It’s been kicking around for a while now, but I’ve been unable to shoe in the news that Ciaran Clark has signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract at Aston Villa.

Ciaran’s a quality prospect, but having just turned 20 he’s very much the baby of our centre back line-up. However, he’s the captain of the reserve side and has also won his first England Under-21 call up recently. He’s looked extremely comfortable when called upon, but is benefiting from training regularly with the likes of Dunne, Collins & Cuellar who, he says, have been more than helpful:-

When you are training with defenders like Richard Dunne and Carlos Cuellar, it is a massive help. They really encourage you and, if you make mistakes, they keep your head up. If there is stuff they can help you with, they’ll do that, and that helps you as a person and as a player.

It’s a great spread of ages we have at the back right now, hopefully it means it’s not an area that Martin O’Neill needs to be concerned about for a season or two – Clark (20), Davies (24), Collins (26), Cuellar (28) & Dunne (30).

Ciaran has also been saying the right things about the club:-

I’ve been with Villa since I was 12. It was great to make my Premier League debut and I hope I can push on and do well for Villa. I’m grateful and thankful for the new contract and now I’m going to knuckle down and work hard.

If only Nicky Shorey had the same class.

Shorey’s Frustration

Of course, I don’t know Nicky personally and I agree that he hasn’t necessarily enjoyed the fairest crack of the whip at Villa, but maybe it says something about his character that I feared he’d go all ‘Tommy Sorensen’ on us when the dust settled on his loan move to Forest. Maybe, and this is just ideal speculation, but maybe this is why MON is apparently not so keen on our Nicky.

It may be the Mirror, but they have a quote attributed to Shorey:-

I’ve gone from playing every week and being called up to England to this. It’s extremely frustrating but the manager makes his decision. He makes that decision for whatever reason. And it doesn’t matter what you do, sometimes you don’t get that opportunity.

Really, Nicky? You played a couple of decent seasons in the Premiership with Reading, but they were relegated. Perhaps we should have left you with your regular football and Championship pay packet at Reading?

Oh, and you were “being called up to England” were you? Mmmm, that’s strange. You see, I thought you had 73 minutes of experience playing for England ‘B’ against Albania in May ’07, 90 minutes in the 1-1 draw with Brazil in June ’07 and another 90 minutes in the 2-1 home loss to Germany in August ’07.

Sorry we ruined such a blossoming international career. Now you’re with Forest, and they seem keen on making the move permanent, I’m sure we can all look forward to some electric performances in South Africa.

Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.