Villa show how to challenge the elite
Of all the strange episodes in Aston Villa’s recent history, the one where West Midlands police worked with the club to try to identify which disgruntled fan threw a large cabbage at Steve Bruce must rank right up there. The offence occurred even before Bruce’s Villa threw away a two-goal lead and drew 3-3 with Preston North End, the Championship’s bottom club in 2018. Quite a few Villa fans had had enough of the manager, who departed shortly after.
In six years since, Villa have risen from the vegetable patch to the lush fields of elite European football. Their Champions League victory over Bayern Munich was greeted with unconfined glee at Villa Park and should also be celebrated by other clubs aspiring to challenge the elite. Villa demonstrate that it is possible to break into the VIP parties in England and Europe in the age of Profit & Sustainability Rules. It’s been a juggling act, one they have managed. Villa still had to sell in the summer to meet PSR and stave off the threat of a points deduction. They were offered good money for Jacob Ramsey, Emi Martinez and Ollie Watkins but chose to sell Douglas Luiz to Juventus for £42m as he was not so much in Unai Emery’s plans. So how have Villa done it?
GOOD ACADEMY
One of the keys to meeting PSR. Ramsey came through the academy and started against Bayern. Jaden Philogene, another academy graduate, also started (having been bought back from Hull City). The defenders Lamare Bogarde and Sil Swinkels were on the bench as was forward Kaden Young. Villa have the balance right between nurturing talent for the first team, giving Emery options, meeting home-grown quotas, and delighting fans who love “one of our own”, and also generating income, following the Manchester City model. Jack Grealish emerged, entertained, helped get Villa promoted, and was ultimately sold for £100m, which was vital revenue for the club. Others like Carney Chukwuemeka and Cameron Archer have also been sold on, pure profit under PSR. Villa were very reluctant sellers of Chukwuemeka in 2022 but the lure of Chelsea was large; he would probably have played more if he’d stayed.