WHOEVER YOU ARE MICHAEL GRAHAM, FAIR PLAY TO YOU FOR A GOOD BLOG. http://www.footyplace.com/features/blog-bent-legacy-oh-so-tragic/ Blog: Bent legacy oh so tragic Michael Graham | 26/04/2012 | Comments (0) Bent: Swapped Sunderland for Villa Sunderland fan Michael Graham will have little sympathy for Darren Bent if the former Black Cats striker is relegated with Aston Villa this season. It’s official. Aston Villa have landed themselves in a relegation scrap. Bolton’s win at Villa Park on Tuesday means that barely three points separate the Midlands giants with the bottom three, and when you can’t seem to buy a win whilst surrounded by teams in form, that is not an enviable position in which to find yourself. I am fairly sure this wasn’t exactly what Darren Bent had in mind when he abdicated his Sunderland crown. It is fair to say that Bent’s transfer to Aston Villa is one of the most surprising in recent times. After all, it is not often that huge money and marquis talent changes hands between clubs outside of the elite. At the time, Bent’s stock had probably never been higher. He had just made a long-awaited international breakthrough, scoring his first goal for England in a European Championships qualifier in Switzerland, and was spearheading a Sunderland side sat comfortably in the top six of the Premier League. It was all a far cry from the humiliating public taunts he had endured from his manager at Spurs. So when he chose to throw all that away to join a club who were just a single place above the relegation zone, eyebrows were understandably raised. His post-move comments, in which he stressed what a ‘massive club’ Aston Villa are, were, generally, met with a special level of cynicism that is only really reserved for someone who stares down a TV camera and says with the straightest of poker faces “Emile (Heskey) is one of the best strikers in the country”. The move was about the pay rise. Nothing more, and we all knew it. Unfortunately for Bent, he wasn’t the only one at that press conference making lavish statements that were difficult to substantiate. His new manager, Gerard Houllier promised that key creative duo Ashley Young and Stuart Downing were ‘not for sale’. A year or so later, Young is battling it out for a Premier League winners medal whilst Downing is preparing for an FA Cup final. And where is Bent? On the treatment table of a selling club, sweating over his involvement in the European Championships, and praying he will still be a Premier League footballer this time next month. Sympathy? No chance. So much about the modern game is brilliant. The passion it evokes, the wide-scale availability on TV, the partisan sense of belonging that following your team provides, its ability to unify and inspire, and plenty more. But Bent, sadly, is someone who encapsulates everything that is lamentable about it. When offered the choice between being the revered goalscoring talisman at a good club and greedily sucking every last penny he possibly could out of the game, he chose the latter. He is a player blessed with the gifts of goals, pace, and a little physical presence. Fans immortalise their goalscorers unlike anyone else, and he has had more than enough fine clubs to lay down some roots and bask in the legacy of legend. But what is his legacy now? Relegated with Ipswich and Charlton, humiliated at Tottenham, loathed at Sunderland, twice discarded by England, and now abandoned at Aston Villa. Someone who has taken more money than responsibility. Made more broken promises than he has friends. A lecherous mercenary in what could have so easily been legend’s boots. What a tragic waste.
****ing hell if Villa go down....... the whole of the north east would be a very happy place. I can't see them getting many more points this season, if any. I reckon qpr and wigan will get at least another 3 points a piece, Bolton would need to gain some late season form to climb above them
I care - to some extent - but this game at the weekend I will be less bothered if we lose than any other this season!! I want us to win - but, as was stated on another thread, every cloud has a silver lining... If Wigan, QPR and Bolton win this weekend and Villa lose they'd be outside of the bottom 3 only on goal difference - But we may only be one or 2 places above them!! Tight is not the word... Hope they get ****ing relegated - Bent can go have a threesome with himself and Brucey's daughter
I cant for the life of me think why, maybe Duff might just have a part to play in your dislike?,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Me Im glad Villa`s in the position they are, just for Bent, and a BIGGER CLUB.
