In days gone by when you saw the team line-up, you’d look to see if a certain player had been passed fit or what slight tactical selections had been made, and then think, depending on who Villa were playing, “Ah, we’ve got a chance here” or “we should win this”. I can’t remember the last time I had those thoughts. Now, it doesn’t matter who’s on that team sheet, the general consensus is this squad is simply not good enough.
Why? Is a question you need to aim at the likes of Tom Fox and Paddy Reilly, who chose the players (and the former manager Tim Sherwood).
Six points from 16 games. That’s three games off the half-way point in the season, which is both a disgrace and an embarrassment. We’ll discuss this situation later, as I’m sure other media and Villa blogs will, but in the meantime, here’s five reasons to be cheerful as Aston Villa fans…
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4. NEW CHAIRMAN INCOMING
Randy Lerner will finally see good on his promise of appointing a chairman at Villa, after Villa CEO Tom Fox announced the news at his Q & A before the Arsenal game. Another board member is expected in too. But is it too little, too late?
What difference this will make remains to be seen, but one expectation is for the chairman to take over from Lerner’s involvement in the club and to have a more hands-on approach (compared to Lerner that is).
At the meeting, Tom Fox also clarified the roles of Paddy Reilly & Hendrik Almstadt, the breakdown of his relationship with Tim Sherwood, the fact there would be no big signings in January and that there would be a meeting with Lerner this week in New York.
Interestingly, Tom Fox didn’t seem to be too accountable for what has happened so far this season, for which he is directly responsible. This club has been a mess for several seasons, but a 38 point-a-season kind of mess. At the moment, with three games to go to the half-way mark of the season, Villa are on course to be a sub-20 point mess at the end of the season.
To drop to that level while Fox has been CEO has been completely unnecessary and can only be registered as a complete failure.
It will be too late for any new chairman to have much influence on this season, but depending on who it is, they may save this club from further rot.
