the feeling. People can accept Young going because we're going backwards and stalling, when Barry wanted to go, we were spending big money and closing the gap on 4th.
He also slated the manager and chairman, saying they didn't care about him and didn't care if he left, when that was clearly bullshit as we ourselves offered a new contract with a 50% wage increase.
Yeah, maybe it is short sighted by fans but we're talking about passionate football fans who care about their club, sometimes rational thought goes out the window.
Milner was liked at Villa and still is by the majority, there was a poll about whether you'd want him back at Villa and it was something like 60 votes for yes and 4 votes for no.
