Dave Woodhall on the final remnants of Villa’s season.
The season’s finally over. It must be – there were Villa supporters in fancy dress at Carrow Road. They may have made the game look like it was played in a carnival atmosphere but in reality there was nothing of the sort, even of the sun did also make an overdue appearance. A poor performance ended a terrible season, as ninety grim minutes were endured against a backdrop of Alex McLeish, not for the first time but probably for the last, coming in for sustained abuse throughout.
Villa were, of course, not entirely free of relegation worries and the team did their best to prevent this from becoming a nothing-at-stake end to the season by letting in two early goals. Bolton, though, didn’t keep their end of the bargain by ever looking likely to score 15 and the match drifted towards its painfully obvious conclusion, the only incident of note being the ovation given to Carlos Cuellar as he was substituted before the end of what will almost certainly be his final game for the Villa. Model professional or drain on the club’s resources? The jury is still out on Cuellar but he gave his all every time he played and that’s more than most of his current teammates can claim. Shay Given was probably our best player, which says everything about a match that the more optimistic/deluded of us thought might have been one final chance for the team to cast off its shackles and play with a bit of freedom. They didn’t, and they couldn’t.
The match, and the season, finally ground to a halt with more interest being paid to matters elsewhere, as late goals for Stoke and QPR meant that at least Villa avoided the embarrassment of only staying up on goal difference. Manchester City’s winner, in fact, not only gave them the title it also lifted Villa back above Rangers so we end the season in sixteenth place. It goes without saying that this is not good enough, and those members of the board present at Carrow Road cannot fail to have noticed both the appalling performance but also the contempt in which the manager is held by the fans. The recent defeat at home to Bolton showed that this had reached worryingly high levels at Villa Park – now it’s obvious that the travelling support has had enough as well.
There was just time for one last bit of manager-baiting as the players disappeared down the tunnel for the final time until August. Afterwards McLeish talked optimistically of the challenges that face Villa during the summer, but I don’t think even he believes he will be around to implement them. There’s a frighteningly wide chasm between supporters and the club now, and only the removal of the manager will begin to heal this.