So Paul Lambert is confirmed as our manager and the club is now firmly stating a fact – the fact that we are (finally) moving forward.
Over the coming weeks and months, we are going to see a few signings and a few departures. What is different this time is I think every Villa fan actually trusts the man in charge to bring the right players in. Simply because of that fact, I believe we are going to have the best season we have had in a long time.
Finally the board have got it right and we have a manager that has united the fans and given them hope. With the feel-good factor back around Villa Park, the revolution we have needed for so long is actually happening. Now with all this positivity around the club it will make us a massive dark horse again next year – you see the players and manager do the hard bit, but when you have the fans on your side anything is possible. Given that from day one Lambert has got the entire army of Villa fans right behind him, he is on the right tracks already.
The bad few seasons we have had have set everything up nicely. Why? For once the manager is not going to be burdened with huge expectations of playing like Barcelona, of breaking transfer records, or of competing for the title. It may sound subdued, and it is, and that is the best way the club can grow – without the pressures and expectations of everyone under the sun in the media, most of which are glad to rip into us when it goes wrong.
Not for a long time have I been so eager for the season to start. Not for a long time have I been so confident that we will finally see change and finally see a different Villa than we have been served for the past few seasons.
Being associated to Villa again is a good feeling again – it is like we are all one again. Having other clubs look on and watch their opinions of us change from last seasons joke club to next seasons dark horses is what its all about. Finally its not just Villa fans that can see it – we are starting to get back some of our credibility.
The future is bright for us – the future is claret and blue.
Am I A Bad Omen?
On a side note, I think I may be the thorn in Villa’s side, let me explain. I was a season ticket holder and a regular attendee at Villa Park from the Big Ron era, then along came David O’Leary. I had enough when we got hammered by Everton at home by him and subsequently gave up my ticket and vowed never to return.
Shortly after this, Martin O’Neill arrived and we had the most successful period in recent times, I got a new season ticket, went to Wembley, enjoyed the season, but then one morning I awoke to the news that O’Neill had left. I continued with my season ticket, witnessed Gerard Houllier’s football and Alex McLeish’s lack of football. At the end of last season I did the same as most – I vowed again not to return until McLeish was gone.
My dilemma, as you can see by my track record is starting to give me a complex, am I a bad omen? Whatever I am, all I care about is that, finally, we are back on the right track but talking of omens, remember the last manager to come from Norwich having managed 4 clubs at the age of 42? We know what happened then don’t we?
Onwards and upwards!
The Author
