Columns by professional writers
If you’d asked me at the beginning of the season if top four and Conference League champions were possible, I’d have thought that was a bridge too far. Too many games, too little depth. But now it’s truly on offer and would arguably be Villa’s greatest achievement overall in four decades.
We sold eggs to Eamon Deacy’s parents’ seafood restaurant, an 8-mile bicycle ride each way in wind and rain. Eamon worked there during the summers.
Preseason is now history, and Villa have come through the summer’s six matches unbeaten. Not a bad showing given the competition and some of the conditions, and from the outside, it seems to have been a very useful training camp.
Target areas? It’s all about priorities, how to stretch your money the furthest while getting better and deeper. I would think wide right, another striker, and a midfielder or two. Clearly, there’s no way Ramsey, McGinn, Luiz, and Kamara can play every match. Can’t see not having another striker option besides Duran, likewise a better backup keeper.
Villans are buzzing as the club climb into 6th for at least a moment. We may not be throwing around the M-word just yet, but it’s getting hard to keep it in the bottle. What a far cry from Gerrard’s disastrous and thankfully brief tenure at the helm.
