A 5 year slump down the table, 4 managers over 5 years and just under £130m spent on transfers, and it feels like we are no closer to climbing back up the table like we did under Martin O’Neill. With that said, I think it’s fair for me to ask;
What’s wrong with Aston Villa?
Recruitment has been poor since the turn of the decade, not just in the transfer market – but in the managerial market also. On the surface of the last 4 managers we have appointed, Gérard Houllier was the best equipped to deal and rebuild a club that had just had its spine ripped apart by bigger clubs up the food chain; knowing how to react to a lack quality and goals to help us jump up the table when it really mattered. Yes, it isn’t the fault of anyone at the club for appointing him as such, but in hindsight with his medical condition it probably wasn’t the smartest of moves.
Since Houllier, it has gone worryingly downhill; someone thought it’d be a good idea to hire a sacked Birmingham City with a distinctly average record in the Premier League. Fans were always going to turn after an awful piece of decision-making by the football, ultimately owner Randy Lerner always pays for to, which is probably a reason why he wants to sell the club.
Paul Lambert came in and gave us Villa fans a glimmer of hope, but his transfer policy was flawed. Buying too many poor players left us short over the season and with dwindling fitness levels, we always seemed to struggle thanks to the lack of rotation and depth in the side. Although we can’t forget to thank him for bringing the likes of Christian Benteke to the club and developing Fabian Delph into an international player, all while bringing down the wage bill effectively.
Now we move onto Tim Sherwood, he has energy which is great for the fans and maybe even for the players, but it isn’t working on the pitch; it isn’t ticking. His tactics seems out of touch and sporadic and his game management even worse.
Where do we go from here?
We’re going in the right direction, we have a football man at the helm now in the form of Tom Fox; an energetic, progressive yet realistic character who gets football and understands the modern game. Tom Fox is the one who convinced Randy Lerner that we need a change direction and let Paul Lambert go, a popular decision among many, a correct one at that.
Hendrik Almstadt was accuired from Arsenal, presumably by Tom Fox to be the new director of football, helping sign some real quality this transfer window after a whirlwind transfer market which saw key players, Ron Vlaar, Fabian Delph and Christian Benteke leave. Jordan Veretout, Jordan Amavi and Idrissa look like smart acquisitions already.
What must change?
There seems to be a culture around Villa that because players are going to a big club, you deserve big wages. This has been presented to us Villa fans perfectly this week after Charles N’Zogbia’s controversial tweeting – letting all Villa fans know he is on more than £63k a week.
We have seen this with the failed transfers of Darren Bent, who left the club in the summer to join Derby County, Shay Given, Nigel Reo-Coker and arguably Gabby Agbonlahor, who hasn’t turned up and performed for months while sitting on a contract rewarding his ‘loyalty’,
We need a sensible wage structure, performance based which doesn’t cause rifts in the dressing room, and doesn’t cause players to brag about their #LifeStyle on twitter while we stump £60 for away tickets.
We are on the right road, but bloody hell it’s been a tough ordeal.
