Aston Villa: Both club and player to blame for Richards situation

Aston Villa’s previous regime should perhaps look introspectively at the blame cast on Micah Richards.

Still only 29 years old, in the ideal world Micah Richards would be playing every week at a decent level, looking to enjoy a few more years near his footballing peak. This guy is a former proven Manchester City defender, England international and Premier League medal winner. At his best, he was a marauding right back with generational pace and strength, he had the world at his feet and was even billed a future England captain.

His career has spiraled into anonymity, first with having fallen out at City, then followed a pedestrian loan move to Fiorentina, all before his eventual transfer to Aston Villa, brokered by former chief executive Tom Fox.

Richards was handed the captain’s armband under Tim Sherwood and began life as a central defender. Having only sparingly played there, it came as a mild surprise the club planned to utilize him at the spine of the defense. It was never a position I would think he’d adapt to but I wasn’t complaining when Villa signed him in 2015 on a free transfer.

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I was convinced Richards would get a new lease on life. I thought he would even be out to prove a point to Manchester City that he could still perform in the Premier League. The Villa side of 2015/16 were a disgrace, going down with a sorry sum of 17 total points. There were worse culprits than Richards, but he never convinced at center back. He was largely rash, too eager to jump into tackles and ventured out of position far too often. He did not improve at right back, either.

Since dropping down into the Championship, Richards has rarely played, recently culminating in his 500th day without a Villa appearance.

A mixture of knee problems and better options in front of him has seen his footballing career move into obscurity. October 2016 was his last action for the club and with a year still to run on his deal, the club are essentially paying him to do nothing. Reports have come out this week that state Richards will be in for a pay raise to ~£70 k a week should Aston Villa go up.

Tom Fox and company royally screwed the club with an awful deal. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since Richards signed that 4 year deal. But even then, a four year deal for a player whose career was trending downward remains curious. He had begun to suffer through injury long before his Villa days. Handing out a long contract, with big wages to a potentially injury prone player, wages that a lot of clubs won’t or can’t pay, thus decreasing the chances of bids from other teams, was always inviting a situation such as this.

While I do not appreciate that Richards did not handle himself well at all in his debut season (jetting off to Dubai to party in the middle of Villa’s crisis season, lackluster appearances, etc.). The club should take their share of the blame as Richards’ party can only sign the deal presented to him.

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