The first mid-season change many of us can remember was in February 1982, when Ron Saunders walked out and was replaced by Tony Barton. Although Barton was named caretaker for a time he did well enough to get the job permanently. His first match was a 1-1 draw at home to Southampton, followed by an FA Cup defeat at Spurs then a draw at home to the same opponents. Not much of a bounce but four wins and two draws then took us into the European Cup semi-finals and set us up nicely for the rest of the season.

The next managerial change during the season came when Graham Turner was walked around the rose garden Chez Ellis in September 1986. His replacement was Billy McNeill, who started off well with a draw in the League Cup away at Reading and a creditable 3-3 at Liverpool then three straight wins. That was a decent bounce but as good as it got in a season that most thought could never happen again. Little did we know.

Even by our standards the next few years were a bit interesting, as the team were never far away from a relegation battle or a title chase. November 1994 saw Ron Atkinson getting sacked and in a Ugo’s Debut scenario Brian Little’s first game was a defeat at Crystal Palace in the League Cup rather than the following 1-1 draw away to Leicester. Another draw, at home to Everton, wasn’t much of a start but after losing to Southampton, eight ganes unbeaten was a delayed bounce.

When Little left in February 1998 his replacement was John Gregory, the most successful bouncer of all. 2-1 at home to Liverpool was just the start of ten win from thirteen games, and the run carried on into the following season.

Gregory had finally had enough of working for Doug Ellis four years almost to the day after being appointed. Sir Graham came back because he said he had unfinished business and a 1-1 draw at home to Chelsea wasn’t a bad start. Sadly that was the first of a run that saw just one win in ten games and the great man never recovered.

Technically Gerard Houlier was a new arrival during the season, as he finally started six weeks in, with a 3-1 League Cup win at home to Blackburn. A win away to Wolves, defeat at Spurs and a goalless draw with Chelsea was a middling introduction to the new boss, but things went downhill from then until January and a Darren Bent-inspired revival.

Paul Lambert held onto his job until losing at Hull in February 2015. Tim Sherwood came in for a 2-1 defeat at home to Stoke and another at Newcastle before two wins against the Albion that took football back to the Dark Ages and inspired the most delayed and one of the most successful bounces of all. It was just a pity it couldn’t have lasted another couple of weeks.

Sherwood went in October 2015, with Villa in deep trouble. His replacement, Remi Garde, got off to a decent start, drawing 0-0 with Manchester City. Then the bounce became a splat. A very big, very messy, splat.

When Garde got sacked we didn’t bother replacing him until the summer and the next man up, Roberto Di Matteo, didn’t stay long. In October 2016 we’d thrown away enough points for Tony Xia to get rid and enter Steve Bruce. A 1-1 draw at home to Wolves, our first away win in an age at Reading and a total of seven games unbeaten was a reasonable enough new manager bounce, although in the end it wasn’t enough. Decent but not enough summed up Bruce at Villa Park.

Cabbagegate in October 2018 was followed by the Dean Smith fairytale,although the new manager took a while to work his magic, A 1-0 win at home to Swansea then defeats away to Norwich and QPR were followed by three wins, including Alan Hutton Day and the 5-5 against Forest. It was a good start. It got a lot better.

In November 2021 Deano was sacked, to be replaced by Steven Gerrard. 2-0 at home to Brighton and a win away at Palace followed by an unlucky defeat at Manchester City saw Villa bouncing well enough to make us think we might have a decent manger here. Wrong.