John Barnes revealed that he thought Aston Villa were a huge club and that if they were promoted to the Premier League then supporters would expect them to finish higher than Bournemouth.
Barnes made these remarks after Andy Gray revealed he was worried that some Premier League sides, not including Everton, had no aspirations of breaking into the top-six as they see it as an impossible task.
“These teams go into the league every year Richard (Keys) not expecting to get in the top-six, there’s about 14 clubs there, maybe Everton are the exception, well there’s about 12 or 13 teams there with no aspirations of getting in the top-six as they think it’s impossible, they think it’s a close shop,” said Gray on beINSPORTS, as seen in a clip on their Twitter account.
Keys then interrupted Gray to share that as a supporter of a side just coming out of the Championship, where you’ve seen your team win 20 or 30 matches, just winning eight is treated as a side doing well.
This point prompted Barnes to enter the conversation to deliver his verdict on Aston Villa and share that it all depended on who was promoted to the Premier League.
“It also depends on the club who comes into the Premier League as I’ve mentioned, Aston Villa are a huge club,” replied Barnes.
“So their expectations are to finisher higher than Bournemouth but the reality is Bournemouth are better than them.”
OPINION
Aston Villa haven’t even secured promotion to the Premier League yet and pundits are already debating their aspirations. The Villans have a chance of reaching the promise land, however they need to overcome the play-offs which is no easy task. However if they do emerge victorious, Villa will likely not be content with just surviving in the Premier League next season. Barnes is right to call the Villans a huge club however why should he mock supporters for expecting to finish higher than Bournemouth? It’s a realistic target to set if the Villans do the right business in the summer upon winning promotion, and there’s nothing wrong with a little ambition. Especially when it’s a realistic aim to simply try to finish higher than Bournemouth. The Cherries only currently sit 13th in the Premier League after all, so it’s not like Villans fans are out-of-line to expect their side to have at least of chance of faring better in the top-flight.