He hasn’t said word one until now, he hasn’t said word one about the valuation, but yet he’s to be reviled? Gimme a break.

By rights, Gareth Barry should be a Villa legend. Instead he will leave Villa Park a hated man, and rightly so.

After O’Neill re-affirmed Barry’s career, the player has attempted to engineer himself a move through:

1. Rafael Benitez tapping him up via the Scouse rags
2. Little innocent Steven Gerrard telling the press he wanted Barry
3. (Then) Villa player Patrik Berger getting involved after spending 90% of his Villa career getting paid for nothing
4. Ex-Villa player and all-round numpty David Platt getting involved
5. Ex-Villa player Mark Delaney getting involved after spending 90% of his Villa career getting paid for nothing

After all these, Villa’s reaction has remained fair and consistent: we don’t want to sell, Barry is under contract, so pay for him at our valuation or bugger off.

Now a desperate man, Barry has given up on the aforementioned subtleties and got his tits out in front of the NOTW.

He’s devoid of class, entirely disrespectful and, if he doesn’t get his move, will discover two things: how much Fat Rafael REALLY rates him (yawn), and what it’s like to rot at a club that isn’t desperate for money. And rot he would.

It is not the desire for Champions League football which is upsetting, or even that he wants to move to a rival.

The problem, for me, is that if this were an entirely footballing decision, Barry could have handed in a transfer request, respectfully explained his decision, and Villa would probably have been more willing to negotiate with Liverpool on price, and fans more (if only a little more) sympathetic.

As it is, I’m glad we’re standing up for ourselves. We won’t be bullied by Benitez or Barry, and I hope for football’s sake that Spurs take the same approach now that their captain has been tapped up too.