Great Expectations: We are in the same boat as Everton and Tottenham
Wednesday, 24 June 09, 07:22 AM · Comments (32)
Expectations are ultimately the rope that hangs every football manager: expectations from the fans, the players, the chairman and the overall footballing community. Why do Newcastle currently find themselves facing up to life in the Championship? Because they had a chairman and a group of fans who had a ridiculously unrealistic set of aspirations that led to them sacking capable managers (Allardyce) and replacing them with un-capable ones (Shearer and Keegan).
In the past few weeks having spoke to various Villa fans and read various internet posts there is a remarkable sense of doom and gloom in the air. Indeed, there has been talk of O’Neill out and concerns over the fact that our board now finds themselves out a major crossroads.
Have those three years really gone so fast? Since O’Neill has been Villa manager we have finished 12th, 6th and 6th, in the last two seasons we have asserted ourselves as realistic contenders to the top-four as well as consolidating our place in the 5-7th category, a category that only Everton have really asserted themselves in too. Our squad has been completely overhauled and yet people are still very negative towards O’Neill and Villa at the moment.
My question to those people is: what do you expect from Villa next season? Do you automatically expect us to be 5th or even 4th next year, because we finished 6th last season? Because surely by that logic, Liverpool would have to win the league next season as they finished 2nd last season and Everton would have to finish 4th next season as they finished 5th. Now where would that leave Arsenal and Manchester United? Surely, they have to progress as well and so should Wenger be sacked if Arsenal do not get 4th place or higher? Should Ferguson be sacked if United fail to win the title?
Villa do have a side capable of finishing 6th or 5th right now, they really do. Yes, we have lost Barry and Laursen but our squad is still strong and very capable. Cuellar will certainly improve from last year and I recall many Villa fans perfectly satisfied with Sidwell as Barry’s replacement last summer. They are both good players, who both struggled last season because of injury and subsequently inconsistency. But, the main point is that of course O’Neill will bring in players, he knows we need reinforcements and he knows just how crucial Laursen and Barry were to us, so surely it is understandable that he will take his time with finding ample replacements. From what I can gather both Laursen and Barry’s departures came as somewhat as a surprise to Villa. Laursen was pencilled in for a start in the United away game in April, so for him to be announcing his retirement the following month suggests it wasn’t something particularly on O’Neill’s or Laursen’s mind. Barry for me was always touch and go whether he would stay or not but the fact that Lerner came out and publicly backed him to stay the week before he left for City, strongly suggests that it was a surprise move for everyone concerned.
I expect Villa to be challenging in and around the Champions League places next year, anywhere from 4th to 7th would not be a progressive season for us. Just because we finished 5th last year gives us no divine right to finish the same or higher the following season. Man City have been spending money like there is no tomorrow, but they have yet to buy any players that have convinced me they will make Champions League football next year. More than likely they will be battling it out with us, Everton and Spurzzz for those 5th, 6th and 7th spots. It is also worth remembering that us and Everton have a head start on Man City in the sense that our players have been playing together and have gelled as a side for a good few years. City will end up buying about eight new players this summer and they will be expected to gel amongst a squad of players who were hastily thrown together by Hughes last January, as well as having to suffer stupidly high expectations from a footballing community that wants them to fail.
Progression for us next year would be further consolidation in the upper-echelons of the Premier League, sorting out our horribly, erratic home form and a bit of cup glory in either the League Cup, FA Cup or Uefa Cup. I just hope that the fans expectations are realistic, otherwise we could find ourselves in trouble…
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32 Comments · Add yours
one of the most sensible villa fan articles i've read in a while. people calling for MON's head, and moaning about lack of transfer activity (even though Man U havent even signed anyone yet) need to get real!
I almost entirely agree with this post,
We need a few (3 or 4) additional players to bolster the squad,
I can see us realistically finishing fourth IF and its a big if, we can ensure that when ash, gabby and milly tire we have adequate replacements to throw on in their place NOT youth team / reserves but first teamers.
Also we need to make it Fortress Villa park again!!
look at other waana be clubs who drift away!! apart from us and Everton consistency has been a huge problem.
At least we aren't toying with relegation like small heath do.
I trust MoN and expevt us to have a proper season without the fade in the last third of the season.
UTV
What a load of SHITTEE Barry leaving came as a supprise...RUBBISH. MON should take his time to replace players???? He's had 3 years and we've still got a tiny squad but now minus 2 of the best players we had. Our squad is pathetic face facts. Will he buy the quyality we need + the numbers??? I doubt it... Rose Tinted glasses springs to mind.
great-expectations-we-are-in-the-same-boat-as-everton-and-tottenham----
Yea accept Tottenham are a big club compared to the other two.
steve - tottenham a big club don't make me laugh you're just Newcastle in diguise! Ha Ha ha
Reply to steve:
im a spurs fan and you are a prat, we are exactly at the same level as everton and villa
Reply to DECO:
The point was Barry leaving at the time he did and to whom he did was the surprise. I think many fans and the management were hoping he would run out his contract. As Randy said, the transfer fee was irrelevant - we didn't need the money.
He's had 3 years to REPLACE the squad. What we had before was dire (bar Olly, Laursen, Bouma and Barry), and he has replaced those crap players with decent ones. Now he has a squad that proved last season we can challenge up there in the top 4. Barry and Laursen are/were not the be-all-and-end-all of Aston Villa. They are replaceable and I fancy Martin to do just that in the first week or so of July.
Negativity is part and parcel of the game and of supporting a football club, but it is only relevant when looked at objectively. Here you've just realised you've pissed your pants and want to take it out on O'Neill . Most players are on holiday still after world cup qualifiers!
your opinions are as worthless as the player you've named yourself after...
Excellent post, very well written.....I was starting to think I was on my own in my thoughts on our beloved club....the Premier League is finally living up to all its own and Sky Sorts hype, with Villa and Everton, a rejuevenated Spurs and who knows Man City all giving the so called 'top four' a run for their money next season I hope. Then there is Fullham and West Ham with decent managers and teams. It is the strongest the prem has been since its conception, so anyone thinking one team can leave all the others for dead is fantasy, no matter what they spend, good for our country as a whole.
So Deco, tell me......who else around us has bought anything outstanding so far ???? .....thats right...no one
I'm a spurs fan and see another pointless conversation about who's a 'big-club' and who isn't... Until any of us break into the top 4 we're not going to think that either are a big club. We all have great history's, but failed to achieve anything significant in the past 10 years.
Please stop this big-club ball bags, its fruitless and no one is going to convince the other!
spurs a small club with no history. another newcastle in the making. scummy spurs
Reply to steve:
The original article is truthful about Villa (and /Everton's) exoectations for next season. Small changes are realistic given the budgets and the hideous asking prices now, particularly for English players. I suspect that this is due to FIFA and UEFA's 6+5 policy. A good case in point to highlight this is the current situation with both Everton and Villa keeping a watchful eye on the Blades' Kyle Naughton. A good player from the second division, but £7m? Surely too much by at least £3m.
I think Villa will struggle a bit next year. I'm trying to be realistic here rather than sarcastic. Laursen was a massive loss to you last season and that will be compounded by the loss of Gareth Barry. I think I am right in saying that Villa only won one league after losing Laursen in January, which says a lot.
Young is a classy winger and was a great buy, I thnk Agbonlehor got a bit stale and tired last season and the reason for this was the under performance of the strikers. I'm afraid John Carew is more trouble than he is worth and Heskey never was a great player, even when he played his best at Leicester for MoN.
Martin O'Neill is a lovely bloke, affable and knowledgable, but look at his track record with Leicester and Celtic and his style is boring and predictable.
As for the comments from the Spurs fan being a big club, the word deluded springs to mind. Spurs have not been a big club for more than 50 years, since they last won the league in 1962. They are THE perennial under-achievers in the Prem and since it's inception have been the third highest spenders in the division. They have no stability and rotate Managers and Players every year like the veg section in Tesco. Between them, they will have lost c.£20m on Bentley, Bent and Hutton in little more than a year. Pathetic financial and man management and as another reader commented, they are the next Newcastle waiting to happen.
As for Everton, like Spurs and Villa, we simply don't have the funds to compete with the top 4.
Spurs havnt been a big club since the 60s? Huh..I think Spurs won many F.A.cups and three cups in europe since the sixties. But winning silverware does not define who is the big clubs. I still consider Chelski to be an average sized club. They just have money. Spurs, off there own backs have the money to spend and always have had. This is why out of the three clubs mentioned in this article Spurs have the greater chance of breaking into the top four and staying there. Spurs are oneof the richest clubs in te world with one of the largest fa bases. That is why i think Spurs are a big club, not because of any silverware they have won in the past.
Reply to AVFCBristol:
CAN YOU READ? I said he has had 3 years to get the size of our tiny squad bigger & it's still tiny. Young, Carew, Millner & Petrov aside MON's signings have been shocking. He paid 8.5m for Coker i rest my case.
barry was always leaving that's why he didn't turn up on the awards night...was your there??? I was & everone knew he was leaving so dont bull me with it was a supprise. MON should of known this last Chrismas & had a replacement in mind. But as we all know he leaves it all to the last min & then he will moan about the small squad & value for money etc.
Reply to DECCO:
Dicco- You just seem like a thick cunt to me, signings don't happen by the click of a button, they take time, especially decent ones, and you'll find most signings happen in the last couple of days of the window for most clubs. Man city have only managed because of their ££££££££££'s, no player going to that club will have the love and desire to play football like they did, Barry will never be the same for them as he was for us
what a pile of utter shite "No player going to that club will have the love and desire blah blah" - the players that are coming to City are qualirt signings and we will put a decent team together that will challenge you and Everton - top 4 is still some way off - footballers are professional foorballer - its world cup year next yeardo you honestly think that they wont put a shift in to manke sure they get to SA - its clear reading footy forums that the teams who have most to loose with City current spending are the ones who are kicking up most shit ie Everton and Villa by making utterley ridiculas statement -
The thing that bothers me is that Villa have a very small squad. They have now lost 2 more players, 2 quality players, which have made the team even smaller. Now MON needs to replaces Laursen and Barry so there is 2 signings needed to be made. And in my opinion the team needed around 6 or 7 signings before they left. So now in my opinion the need around 8 or 9 new QUALITY players. Not the drivel such as Harewood, Knight and Salifou. And for any team to buy 8 or 9 players needs to be quick. Villa need to buy some quality players to help them push on into the top 4, now them players are available for the right price but the main problem is that a lot of other clubs will be looking at them, this is why MON needs to be quick in the market. So at the moment i'm slightly dissapointed by whats gone on. Although I'm still optimistic MON will do us proud and purchase some good young players.
UTV
This page is so poor. I haven't visited in a while and only once or twice since the despicable behaviour of this company to the site's previous writer/owner.
The article written above sounds like the opinion of an outsider from the club - not that of a fan.
Such a shame.
There are plenty of things to discuss of real merit rather than this generic transfer tittle tattle. Very poor indeed.
Big club, small club, who's the better club? It is a futile argument and one that is painfully evident in just about every forum at the moment! Let it be decided on the pitch where it really counts.
Im sick of the same old crap every year! In martin o neill we trust forget that crap trust him doing what exactly selling player after player after player without replacing them
Aston Villa = Selling Club
Allready 3 out 0 in or the ones that are in are bloody kids for the youth squad
We need senior player's and thats a living FACT you only have to look at the numbers we have of 1st team players
Hurry up and retire fergie and man u take o neill off our hands i bet he wouldnt sign the likes of emily heskeys for man u would he ? No because they wouldnt allow or have that would they but for us villa those sort of players are ok ? Give me a break
Give it two more weeks and we will here the same old crap we heard for the past two seasons...We are trying to streghten we are trying to bring players to the club
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completely agree with this post, and yep I would like us to be contending for a champion leagues spot, but also I would like us to maintain our 6th place as the first priority!
Also, just to say MON and Lerner have done an amazing job, everyone keep up the good work, 110% behind them!
Hiya,
As an Evertonian I am a bit of an intruder here but your situation at Villa is near to our own, to be honest I would expect a positive result agains Villa 50 per cent of the time and expect to lose the same... I expect us to beat Tottenham every time...the same goes for Man City (until the cash starts to take effect). Nevertheless we did break into the top 4 a few years ago with a worse squad than we have now... and a few quality additions for us or the Villa and we will be right up there. If Villa take that step before us... then Good Luck to you lads I will be made up for you. The gulf between us and the 'Big 4' doesn't mean it can't be breached. Money and quality will always be the biggest 2 factors but passion will always be a factor as well so long as you have it in in sufficient quantity.
Good post, very reasonable...
Villa showed great potential and ability to compete on the highest level, but you never know what happens after the summer transfer madness. And Barry leaving for ManCity...
I just hope next season will be competitive and interesting, because the 'Big four' thing is getting old (and I doubt MU or Arsenal will be as strong next year), and AVFC might have the power to break into top four...
sorry to change the topic here but, what is all this about owen and heskey linking up again at villa? if owen came, i doubt he and heskey would actually play together very often if at all. that is of course, if MON keeps his sanity and realises that we have two strikers in carew and agbonlahor that are better than heskey and suit our style of play far more than heskey does.. so for that partnership to materialise, surely you would have to see agbonlahor AND carew injured at the same time OR, agbonlahor and carew subbed in the same game.
bloody hell mann. Spurs are jst as big club as us, face it lads. there history is impectable and their past players are 10 tymz beta than we've eva had: greeves, blanchflour etc.
villa and spurs are both sleeping giants and both hv more history than arsenal and chelsea.
Nw 4 nxt season instead of the past:
bouma's gnna b bk which is a massive boost to the bk 4, however, wiv the loss of Laursen we need a gd replacement and i fink Micah richards wuld b perfect,s till needs improvement bt hus beta 2 do tha than MON?
I fink that barry can easily replaced tbh, i fink we shuld sign tha defour n leave it 2 him n gardner 2 battle it out, gardner has the potential 2 hv a gr8 season given the chance this season.
We need 2 replace barry n laursen n then add at least 4 or 5 others. so i hoping 4 at least 6 or 7 signings - the sme as last summer.
Reply to steve:
Steve you are a real dick. I normally don't get involved in this my clubs bigger than yours nonsense but you are so stupid I can't help myself. Everton and Villa are both bigger clubs than Spurs. The only advantage you've got is being in London. Get real
Son of a Spurs fan, I think you've been brainwashed by your Dad. Impeccable history? Like the way they have never won the European Cup and have only won the league twice
Spurs, Villa and Everton are all also rans until they/ we qualify for Champs League regularly and challnge to win the league. At least some fans know this not like the ever so deluded Spurs fans. Get in the Champs League 4 years in a row and win the title a couple of times then come back and tell us how big you are
Reply to steve h.:
Steve H, 80% of Everton fans are great guys and totally reasonable. 80% of Spurs fans are Terry big Trousers forever spouting on about how great they are on other teams sites. Why do they do that?
everton have won more league titles than the two of you so shove that up your bumhole and shit it out
Looks like one of the 20% has just posted.