Matt Maher: Time for Aston Villa to ignore the outside noise and enjoy the ride
Depending on what numbers you wish to choose, it’s possible to argue Villa supporters haven’t had it this good since 1951.
That was the last time their team won seven of their first 10 league matches in a top flight season, Sunday’s win over Luton adding further to head coach Unai Emery’s lengthy list of impressive statistical achievements since first arriving at Villa Park a year ago.
Just how Emery’s men compare to predecessors of the more recent past when it comes to raising excitement levels among fans is a tougher question to answer.
There is a broad belief this Villa may be the best since Ron Atkinson’s came close to winning the inaugural Premier League title in 1993, though some dedicated observers are prepared to argue even that may be underselling it. The one true consensus is that, not since the first half of Martin O’Neill’s third season in charge, has there been such optimism over what the future might bring.
Yet amid the buzz, it is still possible to detect the fatalism long ingrained in a fanbase bruised by decades of false dawns.
Atkinson once claimed one of the biggest challenges managing Villa was convincing people the good times don’t have to end. Thirty years on, the same still applies and it is perfectly understandable when you consider the club’s succession of good teams who never really matched their promise.
Atkinson’s own won a League Cup but nothing more, ditto that of Brian Little. The latter’s successor, John Gregory, had Villa sitting top of the table in January before they finished sixth, while O’Neill’s dream of cracking the top four imploded amid the Moscow winter and a Glenn Whelan stoppage-time equaliser for Stoke.
