Aston Villa's youth team proves football can be entertaining - The Midlander

Every now and again professional football observers are reminded why it is that the game still has the capacity to engage. And so it was on Wednesday night when I trooped to a sodden Villa Park to watch the inaugural NextGen Series quarter-final between Villa and Olympique Marseille. No doubt the brains behind the competition had hoped it would take off in pretty much the same way as the Champions League, no doubt looking for it to make a fistful of cash in the process. I doubt it was conceived for altruistic reasons.