The season in claret and blue

[dave.woodhall]

A few random notes.

https://heroesandvillains.info/2026/06/07/the-season-in-claret-and-blue/

[Legion]

Done.

[frank]

An excellent summary, Dave

[darren woolley]

Brilliant read Dave.

[dave.woodhall]

Brilliant read Dave.

Thanks Daz.

[Percy McCarthy]

That’s the kind of confidence I like.

[UK Redsox]

'First in a generation' is a great line

[TopDeck113]

Spot on.  In the coming weeks, I think we can have a serious conversation about Villa Park being the next destination for the Premier League trophy.  Yes, we need to bolster the squad in all the areas we know, have better luck with injuries, etc. but we're about to start a season when most of the usual suspects are under new management and Arsenal come across as a team just as likely to be a one-hit wonder as one entering a period of dominance.  We have stability, a monkey off our back and a genius at the helm.

[AV82EC]

Spot on.  In the coming weeks, I think we can have a serious conversation about Villa Park being the next destination for the Premier League trophy.  Yes, we need to bolster the squad in all the areas we know, have better luck with injuries, etc. but we're about to start a season when most of the usual suspects are under new management and Arsenal come across as a team just as likely to be a one-hit wonder as one entering a period of dominance.  We have stability, a monkey off our back and a genius at the helm.

Steady on. I’m as optimistic as the next man about our chances moving forwards, we’re one of the best 4-6 clubs in the country I’d say BUT we still lack the squad to seriously challenge for the title imv plus we’re in a post World Cup season and have the added challenge of PL and CL throughout the autumn and winter. It’s going to be tough just like it was 2 seasons ago when we were only just above mid table at Christmas and our late season charge got us back in the conversation for Europe. I’d be quite happy being comfortable in the top 4 this season and go all out in the CL personally.

[dcdavecollett]

In fairness to TopDeck, his proviso was that we would need to avoid a bad run of injuries, something that we appear to struggle with.

[Nelly]

A great read, thank you.

I think behind closed doors, the club probably will be looking to build towards a title charge. As mental as that is to type. I don't think the club's management are the type to set themselves up for a fall by broadcasting that, and yeah there are so many variables and we're so far away in most metrics, but! We have Unai Emery and he is the great equaliser for us. So who knows. We were in the mix for a long part of this season.

But either way, what a brilliant season it's been. It still hasn't truly sunk in for me. I thought we'd properly fallen off when our incredible run ended but it somehow ended up being one of the best seasons ever for the club. I'm so grateful I witnessed it after so long without doing anything noteworthy.