Villa back in the big time after victory fit for a future king
Even royalty find it nerve-racking. The Duke of Cambridge – an Aston Villa fan – sat with his head in his hands, anxiety etched on his face, the cameras shifting to him as the seconds slowly ticked down and it appeared Derby County might complete an unlikely comeback. The seven minutes of added time felt like an eternity.
In the end, Villa deservedly held out and, following an absence of three years, they are back in the Premier League after winning yet another gut-wrenching, rollercoaster of a Championship play-off final.
“Hi-ho silver lining” they sang, the first song after the final whistle – and there is plenty of silver to be earned in the single richest game in world football, unlocking guaranteed broadcast incomes of £170million from being in the Premier League for just one season.
Twelve months after the agony of losing the play-off final to Fulham, Villa’s ambition will stretch way beyond that with the Duke, a baseball cap over his head, celebrating with former player John Carew at the final whistle.
Villa, one of the grand clubs of English football, are back in the big time and despite the goals of Anwar El Ghazi and John Mcginn, the eyecatching moments of captain Jack Grealish and the defensive power of Tyrone Mings, this day belonged to head coach Dean Smith.
A lifelong Villa fan, who grew up in Great Barr, Smith took over last October with the fans feeling disenfranchised and the season drifting. He has brought back a sense of unity and belief that was so clearly there to see throughout the 97 minutes of this game and in the celebrations afterwards.
There is personal pain, also, in that the 48-year-old’s father, Ron, a former Villa Park steward, is suffering from dementia and is unaware that his son is in charge of the club they both cherish so deeply. Smith stood, arms outstretched, next to Grealish, another staunch Villa fan, as they both held the trophy aloft. There were tears in the royal box from Smith’s family.
Both men will be key to Villa’s future and fortune in the Premier League and it appears inconceivable that the club will countenance any offers for Grealish, whose captaincy and subsequent contribution has been a masterstroke orchestrated by Smith. “Boy, the kid has matured,” he said.
In importance, the 23-year-old midfielder is closely followed by Mcginn, who scored the decisive goal and has become such a talisman after being a £2.5million bargain buy under Smith’s predecessor Steve Bruce.
That Mcginn’s goal resulted from an error was in keeping with Derby’s patchy display. The ingame changes made by manager Frank Lampard – bringing on Jack Marriott and Martyn Waghorn, who apparently was not fully-fit – worked but he made them when his team were 2-0 down and after his decision to start with Tom Huddlestone had backfired. The 32-yearold had slowed down the midfield and made it easy for Villa to dictate the pace.
What also did not work was Lampard’s faith in Dutch goalkeeper Kelle Roos, ahead of the more experienced Scott Carson. Roos was badly at fault for Mcginn’s goal. It is set to be a summer of uncertainty for Derby with doubts over the manager’s future, with their best players being loanees and with the club’s finances under scrutiny. The landscape, the squad, will change, Lampard admitted, with one note being this will probably be 38-yearold Ashley Cole’s last game.
Villa will hope they have banished uncertainty. They are on a more secure footing following their takeover last summer and being promoted should propel them even further forward.
In keeping with that they made the running, quite literally, as they took the game to Derby and that was summed up by the opening goal just before half-time as Grealish played the ball infield to Mcginn, which he allowed to travel, in a kind of improvised fall, through to Conor Hourihane who quickly moved it on to Albert Adomah. In turn, the winger teed up Ahmed Elmohamady, who swung in a cross that El Ghazi met, stealing in front of Jayden Bogle, to head beyond Roos. Perhaps, in fact, it came off El Ghazi’s back. Either way, Villa were in front.
They moved further ahead and again El Ghazi was involved as he cut infield before shooting. The ball deflected high into the air. It looped towards goal with Roos attempting to catch it but keeping his arms low, which allowed Mcginn to dart in and – all 5ft 7in of him up against the 6ft 4in goalkeeper – head the ball into the net.
It was poor from Derby; as poor as they had performed until that point. They had to respond, surely, and did so – bolstered by Lampard’s changes.
Suddenly they were quicker, sharper with Marriott shooting narrowly wide and Bogle slashing the ball into the side-netting when well placed.
The pressure grew and, with nine minutes to go, Mings did superbly to deny Waghorn but a cross eventually came in with Bogle cushioning a header that was collected by Marriott. The striker took a touch and shot low into the corner of the goal with the ball brushing Waghorn on the way in.
It became ever more frantic, with even more camera shots to the Duke, and with Derby pushing hard as they had to. After a long delay, Mings could not carry on and the board showed seven added minutes. The Derby fans roared. But, in the end, it was the Villa supporters making the noise.
“It feels right that Aston Villa are in the Premier League,” Smith said. They are. And with a royal seal of approval.