Bill Kenwright stepped onto the pitch at Goodison Park on Wednesday night to talk to the cameras about the clubs first foray in the Waffa Champions League. A momentous occasion for the club, Kenwright's voice gave away his emotion of the night.

Do you ever expect to see ol' Herbert Douglas Ellis do such a thing, with such passion and emotion as his Goodison counterpart? No, but as you'd expect, Kenwright actually loves his club and puts money in, not take it out.

I actually felt envy as I saw the fans, the manager and the chairman - all feeling proud of what they'd achieved together. I now realise why we didn't sign Beattie.

What ambition does Ellis show the rest of the footballing fraternity?

O'Leary wants to take the club higher and maybe he's holding out in the hope that Ellis will pop his clogs. I hope Ellis leaves the club in the safe hands of someone rather than just slip away and leave it open to the vulture investors.

Kenwright would not let such things happen to his beloved Everton, so why does Ellis? I think the long-running Milan Baros saga says it all really. When Everton want a player they go out and make the bid that counts.

They haven't been too successful, but do they really want to be lumbered with a wage bill like the Newcastle Comedy Club's?

We are currently dilly-dallying around with Liverpool over ?1m. I mean, ?1m is hardly a lot of money for a player of Baros' calibre. After all, he has allegedly agreed terms, so why not offer them the cash and be done with the deal?

Do we really want a player to come into the squad a day before the season starts?

I think the point I'm trying to get at here is not the size of the club's, the stadium's, the manager's or the fans - I think Everton and Villa are pretty much on an equal par in those respects.

Ok, we've got no debt and a better stadium - but with that comes underachievement on the pitch. My point, really, is the ultimate leadership of the club. The top dog. The Chairman.

With an ambitious man at the helm, things can be achieved. Look at Middlesbrough and Tottenham. It is bad leadership that has put is in the predicament we are today. We're still recovering from Ellis' first real wallet opening with John Gregory.

We all know Ellis is not much good for Villa, but how come he's the only one that can't see it? Why are we constantly reading negative articles about him?

Maybe he should read his own press and take the hint, because until we have someone like Bill Kenwright or Steve Gibson at the club we are only ever going to dream of European nights at Villa Park.

This was wrttien by Luke Marson. You can contact Luke by emailing luke@astonvilla.biz.