Judas Iscariot was one of the original twelve apostles and according to legend, sorry, he 'sold out' Jesus to the Roman police for a bag of silver coins. Ironically, he was responsible to keep account of the "money bag", it's just that he was greedy and wanted more money, so he lied to his friends and Jesus.
Has there ever been a more fitting description for a football player? I mean, he spoke last summer of wanting Champions League football and he asked us all to understand and now he has gone and signed for Manchester City, for nothing else but money.
A day after this all happened, an open letter has been sent to the Birmingham Mail and in it he is going to say all the right things and some will forgive him, but most won't. Last year he was branded Judas, this isn't new, it's just confirmed. The letter will be published today and we'll get it published here for you as quickly as possible.
At the end of the day, the £12mn. is actually more than enough to replace Barry and there was only one fool who was going to pay that and the same fool will be out of a job by Christmas, in time for the January transfer window, when Manchester City will buy a decent central midfielder and Barry will get dropped to the bench. Mark Hughes, you're a mug for paying £12mn. for a player that is out of contract in twelve months and who isn't actually that good.
I don't mean to sound harsh on Hughes really, but Barry deserves it, as he started it when he said, "I'm delighted to be joining City. It didn't take much persuasion from Mark Hughes - they are heading in the direction that I want to go."
I'm not sure if Barry is aware of this, but the direction Manchester City are heading is down and all the money in the world isn't going to win that club anything. I think I actually feel sorry for him as he's mugged himself off for the cash. If he hadn't lied, it would all be good, but lying and joining a club just for the cash is just embarrassing.
The thing is, none of the top four really wanted him. The talk is Barry would have joined Liverpool for a lot less in terms of weekly wage, it's just that they didn't come in for him now as they are confident of keeping Alonso.
Anyway, moving on, to who is going to replace him. Talk is that three players are quite literally lined up and two of those are midfielders and there is a central defender coming too. The rumour mill is suggesting Defour and Bentley and if it was true, I think I'd be happy, but I think the most important position to fill this summer is central defence.
Now, I'm not having a pop here at Martin O'Neill, but I and thousands of others told him it was a mistake selling Gary Cahill and it turns out, with him getting called up to the full England squad, Capello agrees. Now, just because Capello has called him up, means he has played some good games, but he is a very decent defender and it was a mistake by O'Neill.
So, with Defour and Bentley and the manager coming out confirming he'll be trying a variation of 4-5-1 next season as the two bits of speculation we'd all like to see, we all accept that there is more to do, but talk of this summer as 'defining Martin O'Neill' at Aston Villa is just ridiculous.
Yes, it is important, but talk of it defining him just smacks of children speak. It's like people throw around the 'legend' status thing in football now too often, is it because somebody wanted to say something with more impact than 'very important'? What happens if we finish below sixth next season; do we fire O'Neill?
This isn't a defining season for O'Neill, it is an important one, but let's not get carried away. The real issue is Lerner because, well, he's not an Arab Prince, he's just a kid who inherited money and has some to play with. Unfortunately it's not enough and he doesn't have access to a proper cash and carry.
So, signings are coming, some say today or tomorrow, we'll have to wait and see, but they will be coming soon, because if anything, Manchester City have given Martin O'Neill a lesson on how to get business done and he has to now go demonstrate that he has learnt a lesson. I fancy he will.