It was only April that I took the opportunity to jump on some of John Carew’s words about how he’s finding his time at Aston Villa. Why? To recap briefly; October 23rd ’08, Villa beat Ajax 2-1 in the UEFA Cup at Villa Park and Carew was surprisingly left out of the squad. Martin O’Neill was questioned about this during a press conference the following day and he said that Carew had been complaining of tiredness, was being assessed by clubs doctors and was left out as basically being a bit run down.

It later emerged that Carew had been spotted out in the early hours of the eve of the Ajax game in The Rocket Club, on Broad St.  In case you’ve been living in a cockrel’s boot and missed this story; The Rocket Club is, how shall we say, an “executive gentlemen’s entertainment establishment”.

It may well be that it had already been decided that Carew would not be part of the squad for the Ajax game, so there wouldn’t be anything technically wrong with him hitting a strip bar late at night, but it didn’t make MON look good and it probably wasn’t going to help with Carew’s apparent tiredness.

Carew was fined “pretty heavily” and that was an end to it. He came on as a second half substitute for Gareth Barry at Wigan the following Sunday and scored the 3rd goal in a 4-0 win. The way I read MON’s words, it seemed like a bit of banter among the players, but something everyone was keen to move on from:-

John was disciplined because he breached the rules. John thinks there are mitigating circumstances. I listened and then I made a decision he was wrong. It was a large oversight on his part.

John assures me it won’t happen again so I will believe him. It wasn’t the brightest thing to do. Most of the players in the dressing room are saying it should be doubled.

However, by early November Carew was missing from the squad again, this time with a back injury. The rumours started circulating that the only injury was Carew’s nose being well and truly out of joint from MON’s actions and he would be leaving the club in January. Player and manager barely speaking.

Fast forward to August and Carew is still at Aston Villa, however he seems to often be behind Emile Heskey in the pecking order. He’s a huge favourite with the fans, most observers would say that he’s a better player than Heskey and a more effective partner for Gabby, so it’s a confusing picture for sure.

Personally, I was happy enough, if a little underwhelmed, when Heskey joined in January based on my assumption that he would be deputising for an injury prone Carew. I have to admit that I can’t understand why Heskey is spending less time on the bench than Carew and can’t help wondering if MON is guilty of playing favourites. Without being party to events behind closed doors I couldn’t possibly advance that theory.

So why the history lesson anyway? A couple of reasons. Firstly, yesterday and today various news organisations started publishing stories with various tilts on the headline, but all based on the same set of words from MON. I’m assuming there was a press conference yesterday, here’s a quick look at some headlines:-

• Daily Mirror – Martin O’Neill admits John Carew suffers from mental block
• Daily Mail – Martin O’Neill urges John Carew to believe in himself
• Birmingham Mail – John Carew pivotal for Villa goals says O’Neill
• Belfast Telegraph – O’Neill back Carew to deliver for Villa

Those were just the first four I stumbled on and the headlines themselves collectively paint the picture of a manager who values Carew’s abilities, but wishes he was more consistent. You can look at all four articles and find that the quotes do differ slightly, but the basic theme is the same:-

I think we have all got to know John in his two-and-a-half-years here and we know that if he is fully fit and wound up he is an absolute handful. He has not only proved it here at Villa but on the European scene. Teams do not like playing against him because he is so strong.

He is pivotal to us. He was unfit for three months and still ended up as our leading scorer. But playing a host of games in quick succession … maybe psychologically he might not be able to do it. But I personally think he is capable of doing that.

He is a definitely an asset to us. Last season he went a long way towards proving himself. At the end of the season his goals helped him. With a bit of luck he can steer clear of serious injury this season.

Sounds like MON is pretty keen for Carew to do the business doesn’t it? Honestly, I would suggest that he would have a better chance of doing that from the pitch than the bench, but what do I know?

But the second and most important reason for this blog post is because of a sequence of events at Villa Park today that has got the scamps chattering. Sticking purely to the facts, they are as follows:-

• John Carew took part in the pre-match warm up on the pitch.
• John Carew was named as one of the substitutes for the game against Wigan with Heskey and Gabby named as starting strikers.
• Shortly before kick-off, Carew’s name was withdrawn from the list of substitutes and was replaced by Nathan Delfouneso.

That’s it. That’s all we know for certain.

Now, mix in the commonly held opinion that Carew is better than Heskey. Carew had a stormer for Norway against Scotland. The Rocket Club incident that never really was. A number of apparent physiotherapists with the ability to spot an injury from 50 yards in the crowd who claim to have seen Carew leave the warm up in tip-top condition and what do you get? Well, obviously, Carew found out he was to be a sub today, threw his toys out of the pram and left Villa Park in a big hissy fit.

I’m not generally one for gossip, but I understand why people do engage in this sort of scurrilous nonsense.

My concern, and main motivating factor for writing this post, is that crap like this can easily be propagated by “fans” with an agenda to use as a “wedge issue”. What better way of gathering support against a manager than make him a scapegoat for the exit of a fan favourite among the players?