Dave Woodhall has a theory.
Saying it’s our year for the cup has gone beyond cliche and now it’s become self-parody. We say it every season without really meaning it but now there’s a reason to think it might be happening, one that goes beyond for once getting a decent draw, and if we don’t win that one we’re still in the running for another trophy.
To look for a historic parallel we can go back to the greatest Villa manager of all (so far) – Ron Saunders. He arrived at Villa Park with a lot to prove after being sacked by Manchester City. Promotion, two League Cups and some spectacular football bought him the time to fashion a team, and the club, how he wanted it.
By the summer of 1980 Saunders was in total control; he’d got a board that he could master and the final pieces of the jigsaw were in place. The rest is history. This is only a theory, but I’ve always believed that Saunders, great manager though he was, wouldn’t have turned us into European Champions. There were clearly problems off the pitch that affected results and it needed the fresh impetus of Tony Barton to lead the team to further glory.
More than anything the reason why I believe Saunders wouldn’t have won the European Cup was that he didn’t want to. His over-riding goal was to win the league. He wanted to be vindicated, to get one over the people who he believed had done him wrong.
The players who had forced him out at Manchester City, Norwich chairman Sir Arthur South, Doug Ellis, the national media. He’d fallen out with them all, and in winning the league he was vindicated. He wasn’t bothered about the cups in 1980-81 and he wasn’t that concerned with what came afterwards. He’s achieved his goal.
Fast forward forty-odd years and I think Unai Emery is driven in much the same way. His early successes, in getting Villa to Europe and now the Champions League (which you could argue is now every bit as impressive as winning the title in 1981), were the building blocks that gave him the credibility to go for what he wants. Like Saunders the club, on the pitch at least, is now shaped to Emery’s guidelines. He is the dominant figure at Villa Park and appears set to build a dynasty.
And what I believe drives Emery is the same burning ambition as Ron Saunders, but with one difference. Saunders sacrificed cups to win the league; Emery appears driven to winning a knockout trophy. He wants to be a success in England, he wants to prove that he can win honours here.
Ron Saunders wanted to prove his doubters wrong, so does Unai Emery. Those who said he was a failure at Arsenal, who said he couldn’t win in England, who even mock his less than perfect mastery of a fourth language. All of them are in his sights, to have their words rammed down their throats. It’s our year for the cup. Do you want to bet against us?
