No price for loyalty

As the news broke on Monday lunch time that Darren Bent was heading for a medical at Aston Villa after Sunderland had accepted an offer of £18 million rising to a staggering £24 million, my first reaction was to check Twitter to see if he had tweeted about his move. Of course I was not expecting another F-word rant from Bent that earnt him a £120,000 fine for his outburst against Daniel Levy when moving from Spurs to Wearside.

On July 30^th 2009 Bent tweeted "Do I wanna  go Hull City NO. Do I wanna  go Stoke NO.  Do I wanna go Sunderland YES. So stop f*****g around, Levy. Why can't anything be simple? It's so frustrating hanging round doing jack s**t. Seriously getting p***ed off now. Sunderland are not the problem in the slightest."

After handing in a transfer request following Sunday`s 1-1 draw with Newcastle, I`d imagine the loyal Sunderland fans would have been asking their own questions about his loyalty with some strong words for his motives themselves.   

Perhaps when Aston Villa were challenging for a place in the Champions League under previous manager Martin’O Neill then maybe Randy Lerner splashing 18 million on a striker who has scored goals wherever he has been including Ipswich, Charlton and Tottenham would not have been met with such shock and confusion.

Some will say it is a sideways step as Villa languishes 4^th from bottom in the Premiership and only a couple of weeks ago entered the relegation zone for the first time since 2002. Gerard Houiller then became under increased pressure as his team lost 2-1 to fierce rivals Birmingham City in the Carling Cup Quarter finals.

Looking at the bigger picture though and Bent has moved to a club with great tradition, history, a set of supporters who will sing and applaud his name if he does the business on the pitch and least not forgetting that he has doubled his weekly wage from £40,000 to £80,000. Previous manager Roy Keane said that Wearside is a hard place to attract players to come to and it seems Steve Bruce has found out the hard way.   

Sunderland supporters were becoming concerned with his recent form, no coincidence that Bent had got a sniff of the interest in him from Villa and abroad. It wasn`t that long ago that Bent said he could see himself staying at Sunderland for many years to come. A similar situation to the Wayne Rooney saga which ended up in him earning £250,000 at Manchester United, the only difference being that when players leave Old Trafford, not many prosper, whereas Bent who leaves the Stadium of Light for Villa Park will thrive on service from Ashley Young and Marc Albrighton.

Good business all round seems to be the mood from both clubs with Aston Villa getting a proven striker in the Premiership, although not at International level. If Aston Villa were to be relegated then with staggering wage bills the club would be crippled and forced to sell their star names so if Bent scores the goals to climb the table, £18 million will seem a bargain.    

Sunderland have nearly doubled their money they paid Spurs and now can reinvest that money in buying 3 or 4 quality players to bolster a team in a strong position for Europe. Some of the Sunderland faithful may question the purchase of Asamoah Gyan for £12 million pounds in the summer if the club was not financially stable.

When at Spurs, manager Harry Redknapp said that his wife Sandra could have scored some of the chances that Bent missed at White Hart Lane, Randy Lerner will hope that Bent doesn’t fancy another Twitter rant come the end of the season.

British Home Championships Driven By New Sponsors – Positive or Negative?

Forget the title race in the Premiership for a second or the sack race for that matter as my focus this week is on the possible return of the Home Championships in Britain since 1986.

The new England sponsors Vauxhall Motors are the main driving force behind the return of the `friendly’ international football matches between England, Scotland and Wales. Within hours of completing their 20 million pound sponsorship, Vauxhall Motors stepped on the gas to bring back the fierce championships that were brought to a halt after Scotland fans invaded the pitch in 1977 after a 2-1 win at Wembley. Weakened line ups followed this as the breaks were applied to the competition.

From a personal point of view I would welcome these types of games being introduced once again as I have no recollection of them taking place as I was born in 1992.

The championships have several positives and negatives which will decide whether the competition can go through the gears and gather some momentum.

England vs Scotland will most certainly see sparks fly but will surely be more beneficial than non competitive friendly matches which usually results in either manager still not knowing their best team or preferred formation.

Fixture congestion could prove to be a frustrating traffic jam for managers but will provide a summer of football for fans when the World Cup and European Championships are absent. It will also provide an opportunity for some young potential stars to show they are worthy of a Rolls Royce to be included in their next contract.    

The Football Association will be counting the coppers in their piggy banks rather than the coppers in yellow jackets outside Wembley as I don’t see hooliganism being such a problem as it was previously.

This will provide the FA with extra funds to pour into the tank of the Burton National Football Centre but more than likely will be used to pay off the debts of Wembley stadium.

Some players might feel like having a rest in a service station along the roads of New York or Las Vegas but some will be keen to prove themselves and clock up the extra miles.

The British media will of course tailgate the International managers but when has an English manager never been under pressure?

Weakened teams will also hopefully be thing of the past as of course this is not the FA Cup.

For me, International matches for England have been in the wilderness for a long time but with help from the Vauxhall Motors Satellite Navigation system, the England football team will pass its MOT in the summer of 2013 and win the competition.