In 2016, Aston Villa had been relegated to the second tier of English Football, our first time out since the inception of the Premier League. Tony Xia had taken over from Randy Lerner and Roberto Di Matteo had come in as head coach so we looked strong favourites for going straight back up. However, things didn’t quite go to plan.

Never Got Started

There had been a huge overhaul of players but although we still had some of the previous season’s team at the club when we began life in the second tier (Championship) at Sheffield Wednesday. a narrow 1-0 defeat which started what would be a troublesome start. Just one league win and 10 matches later, a 2-0 defeat at Preston North End spelt the end for Di Matteo.

In his place came another ex Birmingham City Manager Steve Bruce, who knew the division well and had been promoted 4 times.

Results started to improve but it became clear that we were not going to do what we did in 1988 and bounce straight back into the top division. A 11th place finish leftbus expecting more in the following season.

What Might Have Been

Bruce was also a multiple Premier League winner as a player with Manchester United and another former title winning captain now joined the coaching team. John Terry, who had 18 outstanding years at Chelsea, had taken up a new challenge to join a team with promising loan players Sam Johnstone and Robert Snodgrass plus an exciting home grown talent in Jack Grealish, who was starting to mature and settle in well.

Come the Spring of 2018, Villa were in the play-off positions and had an outside chance of going up automatically. In the end, we finished 4th and took part in our first ever Football League Play-offs.

The Semi-Finals saw us take on Middlesbrough and a narrow 1-0 win away was enough to take us through to the Final at Wembley where we played Fulham. It had been a long hard season and the Fulham game proved one match too many, a 1-0 defeat and worrying times lay ahead. Where would the trouble end?

Knights In Shining Armour

The Summer of 2018 brought news that we would could soon be in administration or worse as Xia had issues putting money into the club from his native China.

The club had to be sold and fast. After much false hope, at last a buyer was found. NSWE group (now known as V Sports) led by Billionaires Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens had a majority share and we could continue the job of trying to get out of the Championship. Steve Bruce remained the boss, for now.

Cabbage Gate

Much was expected in the 2018/19 season as we kept hold of Grealish and bought a fiery Scottish Midfielder you may have heard of called John McGinn. Promising young striker Tammy Abraham joined us on loan and the promotion charge was on.

The start was inconsistent with much talk about Bruce’s future, who had recently lost both of his parents. Like the previous Manager, the end came against Preston North End in early October although this time the game was at home. After leading 2-0, we fell 3-2 behind and then brought it level. At 3-3, veteran Midfielder Glenn Whelan took the penalty and missed. The crowd were always split on Bruce mainly because of his Birmingham connections. A cabbage was thrown onto the field and the general feel round the ground told us the supporters felt it was time for a change.

One Of Own

Bruce was dismissed the day afterwards. He didn’t bring us up but I feel he started the journey back.

His replacement was a man who had stood on our terraces and whose Dad had been a steward. Dean Smith had impressed at Brentford and now was given the opportunity to manage the team that meant so much to him. He also become the first man since Gerard Houllier back in 2010 to win his opening game, a 1-0 success over Swansea City at Villa Park.

The Fallen Giant Has Risen Again

Despite some good wins, consistency remained a problem and most of the fans were resigned to another season in the Championship as we entered Spring.

Then came 10 straight wins to propel us from mid table to play-offs and in with a chance of getting back to the Premier League.

We finished 5th and faced rivals West Bromwich Albion. After coming from behind to win 2-1 in the first leg at Villa Park, a 1-0 defeat after extra time at West Brom, meant penalties. Jed Steer was the hero in goal, saving the first two penalties from West Brom. It was left for Abraham to score the 5th, to send us through to the Final.

This time we played Derby County, with the belief that nothing was going to stop us. Goals from Anwar El Ghazi and McGinn sealed a 2-1 win and our first Premier League Football since 2016. The Giants were back!

2020

Much hope and excitement was felt, as we were back with McGinn and Grealish staying plus key signings such as Tyrone Mings (after a successful loan spell), Ezri Konsa and Douglas Luiz.

It had been a tricky start but as we entered 2020, we found ourselves just above the relegation zone and back at Wembley, in the League Cup Final. We therefore the only team that had been in a cup final in 14 different decades.

Injuries started to mount with key players such as Tom Heaton and Wesley suffering long term injuries that effectively ended their time at the club.

We were now in big trouble as we faced Manchester City in the League Cup Final. Having lost 6-1 at home earlier in the season, many pundits were expecting the most one sided Final. They said that in 1957 in similar terms when we played Manchester United in FA Cup Final and looked what happened to that!

After going 2-0 down, Samatta pulled one back but we didn’t do enough and now faced another relegation battle. Then came another bigger battle which not even the gaffer seen coming.

Lockdown

The rumours and the stories were true. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced lockdown in March 2020 with the breakout of Covid-19. Everything had stopped- nightlife, shopping and Football.

We found ourselves in 19th place where after 3 long months of waiting, Football was allowed to return but with one of the most important elements of a Football match, the fans, still missing. 

We were battling hard but with 4 games to go, it looked like relegation was a certainty. Then form arrived just when we needed it, and saw us pick up 7 points in the next 3 games, to climb out of the relegation zone ahead our last game of the season at West Ham.

A positive result would be enough to relegate Bournemouth and as long as Watford didn’t better it at Arsenal, we were safe. The game was 0-0 going into the final stages with Bournemouth going on to win 3-1 at Everton and Watford being 3 down to bring it back to 3-2.

Then the boy came to our rescue once again, A Grealish goal put us in the lead. A late reply meant a nervous end but we held out for a 1-1 draw, meaning Bournemouth had gone down. The players huddled on the pitch waiting to hear the final whistle at Arsenal. It had come, 3-2 to the Arsenal and Villa were safe. Much improvement was needed for the following season.

Pandemic

With things still not improving, Villa fans were unable to attend until the final home game of the season. We had been busy brining in more key signings with Emi Martinez, Matty Cash & Ollie Watkins.

The season started like a house on fire, 4 straight wins which included a 7-2 thrashing of the defending Champions Liverpool at Villa Park.

Come 2021, we had a really good chance of our first European adventure since 2010 but a covid breakout in the squad derailed us. Still, an 11th place finish was an improvement and in the next season fans would be back to see all the stars. However, one of those names would be missing.

One Of Our Own

Jack Grealish had made a massive contribution to the team that he loved but rumours had spread that he was going, year after year. A release clause of £100M saw most of them off, apart from Manchester City.

With a desire to play Champions League and with a very heavy heart, the deal was done. Grealish had gone, with the money immediately being reinvestigated in the team with Leon Bailey, Emi Buedina & Danny Ings coming in.

Hopes were high but after a promising start, a 1-0 defeat at Southampton which was a 5th straight league defeat was one bad run too many for Smith. With a heavy heart, the board decided to make a change. Smith like Grealish had made a telling contribution to the club that he loved and whoever came in, it was never going to feel the same again. Smith was our Gaffer.

The Chosen One

Christian Purslow wanted one man to take over, Steven Gerrard. Gerrard won many trophies in a successful playing career at Liverpool and had been successful as Manager at Rangers and ‘Stevie G’ was the man chosen to push the club to a higher level.

Villa finished 14th, whilst we were never in a risk of getting relegated, nothing suggested an exciting new era was around the corner. 2022/23 did not start well for Gerrard and a 3-0 defeat at Fulham with all sections of the crowd singing ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning’ it spelt an end to a tough 11 months. Who was going to come in to the hot seat.

The Elite Coach

The man was Spanish, with an impressive CV, and had won four Europa League trophies. His name Mr Unai Emery. Emery had experience in the Premier League having managed Arsenal as the replacement for long term Manager Arsene Wenger. Now he was back in the UK having had success in La Liga with Villarreal.

His first match couldn’t have been tougher, a home game against Manchester United, where we were looking for a first league home win in 27 years!

We made an amazing start racing into a 2-0 lead and going on to win 3-1. After the Winter World Cup, we looked like a good outside bet for a European place before 3 straight defeats in February looked like end to that dream.

Then came 9 wins in 13, to put us 7th, ahead of the final league game at home to Brighton & Hove Albion, looking for a win to push us in the Conference League. It was achieved, a 2-1 win and our first European adventure in 13 long years. A pipe dream indeed back in 2016.

Unai’s European Adventure

We found ourselves in the Conference League, a fairly new competition that was introduced in 2021. West Ham United had won it the previous season and there was much hope that we could add another European Trophy to the cabinet.

First we faced a Play-Off which would be a battle of Britain as we faced Scottish opposition in Hibernian. The match was over at Easter Road in the first leg as we won 5-0 with Watkins netting a hat-trick.

A 3-0 win in the second leg to a comfortable 8-0 win on aggregate rewarded us with our first ever place in the group stage.

This would also be the last as the new format would be brought in to the following season as League stage (more in the next edition).

We found ourselves in Group E with Polish side Legia Warsaw, Dutch side AZ and Bosnian outfit Zrinjski Mostar.

After losing our first game in Warsaw (3-2) four straight wins, with three of them coming at Villa Park, booked our place in the knockout stages. A 1-1 at Mostar sealed top place and a straight passage to round of 16.

The Big One

Whilst we made steady progress in the Conference League, our domestic league form was going well as we found ourselves in title contention at the end of the year (sound familiar?!). A troublesome start to 2024 with home defeats emerging and injuries to key players looked to derail our season and steal our hope of returning to Europe’s Premier competition since our defence of European Cup in the 1982-83 season.

Grandstand Finish

we returned to the knockout stages of Conference League in March 2024 with a last 16 clash with Dutch giants Ajax. This was not just the last time it would be the last group stages of European club football but also the last time sides that failed to qualify for knockout stages (3rd place) through drop stages going down competition, a rule I never liked.

Ajax was one of those and after a 0-0 draw in Holland, a comfortable 4-0 win in second leg which included a goal from recent signing Morgan Rogers, sealed safe passage to Quarter-Finals.

We were holding on to the last place for the Champions League in 4th place despite home defeats to Manchester United (2-1) and Tottenham Hotspur (4-0). We

were doing just enough to grind out results.

The Quarter-Finals saw us take on Lille from France. Goals from Watkins and McGinn helped us to 2-1 win at Villa Park, going into the 2nd leg. We fell 2-0 behind and looking like the adventure would end. A Matty Cash goal at the end saved us and took the game into extra-time,

No further goals and the game went into penalties. Emi Martinez is a World Cup winner with Argentina and two time Lev Yashin trophy winner but is also a wind up merchant! The shootout saw him to be hero and villain. A hero as his two saves helped us to win 4-3 on penalties. A Villain though as his booking in the shootout, saw him suspended for the first leg of the Semi-Finals.

Our opponents were Greek side Olympiacos with the first leg at Villa Park. After going 2-0 down, we pulled it back to 2-2 with goals from Watkins and Moussa Diaby. Then with tiredness coming in to our boys, our visitors went on for a famous 4-2 victory. 

There was still hope but a very long one. A 2-0 defeat booked Olympiacos a place in the Final which they went on to win, beating Fiorentina 1-0.

Back At Last

With just 2 games to go, we faced our final game at Villa Park of the season against Liverpool. A win would book our place in the Champions League. We fell behind to bizarre own goal from Martinez before Youri Tielemans pulled us level.

After going 3-1 behind, it looked like a missed opportunity until the vibrant Jhon Duran came in and got 2 goals to bring it back to 3-3. Diaby had a shot saved at the end but we gained a valuable point.

The next day saw the only team who could stop us, Tottenham Hotspur, take on Manchester City, who were looking for a 4th straight title. It was touch and go but a 2-0 win for City meant we could celebrate.

A place in the Champions League to look forward to. Who saw that coming 8 years ago?!

Final Edition- Our European Dream