Aston Villa - Has the push ended?

I remember back in 2006 when American billionaire Randy Lerner took over at Aston Villa. Having flirted with relegation the season just past he slowly set about stabilising the club with reasonable investment.

In his first season he broke Aston Villa's transfer record by allowing MoN to sign Watford winger Ashley Young for £8m along with £6.5m-rated Stilyan Petrov (who is now a very influential member of the team. Picking up striker John Carew in January, Villa plodded along and finished in a respectable 11th.

2007/08 season saw a number of big players sold but in their place came Nigel Reo Coker (£8.5m!), Marlon Harewood, and £3.5m signing Zat Knight. A couple of influential loans also came in, boosted by Wayne Routledge joining in January which saw Villa finish in a very impressive 6th. Lerner's investment was starting to have a real effect on the previously-struggling club.

2008/09 saw Aston Villa's first taste of European football in 6 years and once more Lerner spent considerable sums in the transfer market. It was clear for all he was taking Villa somewhere special and turning them into a top side, understandably short of competing for the title but a club capable of sustaining regular European football. Curtis Davies, Steve Sidwell, Brad Friedel (£2m), Nicky Shorey, Luke Young (£6m), Carlos Cueller (£7.8m) came in and few major outgoings saw Villa strengthen greatly in the summer. To further boost their season, Emile Heskey joined in the winter for £3.5m. The future was looking very bright for the midlands club and they again finished 6th in the league, narrowly pipped to 5th by Everton, a position Lerner was clearly aiming for. Worrying for the American though was the fact this was the season of Man City's takeover by a much richer man than himself.

The following season, once more Lerner spent heavily in the transfer market but not before selling the club's best player Gareth Barry to the 'new rich kids on the block', Man City for a fine sum of £12m. This money was used to buy Stuart Downing but the American still pumped money into the club with the signings of Fabian Delph, Habib Beye, Stephen Warnock, James Collins (£5m) and Richard Dunne (£6m) with Zat Knight being the only major outgoing that summer. Come January there was no activity, but for the £3m sale of Craig Gardener. The club, once more, finished 6th though importantly this time behind Tottenham and the much-changed Man City, Liverpool's horrendous season keeping Villa in the Top 6, but only just. The club had two fantastic cup runs, semi-finalists in the FA Cup and runners up in the League Cup but already there were signs that Lerner's pocket money was running out.

Indeed this lack of funds is what prompted MoN to leave the club in the summer of 2009/10 though the Northern Irishman had perhaps failed to break into the higher reaches of the league before the (re?)arrival of Man City as Lerner would have expected from his investments. Once again the club relied on the passed down riches of the Citizens as they sold yet another star player, James Milner for £26m, bringing in the tempremental Stephen Ireland in his place for £8m. With no further investment and general unrest under new management, Lerner saw his club struggle in the league which forced his hand and saw the arrivals of Jean Makoun (£6m) and record signing Darren Bent for a fee rising to an astonishing £24m, shocking pundits around the world. This late boost saw Villa finish 9th, 14pts from European football but only 2pts above 14th place.

Now under Alex McLeish, a man noted for working on a shoestring, Lerner seems set to recoup some of his lost money and accept his dream of breaking into the magical Top4 is over with the rise of Tottenham, Man City and Liverpool filling out a very comfortable Top6 along with Man Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal. Top keeper Brad Friedel joined Spurs with Shay Given his £3.5m replacement. The two major outgoings however were star wingers Ashley Young and Stuart Downing for £17m and £20m respectively, both sold early in the window and Lerner sitting on a healthy sum of money, the only player brought in was Charles N'Zogbia for £9.5m.



The big question is, does Randy Lerner now feel that his initial plan when taking over the club of breaking into the Top4 should be scrapped? He attempted to buy his way into the elite but his plans were well and truly spoiled when Man City (and now Liverpool) showed much greater clout and left Villa for dust. Is the dream now over for Villa?


I actually wanted Villa to do it, of course at the time we too were dreaming of our new billionaire owner taking us to the top but I was intruiged at the possibility of Villa mixing it with the big boys and unlike us, they showed real signs of doing it. This is even despite the foul behaviour of a number of Villa fans, I wanted their American dream to shake the league up. I can't help but feel now the window has passed and they are now weighed down by a rather bulky wagebill. They have a gem in Darren Bent however their team has been picked apart by the uber rich and their owner seems resigned to being a mid-table club. I can't see him splashing the sash once again in January with Europe completely out of reach so for now I think the fun times are over.

For a while I considered Villa a 'class above', maybe I gave them too much credit but I had the mentality that they were a club on the up and that I'd be happy with Newcastle taking a point from them, home or away. Not now. I look at our respective squads and all I see between us is a striker, that's it.

We've been through the **** and oh how their fans have reminded us but we're back and leaner, as a club we're financially stable. Sure, the magic £35m is probably just as hidden away as Villa's £37m but with light investment in January (a reasonable striker) I see us caught back up with Aston Villa and as such, I see no reason we can't expect a result tomorrow.


This Fosters seems to have heated my blood a little and caused me to spew out a mountain of garbled words but I guess what I mean to say is;

HOWAY THE LADS! SMASH VILLA!!!!!

 

I forgot they had Given. We'll be lucky to score, considering our ****e strikers and they're amazing keeper.

I can't see Villa going anywhere soon, they've stopped investing, never invested in anything other than established Premier League players anyway. Never went for the stars.

 

They'll never break the top 4 and neither will anyone else, sadly. You have Man United, Chelsea, Man City and Arsenal who'll remain there untill the next rich billionaire comes along and does a "Manchester City". No other team, apart from Liverpool can compete with their ability to spend big. Arsenal maybes could drop out, but the Arsenal board and Wenger wouldn't let that happen.

We did it, spending big to achieve the ultimate, fair enough we succeeded in the short term but it almost crippled our club financially and it got us overrated players who were past it.

Villa have spent big and have a breif spell in the Europa League to show for it, Randy Lerner seems reluctant to pump more money into the team, but who can blame him? To be the best you have to buy the best and that means spending huge amounts of cash..



It all comes down to money, and that's the sad thing about it.

 

Villa's problem is they achieved success with some good (possibly lucky) signings, and so now they are so afraid of failing, they won't buy any untested players (HBA and Tiote etc.). As a result, they aren't improving, just getting older.

 

**** club - **** fans!

I ****ing hate the vile

 

I think a lot of people forget just how close they were to 4th that one season - I still wonder if signing Heskey (which cause MoN to play more long ball, losing the advantages of Agbonlahor and Milner's pace) is what cost them that place.

Since then they haven't been close.

 

And even then, with the new UEFA Fair Play rules, there won't be any 'Man Cities'. Clubs will have to break even - consolidating the 'Top 4' even more.