Aston Villa may have ended the season without a trophy, but the mood around the club remains overwhelmingly positive.
We spoke to Charlie Haffenden of BirminghamWorld to reflect on a campaign full of progress and promise under Unai Emery.
We spoke to Charlie Haffenden of BirminghamWorld to reflect on a campaign full of progress and promise under Unai Emery.
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00:00Now, Aston Villa may have ended the season without a trophy,
00:06but the mood around the club remains overwhelmingly positive.
00:10Villa have shown real growth, reaching the latter stages of the Champions League
00:14and making a strong push in the FA Cup.
00:17While falling short of silverware is a disappointment,
00:19the signs of long-term development are clear.
00:22MRA has built a resilient, tactically sharp squad
00:25capable of competing on multiple fronts.
00:27With European experience now under their belt and a core group settled,
00:32Villa are in an excellent position to come back stronger and aim even higher next season.
00:37We spoke to Charlie Haffenden of Birmingham World to reflect on a positive campaign,
00:42one full of progress and promise under Unai Emre.
00:47Charlie, let's look at Aston Villa.
00:49And obviously, you know, so much has happened in the last month or so
00:53with their incredible rise to go and beat PSG at home
00:56and just fall short in the Champions League.
00:58FA Cup, Wembley, Tripp didn't go quite to plan.
01:01Crystal Palace were pretty impeccable on the day.
01:04Let's just reflect on their sort of season domestically,
01:07their achievements so far.
01:09I mean, you know, no matter how the end of the season goes,
01:13the race for Champions League, no matter how that goes,
01:15how that pans out, they can take so many positives from this season,
01:19from this campaign.
01:19And Unai Emre's, you know, words of saying Villa want to compete,
01:24Villa want to be a side back in the Champions League again.
01:27I mean, you can't really doubt him with how far they've come so far
01:31in such a, you know, such a short amount of time, really.
01:34It's incredible.
01:36When he took over from Steven Gerrard,
01:38they were down right in the relegation battle.
01:40He then got them up into top half in tension,
01:42got them to Europa Conference League,
01:44then the Champions League,
01:45then to go to the last eight of the Champions League
01:48and very nearly turn things around against PSG
01:50after that 3-1 defeat at the Parc de France.
01:53That victory at Villa Park was just incredible.
01:56The noise within the stadium,
01:57the belief that they could just go on to bigger and better things
02:00and try and replicate heroics of the early 1980s.
02:04Not quite happening in the end.
02:06FA Cup semi-final disappointment at Wembley.
02:09There's so much frustration from fans
02:10because Villa going into the games against Man City as well
02:13is a huge six-pointer for the Champions League race
02:15in the Premier League
02:15and then the game against Palace at Wembley.
02:17They were the best-formed team in the entirety of Europe
02:20over the last 10 matches,
02:22but they did manage to fall away at the key moments, unfortunately.
02:25So, as you say,
02:28so much incredible achievements this season,
02:30but they won't have a trophy to show for it
02:32and they might not even have Champions League football
02:35to show for it next season.
02:36So, a bit of a strange one, a bit of a mixed bag,
02:39but I think if you look at it on the whole
02:40and where Villa were a few seasons ago,
02:42they've taken another step this year,
02:45signing the likes of Asensio, Rashford.
02:47That wouldn't have been possible at that point in time
02:49and probably not even at the start of this season.
02:52The financial side, it's still a bit of a worry with PSR.
02:55They need to sort that out,
02:56maybe make a couple of sales this summer.
02:58But, yeah, the reputation of the football club
03:00is certainly on the rise again.
03:02Yeah, let's just look ahead to the summer plans.
03:05Obviously, you know, we've mentioned a number of times
03:07the core in terms of, you know,
03:09these players who've developed under Unai Emre
03:11is so important to keep hold of.
03:14You know, the likes of Morgan Rodgers,
03:15they're going to be attracting attention.
03:17That's just the way it works.
03:18You have a great season for a club
03:20that maybe isn't quite at the very elite level yet.
03:23Then those elite teams do come knocking.
03:25And, you know, in terms of the summer,
03:27how important is it that they keep players
03:29as much as adding a few more top-class additions
03:32if they can, obviously, with the financial restrictions?
03:34It is very important.
03:37Morgan Rodgers is the man you mentioned.
03:39It's been emerging that Chelsea are interested.
03:42But I think Chelsea are interested in most players
03:44that perform well for other Premier League clubs.
03:46It just happens every single season, doesn't it?
03:48Myself as a Brighton fan,
03:50it's happened with us and Chelsea in the past.
03:52It doesn't necessarily mean
03:53they're going to go and sign Morgan Rodgers.
03:55And what's to say that Rodgers
03:56would want to make that move anyway?
03:58He's from the West Midlands.
03:59He's near his family.
04:00He grew up around here.
04:02And he's loving his life at Villa being a key player
04:04under Unai Emery.
04:05And it's more of a system player as well, Rodgers.
04:08Would he fit into the Chelsea system
04:09as well as he would Villa?
04:11I'm not too sure.
04:12But it's not just him.
04:13It's the likes of Uri Tielemans as well.
04:15Oli Watkins up front.
04:17Can we maybe see Watkins leave this summer?
04:19Is his time up at Villa?
04:20His form this season hasn't quite been as it was.
04:23Like a Newcastle, for example.
04:25They're forced to make these big sales.
04:27Yet you've got Man City,
04:28who are spending a ridiculous amount every summer.
04:31Chelsea, Man United,
04:32they find ways to do it.
04:33Some sort of rule change
04:35needs to happen at some point soon
04:36because it's just not fair.
04:38But the reality is
04:39that they all need to make sales
04:40before they can even think about making new signings.