New Blog: Did Sky steal the soul?

by Adam Malone @ad_mal1

So Friday night football came to Villa Park. The M6 conspired to make it a journey full of difficulties for the fans who came more in hope than expectation to see us take on Man Utd.

To cover the game first – I came away pretty impressed despite the one goal defeat.

There’s definite promise in our team.

Amavi is one heck of a signing (as a fellow sufferer put it ‘too good for the Villa’). Gueye I wasn’t as impressed with as a lot of people and felt he gave the ball away a bit too much. Promising player though.

Veretout and Ayew really did disappoint me, as did Gabby (again).

In Richards we have a proper captain.

Man Utd were clearly a cut above us but we never looked like being on the end of an embarrassing result or the surrender we saw at the cup final.

Gil

If we can get Rudy match fit, get Gil, Grealish and Traore in the squad, we might just have a competitive team this year. This season will still be a scrap but at least we have some fight.

The game was also a good chance to catch up with the lads for a beer. Much changed from the last Villa and beer event – that trip to Wembley. Friday night football simply works for the social aspects and there is nothing like seeing that red sky over the stadium as the sun sets. I have always been a fan of floodlit football – it still adds to the experience for me.

One of my earliest Villa memories is dragging my dad out to a floodlit game after the 1994 cup final and hanging around for ages to get a glimpse of the cup after the game. I was hooked. My dad (a Baggies fan) was not impressed.

Jeff

There is a lot of criticism over Sky but put simply if you are a subscriber who sits at home watches Soccer AM, then Soccer Saturday, then the highlights plus any live matches that are on when you don’t get there in person you can’t criticise too much.

We want football to always be on our TV yet we complain about the death of Saturday 3pm kick offs.

I’m not a massive traditionalist – truth be told if the Villa announced they were building a new stadium in the city centre I’d welcome not trekking out to Aston. That said I agree that certain things should be sacred – club names, colours etc.

The game should have been put back to allow all of the fans into the ground – we queued at the turnstile and missed the first ten minutes.

But to blame sky for ruining football misses the fundamental point – we all pay for their product and lap it up. If you don’t want football on TV fine – but I do!

We haven’t seen the last of Friday night football and despite the negatives I’m all for it. If only we can win next time so the party can carry on longer.

Editor's note: A big welcome to our latest blogger, Adam Malone. All views are Adam's and I'll definitely be debating some of them with him down the pub.