You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain. On April 16 this year a Marcus Rashford goal earned Manchester United a 1-0 win over Aston Villa.
The loss saw The Villains confirm their relegation status, ending a near three-decade run in England’s top flight. It wasn’t too long ago they were mixing it with the big boys finishing just outside the top four.
Now as they prepare for their maiden season in the Championship, it is hard not to be reflective and not to wonder how did such a historic club get to this low point?
Aston Villa, a side that has 20 major trophies in its cabinet – including seven top division titles and a Champions League win – just suffered through the worst English Premier League season since Portsmouth 2009-10, recording just three wins and a measly 19 points.
Remarkably, in the 2009-10 an Aston Villa side featuring the likes of Stewart Downing, Ashley Young, and James Milner finished in sixth position for the third consecutive season.
A side seemingly on the verge of Champions League football were instead at the beginning of a downward spiral.
Two years later the aforementioned trio alongside experienced players, Robert Pires, Steve Sidwell and John Carew all left the club and the side had dropped to 16th position.
While they received decent money for their transfers, bargain buys, Ron Vlaar and Christian Benteke – whose goals arguably saved the side from relegation in past years – were followed by unknown players from small European leagues with no English Premier League experience.
This was the point Sky Sports presenter, Jeff Stelling made in March when he gave his brutal opinion live on air.
“The club are set to conduct an end of season review, why waste the time?
“They sold Benteke, Delph and Weimann, you don’t replace Cleverley and let Ron Vlaar go and don’t replace them. You buy a clutch of French players you have never heard of, sack the coach and replace him with someone with no Premier League experience.
“Then you get relegated,” he said.
Former Manchester City trio Scott Sinclair, Micah Richards, and Joleon Lescott were all brought to the club this season but had little to no effect on the side.
A win away to Bournemouth on the opening day saw them start the season with promise however they waited 19 matches for their next victory.
It got pretty unbearable for Aston Villa supporters.
All hopes of surviving were then destroyed when the side lost 12 of their past 13 matches including a 6-0 defeat to Liverpool, and 4-0 losses against Manchester City, Chelsea, and Arsenal.
The Villains being kept scoreless was a common trend in the 2015-16 season, they finished goalless on 17 occasions this season.
However it wasn’t just on the field where the club failed, many fans and pundits pointed the finger at former owner Randy Lerner.
The American-born investor bought the club in 2006 for $125 million. During his decade long ownership Lerner hired seven different managers, from UEFA Cup-winning manager Gerard Houllier to relatively untested Frenchman, Remi Garde.
Along with the many managers, 91 transfers were brought into the club while 101 players departed the club.
So it was no surprise to see the club have financial issues in the past. In February 2012 Aston Villa announced a loss of £53.9m ($108.3 AUD) and two years later Mr Lerner put the club on the market for £200m ($402m AUD).
The backroom issues began to come to light last month when Board of Directors members, David Bernstein and Lord King resigned. The duo were only at the club for a couple of months but BBC reported that they became frustrated about the lack of progress the club was making.
On Wednesday, Mr Lerner announced the sale of the club to Chinese businessman Dr Tony Xia for £60m ($120m AUD). In a candid letter on the club’s website, the outgoing owner admitted his personal and professional matters made it ‘impossible’ to contribute to the club as much as he did when he first took over.
While fans are left to ponder life in the second division for the first time since 1987, Dr Xia has already made plans to make his new business venture a success.
“My ambition is to bring Villa to the top six in less than five years and I hope it can be [one of] the top three in the world – even the best well known in the world – in less than ten years,” he said.
He has even held discussions with Roberto Di Matteo to take over the club as manager. Di Matteo famously won the FA Cup and Champions League with Chelsea in 2011-12 before being sacked by Roman Abramovich eight months later.
After seeing what happened to one of the great English clubs this season it is hard to imagine them immediately returning to the top flight, especially with a player clear-out surely on the cards but there is no doubt the 141-year-old club will rebuild and return to the success of their storied past.
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