As panic spread through the fan base of our beloved club, Aston Villa, the games against Wigan, Blackburn, Bolton, and Fulham were argued as being the “easy” teams who we had to beat to stand a chance of surviving.
Granted, Villa do have a series of tougher fixtures after this cluster, but no game can be qualified as easy in the Premier League anymore. Promoted sides, once there seemingly only to make up the numbers, have made significant in-roads to the league by attacking, given they have nothing to lose and much to gain. Norwich, the best team of those promoted last year, sit in 11th with five more points than Villa, some achievement although it illustrates as much the downfall of Villa as it does the success of Norwich. Having no fear or expectation turns out to be rather liberating, much as having the reverse can be shackles that holds clubs like Villa down.
So nowadays games can literally go in any number of directions. Blackburn, a team we beat easily at Villa Park, managed to draw with us at Ewood Park, but also have managed to beat Arsenal. Arsenal, another team under scrutiny, recently smashed five past a much lauded Tottenham Hotspur team who were, until recently, being vaunted as title contenders.
What this illustrates is that there are no guaranteed wins in this league any more. I’ve actually stopped betting on matches in the Premier League because once “easy win” matches that made up money on accumulators, often end up with an unexpected result. No team is immune, not one team – even the likes of both Manchester clubs – have managed to swerve every banana skin.
It’s Time To Look At Wins, Not Opponents
Last season, as Villa sat precariously perched above the relegation zone, many fans and pundits alike said that the final two fixtures of the campaign were largely unwinnable for the club. After all, if a team languishes in the depths of the league, how can they expect to beat Arsenal and Liverpool?
As we all know though, Villa did beat both teams, and managed to secure a ninth placed finish. The fact that Villa were mathematically capable of going down at the start of the 36th game, but somehow managed to finish above 11 teams shows just how tight things are.
Everyone I’ve spoken to over the past few years spoke of their wish for increased competition in the league, and for teams to beat each other without any guarantee of who will win. People wanted it to increase the excitement, and to see a change in things.
As things are, we might have a brand new winner of the Premier League, two of the established top four contenders may finish out of the top four, and games are far from predictable. So we should be happy, right?
Except, of course, fans aren’t. In fact, what most fans actually meant when they stated they wanted the top four monopoly broken was for their team to take one of those teams’ place. In a fan world, many couldn’t care less if their team was part of an established top area of the league, so long as they continue to get success.
Success – It Really Is The Name Of The Game
Look at Manchester City. Once a fairly middle of the road club, they are now competing for the very best players on the planet. Arsenal scoring sensation Robin van Persie is on their radar, and whilst 10 years ago such a move would never have happened, nowadays it is very real and likely.
For some, the idea of money flowing into the club would be a massive benefit. Speaking from a purely business perspective, it is very difficult to argue otherwise. After all, if revenues are increased, all things being equal, the club is doing better and Villa are (likely) better off as a team.
However, many clubs aren’t actually building revenues. One only need look at Chelsea’s situation to see that having lots of money doesn’t actually equate to being run any better. I mean, here is a club that has had nine managers in the past eight years. Here’s a club that had a plan for profit that was supposed to yield rewards in recent years, and it hasn’t. Chelsea’s current status is down to Roman Abramovich, and him alone. Take Roman out tomorrow and Chelsea would be in immediate trouble.
Villa, lauded by many as being run by idiots, are actually doing the reverse of what Chelsea have done. Their objective is to ensure that the club remains as able to run as a business without the owner’s finances. Again, some fans may view such a plan as miserly, as though Randy Lerner must invest his capital else he is both a thief and a swindler, as though he shouldn’t even dare to make a penny from his business, a business – I hasten to add – that he has funded to the tune of over £200m to date.
So are we seriously saying that Villa’s plans are not good enough? Of course I can understand concern about football and management – I thought recent managerial appointments were unnecessarily poor and divisive – but what about finances? Are the club really doing things wrong?
After all, Lerner has been Villa’s financial crutch for a number of years now, taking out far less money than he has invested in the club, yet he is still seen to not be doing enough. Whether it is not investing enough money, or simply not having the supposed football brains around him, the chairman has received a pretty harsh ride in recent times and, for the most part, with no good reasoning.
Yes, Alex McLeish was a poor choice and, yes, Gerard Houllier was a poor choice, but they were gambles. Houllier has won more trophies of note than any recent Villa manager, whilst McLeish was a man who would run a club in a very tight financial situation, backed as he was by probably the best manager of all time, Sir Alex Ferguson. Villa’s choice of candidate was not picking from the very best managers in the world, it was making do with either unproven talent, or managers with past failures as well as successes. Like it or not, Villa are not at the level some would like us to be, but then we never have been consistently this side of the Victorian era.
The point I am making is that Villa took gambles, and they didn’t pay off. Martin O’Neill took gambles with Randy Lerner’s money, and that didn’t pay off either, but here Lerner is, diligently spending money when needed to get the club back on an even keel. This season may well have been a poor effort, but next season won’t be. Lerner is here to make the club go forwards ultimately, for personal benefit if nothing else, so he will not let the club fall into the abyss. Some suggest we are the next Leeds or Portsmouth, but we aren’t, so relax.
Next season, finances will be better. Whether the manager will still be the same, we’ve yet to find out, but one thing I will say about McLeish is he has done much of what the board has asked him to and, assuming he can dodge relegation, he will have set a very nice platform for us to build on, even if, ironically, it doesn’t involve him being in charge.
The future is bright, you just have to look a little further forwards than this season to realise.
The Author
