The players of Aston Villa have made a public statement to voice
their disgust at the way chairman Doug Ellis is running the
club.
Liverpool fans have wanted to see more money invested at Anfield
for some time but spare a thought for this lot!
The statement issued by the players said: "People talk about Aston
Villa being a big club and winning the European Cup in 1982.
"We feel it should be a big club but if the chairman has got
ambition, he needs to start showing it. It has to come from the
top.
"So many other clubs are doing so much to show their ambition apart
from us. As players we're all ambitious and we want to improve on
last season.
"The chairman should be behind the club and not working against
what we're trying to achieve. There have been a series of cutbacks
and we feel we have to mention this because they are now starting
to affect us.
"At the end of last season, the chairman refused to pay £300 for
the pitches to be watered. The training ground development, which
we were all looking forward to working in, has stopped.
"Now we have lost a masseur because the club refuse to pay for one
and are clubbing together to pay for our own.
"We have also heard that the physio, who was on his way to see
Martin Laursen, could not claim back for a cup of coffee at the
airport.
"We've had no explanation for the cutbacks and we feel if the
manager (David O'Leary) can't get one, then we have no
chance.
"Maybe the chairman thought he would have left by now because of
the takeover. Supporters are concerned with what happens on the
pitch and rightly so.
"But we feel with all the cutbacks, it is difficult to attain the
targets we all share.
"In the second half of last season, there was no investment in the
team, a loan player - Eirik Bakke - was sent back to Leeds, and now
we're unable to sign James Milner from Newcastle.
"There are no positives coming out of the club. We need to see a
plan where the club is going and all the players feel the same.
Every penny is being watched."
