Craig Rogers

Nassef isn’t suing Carragher because he thinks a High Court judge is going to slap a damages order on a podcast rant. He’s doing it because the entire media class has spent years treating Villa (#avfc) as a convenient stepping stone and a permanent second tier. Carragher didn’t just give an opinion. He told the fans to "shut the fuck up" and declared the club can never reach the level of the traditional powers, right as the ownership has poured hundreds of millions in, won the Europa League, and got the team competing in Europe properly. That isn’t banter to the people who actually own and run the club. It’s a direct fucking insult to these owners who've done a terrific job rejuvenating the club and running it better than at least 3 of the media six, it's an attempt to set the ceiling in public and keep the hierarchy story alive. Sawiris has form for pushing back when he thinks the system or the narrative is stacked against the project. This is the same instinct. Put the statement out, make the pundits and the wider media think twice about casually writing Villa off as forever below United, and show the fanbase that the ownership won’t sit quiet while the club’s rise gets dismissed. Whether it ever reaches a courtroom is almost beside the point. The message is the point. If you want the current hierarchy left unchallenged, fine. Call it tinpot. The people who rebuilt the club from the brink of HMRC winding them up clearly see it differently.