Hard to believe the final day is here, but it is—and it’s been quite a ride.
Really not much to say since so much hinges on this match and, most likely, Forest-Chelsea. A Villa win and either a Forest victory or draw send us back into the Champions League. There are other permutations of course, but I’m guessing these two matches probably tell the tale.
And, for all the reasons everyone might suspect, I really hope it works out nicely. United and Old Trafford? Not a happy hunting ground for us. But if we are to get over the line, this is the time. If there’s a side that can dent Chelsea’s ambitions, I’d think it’s Forest.
But we’ll soon know and then all the other pieces will start falling into place.
Me, I’ve enjoyed it immensely. Disappointments are almost inevitable, but we’ve seen that Villa can finally mix it up with almost anyone. Big nights, big performances and results. So many matches. It’s been a season to remember, silverware or not.
Now it’s about the money and prestige conferred by returning to the Champions League. Which I like to think we deserve since we more than played our part in the Premier League earning a fifth spot.
And after all those matches, after all the drama, elation, and despair, there’s still something to be won on the final day.
So let’s go do it, Villa.
Over to you.
The Author
John Clark
John is co-owner of AVL, and has followed the Villa since the '70s. A journalist by trade, he is, by most accounts, a very nice person. You can follow me on Twitter @JClarkKohoutek. It's an astonishing experience. Or a complete waste of time.Comments 107
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Just looked on a man United forum. I wish we were playing their fans . . . . they’re really unhappy and just want the season over
Sadly we’re not
It’s hard to believe it’s all over at about 6pm,what a season almighty highs,some lows,new signings, big john leaving
Now we have to win today and if it’s not enough it will have been our best season in living memory
The bench today is unreal
I hope we settle down soon and forget the magnitude of the game.
This is the worst I’ve seen us this season
You’re right about the bench JG
I wonder how many of them will be with us next season
McGinn just can’t get the ball to stick so far
We’ve been awful. Nerves on full display.
Asensio has been good again so far today. Wonder if he’ll be with us next year. More chance of him staying than Rashford I reckon .
How are we still in this?
I suppose the only saving grace is that if this was the other way round, we’d be saying that we’ll pay for not having scored when we had all those early chances !
There’s just no linking up between defence and attack.
I hope Teilemans can come on at some point
They’re just outcompeting us all over, as if this matters more to them than us.
I’d like to see Mings there, to give them all a kick up the arse!
Yeah, that’s basically it, r0bb0…they’re getting to everything, and we have no initiative.
I’m a huge fan of Watkins, but one of his key attributes is holding the ball up, but today it’s as if his boots are smothered in vaseline
Sort of the same for everyone. Like we’re wading through treacle.
Oh how stupid
JFC
Fucking Cash. Best pass of the day for United.
His last action for Villa. . .
what a sad way to bow out
Terrible, r0bb0. And he was playing well.
Cash I certainly hope is his last game for us,martinez shouldn’t have done that ,better a goal down than a man
Do you know. . . our only hope is that this makes them feel they’re right up against it and it gets them fired up, and united become complacent
Yep. . . clutching at straws
We have been woeful all over the park apart from martinez
Yeah, looking back JG you’d think he should’ve just conceded. But out there and committed, doubt he was thinking all that clearly.
Fcuk these commentators Tyler and Holland thinking our players are all for sale and they want to sign for great man u
r0bb0,
I was wondering if we’d get better going down. Maybe clutching at straws, but it’s still 0-0.
SPEECHLESS!
Anyone at Arsenal on the last game of the league winning season? Same sort of a Villa freeze.
Had to be at Old Trafford. ManU waking up against Villa as always. Brain fart from Cash, Martinez panicking. F@@@@@ck
I’m not sure Hojland would have scored from there, as other players were getting back, why couldn’t Martinez have just tried to just slow him up slightly rather than take him out so blatantly
But as others have said. . . . how truly awful from Cash
I guess we now just have to hope that Chelsea beat Forest, so we get Europa rather than conference
Anyone that thought utd would lie down today were mad,last homemade after shocking season,.ore disappointed in us,so far we can’t run pass tackle show intent and it’s happened a few times under emery don’t know why,back behind sofa for 45 mins
You were right JG. . . Martinez ‘had’ been the only player to come out with any credit for most of the first half
I reckon Roger’s needs a proper summer break and to come back rejuvenated
He’s not been great for the last few games. . . . may be down to where he’s playing to some extent mind you
I really don’t understand the reasons for playing Torres ahead of Mings
Well that proves that Hojland didn’t have a clear goal scoring opportunity from that Cash back pass
Likewise about Mings. Torres just doesn’t do it for me.
Was just typing the 4 substitutions I’d make right now
Teilemans for McGinn was one of them
Mings for Torres
Malen for Watkins
Ramsey for Onana
Credit to Emery for those subs. He is going for it.
Indeed jbd
It is good to have a manager who is prepared to try and change the game with substitutions
Look. . . we haven’t deserved to be winning, but that decision is so so wrong
Really naughty
Especially after Maguire had pushed Rogers on his way through
Blatant cheating ref
Top it of utd score
JG. I actually don’t think the ref cheated. . . he just made a bad mistake. . . I hope he can’t get to sleep tonight as he keeps replaying it in his head.
We have this ability to not show up in so many matches
Watkins has been absent today again yes he broke the record this season but in general he has been not the same player as a year ago
Cash cannot start the season as even a squad player every team we play targets him,leaving kamara to play there as well
To top it all my firestick took today to play up
I certainly hope emery let’s rip about referee and var this season plus fa moving spurs and Liverpool games
Ipswich game lad had about 6 bookable fouls after getting booked no red card,forest games rogers blatant arm pull forest winner big foul on cash,pool game blatant pull on torres,red card v duran and upheld it after appeal,today’s decision shocking pissed of tonight
Still big well done to emery
Well…that was all so very disappointing.
Yeah, well done Emery, JG. Not his fault the players just didn’t show up.
What the fucking hell is a matter with us? Why are we mentally non existent on big games. This was worse than Palace in the semi. We just never turned up. FFS.
We’ve had all week to prepare for this game. Then we see inertia. And more inertia. Didn’t deserve anything from the game. Can’t say the players left everything out on the pitch because they didn’t.
It was a perfect storm.
Old Trafford and United have always had a voodoo on us, 2 wins in 38 is an unbelievably poor stay.
We played poorly from the start, Martinez and Cash messed up. Tielemans injury. That ref decision.
We didn’t deserve to win but a loss seems cruel given the Newcastle result. But this is par for being a Villa supporter, always a case of missing out.
I hate picking on individual players but let’s call a spade a spade. Cash was appalling. His standard play is receive a ball, run to the half way line, turn and play it back. Sorry but he has to go. Thought Pau and Konsa were poor as well. Question marks over both of them for me. And Ollie had a stinker. Rogers is more effective down the left but Unai plays him down the right with SJM down the left.
My big gripe from this season has been the perpetual passing back to the goalkeeper from quite advanced positions. Today’s Cash /Martinez cock up just about crystallises our main failing for me.
Another niggle is the Torres/Mings arguement. Torres is not built for our league. He is neither a full on LCB nor a midfielder. Sell him for psr purposes. Emery is trying to instal a cold blooded scientific possession based game which will always come short in our red blooded 100mph league. Likewise Asensio will only get so far in a game then flake out.
While I’m in a venting mood, WTF is Rogers being wasted on the RW? WTF is Malen not getting the same chance that Rogers got when he first came?
I’ve got to acknowledge that we have an excellent squad and we have had an ultimately formidable season- but we keep on shooting ourselves in the foot when other teams throw the kitchen sink at us. Tippy tappy tika taka will always be thwarted by big lump dinosaurs like maguire and evans just getting in the way.
I’ll save my worst venom for the “ref”. Well fucking sub-standard. His ruling on Rogers goal was despicable. Over the game, he gave them a penalty, sent off our keeper and rubbed out a perfectly good Villa goal. Hope they never choose him for a Villa home game down the line.
Manure were crap today yet they won with a canter without breaking sweat. This really pisses me off.
It’s going to take me some time to recover from this result. I’m still smarting from our no-show against Palace. Think Unai is too. He looked livid at the unfolding events.
I’m with you all…I mean, on balance ECL, CL, and UEL aren’t bad at all. But the manner of today’s loss was galling. As was the Palace defeat.
And I’ve no real answers, would have to know a lot more about each player, Emery, mood in the camp.
Are the players being too reigned in by Emery wanting to cold bloodedly control the game and dictate the game by going slow slow quick quick slow? Are their natural instincts being blunted by the need to overthink what they should do? I’m sad that Guardiola’s sterile boring pass pass game won so much with shitty and the previous tica taka merchants at barcelona. Could he have done that much without the financial cheating that both clubs did before sky locked everything in?
Tnt involved in the corrupt refs,too cutting mcginn off in mid speech about the refs
Maybe a stepback mighten be worst thing to happen,as wonderful as January window was,rashford didn’t really catch fire,asenio had a wonderful 6 games but since he missed big chance v psg he has been really poor,dissai hasn’t been seen since doku skipped past him in injury time,malen was hard done by missing out on champions league games and not enough game time because of
emery 2 bigger signings
Watkins took the hump for 2nd time this season and moaned in public, Rogers was shunted to side to include asenio
Emery and monchi have a big summer which has to include cash being sold
The linesman in 1st half was a disgrace maybe 3/4of their shots would have been ruled out for offside, maguire was at least a yard offside before he walked past matasen but linesman and ref played on,yet couldn’t wait to blow whistle on our goal,fuming
There’s a lot to unpack, JG.
jbd,
I’m not really sure the players are suffering under constraint…a lot of our goals come from quick moves up the field, Rogers carrying and driving, Tielemans putting people through, etc.
I might look more to the January business and how it affected the squad: cohesion, selections, positions. It worked initially, got us pretty far in both competitions, helped us up the league, gave us a deep bench, but it might also have been too much change at once.
But I really don’t know how to explain the timidity and lack of energy off the ball today other than nerves, being over-cautious. So many poor passes, loose on the ball, slow decisions. United just wanted it more. My guess is that if the game had been at home it would’ve been different.
Emery’s reactions tell me he wasn’t happy but he never throws the players under the bus.
It was the level of performance that got my hackles up John. Such an important game, same as Palace in the semi and we froze. Didn’t think Manure were anything other than average. At one time I noticed we had a back 8 in a line on the edge of the box with just Ollie a few yards in front of it. Like a rabbit in the headlights.
We will now see how this result impacts our team development for next season. £75 million revenue lost. £30 million revenue gained from Europa League. Down £45 million. No UCL to attract players. Dendoncks and Couts still with us for another year. We’ll watch with interest at the outgoings and incomings this window.
The photograph in The Mirror newspaper shows the ref smiling as he waves the red card at Emi with obvious delight. Not a good look for the conspiracy theorists.
Almost 24 hours still annoyed at yesterday, but bigger picture it has been some run of nearly 3years of emery,a lot to be thankful of,some great games and a few real howlers thrown in
Our summer plans have to include players with steel that don’t all fold in same game even half,we have all nice guys no one that will leave a foot in,plenty moaners but no hard lads,our defence bar mings wouldn’t tackle a box of tissues, likewise midfielders
Pretty sure the money men no what’s what’s far as psr stands,emery is still dealing with gerards crazy summer 70m wasted along with massive wages
Assuming 3 loanees aren’t kept ,depending what players move on we don’t really need a major overhaul,a decent rightback and options on right of 3 would be a start
JG,
Yeah, it’s easy to forget sometimes the long tails of poor signings. I know some are probs having most/all their wages paid by others, but how is it possible Dendoncker is still someone we have to deal with? Or Phil?
And I’m with you on the loanees…Disasi was necessary insurance, but I’m sure we can do better. Rashford, not worth what he’ll cost I dont’ think. Asensio, dunno. Youri was hot and cold first season, and he won’t cost much.
Leon Bailey what has happened, from being o e 1st name on teamsheet, to not even getting on as sub,his last appearance in cup semi final he was our best player (not hard) last season unplayable this year unwatchable
As for dust settling on Sunday, still fuming at inept officials including the linesman who never put his flag up for offside in 1st half
Our players have being really quiet on social media,few if any apologies for performances
Everyone guessing at our money situation
Just watched a clip on YouTube today of all our signings this last 25 years,gosh we signed some crap balaban,Hagi berson postma bakke ronny johnson,kinsella joey gudjonson,routleddge
Djema djemba,all bar benteke from lamberts time,mcleish woefulsummer,fox and sherwoodcrazy summer,100 m between di matteo and bruce
We were some mess untildean smith steadied our club,slippy g had threw lifebelts all out,we were floundering holed above the waterline untim UNAI EMERY came on board roll on August,
We have signed some crap over the years James. Don’t forget Charles Nzogbia, Ross McCormack and Dick Turpin (Micah Richards).
Never noticed it on Sunday,but cash was fouled after he played the ball back ,why did var not go back to it
We have signed a young Dutch lad ,18 years old,
Yep raymond
English clubs UEFA coefficient may still rise slightly from present position should Chelsea win tonight. Let’s assume a worst case scenario and they lose and it stays the same. Next season we’ll have 9 EPL teams in Europe meaning the coefficient points gained must be divided by 9 and not 7 as this season thus reducing it. If the 9 clubs amass the same points next season as the 7 clubs did this season, we would have finished 2nd this season behind Spain thus still earning an extra UCL place for P5. In reality, you would hope the 9 teams manage to amass a few more coefficient points than this season and if they do, P5 should yield a UCL place the following season.
And so the wait goes on. The “independent panel” that heard Citeh’s charges last year have still failed to find the balls to present its verdict to the EPL. It’s June in 3 days time. The stench surrounding this situation gets thicker by the day. What could possibly be delaying due process? Pressure from the Gov’t scared of damaging British/UAE relations? Fear of legal threats from the UAE sovereign wealth fund? Sinister brown envelopes? Yet people are convinced the sport is not corrupt despite the billions sloshing around in it. Corruption and vast sums of money go hand in hand.
The anger still high,premier league us european officials have been really poor to us this season,.maybe emery should be more vocal in his criticism of them
The utd match from the start they were off from start letting offsides carry on,I can clearly remember coutinho earliest match we scored ,var went back ages to get a foul they could use to disallow goal, yet Sunday for sending off all they had to do was roll back tape 30 seconds and see cash getting flattened off the ball ,a clear foul,a clear and obvious error from officials, but not one commentators picked up on it,as for penalty, it was worse than kanes ,or even Bruno stamp on konsa
Inept is too easy,bent or corrupt more like it
Plug
The corruption runs completely through all walks of life ,sport probably the worst
JG,
That’s a very fair point, a foul on Cash preceding Emi’s, which would obviously have prevented him from atoning, putting Hojlund off, and bailing out Martinez. And a foul’s a foul, regardless: play would stop there.
Couple notes:
Working on a recap, look forward. Not sure when I’ll get that posted, but please don’t wait up.
More significant: The hosting company we’ve used all these years is closing down. That means I have til the end of June to migrate AVL to another. I can probably pull it off, but can’t guarantee there won’t be disruptions or glitches.
astonvillalife.com will remain the URL, so no worries there, but if I end up losing posts and/or logins, this would be why. And it would simply mean you’d just create a new account to carry on.
I’ll give updates as things progress.
Psg have made an impressive start,2 up before the half hour
UEFA will be delighted with their new Euro formats which have definitely been a big success. But they won’t be happy with such a one sided final. Unfortunately, it’s highly predictable when you allow sovereign wealth funds to invest in its football clubs.
Ahead of any summer transfers, here’s a look at those transfers from the last 2 windows:
Out (Total £230m)
Sanson £3m
Iroegbunam £9m
Kellyman £19m
Luiz £42m
Bidace £18m
Archer £15m
Diaby £52m
Carlos £8m
Duran £64m
In (Total £172m)
Dobbin £9m
Maatsen £34m
Barrenechea £8m
Iling-Junior £11m
Barkley £5m
Bidace £13m
Archer £15m
Onana £50m
Malen £21m
Garcia £6m
I’ve ignored loan fees which would be significant but we received them as well as paid them. I’ve also ignored some minor sales like Revan and Sinisola. Overall, we’re £58m to the credit side which is approx what we got for Big Jhon. Together with UCL money, increased ticket prices and sponsorship I’d say there’s no fire sale happening at VP this month.
Silly season has began,our fans are so negative everyone is being sold and we are doing a lambert young and hungry lads coming in
As far as I am concerned only person at club unreplaceable is emery followed by owners,no player can’t be replaced by a better one,anything that has to be done before June 30th wasn’t going to have be done anyway and I am pretty sure our money men and monchi know what is going on
We have a load of fringe players that we can sell if there is buyers out there
Our squad is very decent really only lacking a very good right back
Agreed James. The click bait sites are full of drivel. We’re selling Watkins, Tielemans, Rogers, Malen and Emi is being offered around for 20m euros!!! All because we’re in the shit on PSR. How do the people who script such crap make a living? There are no PSR issues this year. Sure, the North Stand expansion requires £100m by end of 2026. Sure, there’s a hotel under construction at BMH. Sure, the fanzone between the North Stand and Witton roundabout is under construction. All costing big money but our owners have funded these developments and their investment in AVFC which is already valued around £1 billion becomes £1.25 billion.
The draw for the preliminary rounds of the Europa League are due on 17th June. Palace expect to find out before that date whether they’ve been chucked out of European competition due to dual ownership rules with another club in the same competition. They made their presentation to UEFA yesterday on the matter but Parish id keeping quiet on how it went.
In a separate issue, the EPL also met yesterday. On the agenda was a vote on making the sales of women’s teams and hotels etc illegal for PSR purposes. It needed 14 votes to be approved. The EPL have revealed that away ticket prices remain frozen but have been silent on the PSR fiddles. Why the silence? If it wasn’t approved, it’s open season for all clubs to follow the cheat. If it was approved, Chelsea can be seen to have gained a huge advantage over everyone else.
Great to see Tyro extend his contract with Villa. The official site doesn’t say the length but who cares, he’s part of Unai’s game plan.
I’ve read that Mings present contract goes to 2026 and he has signed a one year extension to 2027. I also am pleased we have got him for a bit longer. Think he has got the Villa bug like the rest of us.
Things ticking along exactly as expected. Nothing on the transfer front likely to happen before the end of June. If this actually transpires, then we’re well inside the PSR regs for the current year, UEFA’s SCR’s excepted for which a fine will be incoming. Transfer activity (in and out) will probably gain pace from July 1st.
Ollie out of the England squad due to a “minor injury”. Time for a holiday young man. Scotland unimpressive with SJM playing. T’mans and Onana only subs for Belgium but Cash scored for Poland.
Oh, and a clean sheet for Emi in Chile.
We needed 70 points this season to ensure P4 and came up 4 points short. Unai will be aiming for P4 next season. To get it, we’ll need replacements for Rashy, Disasi and Asensio assuming none of them are purchased. The squad finished strongly and would have made P4 had the January additions been in place at the season’s start. Plus the Europa will not be as demanding as the UCL. It will be interesting watching developments over the window.
Mighty Andorra. Highly placed in the world rankings at No 173 managed to give England a fright. Is Tuchel having a laugh? Is he a German agent assigned to dismantle England? How much are we paying him? Never seen such a dismal performance from and England XI. I’m sure I could pick and get a better tune out of 11 young kids. This was piss poor Tuchel. You need to shape up fast before the fans turn.
Senegal full value for their win against England who have a nose bleed if they have to play a forward pass. Sideways and backwards, repeat and repeat. They are only wired for playing this way with highly predictable results. Tuchal will be duck soup sooner rather than later if this garbage remains. Kane, Henderson, Walker all too old.
Reports coming out of Riyadh that Big Jhon has been unable to settle in Saudi and as it’s affecting his mental health, his club are looking to sell him or loan him out. I’m genuinely sorry the move has not worked out for him and I was really gutted when he left. But did Unai have his finger on the pulse and do the right thing? Could the sale have been a master stroke?
Not surprised in the least, Plug. Never thought that was going to last long with Jhon.
You never know with ‘reports’, but sounded like Emery was open to either him or Watkins leaving. I sort of doubt that, being left dependent on Duran for the second half of the season. But given his reputation, I’m guessing he still thought he could get Jhon’s head on straight, just a matter of maturing.
For that much sell-on value, you can’t really say no, though, if there are question marks. My feeling was that if it wasn’t Saudi in January, it would’ve been Duran agitating for a move this summer.
Sad to hear about big bad john,common problem with young inexperienced footballers living in unfamiliar surroundings
Hopefully middle east leagues go like Chinese, out of fashion
From what I read diaby had no great season, but older and wiser with family to support him his home life was near normal
Can’t wait for Thursday and fixtures release, then 30th June so our money problem can be cleared up either way sales or no sales,even Canadian pete has his insider saying we are OK,unlike some ITK on or sites
Pool and city have spent over half a billion this calendar year all ready madness
James, after last season’s experience with Dougie and PSR regs Villa were never going to be caught out with a fire sale like that again. I’m not expecting anyone to leave on the cheap by June 30 but after that is a different matter. I’m certain we’ll trade because there will be a deficit to be made up on the current season without UCL funds. And there are plenty of possibilities. We have Ned, Barrenechea, Illing Junior, Buendia, Moreno, Dobbin, Kesler amongst others that will command significant fees in total if necessary.
Plug
We also have the record loss season dropping off next year as well
James, yep that will help big time. But I am mindful that construction work on the North Stand and BMH hotel, plus the rebuilding of the structure between the North Stand and Witton roundabout will cost £££ and impact our bottom line for the next couple of years at least. None of it affects our PSR or SCR calcs but will still appear on the bottom line.
Happy to report I have no interest whatsoever in the Saudi Wedge Trough (aka FIFA World Club Championship) that some clubs got their noses into. Zilch, zip, nada interest. Hope it knackers their players for next season to everyone else’s advantage.
FIFA now openly accept the “gifts” showing their greed knows no bounds. Take the $1 billion from Saudi and give them the 2034 World Cup. It’s bribery by the back door, in this case using DAZN as the vehicle.