Disgrace

Like so many millions of others, I watched Aston Villa’s Premier League match against Tottenham Hotspur last night with a sense of disbelief and then anger.

I’m not a Villa fan, and I didn’t spend time, money and effort to attend the match in person. Had I done so, I would have witnessed something akin to daylight robbery. But I don’t believe that Spurs were the football robbers in question.

Certainly, Tottenham played probably the best match of their season away to a side looking at Champions League qualification, having also reached the semi-finals of this year’s Europa League, masterminded by the guru of Europa League-level success, Unai Emery.

Yes, Tottenham were (and still are) fighting to stay in the Premier League after a terrible season of injuries, performances and results, not to mention off-the-pitch management changes which may have been temporarily halted by the arrival of Roberto De Zerbi.

Again, Tottenham took their first-half chances well and pressed Villa throughout the match in a way they have failed to do against most opposing sides for most of the season.

All of the above is true, with Tottenham deservedly winning three valuable points. But does this tell the whole story?

Villa are in the middle of the aforesaid Europa League semi-final against Nottingham Forest, narrowly losing the first leg at the City Ground last week. It is entirely understandable that Emery would rotate his team.

Villa are in poor league form. This wasn’t a one-off occasion when they have failed to perform to their strengths, which have nevertheless taken them to fifth place in the Premier League.

Villa are certainly not the same team without midfielder John McGinn, who was unavailable last night.

And yet, although a fifth-place finish will be enough for Champions League qualification next year, it isn’t secured yet. With Liverpool losing yesterday afternoon, Villa had the chance to overtake them – even with a draw. If they do get to the Europa League final, there is no guarantee that they will win it and earn Champions League qualification by that route instead.

So, at the outset, it felt like the game was key for Villa, just as it was for Spurs (albeit for very different reasons).

Quite incredibly, though, there was absolutely no effort or ambition from the Villa side, was there? Jadon Sancho is clearly not the player he might once have been, while Ross Barkley jogged from one side of the pitch to the other and back again, as, seemingly, his prospective move to Frank Lampard’s Coventry City and another relegation struggle next season were far more important than anything else. Certainly, it seemed, much more so than the Villa fans who had paid so much money into his bank account.

We can only go on what was there for all to see, but, to think, these two once played for England!

When researching my recent book: History of Football: The World Cup Story, there were many examples of alleged cheating, collusion and downright lack of professionalism. The ‘Disgrace of Gijón’ in the 1982 competition in Spain is just one stark example.

Algeria had completed their qualifying matches with a 3.2 victory over Chile by the time the other group contenders, West Germany and Austria, met on 25 June 1982. In a very tight group, these two teams, therefore, had the advantage of knowing that a West German win by less than three goals would qualify both of them, whereas any other result would see either one of them eliminated, with Algeria qualifying instead.

Centre-forward Horst Hrubesch put the Germans ahead after just 10 minutes, and the match remained reasonably competitive until half-time. In the second half, though, neither team tried to attack the other, kicking the ball around aimlessly, as the match finished 1.0 and both teams progressed.

Algeria, whose furious supporters had waved banknotes at the players, neutrals in the crowd waving white handkerchiefs to indicate surrender, complained to FIFA, but the result stood, although FIFA did subsequently revise the group system for future World Cups, such that the final two games in each group would be played simultaneously.

We like to think that all of this is a long way away, don’t we? And it was more than 40 years ago, for goodness’ sake. Teams were still playing in League Division One then…

From practically the start of last night's match, when Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez stood, unmoving, with the ball, before eventually passing it to central defender Tyrone Mings (who, incredibly, also played for England), I was reminded of the second half of that match in Gijón.

This is purely an opinion piece, with no evidence whatsoever to back any of it up, and I am certainly not suggesting that the players colluded to give Spurs a win. I’m happy to assume that Spurs performed really well and that Villa were as dreadful as seen.

However, how about this as a possible scenario:

The Premier League are still fretting about being wrong-footed over the proposed European Super League breakaway, five years ago. Spurs were part of that conversation, although cleverly avoided being part of its public ‘leadership.’ It remains a possibility, though, especially if the money turns out to be right after all, and who is to say being relegated from the Premier League might not just be the catalyst for ‘talks’ to be resurrected with those who never listen to fans anyway.

Similarly, the Premier League would not wish its ‘product’ to be tarnished by losing such a major player as Spurs, who also have a very big, shiny stadium to fill every other week.

What if owners and administrators got together to ‘see what they could do’ regarding the Villa v Spurs match? What if Unai Emery was called ‘upstairs’ for a little chat? His demeanour throughout the match last night was so unusual, wasn't it? He is not known for being passive in the face of such a terribly poor performance from his players.

It was suggested in the TV commentary from TNT that some fringe Villa players might have missed the opportunity to make a case for their inclusion in Thursday’s second leg of the Europa League semi-final. I certainly thought that at the time and couldn’t understand why they weren’t busting a gut to be part of such an important match, which doesn’t come around often.

What if Emery had, instead, said to these players, “Do not over-exert yourselves tonight, as you will be on the bench at least on Thursday anyway, and might well be needed.” This would certainly explain the seemingly lazy, non-performance of so many players, which went way beyond being simply disjointed due to the number of changes. And it provides the perfect cover, doesn’t it? Why would anyone really question it? The Villa players themselves might have been blissfully unaware of anything untoward going on and just played out meaningless cameos in an otherwise meaningful game to their fans.

Spurs players, instead, went out to win the match and probably would have done so anyway with that kind of fantastic performance.
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These are just personal thoughts – imaginings if you like – but sometimes you have to wonder if something less than beautiful is going on with our game, don’t you?

​You can buy The World Cup Story on Amazon. Just search for the title or 'Mark Rasdall' in any Amazon store and the title will appear. You can download the digital version to a Kindle or Kindle app on PC, iPad, iPhone and other devices. 

The book is available in Kindle Unlimited too, as well as in German and Spanish.

​The print edition is also available from all good bookshops, worldwide.

ISBN: 9798254170907

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