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Aston Villa’s progress this season under Emery despite falling short in Champions League and FA Cup
National World - LocalTV
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02/05/2025
Aston Villa may have ended the season without a trophy, but the mood around the club remains overwhelmingly positive.
We spoke to Charlie Haffenden of BirminghamWorld to reflect on a campaign full of progress and promise under Unai Emery.
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00:00
Now, Aston Villa may have ended the season without a trophy,
00:06
but the mood around the club remains overwhelmingly positive.
00:10
Villa have shown real growth, reaching the latter stages of the Champions League
00:14
and making a strong push in the FA Cup.
00:17
While falling short of silverware is a disappointment,
00:19
the signs of long-term development are clear.
00:22
MRA has built a resilient, tactically sharp squad
00:25
capable of competing on multiple fronts.
00:27
With European experience now under their belt and a core group settled,
00:32
Villa are in an excellent position to come back stronger and aim even higher next season.
00:37
We spoke to Charlie Haffenden of Birmingham World to reflect on a positive campaign,
00:42
one full of progress and promise under Unai Emre.
00:47
Charlie, let's look at Aston Villa.
00:49
And obviously, you know, so much has happened in the last month or so
00:53
with their incredible rise to go and beat PSG at home
00:56
and just fall short in the Champions League.
00:58
FA Cup, Wembley, Tripp didn't go quite to plan.
01:01
Crystal Palace were pretty impeccable on the day.
01:04
Let's just reflect on their sort of season domestically,
01:07
their achievements so far.
01:09
I mean, you know, no matter how the end of the season goes,
01:13
the race for Champions League, no matter how that goes,
01:15
how that pans out, they can take so many positives from this season,
01:19
from this campaign.
01:19
And Unai Emre's, you know, words of saying Villa want to compete,
01:24
Villa want to be a side back in the Champions League again.
01:27
I mean, you can't really doubt him with how far they've come so far
01:31
in such a, you know, such a short amount of time, really.
01:34
It's incredible.
01:36
When he took over from Steven Gerrard,
01:38
they were down right in the relegation battle.
01:40
He then got them up into top half in tension,
01:42
got them to Europa Conference League,
01:44
then the Champions League,
01:45
then to go to the last eight of the Champions League
01:48
and very nearly turn things around against PSG
01:50
after that 3-1 defeat at the Parc de France.
01:53
That victory at Villa Park was just incredible.
01:56
The noise within the stadium,
01:57
the belief that they could just go on to bigger and better things
02:00
and try and replicate heroics of the early 1980s.
02:04
Not quite happening in the end.
02:06
FA Cup semi-final disappointment at Wembley.
02:09
There's so much frustration from fans
02:10
because Villa going into the games against Man City as well
02:13
is a huge six-pointer for the Champions League race
02:15
in the Premier League
02:15
and then the game against Palace at Wembley.
02:17
They were the best-formed team in the entirety of Europe
02:20
over the last 10 matches,
02:22
but they did manage to fall away at the key moments, unfortunately.
02:25
So, as you say,
02:28
so much incredible achievements this season,
02:30
but they won't have a trophy to show for it
02:32
and they might not even have Champions League football
02:35
to show for it next season.
02:36
So, a bit of a strange one, a bit of a mixed bag,
02:39
but I think if you look at it on the whole
02:40
and where Villa were a few seasons ago,
02:42
they've taken another step this year,
02:45
signing the likes of Asensio, Rashford.
02:47
That wouldn't have been possible at that point in time
02:49
and probably not even at the start of this season.
02:52
The financial side, it's still a bit of a worry with PSR.
02:55
They need to sort that out,
02:56
maybe make a couple of sales this summer.
02:58
But, yeah, the reputation of the football club
03:00
is certainly on the rise again.
03:02
Yeah, let's just look ahead to the summer plans.
03:05
Obviously, you know, we've mentioned a number of times
03:07
the core in terms of, you know,
03:09
these players who've developed under Unai Emre
03:11
is so important to keep hold of.
03:14
You know, the likes of Morgan Rodgers,
03:15
they're going to be attracting attention.
03:17
That's just the way it works.
03:18
You have a great season for a club
03:20
that maybe isn't quite at the very elite level yet.
03:23
Then those elite teams do come knocking.
03:25
And, you know, in terms of the summer,
03:27
how important is it that they keep players
03:29
as much as adding a few more top-class additions
03:32
if they can, obviously, with the financial restrictions?
03:34
It is very important.
03:37
Morgan Rodgers is the man you mentioned.
03:39
It's been emerging that Chelsea are interested.
03:42
But I think Chelsea are interested in most players
03:44
that perform well for other Premier League clubs.
03:46
It just happens every single season, doesn't it?
03:48
Myself as a Brighton fan,
03:50
it's happened with us and Chelsea in the past.
03:52
It doesn't necessarily mean
03:53
they're going to go and sign Morgan Rodgers.
03:55
And what's to say that Rodgers
03:56
would want to make that move anyway?
03:58
He's from the West Midlands.
03:59
He's near his family.
04:00
He grew up around here.
04:02
And he's loving his life at Villa being a key player
04:04
under Unai Emery.
04:05
And it's more of a system player as well, Rodgers.
04:08
Would he fit into the Chelsea system
04:09
as well as he would Villa?
04:11
I'm not too sure.
04:12
But it's not just him.
04:13
It's the likes of Uri Tielemans as well.
04:15
Oli Watkins up front.
04:17
Can we maybe see Watkins leave this summer?
04:19
Is his time up at Villa?
04:20
His form this season hasn't quite been as it was.
04:23
Like a Newcastle, for example.
04:25
They're forced to make these big sales.
04:27
Yet you've got Man City,
04:28
who are spending a ridiculous amount every summer.
04:31
Chelsea, Man United,
04:32
they find ways to do it.
04:33
Some sort of rule change
04:35
needs to happen at some point soon
04:36
because it's just not fair.
04:38
But the reality is
04:39
that they all need to make sales
04:40
before they can even think about making new signings.
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