The 1.6 billion dollar handshake
Today was a good day. My beloved football team Aston Villa thrashed local rivals Birmingham City 5-1 at Villa Park and I was there. (Full match report).
I’ve been lucky recently and have been able to go to a couple of games courtesy of a friend of a friend who has hired an executive box at the ground for the season. Today the box we are usually in was booked by someone else, so we were upgraded to the ‘directors experience’ corporate package - something my brother Stat who is a die-hard Villa fan (and goes to every home match) wasn’t too keen on the idea of - he likes to ‘keep it real’ - where as I on the other hand, will lap up any corporate hospitality on offer!
I arrived after the other members of our group had been on a tour of the stadium (I have a bad back and didn’t fancy the walking/standing, plus I’d been on the same tour a couple of years ago), just in time for the food - a full English breakfast…most welcome at 10:45am. We were dining the Director’s Lounge, surrounded by football legends, former Villa Owner/Chairman Doug Ellis was on the table next to us and former player/Birmingham City manager Trevor Francis was nearby. In fact the room was full of legends, many of whom I recognised, but couldn’t name. Midway through the food we were asked to go and collect the champagne from Villa legend (and former England international) Tony Morley, who played in Villa’s 1981 European Cup winning squad - a proper Villa legend, and a really nice guy!
Fifteen minutes before kick-off everyone in the room started looking at the door and whispering - it soon became apparent why - the new England manager Fabio Capello had just walked in. He kept to himself, perched on the end of the bar eating a bowl of soup, but before long people were queueing up to get autographs and photos with him, which he seemed quite happy to do - despite his soup being left to going cold!
Not long after the crowd dispersed it was time for kick off. We went to our seats in the directors’ box, which is outside but sectioned off from the rest of the crowd and I found myself only a few seats away from Capello. The first half was brilliant and by half time we were 2-0 up.
We retired to the director’s lounge for a half-time drink, and as I walked into the room a couple of the other guys in our party were talking to the new Villa Owner/Chairman, American billionaire Randy Lerner. Seeing as he was a few feet away and seemingly happy to chat I wondered over and joined the discussion for a few minutes - we chatted about the difference in English and American football (he also owns the Cleveland Browns NFL team) and sport in general - he seemed to be a really nice guy, and very happy to chat with every day Villa fans. We shook hands with him and returned to our table, feeling rather pleased with ourselves.
Before long the second half was upon us and it just kept getting better! Villa bagged another 3 goals in the second half (Blues managed 1 - but that didn’t really count!) - we completely out-classed them and the crowd went wild each time we scored. I was having to take it easy as jumping up and down with a bad back wasn’t such a good idea - but this was the game of the season, and we were beating Blues 5 bloody 1!
As the game drew to an end the Villa faithful cheered the players from the pitch, happy in the knowledge that Blues were most likely going to be relegated and the 5 goals their deadliest rivals put past them today must have hurt, a lot!
Up the Villa!
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