Former Villa manager Paul Lambert certainly thinks they are and calls for a dose of realism at the relegation threatened club.
Former Villa manager Paul Lambert certainly thinks they are and calls for a dose of realism at the relegation threatened club.
It’s probably the case that expectations are too high at almost all clubs and that football fans have become more demanding of instant success over time. These expectations are focused on the manager, possibly because of the spread of computer games. A new manager is expected to solve all the problems quickly when he has inherited a set of players who are the ones on the pitch.
But what about Villa specifically? It’s surely not unrealistic for a club with their heritage and support base to expect to remain in the Premiership? As a regional club for the West Midlands, they should be capable of better things, although there are plenty of alternative allegiances available to fans.
Manchester has become the football capital of England and Birmingham has fallen behind in a number of ways, being slower to take advantage of new forms of local government. The city council has hardly been well run.
As for Villa, I think that a lot of damage was done by Doug Ellis and Randy Lerner has not been inclined to dig deep enough into his pockets to repair it. Meanwhile, unsurprisingly, no buyer for the club is in sight.