Football is about dreams. From the moment you attend your first match to the very last, one of the sport’s magical qualities is to make you believe something good might happen.
But the dreams of fans can also turn into nightmares. Football forces us to endure endless agonies.
Aston Villa, like all clubs, have allowed their fans to both dream and suffer. Since the early 90s, when this writer started following the Villans, the club has won just two trophies (the Coca-Cola Cup in 1994 and 1996), unless we’re counting the Man Awkwardly Climbing Out of Burst Ball Trophy they won that time in pre-season. (For clarity, I’m not including the coveted Cup of Traditions title, tempting as it might be).
THE NEARLY TEAM
There have been numerous lost finals. Twenty-four years later, the memory of David James dropping a cross into the path of Chelsea’s Roberto Di Matteo still hurts. Nemanja Vidic escaping a red with Manchester United in 2010 still infuriates. The humiliation of Tim Sherwood’s team losing 4-0 to Arsenal with scarcely a shot on target still haunts. Bjorn Engels heading against the post late on against Manchester City still grates.
For many years, Villa assumed the identity of being a so-called ‘nearly team’. They came close to Champions League qualification a few times under Martin O’Neill, but always fell short when it mattered. Who can forget being 2-0 up against Stoke at Villa Park only for Tony Pulis’ side to draw level in the final minutes? O’Neill’s men never recovered and missed out on top four yet again. March was never a good month back then.
We even witnessed a title charge in 1998/99 under John Gregory, but a shocking collapse from February onwards ensured Manchester United weren’t deprived of a treble. This writer still recalls the misery of that season’s 3-1 home loss to Blackburn and a fan yelling outside the Holte End about United’s 8-1 victory over Nottingham Forest on the same day.
Such frustrations coalesce in the mind over the years. They leave you doubtful about what Villa can be and whether they will ever break the pattern of constant failure.
There were at least reasons to dream of what might be during Gregory and O’Neill’s time, even if our idealism was usually torn apart by the brute force of reality.
But soon came a time of darkness, when storm clouds swept across Villa Park and turned our great stadium into football’s Mordor. Dreams were once for the rational, now they were reserved for the deluded.
THANKS FOR NOTHING, RANDY
In 2010, O’Neill marched out the door just before the season began. Little did we fans know it, but a 6-0 loss at Newcastle a week later indicated where things were going for the next decade.
Club owner Randy Lerner turned off the money taps and allowed Villa to fall into decline. Following the side became a perpetual endurance test. James Bond himself might have given up MI6’s secrets had he been forced to sit through the week Villa lost 8-0 to Chelsea, 4-0 to Spurs, and got dunked 3-0 by Wigan at home.
Misery. Humiliation. Disgrace. Lerner sent us into an interminable decade.
The fans endured the misery of the McLeishean Universe, where the football style was so abysmal, we occupied a parallel universe where fans paid good money to watch 0-0 draws. Goals weren’t allowed. Excitement was banned.
There was Paul Lambert’s false dawns, ‘Tactics’ Tim Sherwood, Remi Garde’s shambles, Bruceball, players on laughing gas, Joleon Lescott’s car picture, Dr Tony Xia’s weird Tweets, bomb squads, and so much more. Did we mention Ross McCormack’s broken gate?
To dream during those years bordered on foolish. Hardly anything good ever happened. The club had gone as rotten as Hamlet’s Denmark, and surely nothing could cure it. We were destined to go the way of Sheffield Wednesday, a big club with a rich history falling down the leagues and struggling to find its way back to the top.
Another hammer blow was dealt in 2018, when Villa lost 1-0 to Fulham in the Championship play-off final. Dr Tony’s crestfallen look at the final whistle said it all. We’d gambled the lot and were heading for serious financial trouble.
This was it. The club would have gladly taken three million quid plus Josh Onomah for Jack Grealish. They had to find the money for HMRC from somewhere.
Those experiences leave permanent wounds. They make a supporter existential as you try to work out what Villa are. Can it ever win? Why does it always fall away when the pressure mounts? Can it be saved?
SALVATION
With Villa fans facing up to things somehow getting worse than they already were, salvation arrived.
A takeover led by Nassef Sawiris, Wes Edens and Christian Purslow in 2018 re-energised a club on the brink, rescuing it from the bewildering reign of Dr Tony and his inscrutable Tweets. Tax bills were paid. Grealish was retained.
Manager Steve Bruce was quickly removed after a home draw with Preston North End led one fan to go medieval and hurl a cabbage at the former Manchester United captain.
After a reported flirtation with the idea of Thierry Henry as manager, the board made the inspired choice of hiring lifelong Villan Dean Smith.
The one-time Brentford coach led the club back to the Premier League from an unlikely position, aided by the magic of Grealish, and efforts of stalwarts like Tyrone Mings, John McGinn and Conor Hourihane.
It was an extraordinary season, featuring that Leeds goal, a Birmingham City fan punching ‘Super Jack’ who later poetically scored the winner, a 5-5 draw, a ten-game winning streak, beating the Baggies in a play-off, and a stressful final.
Villa returned to the Premier League after three years out of it with a 2-1 win over Derby at Wembley in 2019. At last, after a brutal decade, there was something to believe in. A long-lost feeling had returned to Villa Park. We could dream once more.
PREMIER LEAGUE RETURN
Villa’s initial return to the Premier League was a brutal experience. While there were some highs, including a 2-0 win over Everton under Friday night floodlights, Smith’s side would often take the lead in games, but regularly end up drawing or losing.
A 4-0 loss at Leicester gave the impression Villa were done for and relegation was coming.
The tragedy of a global pandemic led to a delay in the season, and the time off enabled Smith to reset the team and become more defensively solid.
The first game back in June 2020 was a 0-0 draw with Sheffield United, where Hawkeye did Ørjan Nyland a favour (and made up for a disgraceful decision to disallow Henri Lansbury’s last minute equaliser at Crystal Palace earlier in the season).
Villa looked done for after a draw at Everton left them well behind Watford, who were just outside the relegation places. But Elton John’s beloved side did classic Watford things and shockingly sacked head coach Nigel Pearson with just four games left in the season.
A surge of goals from Egyptian forward Trezeguet against Crystal Palace and Arsenal, and a dramatic final day draw at West Ham, ensured Villa stayed up against the odds. It was an amazing moment, but not one any Villa fan will want to endure again.
Smith’s reign had further highs, with a 7-2 victory over Liverpool and 3-0 battering of Arsenal serving as highlights, but a five-game losing streak in 2021 meant it was time for change.
Smith left a legend. His replacement did not.
PURSLOW’S FOLLY
The Steven Gerrard era was Purslow’s great mistake and ultimately led to his departure. There was a reasonable argument Gerrard deserved a chance in the Premier League after guiding Rangers to their first Scottish title in a decade, and early wins over Palace and Brighton impressed.
But there were early warning signs too, with Villa’s players often looking confused about the team’s shape as the season progressed.
Despite spending big on older players with little resale value and handing them juicy contracts, Gerrard delivered almost no moments of magic.
Irritation with the manager grew due to several own goals. Players were implicitly blamed for coaching shortcomings. Tyrone Mings was randomly stripped of the captaincy, which must have surely alienated the player and put unnecessary pressure on his replacement, John McGinn. The Scottish midfielder’s form soon dropped off alarmingly, while the side’s best ball-playing midfielder, Douglas Luiz, was left on the bench in the early games of Gerrard’s second season.
The Liverpudlian spent big and badly. His comments alienated fans. His actions likely annoyed players. The performances were dire, with a 1-0 win over Southampton at Villa Park in September 2022 perhaps one of the worst games ever played in the Premier League.
Under Gerrard’s stewardship, Villa turned toxic once more. The dreams fostered during the Smith era had faded. We were back to making up the numbers in the Premier League, while clubs in London, Liverpool and Manchester had all the fun.
After costing Dr Tony a run in the Premier League, Fulham did Villa another favour and battered Gerrard’s Villa 3-0 at Craven Cottage in October 2022.
Unsurprisingly, Sawiris had seen enough and sacked the manager immediately.
While the fans were relieved Gerrard left, we couldn’t get too excited about who might replace him. Almost a third of the season was largely wasted already and Villa were close to the relegation places. Nobody could have dreamed of Europe that year.
A GENIUS ARRIVES
Somehow, soon after ridding of Gerrard, Villa hired a proven winner from the Basque Country who made us all dream again.
Unai Emery joined from a Villarreal side he’d just led to a Champions League semi-final and Europa League triumph.
Given Villa’s league position at the time, Emery’s appointment was unlikely, and Sawiris worked wonders to bring him to the club.
His first game? Manchester United at Villa Park, where English football’s answer to Biff Tannen hadn’t lost in 27 years. (Does anything better sum up Villa’s decades of underachievement than failing to beat United at home for such a long time?)
This writer attended that game, sitting in roughly the same spot he did as a child when Brian Little’s Villa dismantled Alex Ferguson’s United 3-1 on the first day of the 95/96 season (a game made famous by Match of The Day pundit Alan Hansen, who exclaimed United would ‘never win anything with kids’ afterwards).
Ahead of kick-off on Emery’s debut, there was a buzz within Villa Park which had been long absent. You could sense the moment had come to beat United. Ten Hag’s side weren’t the unstoppable force of the Ferguson era.
Within seven minutes, Villa went 1-0 ahead through Leon Bailey after brilliant work from Jacob Ramsey.
Left-back, Lucas Digne, soon put his side two up with Villa’s first direct free-kick in the Premier League in around eight years.
Luke Shaw may have fluked a deflected goal from range, but Ramsey soon put any doubts about a ‘famous United comeback’ to bed when he smashed a shot into the top corner to make it 3-1.
In his first game, Emery had ended the United curse. What a way to start. Something had instantly shifted within the club with his arrival.
Were fans to dare of dreaming at Villa Park once more?
AN UNLIKELY EUROPEAN DREAM
Emery followed up the United victory with a 2-1 win at Brighton before the Qatar World Cup split the season up.
After a few growing pains involving Emery’s favoured high line, including defeats to Liverpool, Leicester and Arsenal, Villa went on a Jacob Ramsey style rampaging run in the second half of the season.
Emery wisely made Ollie Watkins his prime focus in attack and sold Danny Ings to West Ham. The England international repaid his manager’s faith by scoring eight goals in ten appearances.
At Villarreal, Emery had employed a flying full-back and soon introduced such a player to Villa. In his first transfer window, Emery signed Àlex Moreno from Real Betis. The Spaniard proved a tremendous acquisition, linking up wonderfully down Villa’s left with an improving Mings, Ramsey, Luiz and Watkins.
A final day 2-1 victory over Brighton proved a crowning moment of the campaign. Villa ended the season seventh and qualified for Europe for the first time in more than a decade. It was an extraordinary achievement given Emery’s short tenure at the club.
Every player improved enormously, with some hitting levels few could have foreseen. Emery coached his men to play the ball under pressure and keep possession. It was amazing to witness this evolution before our eyes inside Villa Park.
Keeping control and having courage on the ball… Villa played like a great La Liga side.
A CHARGE TO GLORY
Emery quickly built momentum and soon inspired further optimism as new players arrived, including Villarreal’s Pau Torres, free agent Youri Tielemans, and Moussa Diaby from Bayer Leverkusen.
Many fans believed another European challenge was on the cards, and some even dreamt Villa could finally end the Top Four curse.
But hopes were hit when Argentinian forward Emi Buendia tore his ACL in preseason. One key injury was frustrating, but Villa quickly lost a major presence in Tyrone Mings to another ACL during a 5-1 opening day thrashing at Newcastle. Those injuries and that result could have derailed the campaign and stripped away preseason optimism.
The so-called ‘Villa of Old’ would have struggled to rebound, but a strong character has emerged under Emery where his team often responds to setbacks.
Pau Torres stepped into Mings’ left centre back position and rapidly became one of the most crucial players in the first XI due to his ball-playing ability.
Emery’s men shook off the Newcastle nightmare and continued an incredible home winning run, which culminated in two of Villa’s greatest ever performances.
In December, Leon Bailey’s deflected winner secured a 1-0 win over City, a club which has tormented Villa over the years. Emery’s side were utterly dominant, and no Pep Guardiola team has ever endured such a comprehensive statistical beating as that night. It was a historically brilliant display.
Three days later, Villa followed that up with another 1-0 win over City’s title rivals, Arsenal. John McGinn’s winner was one of the outstanding team goals of the season from any European side. Almost every Villa player touched the ball as the team patiently worked through Arsenal’s intense press to score.
McGinn’s finish came just over a year after Emery joined Villa. It demonstrated the remarkable coaching he’d done. The squad had spent twelve months building towards such a goal. It was pure Emeryball. Magic.
A TOUGH RUN-IN
If the first half of the season was impressive, the final months were more challenging. An incessant injury crisis could have waylaid the side, which lost Pau Torres for more than a month, Boubacar Kamara to another ACL, Ramsey to a prolonged foot issue, and numerous other key players as they fought for a Champions League place.
After losing at home to Newcastle and Chelsea, old fears re-emerged. Were Villa doing ‘Classic Villa’ things? Were they going to blow their top four hopes when it came to the crunch? Was February to once again be the moment of our discontent?
Many previous Villa sides would have done their duty and politely fallen away from a Champions League challenge while the so-called ‘Big Six’ got on with winning things.
However, as seen numerous times during Emery’s tenure, this is not the ‘Villa of Old’. It is a team full of character and resilience.
When Villa lost 4-0 to Top Four rivals Spurs in early March, they followed it with a huge win over Ajax in the Conference League, a hard-fought draw at West Ham, and a 2-0 defeat of Wolves.
Let’s face it, the ‘Villa of Old’ wouldn’t have done this after a humiliation like the one seen against Spurs.
An astonishing 2-0 win at title-chasing Arsenal in April was an example of Emery’s tactical acumen and his side’s mental strength. It was yet another performance which could be seen as one of Villa’s all-time great displays.
The club’s injury crisis did eventually tell, and Villa’s results turned patchy towards the very end of the season.
Villa’s dramatic 3-3 home draw versus Juergen Klopp’s Liverpool left Spurs needing a win over Manchester City the following day to maintain a Top Four challenge.
In a bizarrely low-key atmosphere at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, City won 2-0.
Villa’s coaches, players and staff watched the game from the club’s End of Season Awards. Erling Haaland’s injury time penalty set off wild scenes in Birmingham as Villa confirmed a place in the Champions League.
After all the near misses under O’Neill and hardships of the previous decade, Villa had qualified for Europe’s elite competition.
Emery had turned impossible dreams into reality.
TRANSCENDENT MANAGERS
Emery’s spell at Villa has been extraordinary. He represents the first truly larger-than-life, transcendent manager the club has had since probably Ron Atkinson in the early 90s.
There were never any God-given reasons clubs like Liverpool or Manchester United should have been more successful than Aston Villa over the last half-century.
But both sides hired managers who massively raised the levels of those clubs and turned them into consistent winners.
United had Sir Matt Busby and Sir Alex Ferguson. Liverpool became dominant under Bill Shankly, while Bob Paisley, Kenny Dalglish and Juergen Klopp continued that winning tradition.
Villa arguably never quite found their Ferguson or Shankly.
Perhaps the closest they ever came was Ron Saunders. He won multiple trophies at Villa during an era where Liverpool and Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest also shined.
He was the last coach to guide Villa to a league title, and his successor, Tony Barton, won the 1982 European Cup not long after his departure.
Nobody has matched the transformative success of Saunders at Villa since, but Emery has shown signs he might be the man to do it.
Soon after the season ended, Emery extended his contract with Villa to 2029. Working alongside sporting director Monchi, Emery has signed scores of players in their early 20s. It all signals the Spaniard views his time at Villa as a long-term project.
Villa have a proven winner in charge, and Emery himself has a club with the patience and financial firepower to forge a team in his own vision.
After such a bright start, there is reason to hope he might become the transformative leader Villa have long searched for.
DREAM THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM
Where can Emery lead Villa? What can we supporters dream of?
In the early 2000s, Atletico Madrid and Spurs consistently underachieved and were often mocked by rivals. Few could have envisioned in 2009 either would reach Champions League finals or win league titles in the coming years.
Aston Villa must look at these clubs and believe in what is possible.
The reality of Profit and Sustainability rules makes it harder for Villa to regularly break into a Top Four spot than it perhaps was for both Atletico and Spurs when they came good. In 2010, PSR (or Financial Fair Play as it was known) was in its embryonic stages and spending wasn’t so restricted as it is now.
The signings made by Villa this summer suggest the side knows it must be smart. The team have targeted players in their early 20s with high upside potential and resale value. Reassuringly, most of these signings, like Amadou Onana and Enzo Barrenechea, already have significant high-level experience despite their youth, which should help if Villa are to maintain competition for European places.
Monchi, Emery and the scouting department have tried to futureproof Villa, and their efforts will hopefully keep the club competing for Europe and trophies in the years ahead. Although, bedding all these new young players in will be a challenge in the near term.
With a manager who has won four Europa League titles and much other silverware, Villa fans should dream of what Emery can add to their club’s trophy cabinet. In a short space of time, he has transformed the side and instilled belief in both the players and supporters.
There will be challenges ahead. Not everything will be plain sailing. Some signings will work, and others won’t. The Champions League will be hard. Fans will need to be patient with younger players.
But Emery’s Villa have always risen to challenges so far. He will relish everything that comes.
Emery has already turned one Champions League fantasy into reality. Let us dream the best is yet to come.
