Randy Lerner is probably the most popular foreign owner in the Premiership. He has spent £100m to £140m since he took over at Villa. But the club, the strongest in the populous Midlands, seems destined to remain one of the chasing pack. Titles have been dominated by Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United. The key factor is the Champions League rather than the Premiership.
Randy Lerner is probably the most popular foreign owner in the Premiership. He has spent £100m to £140m since he took over at Villa. But the club, the strongest in the populous Midlands, seems destined to remain one of the chasing pack. Titles have been dominated by Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United. The key factor is the Champions League rather than the Premiership.
If you count Liverpool as a top four club, two of the top clubs are in London and two in the north-west. Two of the following pack (Everton, Manchester City) are in the north-west and one is in London (Spurs). The football hotbed of the north-east has only one club in the Premiership this year. Although Newcastle United will return next year, mid-table consolidation is probably the best they can hope for.
The Midlands should have four clubs in the Premiership next year, but more likely than not, one of them will be mid-table and two of them in the relegation league (the price West Brom pays for financial prudence). Villa is the club with regional pulling power, but it suffered from mismanagement at a crucial stage of the development of English football.