There have been a lot of people labelled the "bad guys" during Aston Villa's protracted managerial search from Randy Lerner and Paul Faulkner to McLeish to Peter Pannu to sections of the fans and even Martin O'Neill (really, get over it), but the media seem to have borne the brunt of it.

Accusations have been flying that they don't know what they are doing, they are anti-Villa and even that they make things up off the tops of their heads and tell blatant lies. Don't get me wrong, I think there are certain news organisations that have distinctly warped moral compasses and certain journalists who certainly seem to have their own agendas, but on the whole they do not knowingly report untruths.

They may create a whole story based on one tiny comment or report information they have been given by a source as fact, which may turn out to be incorrect, and given the fast moving and ever changing nature of football deals, what may indeed have been fact ten minutes ago could be the very opposite of the situation now. The hypocrisy in levelling these accusations at the media has also been astounding. In one breathe accusing the media of making things up, that nobody knows anything and their sources are all useless, to telling everyone who'll listen in the next some "fact" that the ITK on Twitter or a forum told them. Most of whom have been strangely quiet the past few days.

It is also rather odd that this mistrust of the media is very selective. All reports of McLeish's possible move across the city at the weekend were rubbished as speculation from evil journalists and news organisations who dislike the Villa yet reports of Quique Sanchez Flores being interested in the job last night were largely accepted as the truth, which of course they are, but you see my point?

Also people need to get to grips with what constitutes an opinion and what is reported as fact. Everyone has an opinion, and are entitled to it, and we've all heard and read a lot of opinions over the past few weeks. Disagreeing with someone's opinion does not automatically make them wrong, and that's where the opportunity for discussion and debate comes along. Unfortunately though there seems to be a distinct lack of intelligent debate around and an awful lot of name calling.

I'm not saying the media is perfect, far from it, and as a whole I think they have a lot to answer for, but we need to accept them for what they are. Of course they sensationalise and often play devil's advocate, but that is their job. They have papers to sell, radio shows to fill, deadlines to meet, and most people buy into it until it is reflecting badly on them or their club. And if you don't like it, the answer is simple.