Herbert Douglas Ellis... it's his birthday (choke on it!)

I just love the Wikipedia entry for Aston Villa Chairman Doug Ellis. It has just the right tone of irreverance for this shocking little man. I like the bit which states that he was reported to be the first football club director to pay himself a salary (believed to be as high as £200,000 per annum). Oh, yes, and the passage that says Ellis sold a number of his shares at flotation, raising around £4m for himself. They even debunk his ludicrous claim to have 'invented the bicycle kick', something more popularly attributed to flaboyant continental players such as Pele. The fact is, to most Aston Villa supporters, Herbert Douglas Ellis is an unpleasant smell which lingers around the ground... and unfortunately we are saddled with him. But for a man who has made a personal fortune out of football, his latest demented spoutings just about take the biscuit. Its bad enough 'rent-a-headline' Caborn coming out with this claptrap, without one of sport's very own pocket-liners spouting off. I'll believe Richard Caborn is serious about a salary cap for the overpaid when he and his leader get up at the CBI Conference and demand it, and Gordon Brown tells the penguin-suits in the Mansion House to enjoy their dinner because he is going to start salary-capping. Perhaps Richard Caborn would like to back my call for Doug Ellis's salary to be capped... to nil!