So that is it. End of the season. No more of the limp performances many fans have slated this year. No more Saturdays filled with dread.
Well, not for the moment anyway, as a break for the European Championships leaves Aston Villa with a brief respite before getting back to the grindstone.
Many will remember this campaign, ironically, as being largely forgettable. Most moments were negative – poor performances, poor tactics, poor player contributions – although the scene was set before a ball was even kicked.
Whether fans believed that the appointment of Alex McLeish meant the club no longer cared about the fans, or that Randy Lerner had a steely commitment to pick his own direction for Villa this year, things started off badly. Sadly, for Villa, it was a case of downhill from there.
With the season finished, and the club safe for another year, the analysis can begin, and I imagine Villa will take their place in a number of headlines over the summer.
Whilst some consider the sacking of McLeish a dead cert, the campaign leaves more questions than a single change will resolve. Yes, McLeish’s football was poor and, yes, managers must take the blame in today’s game, but anyone who believes his removal will turn the club around is bordering on delusional.
I have no doubt, from a fan perspective at the very least, that a change of manager would lift spirits at the club. So, to that end, maybe change is the only option left, maybe it will have an impact, but nobody knows for certain if that is even happening yet.
What I don’t want to see is another year where the players duck out of the situation without a scratch on them. Last season, the issues at the club nearly cost Gerard Houllier his life. This season, performances have nearly cost Villa their Premier League status.
No longer can we, as fans, continue to let the blame slide off the players on to anyone else. I know people have been quick to lambast the hierarchy from Randy Lerner to Alex McLeish via Paul Faulkner, but the players are being shown up as unfit to represent the team.
Some may point back at the time where Richard Dunne and James Collins were solid as a rock under Martin O’Neill, but times have changed. Gone is the speed of O’Neill’s counter-attacking football, replaced with a slow but ineffective passing game.
As I’ve said before, the tactics that two men have tried so far – Houllier and McLeish – are too smart for the current group of players. The idea of being involved in multiple phases of play under O’Neill was an alien concept, and our squad have failed to get it right after two seasons of trying.
So whether McLeish does or doesn’t go, many of the players we have need to be unloaded. If you were the manager and were offered £10m for any of your players, how many would you be sad to see leave? Not many I would imagine.
It may need desperate measures, much like the method employed to get rid of Habib Beye from the club, but something needs to be done, and quick.
Of course, should McLeish continue on as manager, I imagine many fans will be uneasy on the idea that the Glaswegian could be the person to rebuild the team, especially considering the comments on his football to date.
A plan needs to be illustrated to the fans, something I have suggested all season because, without such a public show of strategy, our supporters are going to drift away under a cloud of apathy. “After all, if they can’t care about us, why should we care about them?” is largely what I imagine many will think.
If things do rumble on, unpredictable, and with no great certainty regarding the direction of the club, things will invariably go sour. Lerner, once a man seen as a beacon of light in a league full of money focused chairmen, has finally seen his honeymoon finish. The only question from those watching the situation from outside is if Lerner can cultivate something new for the club.
Some fans will invariably make their conclusions early, preempting any announcement from the evasive American, as they look to get to the root of Villa’s recent troubles.
The reality though, sadly for many, will be that we will just have to wait to see what is going to happen. Will it involve the removal of McLeish? Will our squad be rebuilt? Or is this the end of the Premier League line for Villa come the end of next season?
Time will tell and, I imagine, many will be holding on to the hope that McLeish’s tenure is recorded in the history books as only lasting one season.
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