2006-2010 A new start and a dream ticket of an astute manager and a moneyed owner. What could possibly go wrong. Well it all blossomed a lot quicker than expected before the realisation set in that the manager wasn't quite up to his reputation and the owner was still only a billionaire after all. In retrospect, O'Neill was probably the manager from hell. A big risk if you said 'yes' and even bigger if you said 'no', courtesy of his media friends. Maybe we climbed too quickly in year two and money ended up being spent on shoring up faltering top 4 charges from launched from feet of clay, rather than investing with the long term in mind. We won fuck all, O'Neill's CV got worse rather than better and Lerner got poorer.
2010-11 Tries to do right thing, but ends up spending big money merely to arrest decline. The rivets are staring to pop.
2011-12 Can't do right for doing wrong. It starts to become apparent that the club is in serious financial crap. Brickbats that consisted of 'should have done more to keep O'Neill' are replaced with 'should have got rid sooner'. We didn't want the new manager before he arrived and it didn't get any better.
2013-2015 Did we do a Leeds? Pfft - amateurs. They may have had tens of thousands of pounds worth of tropical fish in the boardroom, but we got a 4 mill pub at the end of the street. With a 43 million pound loss posted at one stage and players contracts we can no longer afford we ought to be swimming in the same divisional backwaters as other financially knackered former greats. But we arent. Lerner sticks at it and takes a shedload of financial pain himself. Against this backdrop we unbelievably see out the storm and stay in the premier league. It's actually a minor miracle, but are people grateful or even offering a proverbial pat on the back?
On the pitch, Lamberts team is like a motor bike struggling to start. Fits of cylinders briefly spitting into life, but mostly the dispiriting lifeless whirr that suggests it's going to take a good deal more than a beefy kick start to get on the road.
2015 more compo and another fresh face, Well, fresh if you ignore the effects of sleep privation. From absolutely nowhere we are playing the best football seen from a Villa team for decades. We're are in the Cup Final and with greater reason for hope we had in 1957, let alone 2000. I actually want Lerner to stay. New owners may bring better executive management but it's only going to seem even less like my Aston Villa than it already does. I hope he's at the cup final and sees us win. It's not just the supporters that deserve a grand day in the sun after so many years of pain.
The future belongs to Louzie.
