THIS IS WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO STAY UP!
But Howe and Deeney show how it feels to go down
THE whistle blew but Dean Smith did not trust it. This was not the end. This was not over.
He did the obligatory round of fist bumps, elbow touches, the strange little acknowledgements and gestures that are our new language, but his face remained etched with worry.
John Terry’s, too. Taking his lead from his senior partner, he also kept his fixed expression. Game on. Face on. No smiles, nothing that hinted at the joy about to unfold.
Aston Villa were keeping abreast of events elsewhere — the way they played for much of the afternoon confirmed that — and the players were updated on their status at each drinks break and at half-time. A point had been secured, and that was assured, but the staff knew that Watford’s game at Arsenal was ongoing.
It was the longest of shots, Watford’s survival. They needed to score two goals, probably in as many minutes, to win 4-3 from 3-0 down. Yet it has been done. Titles have been won with the final attack of the match, promotions missed on added-time events as recently as last Wednesday.
In 1994, Sheffield United went from 15th at 4.14pm to relegated half an hour later. Smith was only interested in finite mathematical outcomes. Not probabilities.
And so the Villa group gathered in a huddle on the centre of the
London Stadium pitch and listened. Plainly, someone at home was watching the Watford game, counting down the seconds, and probably on a delayed feed because television viewers knew Villa were safe some moments before the news was fed to the group.
The result — a 3-2 Arsenal victory — brought probably the loudest cheer an empty stadium has heard since lockdown began, an outpouring of emotion as dramatic as any prize-winning. Avoiding relegation in Villa’s circumstances feels like a trophy.
Some would have had them down on the dreaded, unreasonable, points per game calculation if football had not restarted. Yet here was the reason that logic was so flawed. The last nine games of the season are the most important of any campaign. It was an anomaly that Liverpool’s superiority rendered them as good as redundant at the top. For the rest, for the mortals, those last laps are where fortunes are decided.
Villa, somehow, through determination and one notorious moment of good fortune against Sheffield United, pulled clear of danger. Watford fell through the floor after one final act of madness. That is why the games must be played. It tests the mettle of managers, of players, and executives, too.
For Villa’s survival contains a moral. Have a go, if you can. Aim high. Think big. Their goal against West Ham was scored by Jack Grealish, a local hero and a young man the club fought hard to hang on to, when many would have taken the easy route and cashed in. He was bolstered by £140million worth of players. Not always spent wisely, and not always representing the best value for money, but ultimately it kept Villa up.
They will play Premier League football next season when pennywise Norwich are in the Championship, a league so competently run we are still unsure who is relegated from it, and the main season ended last week. Norwich lost their last game 5-0 and go down as the 561st best Premier League team, of 566. Villa endure.
Spare a thought, though, for Bournemouth who held their end up on the final day at Goodison Park, to no avail. A 3-1 victory was as much as they could do, but it needed Villa to lose, too. And so, after five unlikely Premier League seasons, Bournemouth fell. Under normal circumstances, a last-ditch effort such as theirs against Everton would have been warmly
received by travelling fans. There would have been an appreciation from the away end, vocal support and acknowledgement of the tremendous achievement across half a decade just to compete at all. Instead, silence.
These are wicked times in so many ways and Bournemouth dropped to empty echoes and painful thoughts.
They were a genuinely popular presence, too. A small club that dreamed, a young manager in Eddie Howe (right) who tried to play attractive football, and this made for some great games. They beat Leicester 4-1 this month, and gave Manchester City a scare away from home. Previous seasons have seen epic victories: 4-0 against Chelsea at home, 3-0 against Chelsea away, 4-3 against Liverpool from 3-1 down. Bournemouth will be missed and we wait to see what club they wish to be in the Championship.
THE same cannot be said of Watford, who filled a villain’s role following the dismissal of their third manager this season, Nigel Pearson, with two games to play.
The owners do not seem to value a manager’s status and, just as Leicester’s sacking of Claudio Ranieri changed how the club was perceived, so the treatment of Pearson was regarded scornfully, outside the club.
Watford’s fans trust the Pozzo ownership, but it is impossible to see their disdain for the manager’s role has been at all positive this season. The absence of appreciation for what Pearson did, reviving their campaign from a position where relegation seemed certain, will afford them little sympathy.
‘Sacking three managers in one season means we haven’t got it right,’ said Watford captain Troy Deeney, with admirable honesty. ‘Something went wrong — is that managers, is that players, is it ownership? We need to audit that and go through it all.’
He is right, of course — although maybe the ownership will not appreciate the candour and will show him the same thanks they afforded Pearson. It wouldn’t surprise. Meanwhile, at the other end, the value of faith in a management philosophy has never been more apparent. The big winners yesterday were two young men who have been backed by their clubs: Frank Lampard and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Chelsea and Manchester United triumphed at the expense of Leicester, who had spent the majority of the campaign in the top four, only to miss out in the home straight. An overwhelming task to stay ahead of elite rivals all season became insurmountable for Brendan Rodgers’ team when facing Manchester United yesterday.
Cameras panning to the stand alighted on the figures of James Maddison and Ben Chilwell, injured, and Caglar Soyuncu, suspended. All have been instrumental in Leicester’s success this season and, without them, their personnel compared unfavourably. Leicester were in it until a Bruno Fernandes penalty and Jesse Lingard took the game away from them. Jamie Vardy could not add to his 23 for the season, but it was enough to secure the Golden Boot, at 33 the oldest winner in the Premier League era.
Ederson’s clean sheet for Manchester City at Norwich gave him the Golden Glove, Kevin De Bruyne equalled Thierry Henry’s record of 20 Premier League assists. The smallest standing ovation in history greeted David Silva’s final appearance in the competition. That was a pity, too.
For Lampard and Chelsea it was a huge win over Wolves. When the season began, had anyone offered fans at Stamford Bridge a Champions League finish, an FA Cup final appearance, and the sight of the manager telling Jurgen Klopp to eff off at Anfield, they would probably have settled for just one of the three as a good season. This, after all, was the year they lost Eden Hazard and endured a transfer ban.
Instead, Lampard has hit all of those targets, and found time to bring through some of the smartest young players in the country, and rediscover Olivier Giroud as a matchwinner. Yesterday, he proved his decision-making boldness by dropping goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga for Willy Caballero, after another disappointing display against Liverpool. He had a lot to lose, but was fully vindicated with a comfortable, stressfree win. He has had an excellent first season. Managers matter.
Back in the Villa dressing room, the players were celebrating with a rowdy chorus of Sweet Caroline. Now Smith was a different man. He lost his father during lockdown, the man who had raised him as a Villa supporter. There was a lot of emotion, a release as he spoke. Keeping the club up was plainly more than a job to him.
‘I was brought up a Villa fan,’ he said. ‘I have lost my voice. It is a proud moment. It feels even better than going up last season. I lost my father through that lockdown period, but I knew we had to work hard.’
He was asked about the future of the club’s star player, Grealish. ‘I will speak to the owners tomorrow,’ he said. ‘But I expect Jack Grealish to get drunk with me tonight.’
One final round in that famous lastchance saloon. Villa will hope to find another watering hole next season. But they are still in the whip, still up the bar, and that is all that matters.