On 26 May 1982, against all the odds, Peter Withe’s solitary strike saw Aston Villa reach the pinnacle of European club football when they beat the mighty Bayern Munich 1-0 in Rotterdam to be crowned European Cup winners for the first and only time in their 108 year history. 35 years later and the Villans find themselves languishing in 14th position in English football’s second tier, the Championship, as they fight to try and reach the play-offs and give themselves a chance of bouncing back to the vast riches of the Premier League at the first attempt. After years of under-achievement and growing and visible discontent from the Villa Park faithful under previous owner Randy Lerner, new incumbent Dr Tony Xia has started his reign in a positive manner offering lavish backing to the management and providing real hope that Villa will soon rejoin the country’s elite and once again be a force to be reckoned. Whether that happens this season or not remains a topic of hot discussion.
Bruce just the Man for Promotion?
Now under the tutelage of former Birmingham manager Steve Bruce, an appointment most fans have been willing to accept such is their desperation for a return to better times, Villa currently sit 10 points outside of the play-off places and worryingly just 11 points above the relegation zone. The club, despite spending extravagantly during the summer, began the season terribly under Roberto di Matteo, the Italian relinquishing his post in October after just one win and 10 points from the club’s first 11 matches of the season.
Bruce, who had managed Villa’s arch-rivals Birmingham City for nearly six years between 2001 and 2007 and won promotion twice to the Premier League during his stay, began his reign with a flourish, picking up four wins and three draws from his first seven matches in charge. However, just three wins and two draws from 10 games since late November, culminating in a disappointing 3-0 reverse away at Brentford on Tuesday evening has left the club languishing below mid-table and with a real fight on their hands to make the play-offs this season.
Value for Money or More Money Down the Drain?
Despite jettisoning some of the deadwood from Villa’s first team squad during the summer, di Matteo splurged a colossal amount of cash for a Championship club during the summer, over £50 million in total. After gaining little reward for their massive outlay despite breaking the transfer record for the Championship on two occasions when signing forwards Ross McCormack and Jonathan Kodjia from Fulham and Bristol City respectively, Villa fans would probably have forgiven new owner Xia if he had held the purse strings tight in January.
However, to the contrary, he allowed Bruce the freedom to go out and sign six new players including Henri Lansbury, Conor Hourihane, James Bree, Birkir Bjarnason and on the last day of the transfer window Neil Taylor and Brentford’s prolific striker Scott Hogan. Five of the players Bruce chose to recruit possess vast experience of playing in the Championship and will undoubtedly offer valuable experience in what is widely considered to be one of the hardest divisions to gain promotion from.
The Latest Championship odds suggest Villa are huge outsiders to gain promotion this season, with odds of 18/1 still available widely. Meanwhile, the bookies believe they have enough in their squad to prevent a relegation scrap with the club a massive 150/1 to be relegated for a second season on the bounce.
With Kodjia, who has netted nine goals to date, and 14-goal Hogan leading the attack and the troublesome McCormack now despatched to Nottingham Forest on loan, Villa could still make a charge for the play-offs. They have 18 games to play and 54 points to play for. And with Bruce’s experience of taking Birmingham up twice in addition to achieving promotion to the big time twice with Hull City it would be a brave person who counts them out.
