The political circus has been taking over this week and after wall to wall adverts and insults plastered all over social media and our media sources, it’s refreshing to be able to write a passionate manifesto for the only coalition I care about. My vote goes for our beloved Aston Villa.
If like me, you were at work all day Thursday and had to dive like Victor Moses in the box to post your vote before 10pm, you’ll be relieved to hear that the lighthearted vote at the end of this post is a simple click and you won’t be judged or abused for your freedom of choice!
We all know that there is one shared hope and need for us as Aston Villa supporters and that’s promotion. The eye-watering figures being paid to the Premier League sides alone will stretch the gap every year we are stuck in the Championship. Our very own leader has a big job on his hands and whether it’s the majority or the minority that think he will achieve our return to the top flight, the important thing is that we hit the ground running and fully support Steve Bruce after his first full pre-season.
During the week, a group of us at work were sat in the staff room discussing our transfer targets and putting the world to rights as usual. Amongst the ins and outs, types of signings, formations and other debatable topics we could cram in was a question that sparked an interesting debate.
May 2018. No don’t worry, not her again, not another call for votes, I mean fast forward to May 2018 after our own campaign. Once Bruce has established a tough, winning side who are battling within the top six which is a far more realistic target than saying we’ll walk the league, the question is a lighthearted one.
How would you like to get promoted?
It would be great to win the league with games to spare, simply because as Villa fans it’s about time we had some stress relief and a lot of us are running out of hair to pull out and nails to bite down on. But in our debate, we went on to think about each route in more detail without Jeremy Paxman shouting us down.
1) – Champions – This would seem the obvious choice. The clear favourite. No questions need to be asked we’ve achieved it and it’s done. Whether it be earlier than the final day, a last minute goal Aguero style in the final game or a last minute goal in another game that hands us the trophy (when does that ever happen?) lifting the trophy would undoubtedly be a great achievement and a statement to show the path appears to have turned around.
2) – Second place – Now I’m not going to waste your time with this one. This is the protest vote. Promotion is the goal and it’s been achieved but it feels like we have sneaked in. No trophy and as with most major events and competitions, you rarely remember who came second!
3) – Playoffs – The ever increasing, up and coming option. Granted you have to get through two nervy legs home and away to reach the final but a day out at Wembley. The trip down, the taking over of every grass verge and pub you can find and drying up every off-licence and shop within a few miles radius. Arguably this game gives you more chance to air your ambitions and milk the plaudits. A day to remember and Dr Tony at Wembley. With the excitement, Dr Xia shows whenever we score at home we’d need to take the ‘Holte Steward’ down with us to bring him to the ground in the penalty box! You know which one I mean, take a minute to relive the win against Blues and other than Gabby’s goal it was the highlight of the game!
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Now as I said earlier, this is a lighthearted vote. I’ve said on here previously we need to do an awful lot to build the team and club up to the point where it deserves a promotion. Graft, grit and a collective positive mentality will all be key to consistently picking up points to get us firing up the table. I am not for one minute saying we will definitely get promoted but it would be interesting to see which one you’d prefer should the season play out in our favour.
Vote for whichever one you truly believe in, safe in the knowledge I won’t be posting flyers through your doors.
I’ll finish by saying there’s only one party we will collectively vote for regardless of how. A promotion party!
