When Martin O’Neil resigned in August last year, a season that seemed so full of promise for the Villains off the back of the previous campaign was plunged in to uncertainty.
His departure was blamed on the lack of ambition from Randy Lerner who adopted a sell-to-buy approach in the transfer market toward the end of O’Neill’s tenure.
It was compounded by a humiliating 6-0 defeat at the hands of Newcastle United and the exit from the Europa League at the hands of Rapid Vienna, with care-taker manager Kevin Macdonald proving to be a touch out of his depth.
The enigmatic Houllier hardly got them off to the best start. Languishing in the bottom half of the table for much of the season, they were even flirting with the possibility of relegation at one stage.
But they finished the season strongly, with wins against Arsenal and Liverpool propelling them back into the top half.
On the face of it, they have one of the most dangerous attacks in the Premiership. The £24 million spent on Darren Bent was ridiculed by myself, the public and some sections of the media, but he has lived up to the price tag, banging in 9 goals and becoming the clubs joint top scorer in half a season.
Those goals were vital, particularly with the absence of Gabriel Agbonlahor for much of the season.
Ashley Young and Stuart Downing always pose a threat and are perfect fodder for Bent, who thrives on the end product they produce so regularly.They also provide a constant goal threat, with their end of season goal tally underlining their value to the team, scoring nine and eight respectively.
Added to a nucleus of young talent such as Marc Albrighton, Jonathan Hogg and Fabian Delph and coupled with the relegation of bitter rivals Birmingham, there is a real sense of optimism blanketing the club.
There are doubts over the futures of Young and Villa’s player of the year Downing who have both been linked with moves away, but after releasing ten first team players, surely only serious money could tempt them into selling their star duo.
The players themselves are said to be keen on a move to a ‘bigger’ club. It would represent a sad state of affairs being that Aston Villa is more than a feeder to their richer counterparts.
Yet if that were to happen, Houllier is the right man to replace them.
Already proving that he is shrewd when identifying and capturing important players, Villa could be the surprise package over the summer.
Walker, Makoun and Bradley were all added to the squad along with Bent in January, fitting into the team nicely and adding valuable squad depth.
They have been linked with Jose Enrique and Gervinho, but the unpredictable Houllier has the potential to throw a curveball.
Scott Parker, a midfielder that would replace the inconsistent Reo-Coker, might be on his hit-list. He would provide them with dynamism in the middle of the park, something that has been missing throughout the season.
Whatever the outcome, Aston Villa need to recover from a season that, even the most ardent fan would admit, has been a failure.
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Young needs to go he is stifling us, we are not a top 4 club but his arrogance is one of a top 4 player.
Bent came in for £24million, clearly not feeder club status especially as he came through Sunderland and Spurs.
Is Liverpool a feeder club? A few of their prized assets have been wrenched from their hands?
No, feeder club is nonsense in relation to Villa, we are talking a free market and while certain players may have left us it was not because we acted with any less determination.
Lerner had to sell to buy because we had a squad of complete dross even giving Osborne a new contract but not really bothering to play Albrighton or Bannan. MON had hardly any transfer skills and the moment he was challenged on that he made his application for mutual termination and left waving his arbitration panel forms.
This season has absolutely not been a failure, we have shifted more of the crap, lost our excellent motivator but tactically retarded manager, gained a scouting network, seen some real pass and move football and let some younger team members experience first team football.
Didn’t we also finish in the top half and grab the best English goalscorer?
Oh and those ‘MON’ players, yup they have been shown up as the average Premiership players they always were.
It hasn’t been a great season on the pitch but as an ardent Villa fan it has been a good and very interesting year filled with a multitude of reasons to display passion!
I suggest you re-write this article. There is no-one called Brad Hogg at Aston Villa (Jonathan Hogg?). Scott Parker doesn’t play for Aston Villa.
Football clubs are also businesses. Arsenal and Spurs are two examples of clubs that have done excellent jobs of selling their prized assets and reinvesting well (I am sure some Arsenal fans would disagree with me but overall Wenger has an excellent record) so it’s not about being a feeder club, it’s about doing what is best for the club. Good money for Gareth Barry with one year left on his contract made good business sense, and so does doing the same thing with Ashley Young.
Feeder Club? No what we need to do is get ten year contracts on our players as when they have one year left they either go for something or stay for nothing….. it’s business and common sense, doesnt make Villa a feeder club. Bad article