When Aston Villa signed Micah Richards and Joleon Lescott last summer, the Villa faithful applauded the signings and were hopeful the two men would be figureheads in a successful season.
Unfortunately, that was not to be as the club was relegated from the top flight of English football for the first time in twenty-eight years.
Lescott proved to be possibly the Villans’ worst signing for some time. He showed an inability to defend and an alarming insensitivity to fans’ frustrations on the rocky road to relegation when he infamously tweeted a picture of a car after a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of Liverpool. He also strolled around the pitch like a pensioner on a jolly day out in Torquay.
Meanwhile, Micah Richards, an experienced, versatile defender, was charged with rallying the troops. His supposed versatility was hideously exposed as being nothing short of farcical at times, leaving many wondering why he was captain of the struggling side.
In signing Tommy Elphick this summer, the Villans have a new man to look up to, a man who could be the Villans’ next no nonsense defender and leader. Elphick hasn’t come to Aston Villa Football Club with the footballing pedigree of Lescott and Richards before him but fans will respect Elphick’s rise.
It has never been easy for Elphick as he has forged his career. He has always played around the divisions, whether that be League One or the Championship. In comparison, Richards has had it easy in the Premier League and Serie A, as has Lescott.
To some, Elphick’s background will be insignificant but the player’s attitude has been shaped by his past. Elphick comes across as a modest and respectable professional, who is unlikely to swan around Villa Park the way Lescott and Richards did last season. He gets on with the job at hand and puts a shift in.
As soon as he came to the club many had a feeling that the former Brighton defender would be captain and he proudly led the team out yesterday and marshalled his men throughout the game.
His experience with AFC Bournemouth will stand him in good stead. Having enjoyed back-to-back promotions with the Cherries as captain, he will certainly have a lot of advice to offer and experience to draw on.
The grounded nature of Elphick will be vital if the Villans are to mount a serious promotion challenge this season. Richards and Lescott are both seemingly prima donnas; I get no such vibe from Elphick.
I firmly believe we have a fantastic leader in Tommy Elphick, who will stand above any centre half for Villa this campaign, whipping his ragged partner Baker into shape.
The leadership we witnessed from Elphick in yesterday’s season opener was Laursen-esque. He went in pound for pound all game against Sheffield Wednesday and took a bruising in the process. His bandaged head only served to highlight his Herculean efforts.
The twenty-eight-year-old didn’t shy away from anything. He marshalled what is still a poor defence and rallied the Villa faithful, showing his character. Already, I see Tommy Elphick as a superb addition to the Villa side and I suspect he will become its glue.
Tommy Elphick is what Micah Richards and Joleon Lescott should have been. Let’s hope he enjoys a successful first season in claret and blue.
1 Comment
Excellent article and my thoughts exactly. I don’t know how many times I found myself comparing our players to Bournemouth’s last year, particularly the defenders, and how much they put our lot to shame. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the sheer gulf in performance levels between the likes of Lescott and Richards with their PL winners medals, international caps, multi-million pound transfer fees (Lescott), huge contracts and big game experience, with players like Elphick, Francis and Cook, whom many of us hadn’t even heard of until a year ago. Yet despite all these shortcomings, they showed ten times the heart, guts, determination and effort for the cause, and it ultimately paid off as they survived. But how were they able to do this when they couldn’t come close to our sorry lot for PL experience, money and medals? Maybe because the road to success wasn’t all champagne and flash cars for them, they have had to make the best of their ability, knuckle down and work their socks off every day of their careers just to get to where they are now. No doubt we require a few of these types of player if we are to get out of the mess we find ourselves in. Luckily for us, we have signed their captain who, judging by his performance against Sheff Wed, bandaged and bloodied to boot, could be our shrewdest signing in years. He embodies everything that Lescott and co were lacking last season, and we are going to need more like him, but at least for now we can say that we have a proper captain, leader and role model in our ranks. Keep up the good work Tommy