The Good, Bad and Ugly – The Dust Settles after Old Trafford Humiliation
A rollercoaster Aston Villa season is finally over. The final destination was Old Trafford, where Villa’s players again wilted on the edge of achievement.
The Good
While there have been many highs this season, the two no-shows of Wembley in the FA Cup semi-final and Old Trafford on the final day are deep scars even Villans of thirty-plus years will struggle to get over.
There was much to be proud of heading into the final game, a blistering run of games where only Manchester City were able to take points of Unai Emery’s men would normally have been enough.
The team showed they were good enough to make the Champions League again, but unfortunately they left themselves no margin for error and like sudden death in a penalty shootout, the players froze at the moment of truth once again.
It also highlights why many fans were frustrated by the points dropped in the first half of the season. The infrastructure was in place to do something special on all fronts, but instead, the reality is a step backwards – while main rivals like Spurs, Newcastle, and Chelsea will be reaping the rewards of Champions League football. That’s what everyone will be stewing over this summer.
The Bad, or for one week only, The Worst
Was it a bad time to play Manchester United? Is there ever a good time?
When the fixture list came out at the start of the season, a final-day trip to the scene of so many Villa heartbreaks triggered older fans.
But against the worst Manchester United Team in living memory, who had just had their one chance at salvation crushed by the worst Tottenham Hotspur side in living memory, surely even Aston Villa’s horrific record against them would not stop Unai Emery’s in-form side?
We don’t need to rehash the game, except to say that Villa didn’t turn up, Emi Martínez lost his head and made the worst mistake of his entire Villa career at the worst possible moment, and once again we witnessed one of the season’s most shocking refereeing decisions – disallowing Morgan Rogers’ goal.
All in all, the worst…
The ramifications will be felt for several seasons. Villa won’t be shopping in the same market as the six Premier League sides that qualified for the Champions League. They’ll also struggle to keep or attract players who see themselves at that level – although, after the PSG tie, the Palace semi-final, and last season’s Europa Conference semi-final loss to Olympiacos, none of the current squad should assume they’re guaranteed Champions League calibre.
The noises coming out of Aston Villa suggest a difficult summer lies ahead. If only the club had managed to land some major sponsorship deals when they had Champions League football to offer.
The Ugly
I’m not a big fan of end-of-season awards events being held before the end of the season.
Last year, it worked out well for engagement, with the Spurs–Manchester City game deciding Villa’s Champions League place at the same time.
It was organic, and plenty of people enjoyed seeing the various videos and the squad enjoying the once-in-a-generation moment.
Fast forward a year, and everything looked a bit stage-managed.
The outgoing President of Business Operations, Chris Heck, found time to plead his case in the form of a list of achievements he had been responsible for during his tenure.
It’s no coincidence he listed 76 things on his success list to keep up his SEO on search engines with his previous affiliation with the Philadelphia 76ers. where he held a similar role between 2013 and 2022.
There’s no point in going through the list, many weren’t down to him and some of the ‘achievements’ are tenuous at best: “London Office,” “Crazy Train,” “150 Game” to name three in particular.
I’m sure his supporters will celebrate the London Office more than they would an Aston Villa FA Cup win – or maybe they’ll credit him with a songwriting credit on Crazy Train?
But the celebrations Everton put on for the last game at Goodison compared to the afterthought that was Aston Villa’s 150th game against West Ham are symptomatic of his tenure.
Minimal effort backed up by social media supporters in an effort to Make Villa Great Again (We’re still waiting on that hat…).
The truth of the matter is, an awards ceremony being about anything other than the players is ugly and self-serving, especially when the team had bigger fish to fry a few days later. Who knows if it would have made a difference to how the game at Old Trafford went, but there would’ve been time to cancel them at least.
UTV
Follow Phil on X/Twitter here – @prsgame
Follow MOMS on Twitter/X & Facebook & Threads & Bluesky
