Sport Chat

Geraint chats to Mark

 

Ash are not a band many would associate with football, that glorious sleeve on the Kung Fu single aside – and even that minor foray into the world of sport didn’t go off without a hitch. Because of French copyright laws, they had to write to Eric Cantona to obtain his permission to use the famous picture of his kung-fu kick on the French single, but with his customary arrogance the controversial striker wrote back to say "I spit on your record". Despite this, all 3 band members are keen football followers, and all support different Premiership teams. I will be interviewing the lads one at a time over the next few months to discuss their respective teams, and to try and find out who gets the lion’s share of stick.

We start off this time with Mark, who as an Aston Villa fan hasn’t had it easy during the Ash years – they’ve been a mid-table side for over ten years now. With a good manager and rich new owners though, the tables seem to be slowly turning, and Mark can often be heard enthusing about their latest signings. He responded to my questions in a suitably optimistic mood…  

What drew you towards supporting Aston Villa?

They had a lot of Irish players playing for them at the time I really started to take an interest in football. Big name players like McGrath, Townsend, Staunton, Houghton, Cascarino all played for Villa. Also everyone in N. Ireland followed either Man. Utd or Liverpool and usually depending on who their families supported. My Dad wasn't big into football so I had no allegiance pushed on me from birth. For some reason I watched them on TV one day and said right that's my team. It's good not to just follow the flock...

Have you had to put up with much stick from the others over the years over Villa's 'underachievement'?

Of course! Some of my best mates are Utd supporters and they like to sing Shit on the Villa at me. But that doesn't bother me at all. They're the same type to bawl their eyes out if the lose 2 games in a row. The past 10 years we haven't had too much to shout about, 1 League Cup final win over Utd and that's it... but I sense things are changing for the better now.

If you were in Martin O'Neill's shoes and could sign any one player, who would you go for? Who would you show the door to make way for them?

I think Petrov came in with big expectations and a big transfer fee and has so far failed to deliver. If we could get a prolific goal scorer, someone like a Drogba or Kaka we'd be pushing for Europe.

Do you get much chance to attend matches in between touring etc?

I did when I was living in London, I used to go to a lot of matches and had a friends at Villa's ticket office which helped but not in the past 2 years. This years schedule just didn't fall right on any given game day.

Villa have had a load of young players breaking into the first team recently. which ones can you see going all the way and having great careers?

Young is going to be great and probably will break into the England team in the next year or so, I think Agbonlahor could do as well. Craig Gardner has been very reliable in midfield and Gary Cahil was dependable too. Hopefully Curtis Davis will break into the team and become a real force too.

What have been the best, and the worst moments being a Villa fan in recent years?

I went to White Hart Lane and saw us get trashed 5-1, 2 years ago under O'Leary which was the worst I remember. Best moments recently were when Ellis sold to Lerner and O'Neill was made manager. There's a feel good factor about the team now and beating Chelsea 2-0 a few months ago was the highest point so far.

How optimistic are you for the next few years to come?

Very if the team can avoid injuries and stay consistent there's no reason we can be pushing for 5th or 6th and getting a UEFA Cup spot. With that kind of momentum O'Neill will be able to bring in more high caliber players and in a few years we could be playing in the Champions League. You got be optimistic!

Now you're based in New York, have you found yourself getting into any of the big American sports at all?

I've always loved the NFL ever since I was a kid. the 49ers were my team but I guess I'm a bit of a fair weather friend as my interest died as the last 10 years have been more than disappointing, let's just say shit...