Martínez, is it?

As you may or may not know, you probably do, Aston Villa are in the search for a new manager. Gérard Houllier has left the club, and the Villa board are going through the  options, but behind the scenes without letting the media know every last detail, so a certain Sports reporting news channel/website keep desperately announcing that "x is set to become manager of Villa" without any kind of proof, because they've got nothing off the club, so they're throwing their toys out of the pram.

Onto our latest rumour, one seemingly carrying a bit of weight behind it, considering the Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has allowed Martínez to hold talks with Villa.

Roberto Martínez Montoliu, Wigan Athletic manager.

 Now this is a story that has seemingly firmly divided the Villa support, I have heard the words "inexperienced", "too much too soon", and "unambitious" said, but I'm of the belief with the right backing he could do very well here. He motivates his players well, is friendly towards the media, fans and his own players, has had a good relationship with the chairman at both his previous posts, and likes to play football, he has passion, hunger and energy. Obviously this may be yet another smokescreen, and it may not be Martínez who is the new Villa manager... but if it is, I for one shall not be disappointed with that decision. He's got a lot to offer in my opinion.

Which kind of brings me onto my second point.

You cannot please everyone. If Villa went and pulled an elephant out of the hat by signing the dazzling young manager of Porto, André Villas-Boas, some, albeit very few, would be unhappy. But some Villa fans will never be happy with appointments as Villa were once the best team in the whole of Europe, and plenty saw that and feel it gives us a god-gven right to play at the top table again. Well, we don't. Those days are past and in the past they'll probably remain. We may never win the league again, that I'm afraid is relative to how footall is now - only those with huge financial backing will win the league. We can still play to the best of our abilities, and try and win as much as we can, but I cannot understand the attitude that "so and so isn't good enough for us" because as much as I'd like top class managers to want to come to Villa, they don't want to, nor are they likely to.

These are days in football with little patience, little loyalty, and lots of money. Our club has the first two but not really the third. We need to lose this quite vain opinion we're one of the Premier sides around. We are in the eyes of others, probably the 8th best side in England, despite our proud history. We do not need delusions of grandeur of our club. I am immensely proud to be a Villa fan despite all the kerfuffle over the past year - but even so. The sooner we realise the Hughes', Benítez', Coyle's, Moyes' and Martínez' of this world are the kind of managers that are our level now, the better. It doesn't mean we can't dream of these top class managers being at Villa Park, but we need to be less upset about going for a manager like Mr. Martínez.

VTID.