19d
19d
OLIVER HOLT AT VILLA PARK: On Witton Lane‚ just beyond where The Holte pub stands proudly at the junction with Trinity Road‚
Aston Villa supporters slowed and stopped to gaze at a wall. A crestfallen lad of seven or eight asked his dad what had happened to the images that once adorned it. Older men‚ inured to football's fleeting loyalties‚ smiled wryly at the speed of the erasing. Three faces had stared out from that wall until the weekend.
Ollie Watkins was first‚ eyes front and fist clenched. Rachel Daly had been in the middle. Last‚ nearest the Holte End‚
Emiliano Martinez had stood with his finger pressed to his lips. Now‚ a couple of hours before the
Arsenal game‚ they had all been painted over. Disappeared. All that remained was a broad expanse of deep purple. It is a bit harsh on Daly‚ who is still the
women's club captain‚ but she is collateral damage in the midst of the men's exodus.
Watkins fled
Villa for
Saudi riches‚ as if he wasn't paid well enough‚ and
Martinez left in haste at the end of last week for
Chelsea. They are non-persons here now‚ symbols of desertion and change at the start of a season shrouded in uncertainty.