Are today's Villans heroes on and off the pitch?

Sep 10 2008 By Mat Kendrick

AN interesting theme emerged on an Aston Villa messageboard recently about whether fans respect their heroes as people as well as players.

Us sports hacks are in a privileged position in that we get to meet professional footballers regularly through our work.

And, although we probably moan about our jobs as much as the next man, we never forget how lucky we are to interact with the stars of the show.

I wrote a piece recently about how now-departed Shaun Maloney was a league apart from many of his peers in the way he generously gave mere mortals the time of day.

Perhaps I caught him at a good time, but hopefully he really is a genuinely good guy.

But looking at the thread on a Villa fans' site it seems even supporters who get less access to Martin O'Neill's men than the press still have a good grasp of the players' personalities.

The observations that Villa's Scandinavian duo of Martin Laursen and John Carew are friendly and accessible are spot on.

While, despite this summer's indescretions, Gareth Barry is always approachable if a little guarded and Zat Knight is a great bloke, as is Craig Gardner.

And Curtis Davies is possibly the most honest, down-to-earth footballer to emerge from the modern day showbiz age of the Premier League - but that's hardly a secret.

In my limited dealings so far with Brad Friedel, Nicky Shorey, Luke Young and James Milner, Villa seem to have unearthed top blokes as well as top players this summer.

Steve Sidwell, meanwhile, was a breath of fresh air with his chirpy Cockney demeanour and willingness to answer even my sometimes random, Sunday Mercury-style questions.

You'll note that I haven't made reference to a couple of Villa's younger 'superstars' and it's not my place to slate them for being distant, difficult and a tad self-obsessed.

But the topic on the said messageboard suggests that the Villa Park faithful have had similar problems interacting with certain players as us scribes.

Then again, these lads are professional footballers, not politicians or public speakers, so as long as they do their jobs on the pitch should they really be expected to hold court in front of their critical press and adoring public?

How many other youngsters, not long out of their teens, would welcome mixing with people they don't know and articulating their innermost feelings about life, the universe and their England ambitions?

Rest assured Randy Lerner and Martin O'Neill recognise the value of Villa fans and will make a point of passing it on to the club's impressionable young pretenders.

And for the most part the current set of players will respond by taking time out to thank supporters for the time, money and emotion they invest in the claret and blue army.

They'll even stop and talk to the press sometimes, if we're lucky.