Dan Rolinson and Mat Kendrick sat down at BirminghamLive’s ‘Podymoor Heath’ studio for the latest episode of Claret & Blue, discussing all things Aston Villa. You can watch the episode here and submit your questions to the panel via our Claret & Blue Mailbag. Below is a transcript of selected topics.
Season Tickets
Mat: “It felt like a heavy burden, to be honest, because I’ve done mine with the four Champions League games. Which I think pushed it to about £1,200. That’s substantial, isn’t it? You can argue all day about supply and demand, the cost of Premier League football and Champions League football, but it felt like a lot. I could feel the notes, metaphorically, leaving my wallet.”
“Then my son qualifies for the under-21s now. That pricing bracket I think comes to about £900. So that felt like a chunky outlay. But it also made you think, oh yeah - I’m going back there again. I’ve missed that. Because the last couple of times I was there - not the time before that - against Forest and Liverpool, it was a pretty exciting place to be.”
Dan: “Absolutely. Yeah, I’ll do mine as well. I think the deadline for renewal is something like the first week of July, so I’ve got a couple of weeks - maybe stretch it to another payday. But I’ll do mine with the Champions League too. I did wonder, though - I haven’t actually looked - since that’s four games, is it cheaper to just do three? Because one of those will be a pot-four team where you think, is it £100 for Viking or £100 for Real Madrid? You know what I mean?”
Mat: “All I’d say, Dan - just remember the scramble for Europa League final tickets. If you’ve got the option to go, do it. In the olden days, you just had to collect a programme token to guarantee your place at the cup final. That probably cost about £1.50 back then. Now you have to buy yourself a £90 Champions League ticket to guarantee a place at a final you’re probably not going to get to.”
Dan: “Yeah, so I haven’t done my season ticket yet. I’m sure plenty of others have. It will feel like a pretty sizeable exit from my bank account, but it’s got to be done, hasn’t it? I mean, some people will say it’s a step too far - but if you can afford it, I can’t not go. I’ve been going 20 years - I think it’s 20 years this year.”
Mat: “Once you’re in, there are loads of people who’d love to be on that list. We’re lucky to be among the season ticket holders. If you can afford it, you’ve got to cling on - cling on for dear life. I think the Emery project’s still got some gas left in it.”
Dan: “I hope so for £1,200!”
Roy Keane's Comments on John McGinn
Dan: “So - McGinn the pub player, via Roy Keane - let’s have a quick word on that. Old news now, but I thought it was bizarre. That’s such a misprofile of what McGinn is, to claim that on his worst day he’s like a pub player.”
Mat: “I could understand it more if he had worse days. He is Mr. Consistency.”
Dan: “Well, that’s what I mean - he’s not that bad. That was under Steven Gerrard, but that was three years ago, Roy.”
Mat: “And you’d think Keane - different type of player, obviously elite - but you’d think he’d recognise the attributes McGinn’s got. He never goes missing in terms of hiding - he always makes himself available for the ball. He’s always one of the hardest-working players in the team. I’ve said this before, he’s so underrated technically - his passing range, his ability to manoeuvre past players, his finishing.”
“I just find it really lazy thinking. And I know Keane’s got this - I call him a pantomime pundit - he plays up to it. But I don’t think it’s got any basis in reality. It just felt like a really cheap shot at someone who’s a really good professional.”
Dan: “I think that was on The Overlap - or maybe ITV - where he said he’s a fantastic player, but not world class, blah blah blah. But he almost doubled down on it. I just thought the whole thing was bizarre. Like I said, it’s old news now because it was a few days ago, but I just don’t get it. To me, that says Roy Keane doesn’t watch much of Villa - so how are you one of the biggest pundits in the country?”
Villa and Ezri Konsa Under the Radar
Mat: “Yeah, I mean - listen - I put something on social media last night, I don’t know why I did it. I think I said my gonad waxing appointment had been cancelled at late notice, so I needed to inflict some pain on myself. So I watched Mark Goldbridge and Rory Jennings doing something for Sports Bible, picking their XI to start against Croatia. And in a weird way, they went from the front of the pitch to the back. Maybe they think if we do the strikers first, we’ll keep people listening for 10 minutes or whatever.”
“I don’t know. But what he did - he picked John Stones ahead of Ezri Konsa, alongside Marc Guehi. I don’t even know what the latest team is - maybe it’s Stones and Konsa, maybe Guehi misses out - but I didn’t even mind the selection, not that he cares. What I minded was that in explaining it, he never mentioned Konsa once.”
“He talked about Stones as this Rolls-Royce of a centre-half, stepping into midfield when needed. And yeah, Stones has been a brilliant player - but he’s hardly played any football this season. He’s without a club - not saying he won’t find one - but he’s creaking. Whereas Konsa has played pretty much every minute of Villa’s season. And it’s like Roy Hodgson banging on about Harry Maguire - you know, he’ll head a fridge freezer if you cross one in - but if you’re leaving Konsa out, at least explain what his weaknesses are.”
“But I just think - and I’ll moan about it and then say I don’t mind it - I genuinely don’t mind Villa flying under the radar, but it does beg the question: what do they need to do to be fashionable?”
“They’ve won a trophy, finished in the Champions League places two out of three seasons, been in Europe four years on the spin. They’ve got the Swedish captain, the Scottish vice-captain, the Belgian captain - three players, two of whom have a strong chance of starting for England. You think - do they not warrant a bit of love?”
Dan: “Yeah, I mean, this is the problem with coverage generally. We’re a niche - this is a Villa podcast, we touch on other bits here and there. If we had to do a World Cup preview, we’d be lost - that’s not our game.”
“But don’t then pretend it is your game. I saw something - a tweet or a video - saying Konsa might be a selection headache because he struggles with injuries. He’s never injured. That’s not ‘I don’t rate him’ - that’s just wrong.”
“If we sat here talking about Sunderland’s midfield, we’d be in trouble - we don’t know enough. But at least we’d admit it. I mean, we’re in this area at least - but don’t pretend to know things you clearly don’t. Don’t purport to be this kind of expert on the Premier League at large if your frame of reference is only four or five clubs.”
“And that’s fine if that’s what you cover. But when you’re doing punditry or co-comms, you’ve got to have some grasp of everyone. I get that it’s difficult - but it’s either outdated stuff, like the Dean Smith fish tank story from five years ago, or it’s just wrong because they don’t know enough. There doesn’t seem to be anyone with a really strong, up-to-date knowledge across the board - and I know that’s hard, but still.”
