DeanoVilla
One Bloody Number
ANd for Deano.
Were you at Reading away 2016 ?
If you were, you will understand the DLBIA - if you weren't I will tell you why it is now our anthem. Anthems are not contrived, you cannot force fans to take to something - they evolve.
In October 2016 - we were sitting in the bottom 3, facing what eventually happened to Sunderland. RDM was sacked with us in the bottom 3 and SB came in.
We went to Reading and were coming away with a rather lucky 1-1 draw until, in the last minute, their defender had a head rush, and fouled one of us. Adomah stuck the resulting penalty away - in injury time, and the final whistle blew, almost immediately.
Reading announcer then , just quite randomly played DLBIA - and it just totally, 100% summed up every Villa fans feelings - near on 15 years of total demise was summed up in one record - DLBIA - in other words, forget Ellis, forget Lerner, forget DOL, Garde and the lot - it is time to stop the booing, the hatred, the chanting - and it was time to look forward and pull together. 3000 Villa fans and the players then belted out DLBIA louder than when we beat Blues !
Call it fate, but that one penalty, and that one outpouring of emeotion to a song 1 minute afterwards changed our club, and changed our club forever.
Its not about who they support, or where they are from - I can't imagine the Surrey born Jeff Beck, the Arkansas born Johnny Cash or the London Born Norman 'Hurricane' Smith were Villa fans - do you.
Its about what a song means to a club, how it came about - and DLBIA is now a part of Villa history - and should always be.
I know exactly why DLBIA resonated with fans... at that time! Yes we'd been served up tripe, things were turning around and it was a very fitting song at the time.
Is it still relevant? No.
Is it a Villa song? No.
It was a good song for the position we were in but I think it's had it's day.
Bare in mind I'm a MASSIVE Oasis and Noel Gallagher fan. I love the song, I love the Villa. I loved when it was sang back then coz it meant something.
But to do it every week... nah not any more. Some things have a lifespan, like the Petrov 19 minute applause.