Those who write such ignorance will never have had the experience available on a warm Sunday afternoon, with a walk through Aston Park, the leaves on the avenue of trees that once led towards Carriage Drive turning brown in the Autumnal sunshine. On days like this you feel a real connection with our Victorian forebears.

There’s no approach to a football ground like it anywhere in the country. Sunday’s visitors Fulham come close with their Thameside walk but until they find a previously-undiscovered Jacobean mansion in the shadow of Craven Cottage they’ll remain a poor second.

Such a genteel pre-match routine was only tempered by the announcement of the team, with the world’s number one thankfully recovered, Pau Torres and Boubacar Kamara dropped while Morgan Rogers kept his place. There were hints that Unai Emery might have entered the ‘picking a mystifying line-up’ stage and when Fulham went a goal up from a corner thanks to part-poor marking and part-good header, ominous thoughts such as “lost the plot”, “taken us as far as he can” and “Steven Gerrard” began to surface.

They continued as Fulham remained the better side and had two penalty appeals, the first risible, the second a lot closer. Torres was brought on for Tyrone Mings well before half-time and it may be that one of our remaining talismen might be coming to the end of his Villa Park career. If so, he will be deservedly remembered for a long time to come.

Emery has been criticised for his slow build-up play and perhaps he might bear in mind whet happened eight minutes before half-time, when Ollie Watkins ran onto Lucas Digne’s long ball forward and chipped over the Fulham keeper for an equaliser that was hardly deserved but nevertheless welcome. The frenzied reaction from player, colleagues and supporters alike told its own story.

There was a further bit of mystification when Emiiano Buendia replaced Harvey Elliott at half-time, so naturally within a couple of minutes Villa took the lead when the new arrival gave the ball to John McGinn to carry forward and score from twenty yards. Then less than two minutes later Rogers totally missed/brilliantly dummied the ball for Buendia to stab home Villa’s third. On balance, I think Unai probably knows better than we do.

That was the end of the excitement for the day, although Ezri Konsa did well with a goalline clearance. McGinn came off with what seemed to be a minor injury, replaced by Kamara to add more bite to the centre of midfield. Lamare Bogarde had done well enough to justify his selection, and it might be that we’ll be seeing more of him as the season progresses, should Unai be deciding whether Kamara might be our next PSR sacrifice.