A little over a year ago I had to replace the hinges on my laptop and being a typical know-it-all bloke I didn’t take time out to search out a maintenance manual online before disassembling. As is so often the case, there was one screw that just wouldn’t budge. The last screw, the final obstacle to exposing the ailing parts, there was no other choice, I was going to have to drill it out!!

The screw in question had two purposes; not only did it partly hold the bottom casing in place, it also pinned the CD-ROM drive in it’s location – so precision was naturally required. The right tools for the right job and all that, what I needed was a Dremmel, but patience and budget forced me to pull out the Bosch!! I did briefly read the technique for drilling out a screw, but it didn’t quite go to plan. What I actually managed was the welding of the screw remnants to the chassis of the laptop. Still the casing couldn’t be removed. I can’t describe the frustration.

Then I did what we all know in hindsight should have been the first step… I looked up a maintenance manual for my computer. I easily found a very comprehensive manual and quickly jumped to the appropriate section for getting at the hinges. A Doh!! moment followed… turns out there was a very easy, neat way to get there and it didn’t involve any of the screws I had been working with, including my new nemesis!!

OK, long story I know.  Bottom line is that I bought new hinges and fitted them with ease. The CD-ROM didn’t make it though. The point of this story being that I haven’t been able to play any games on my laptop since, including Football Manager.

The relevance of Football Manager is the strategy I employed whenever I played. Firstly, it’s worth mentioning that if I wasn’t playing a game as a manager working his way up from the lower divisions I was, of course, the manager of Villa. When I started out as the Villa boss my intention was to build the club up over the years to be consistently among the Man Utds & Real Madrids. What I wasn’t doing was trying to win the title in the first couple of years to get offered the job at the Man Utds, Real Madrids, etc, etc.

The way I went about this was bringing in talented youngsters and developing them to the stage that I could either bring them into the first team set up, or sell them at a profit. A simple strategy, but not one that pays off very quickly – you just don’t do this if you’re not planning on hanging around very long. It also requires a brilliant scouting network, or as it was actually known – FMGenie Scout. Yes, it is cheating, but I justified it as being more in line with real life where I wouldn’t be reliant on some pixelated old duffer’s opinion on whether a kid could make it or not. I had the facts!!

So what’s all this got to do with the real Aston Villa?? Well, according to SkySports our first purchase of the January window is a young Dutch lad called Arsenio Halfhuid. It’s a rumour that’s been kicking around for a week or so and was so random it had to have some truth in it. And so it proved.

The 17 year old joins other recent young signings at the academy; Eric Lichaj, Harry Forrester, Dominik Hofbauer & Andreas Weimann. This is obviously on top of the existing talent in the academy.

Now maybe the current management team are just a great bunch of chaps and feel that it’s incumbent on them to do the best for the future of the club while they’re here. My feeling is that the manager and his staff are building a vision for the club that includes themselves. A club that consistently challenges the best for silverware. A club that competes for the best players. A club that is respected and revered around the globe.

Or am I going crazy here?? Am I blurring the lines between the virtual game world and real life?? Do you share my neurosis, do you see what I see – an owner and manager seriously building for the future??

One thing is clear; if the leadership at Villa were to change at any time, it’s an impressive legacy they leave behind!!