After another defeat, this time against Newcastle United, although the performance wasn’t the worst of the season, what is the state of the club at this point in time? Are we in decline or in “transition”?
We seem to hear the word “transition” a lot but how long can a club be in “transition” for? Ever since Martin O’Neill walked out on the club in August 2010, we seem to be claimed to be in a constant transition with manager after manager coming and going. When will this rebuilding stop?
Judging on this season we need yet another season of “transition” just to get things on a level keel. What every Villa fans hopes for is consistency and stability, as well as some success, just as we had in the O’Neill era. If everyone stops and thinks back, it took O’Neill a season to stabilise the club after the O’Leary years, leaving us with a 11th placed finish that season. It looks like the same will happen this season barring a massive change in results during the latter part of this season.
Off the pitch, Villa seem to be in “transition” as well. Take the debacle with the change in kit supplier. Nike have made mistakes in their tenure as kit supplier over the 3 or 4 years, what with the problems we had with the late kit launch a couple of years ago, which finally arrived four months late and with quality issues as well.
Nike, a global company, seemed to have issues with being able to supply and deliver kit on time, and it was invariably going to be difficult to patch things up as a result of this public disaster. As a result, this probably had something to do with the club’s desire to change supplier for next season, but from a prestige point of view, changing supplier from Nike to Macron is like someone shopping at Waitrose for years then having to go to Morrisons.
I don’t personally know what Nike did for Villa, although hopefully they increased the awareness of Villa as a worldwide brand, as well as helping to improve our image on the global stage. Certainly with the pre-season tour of Hong Kong, our image must have improved with the ever increasing Asian football market which can only be a good thing?
With that in mind, why would the club choose to change to Macron, a relatively unknown sportswear manufacturer based in Italy with only a handful of English partners, of which Aston Villa would appear to be Macron’s largest client once the deal is announced.
Without knowing the numbers involved in the deal, is this a sign that the club is no longer thinking big and happy with mid table mediocrity?
If that is the case, I think the fans will have a say in that just like they are now if the home attendances are anything to go by. We have had it good for a few years, and after last season’s shambles, and not much better this season, next season is an important time for Aston Villa.
Randy Lerner has dabbled with trying to get the club into the Champions League, and failed so maybe he’s had enough and has decided to take it easy a bit? Or is something on the horizon we are not party to? A nything is possible at Aston Villa and nothing would surprise me anymore quite frankly.
When Doug Ellis sold out to Randy Lerner and Martin O’Neill became manager, I thought it really would be a bright new future, and I was looking forward to European football back at Villa Park. Whilst it was good when it lasted, the club seems to be back to square one, the same place as we were in pre-Martin O’Neill.
I’m sure our time will come again, and if another multi-billionaire takes over, I will be doing cartwheels again, but until then we have to wait patiently for progress. Until then, Villa’s view of the rest of the season may well be lacking glitz or glamour, rather the hope it will be over sooner rather than later.
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