Bye But Well Done Cahill

Strange one for a Villa site maybe, and although I think letting Gary Cahill leave was a mistake, I'm proud of his final decision.

I still don't believe that Zat Knight is an improvement on Gary Cahill. I don't believe he's much of an improvement on Liam Ridgewell either and with Olof The Beard off to sunnier climes in the summer I still do not believe it was the right decision to let Gary go at all.

After all, if MON was worried about letting him go back on loan to Sheff U because it meant he couldn't be recalled in circumstances of injury - then surely a full on sale is mroe damaging?

However I digress, everyone knows I don't believe we should've let either player go, but I have to commend Gary Cahill on his decision to not move across the City.

Blues pulled out almost all the stops to get him, McLeish was in the press on a daily basis 'talking about a player' who they hadn't been given permission to speak to, and they even rolled out Ridge to try and convince his mate publicly to join their fight.

All to no avail 'sadly' as Cahill chose to team up with Samuel and McCann at Bolton and for that I'm grateful, as are a number of fans no doubt. He is wished the best for the future and I'm sure he will have a very successful career and go from strength to strength and I just hope we don't miss him too much.

That said I also want to shake his hand after reading comments from the Monsters Inc bloke, David 'the character' Sullivan:

"This player we chased very hard, but in the end despite matching the best offer that Villa received and then making him the best financial offer, Gary decided that he saw his future playing career away from the Midlands.'

Now I'm sure Gary has received a significant pay rise at Bolton, but if he was offered more from over the road and still turned them down, then fair play Mr Cahill!

Money isn't everything, sometimes reputation and personal pride is more important - not often in todays game, but I'm so glad to see it's alive and well in Mr Cahill.

Wonder if he had a word with the General before making his decision? Play for the Trotters or play for the.....centre halves get muddy either way but you can play in the mud and keep your dignity sometimes.

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