No points again. In what has seemed to become a regular pattern for Aston Villa, there’s a growing concern that no more points will be won this season, leaving the club hoping for survival on 34 points.
Against Crystal Palace, there was a strong sense that this was a game not to be lost, a far cry from purported attacking football, and something of a flashback to the Alex McLeish era.
Playing with five at the back isn’t, in the abstract, a bad thing, though one could argue that doing so against a team who were, at least before the arrival of Tony Pulis, a team heading down.
Part of Villa’s problems is the distinct lack of options available, added to the fact that the team are now a cheaply assembled shadow of five or so years ago. Whilst the financial trimming was a necessity following the gross overspend in the Martin O’Neill era, the issue is that it has been the current board who has overseen boom and bust, leaving the only loser as Villa.
After all, can you imagine Villa spending another £24m on an individual player under the current management? Whilst I’m not recommending reckless spending again, a balance has to be drawn, and arguably Villa are performing to the level of the investment made in the team – just how much quality one can expect for peanuts is debatable.
Of course, finances alone do not paint the whole picture. That the mentality of the team has gone from attacking to fearful and defensive speaks volumes, and that is never going to keep fans happy.
Behind all the anger though, there has to be a sad – but honest – realisation that nobody of note will be interested in taking on the Villa job should Lambert be got rid of.
My stark assessment of Villa? A club that are run on peanuts with only survival as a target. A board that are so focused on financial recouping that football has become a secondary concern – almost irrelevant so long as the loans are repaid.
So, in the setting of that reality, tell me who with any sense would take the job on? I wouldn’t if I was a manager, and such a setting points out why the paucity of applicants in recent years took the club to the then-hated McLeish.
To be honest, in the context of where we are now, I’d have a lot of respect if Lambert resigned tomorrow and stated that this job was a futile attempt at steering a club that is being run on an insufficient budget – no manager worth his salt would stand for being stiffed by a board who will happily handcuff the team and focus more on winning hospitality awards.
Sure, people can point to a reported £25m given to the manager per year, but the club is focused strongly on making money for someone else’s pockets nowadays. This season we’ve seen increased Sky money, but no increase in spending, so can we see a pattern forming here?
The sad reality is that it is the club who will suffer, and if things don’t change, they will disappear under the waves the same as several other clubs in the past.
So can Villa survive this season? Yes, possibly, but without any changes, we’re going to see a slow death of a club that has turned into a pale shadow of itself and, if we’re honest, there will be few non-Villa fans who will shed a single tear about the club’s fall from grace.
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