A winning ticket to success – but almost 30 years old

Oh to be an Aston Villa fan. Winners of the European Cup, winners of the league, winners of the league and FA Cup… On paper we are quite the team. Or rather we were quite the team.

You see whilst we have a great history behind us, it seems that the reality is that the glories of the club are just that – history. Sure we are proud to trot out that we won the European Cup – in fact it is often seen to be our defence against most top clubs (that aren’t Liverpool, Manchester United or Nottingham Forest). “We’ve won the European Cup! Have you?” To which there is an obvious answer. “No, we haven’t, but have you won anything at all in years?” It usually goes quiet around then.

1982 was almost 30 years ago

So why is it that we have had such great expectations for the club in past years? Barring two cup finals in just over a decade, what have we done exactly? God, now even Blues have gone and done more that in recent years. Blues. Yes the Small Heath shed dwellers, not Chelsea. What in the world is going wrong when Birmingham City are winning trophies more recently than Villa. Has the world gone mad?

We are, make no question about it, a “big” club. We are because we have a big stadium, a big fan base, and a big history. However, you have to admit, as even the most ardent Aston Villa fan, that we do seem to rely on our history a lot. Don’t get me wrong – a bit of tradition is great, but when our defence of why our club is “big” means reeling off European cup wins of almost 30 years ago, or having to mention League cup wins that we had 15 years ago, then we start to sound like the chap down the pub who mentions he slept with models in the 60s. All very enjoyable back then I’m sure, but talking about it now makes you sound like you haven’t got anything in the present to be happy about, and instead live in the past.

Being a “big” club isn’t really much to shout about though. Leeds are a big club and last season they were in League 2. Nottingham Forest are a big club (as my father-in-law often says) but they are still in the Championship. Look through history and you’ll find many big clubs. Preston dominated football for years, but they may not even be in the Championship next year. We’re often said to be the sixth most successful club in the English league of all time, sitting just behind Preston North End (and behind Wolves so perhaps that last defeat isn’t too bad now), but it is all relying on history. It is the same as the people who say that England have won the World Cup. Yes – for the purposes of history that is true, but I wasn’t even born then. Even my own Dad was only 10 at the time.

Sixth place? I’d take that on today’s table

So what exactly should we be thinking? Last season we were told by many that “sixth wasn’t good enough” and “Villa deserve a place in the Champions League, not the Europa League”. Why? Why wasn’t sixth good enough? We haven’t won a cup in almost half my lifetime, and we haven’t won the league since I was 2. Back then, I might have had legitimate reason to be being sick and demanding attention. Nowadays, I don’t think I have as much.

Where do we lie? Well as the saying often says “You’re only as good as your last performance.” In that sense, we are where we deserve to be. Whether this is down to manager, player, or any other influence, we are where we are. There’s no arguing about it, no matter how vociferously we protest that we “should” have done better. Yes, we should have. However, “should” is a word only ever seen in excuses.

What gives us the God given right of being any further up the table that we are, let alone winning silverware. I don’t mean by that that I am happy that we are where we are, but I just wonder why it is that we have considered in the past statements about present situations being “not good enough”,

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