Ipswich Town v Aston Villa
Saturday 21st April 2018 – 15:00
Portman Road
Pre-Match Thoughts - Mike
One down, Three to go in the short managerial stint of Bryan klug. I can't lie I have found it quite hilarious reading all the forums and social media sites these last few days, if you were to believe everything you read you would think there was already signs of improvement in the performance of the team since Mick's departure and that we were trying to play better stuff, that the team selection was better etc etc, the plain fact of the matter is it was absolutely no different at all, the same shortcomings, same drab play at times, little attacking threat for much of the first half, weird team selection with the odd player being played out of position when a better option was on the bench, you name it, but of course it fits in with the agenda of many to pretend things took a turn for the better as it justifies, in their Eyes at least, that Mick was every bit as bad as they want him to be remembered for. Don't get me wrong I didn't expect much difference in many areas and am in no way having a pop at Bryan Klug but when did a Mick team ever lose Two goals in the dying seconds ? Just saying. As it happens the second half was not a bad performance and we could so easily have got the win with a bit more composure at the back. One person who stood out for me was young Tristan Nydam who has had me bafflked at times as to just how good he may or may not be, this jury was out but I saw a player there on Saturday, without being too cynical many won't have seen it as a lot of what he did was off the ball but his workrate was fantastic and I finally saw a player that could well be a big asset next season.
Each passing day seems to bring a new name to the fore in the race for the vacant managers job at Portman Road and suddenly we have a certain Steven Gerrard emerging as a very real contender, in fact at the time of writing he is showing in places as 9/4 favourite for the job, my initial thought was OMG no way please, too much of a gamble and with no managerial experience whatsoever we just cannot afford to go down that route, however the more I think abouit the more I am warming to it and while he may not be my first choice I can see it may be appealing to Marcus Evans, One thing Gerrard would bring to the club is his undoubted contacts within the game and lots of players would surely be keen to play under such a name within our game in this country. I do think should SG be appointed Evans has to come up with some sort of budget for the guy to work with as even an old head like Mick McCarthy found it so so tough to keep us competitive, anyway watch this space as next week it will be someone else in the frame no doubt.
This week sees Aston Villa come to Portman Road and they still have an outside chance of automatic promotion so will be going all out to win, this should make for a very enjoyable game and with no pressure on us at all we can hopefully go out and express ourselves in a positive way, there is talk of a 19,000 crowd so the atmosphere should be good for our first home game post MM and the 2000 Villa fans will no doubt contribute greatly to the day, with the weather set to be good it may well be a much happier place to be again, I just hope we give it a good go and play some proper Football.
Three games left and still a chance to finish top dogs in East Anglia at last, it's been too long and having been above them for most of the season it would be galling to slip up now, with Norwich having to play Preston (A) Leeds (H) Sheff Wed (A) I can see them getting Four points which means we have to match that so Villa (H) Reading (A) and Middlesbrough (H) do look tough but hopefully Boro's fate is sealed before the last day and reading are no great shakes so we can do it but what nicer way than to stuff Villa on Saturday, should we do that I will really fancy our chances of returning to the position of East Anglia's number one team and all this with a fraction of their budget. My feeling is that we will get something from the game and a low scoring draw looks the likely outcome for me. So come on people, Mick has gone, get yourselves down to the first home game since his departure and start to help rebuild the club, the future starts here, no more excuses. COYB'S.
The Opposition – Aston Villa
Aston Villa Football Club were formed in March 1874, by members of the Villa Cross Wesleyan Chapel in Handsworth which is now part of Birmingham.
Aston Villa's first match was against the local Aston Brook St Mary's Rugby team. As a condition of the match, the Villa side had to agree to play the first half under rugby rules and the second half under football rules.
After moving to the Wellington Road ground in 1876, Villa soon established themselves as one of the best teams in the Midlands, winning their first honour, the Birmingham Senior Cup in 1880.
The club won their first FA Cup in 1887.
Aston Villa were one of the dozen teams that competed in the inaugural Football League in 1888 with one of the club's directors, William McGregor being the league's founder. Aston Villa emerged as the most successful English club of the Victorian era, winning no fewer than five League titles and three FA Cups by the end of Queen Victoria's reign. In 1897, the year Villa won The Double, they moved into their present home, the Aston Lower Grounds.
Aston Villa won their sixth FA Cup in 1920, soon after though the club began a slow decline that led to Villa, at the time one of the most famous and successful clubs in world football, being relegated in 1936 for the first time to the Second Division.
Like all English clubs, Villa lost seven seasons to the Second World War, and that conflict brought several careers to a premature end.
Aston Villa's first trophy for 37 years came in the 1956–57 season when they won a then record seventh FA Cup Final win.
The team struggled in the league though and were relegated two seasons later, due in large part to complacency. However, Villa returned to the top-flight in 1960 as Second Division Champions. The following season Aston Villa became the first team to win the Football League Cup.
Villa was relegated for the third time in 1967.
The following season the fans called for the board to resign as Villa finished 16th in the Second Division. With mounting debts and Villa lying at the bottom of Division Two, and after much speculation, control of the club was bought by London financier Pat Matthews. However, new ownership could not prevent Villa being relegated to the Third Division for the first time at the end of the 1969–70 season.
However, Villa gradually began to recover and in the 1971–72 season they returned to the Second Division as Champions.
In 1974, the club won the League Cup and, at the end of season 1974–75, Villa returned to the First Division and into Europe.
Villa were back among the elite and this culminated in a seventh top-flight league title in 1980–81.
In the 1981–82 season, Villa won the European Cup with a 1–0 victory over Bayern Munich in Rotterdam. The following season Villa were crowned European Super Cup winners, beating Barcelona in the final. This marked a pinnacle though and Villa's fortunes declined sharply for most of the 1980s, culminating in relegation in 1987. This was followed by promotion the following year and a runners-up position in the First Division in the 1989–90 season.
Villa were one of the founding members of the Premier League in 1992, and finished runners-up to Manchester United in the inaugural season. For the rest of the Nineties however Villa went through three different managers and their league positions were inconsistent, although they did win two League Cups and regularly achieved UEFA Cup qualification.
Villa reached the FA Cup final in 2000 but lost to Chelsea in the last game to be played at the old Wembley Stadium. Again Villa's league position continued to fluctuate under several different managers. After 23 years as chairman, and single biggest shareholder, Doug Ellis finally decided to sell his stake in Aston Villa due to ill-health. After much speculation it was announced the club was to be bought by American businessman Randy Lerner, owner of NFL franchise the Cleveland Browns.
The first Cup final of the Lerner era came in 2010 when Villa were beaten in the League Cup Final.
At the end of the 2011–12 season after Villa finished in 16th place, only just above the relegation zone.
On 28 February 2012, the club announced a financial loss of £53.9 million. Lerner put the club up for sale on 12 May 2014, with an estimated value of £200 million.
In the 2014–15 season Aston Villa scored just 12 goals in 25 league games, the lowest in Premier League history, and Paul Lambert was sacked on 11 February 2015, Tim Sherwood succeeded him, and saved Aston Villa from relegation while also leading them to the 2015 FA Cup Final.
Sherwood was sacked in the 2015–16 season, as was his successor Rémi Garde.
Eric Black took temporary charge of the team, but was not able to prevent Villa from being relegated for the first time since 1987.
On 2 June 2016, Roberto Di Matteo was announced as the club's new manager, before being replaced by Steve Bruce on the 12th October.
Last season Villa finished in 13th place with 62 points.
The Manager – Steve Bruce
Past Match - Video Highlights - Trev
Media Watch - K L Blue
Form Guide
Ipswich Last 5 Matches – Currently in 12th place with 56 points
A Birmingham City 0:1 (0:1)
H Millwall FC 2:2 (0:1)
A Brentford FC 0:1 (0:0)
H Barnsley FC 1:0 (0:0)
A Nottingham Forest 1:2 (1:0)
Aston Villa Last 5 Matches – Currently in 4th place with 79 points
A Hull City 0:0 (0:0)
H Reading FC 3:0 (0:0)
A Norwich City 1:3 (0:1)
H Cardiff City 1:0 (0:0)
H Leeds United 1:0 (1:0)
Fixtures of Interest that may affect Towns standing on the Table
PRESTON NORTH END VS NORWICH CITY
LEEDS UNITED VS BARNSLEY F.C.
Match Referee – Simon Hooper
IPSWICH TOWN 1 ASTON VILLA 1
Again I was disappointed with the Line Up, Three defensive Midfielders again and Celina who has no future here starting up front instead of either Carayol or Folami, Ward again at RWB instead of Barry Cotter who it would seem has picked up an injury and not even in the squad. Things certainly didn't go our way when we needed them to as for me it was a pretty even game up until the first goal which was due to a large slice of luck, following that the red card which was correct by the way really did end the game as a contest. 