ASTON VILLA’S qualification for the Champions League was one of the most underrated achievements of the Premier League era.
In the previous two decades, only twice has a club from outside the Big Six stormed the barricades to reach the group stage of Europe’s elite competition — Leicester’s 2016 miracle men and Newcastle’s filthy-rich Geordie Arabia project.
So, Unai Emery leading Villa into the top four — above Manchester United, Chelsea, Tottenham, and Newcastle — was a truly significant feat.
It is 41 years since Villa last competed at Europe’s top table, as defending champions following their 1982 European Cup triumph over Bayern Munich.
That Bayern should be the first Champions League visitors to Villa Park, with further home fixtures against Juventus and a ‘battle of Britain’ against Celtic to come, made this campaign even more greatly anticipated among fans.
With Goodison Park and Old Trafford facing the bulldozers, Villa Park will soon be one of the few remaining great English footballing cathedrals.
The place drips with history and pulsates with noise.
From the North Stand banner with a transcript of the TV commentary for Peter Withe’s 1982 winner against Bayern, to the statue of William McGregor, the Villa chairman who invented the Football League — and indeed league football — in 1888, the place is a living, screaming museum.
And last season, this was the Premier League’s feel-good club.
Marooned in the Championship just five years ago, and in deep relegation trouble when Emery had taken over in late 2022, here was a remarkable success story under an excellent manager.
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But then came a spectacular, horrible own goal from Villa’s top brass.
The announcement of ticket prices for those long-awaited Champions League fixtures ranged from an eye-watering £85 to £97, or £70 to £82 for season-ticket holders.
To any person with a grip on the real world, there is a glaringly obvious ‘ouch’ here.
Loyal supporters who had turned up in tens of thousands to watch league football against Burton Albion and Rotherham a few years ago will be fleeced if they want to experience great European glory nights.
It is a case of floodlit robbery from Villa’s owners.
Many fans will now have to pick and choose between Champions League fixtures or forego Christmas presents for their kids, if they can afford to watch any European football at all.
The disconnect between billionaire owners of Premier League clubs — including Villa’s Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris — and punters struggling in a cost-of-living crisis has never been more stark.
But Villa seem particularly tone-deaf, as Liverpool and Manchester City both offer Champions League prices that are lower than £40, while Arsenal include European fixtures with their, admittedly expensive, season tickets.
Villa supporter groups had advocated Champions League prices in the region of the dearest ‘category A’ Premier League matches, at a minimum of £55, but they were ignored.
It is a case of floodlit robbery from Villa’s owners.
Dave Kidd
Running parallel to all this is Villa’s quite justifiable gripe against Premier League Profit and Sustainability Rules.
In an outspoken interview last week, Villa’s chief executive Damian Vidagany claimed these rules were not ‘fit for purpose’.
And he revealed that the club were ‘hours away’ from a ten-point deduction until they flogged Douglas Luiz before PSR’s ludicrous June 30 mid-window deadline.
These complaints are fair. PSR protects the existing elite by denying ambitious owners the chance to spend and compete.
As Vidagany said, Villa needed a ‘miracle’ from Emery to reach the top four.
But the answer is not to penalise fans. Especially when they have waited so long to see their great club competing at the highest level.
An extra 30 or 40 quid a pop is not going to make a vast difference to Villa’s balance sheet, when Champions League participation is already so lucrative — but it certainly will make a difference to families struggling to make ends meet.
This is not the only example of Villa’s hierarchy — with the club’s head of business operations Chris Heck bearing the brunt of criticism — ignoring the financial hardships of fans.
Last week they were forced into a U-turn after doubling the prices of parking spots for disabled supporters.
And the corporatisation of Villa Park is described as ‘excessive’ and out of touch with the core of the club’s fanbase, especially by tearing seats out of the vast Holte End — the stadium’s heart and soul — to create the more expensive ‘Terrace View’ area.
Edens and Sawiris are among the Premier League’s most desirable owners.
Wealthy and ambitious, intelligent in their key appointments, and without any of the human-rights issues regarding state-ownership models at both Newcastle and Manchester City.
Yet they have still managed to turn a serious success story into a firestorm.
And supporters who were rich in anticipation now find themselves significantly poorer.
SNAKE HIGHS
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JACK GREALISH marked his goal for England against the Republic of Ireland with genuine joy.
But his fellow former Irish so-called ‘snake’ Declan Rice opted for that virtue-signalling ‘non-celebration’ celebration.
Interestingly, my English spy watching the match in a Dublin bar says Irish fans preferred Grealish’s reaction to Rice’s.
“If you’re going to sell your soul to the devil, you should at least go the whole hog,” said one.
UP FOR A BUS
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WHILE we harp on about England’s lack of a major trophy since 1966, we seem to have missed the fact Lee Carsley has the chance to become the first Three Lions boss to lead the team to promotion.
Gareth Southgate oversaw relegation to Nations League B, due in no small part to that disastrous 4-0 humping by Hungary at Molineux in 2022.
But Carsley can now pilot our brave boys back to the promised land of League A.
An open-top bus parade to Trafalgar Square in November, anyone?
COLE CLASS
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OF the nine players Harry Kane will join members of England’s 100-cap club, probably the most underrated is Ashley Cole.
Cole won 13 major trophies with Chelsea and Arsenal and is currently interim boss Lee Carsley’s No 2.
He was undoubtedly the best left-back on the planet for a decent stretch of time in the Noughties — only lacking proper recognition due to his pathological hatred of the media.
But those who know Cole well swear by him as a bloke — and his vast international experience will be an asset to Carsley should he land the England job full-time.
MOUR TIME ERIK?
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HOW long has Erik ten Hag got left as Manchester United manager?
Well, if the Red Devils’ results and performances continue to be as bad as the last two matches — defeats by Brighton and Liverpool — then probably not very long at all.
But if you want to pinpoint the Dutchman’s most likely departure date, then how about the evening of October 24, in the wake of a Europa League loss in Istanbul to Fenerbahce and their old boss Jose Mourinho?
BIG ANGST
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WHEN the Premier League returns next weekend, the North London derby will take centre stage.
And it looks a huge fixture for Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou.
The Aussie’s record in his last half-dozen matches against top-half Premier League sides reads: played six, lost six, conceded 17.
If Arsenal win on Spurs soil for a third successive season then Big Ange will be entering crisis territory.
Who are these famous footballers?
