Aston Villa: Villains In Trouble

It is now looking increasingly likely that Aston Villa will be one of the three sides relegated from the Premiership this season. Currently cemented to the bottom of the League, a change of Manager has done little to change the path the Villains are on. In fact, it could be argued that had the owners stayed with Tim Sherwood, then he might have been able to lift the players to be in a better position than they currently are. Of course, this is all theoretical, and even if Villa would survive this season it is clear that the troubles at the club go much further than managers and playing staff.


So, where has it all gone wrong for a side, who are one of the oldest and most successful clubs in the country? Winners of the League on seven occasions, the last being in 1981, seven FA Cups and five League Cups they have a pretty good domestic haul. Winners of the European Cup and European Super Cup, both in 1982, means that they have had success in Europe also.

Majority of the blame has to be laid at the current owner, Randy Lerner’s door. The Cleveland Browns owner brought to an end the twenty three year reign of Doug Ellis. That Chairman faced his own criticisms from the Villa faithful for showing a lack of ambition but, to his credit, Villa were financially sound in comparison with other clubs, and continued to compete at the top level for the majority of the time he was at the helm.

Some people may look to the loss of Fabian Delph and Christian Benteke as a reason and, yes, they did depart the club very late in the summer transfer window which didn’t give Sherwood much time to react and bring in replacements, but to say it is the only reason for today’s position would be a stretch. The last two seasons Villa have spent more than they received in transfer fees, but their purchases just haven’t delivered.

Certainly the changing of Managers has not done anything to steady the ship, nor create consistency from one season to the next. In the years Ellis was Chairman Villa had ten different managers, for an average stay of just over two years. Since the takeover in 2006 up to, and including the appointment of Remy Garde have gone through six, for an average stay of eighteen months. That doesn’t sound too bad until you consider that Paul Lambert was actually at the helm for almost three of those years, bumping the average of the remaining managers down.

Changing of a manager is not always a bad thing when it is done for the right reasons. Clearly, when Chelsea were struggling early on in the season it was clear that Mourinho had to go. In came Guus Hiddink and now Chelsea find themselves up to eighth in the Premier League and only five points behind Manchester United. But the change needs to improve the teams fortunes and, that simply has not been the case with Remy Garde. Under Tim Sherwood Villa had a win ratio of just over 39% in all competitions, with Remy it is just under 16%.

With the side now eight points from safety there is no doubt that mathematically it is still possible for them to escape relegation but, in reality, the side have not shown any determination or fight to get out of relegation. If the side were to find themselves in the second tier of English football next season, then what? There is no guarantee the side will be able to get straight back up. QPR have struggled to maintain Premiership status on two occasions in the last few seasons while Leeds United, have failed to get back to the top flight since relegation in 2004.

I think the fans need to see something from the owner which indicates that either he is serious about selling the club or about returning them to a more successful time. This would probably entail the removal of Remi Garde from the head coach role with installation of a figure the crowd can get behind. Stiliyan Petrov would certainly not be a too shabby appointment to try to motivate players he has worked with recently and move Villa in the right direction.

Another interesting name for me would be the return of David Platt. Currently the head coach of Pune FC in the Indian Super League, and with experience of being alongside Roberto Mancini at Manchester City could either of these two bring Villa back from the brink?

But as I said earlier, the problems seem to go deeper than just the on field issues. The good thing about a relegation, if there was to be a bright side, would be that the asking price of the club should also go down. Maybe a famous fan, businessman fan (Ozzy Osbourne enjoys the claret and blue I hear) would want to do what every regular Villa fan would love to do and take back control of their club. I think only a combination of the two, a change of ownership, and the installation of a figure the fans can get behind is the only way the situation can be turned around. Anything else and the future does not look good for the Villa fans.

Jason is a Freelance Soccer Writer. You can follow him on Twitter @PACityboy and www.facebook.com/jasonbardwell1979