Aston Villa go trophy-less in 2024/25 campaign and face financial worry again ahead of summer window

National World - LocalTV

Aston Villa’s campaign promised so much—and for long spells, they looked capable of delivering something special. Under Unai Emery, the club pushed deep into Europe and held their own in the top four conversation, but ultimately, silverware proved just out of reach.

Transcript

00:00Aston Villa's campaign promised so much and for long spells they looked capable of delivering

00:09something special. Under Unai Emery, the club pushed deep into Europe and held their

00:15own in the top four conversation, but ultimately silverware proved just out of reach.

00:22There were plenty of positives. Villa's style of play matured, the squad depth improved

00:28and key players hit new heights. Emery's influence was clear, building a side with

00:33control, resilience and ambition. But fine margins cost them in cup competitions and perhaps

00:40in the final stretch of the league phase. Now comes the challenge of sustaining this

00:47trajectory with Champions League football still a possibility next season. Can Villa push again,

00:55this time with the strength to turn promise into prizes. We spoke to Charlie Haffenden of

01:01Birmingham World to reflect on Villa's near miss season and what needs to happen for them

01:07to take the next decisive step.

01:12Charlie, let's look at Aston Villa and obviously so much has happened in the last month or so with

01:18their incredible rise to go and beat PSG at home and just fall short in the Champions League.

01:23FA Cup, Wembley trip didn't go quite to plan. Crystal Palace were pretty impeccable

01:28on the day. Let's just reflect on their sort of season domestically, their achievements so far.

01:34I mean, you know, no matter how the end of the season goes, the race for Champions League,

01:39no matter how that goes, how that pans out, they can take so many positives from this season,

01:44from this campaign. And I am raised, you know, words of saying Villa want to compete, Villa want to

01:49be a side back in the Champions League again. I mean, you can't really doubt him with how far

01:55they've come so far in such a, you know, such a short amount of time, really.

02:00It's incredible. When he took over from Steven Gerrard, they were down right in the relegation

02:04battle. He then got them up into top half in tension, got them to the European Conference

02:09League, then the Champions League, then to go to the last eight of the Champions League and very

02:14nearly turn things around against PSG after that 3-1 defeat at the Parc de France. That victory at

02:19Villa Park was just incredible. The noise within the stadium, the belief that they could just go

02:24on to bigger and better things and try and replicate heroics of the early 1980s. Not quite happening in

02:31the end. FA Cup semi-final, disappointment at Wembley. There's so much frustration from fans

02:36because Villa going into the games against Man City as well as a huge six-pointer for the Champions

02:40League race in the Premier League and then the game against Palace at Wembley. They were the best

02:44formed team in the entirety of Europe over the last 10 matches, but they did manage to fall away at the

02:49key moments, unfortunately. So, as you say, so much incredible achievements this season, but they

02:56won't have a trophy to show for it and they might not even have Champions League football to show for it

03:00next season. So, a bit of a strange one with a mixed bag, but I think if you look at it on the whole

03:05and where Villa were a few seasons ago, they've taken another step this year, signing the likes of

03:11Vicentio, Rashford. That wouldn't have been possible at that point in time and probably not even at the

03:16start of this season. The financial side, it's still a bit of a worry with PSR. They need to sort

03:21that out, maybe make a couple of sales this summer. But yeah, the reputation of the football club is

03:25certainly on the rise again.

03:28Yeah, let's just look ahead to the summer plans. Obviously, we've mentioned a number of times the

03:32core in terms of these players who've developed under Unai Emre is so important to keep hold of.

03:39The likes of Morgan Rodgers, they're going to be attracting attention. That's just the way it works.

03:43You have a great season for a club that maybe isn't quite at the very elite level yet, then those

03:49elite teams do come knocking. In terms of the summer, how important is it that they keep players as much as

03:54adding a few more top-class additions if they can, obviously with the financial restrictions?

04:01It is very important. Morgan Rodgers is the man you mentioned. It's been emerging that

04:06Chelsea are interested, but I think Chelsea are interested in most players that perform well

04:10for other Premier League clubs. It just happens every single season, doesn't it? Myself as a Brighton fan,

04:15it's happened with us and Chelsea in the past. It doesn't necessarily mean they're going to go and

04:19sign Morgan Rodgers. And what's to say that Rodgers would want to make that move anyway? He's from the

04:23West Midlands. He's near his family. He grew up around here and he's loving his life at Villa,

04:29being a key player under Unai Emery. It's more of a system player as well, Rodgers. Would he fit into

04:34the Chelsea system? Some sort of rule change needs to happen at some point soon because it's just not

04:38fair. But the reality is that they all need to make sales before they can even think about making new signings.

04:44And we'll be talking about taking the course.

04:45So, let's see who was interested in seeing the 2018 eligible news.

04:46So, we're not the first of all.

04:47We need to get back in the 2018 eligible titles.

04:56So, let's get back to that ...

04:57We need to go into the 2018 eligible titles.

05:00I am currently trying to make sales.

05:02We need to double-check my new회, which is in 2018,

05:03but we need to go into 2018.

05:05And we need to get back for this year.

05:05So, let's go ahead and take us this time and look at the 2018 starting point.

05:07We'll be possible in 2018.

05:07We need to go into 2018.

05:09We're now going into 2018.

05:10And now we're trying to do two registries.

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