Unai Emery has changed the way it feels to be a Villa fan

It's pretty much a fact that the bad times can only make the good times sweeter. Us Villa fans know that all too well, and the whiplash changes between how it felt to support the club under Steven Gerrard, and then how it felt to support it under Unai Emery are solid proof of that.

Unai has brought a lot of good to these parts of B6, and it's hard to believe that it has only been a single year under him. 365 days of Emery. We've already been through so much. We're on a journey.

He's made it feel great to be a Villa supporter. He's killing the fickle pessimism that lies at the toxic roots under the brickwork of Villa Park.

And it feels better because of what his reign follows.

I've seen a lot as a Villa fan, and I can attest to one thing: the latter part of Gerrard's reign was right up there with the worst times to be a Villa fan.

I think that's no exaggeration. It was the death of hope and the wilting of optimism. Following the foundations of Dean Smith, Gerrard should've had a platform to thrive. He talked the talk, and to be fair, walked the walk for a bit.

Then the pull of the managerial black hole became too strong even for the gravity that a figure like Gerrard holds. It collapses, fingers pointing blame inwards from all directions, a ouroboros eating itself with every part of the club descending into typical patterns. Fans raged, players faded, the club hid. It's the Villa way.

Everyone was done with Villa right? The cool project was dusted. The squad was going to cycle out old faces. The intense ex-pro had bounced out from the job. Everything that had made Villa good between 2018 and 2021 disappeared in the process of osmosis that barred up reality into memories, locked behind the jelly walls of your brain. It was all, actually, gone.

"When he looks me in the eye and shows that he's ready to play, he'll get opportunities"

Players that were growing into Villa legends seemed to be on their way out of the club, or at least cycling out of the main squad. Results blew up, the club dropped away. The project was over. I was fed up. You were fed up.

Then something strange happened.

Villa's owners, somehow, managed to pry Emery away from his extremely promising project at Villarreal. They managed to snare him into what seemed a pretty tough job, with a lot to lose.

The foundations were eroding, but Emery found a group of talented players that wanted to excel after a disappointing passage of time. He challenged himself to long, long days. He challenged his team to play, knowingly, on a knife's edge.

That trust was key, and the remedy to what came before. Emery trusted his team with the ball at the mouth of their own goal. He trusted them to play a high line. He trusted them not to rabidly press high. In the same manner, they trusted what he was telling them, based on his long sleepless days of study, and his long analysis sessions scrolling through reel after reel after reel of footage.

Inarguably, that was the alchemy behind another chemical reaction. The attention to detail behind the scenes had led to results on the pitch, and character emerging from the bench and from the players. Villa in 2023 plan to win games, and execute those plans more often than not, and at home are a freakishly good time. It's a joy to be a Villa fan these days, when you're focusing on the on-pitch 'product'.

When all is said and done, we'll think a lot about what Unai's best achievement was at Villa. In his first year at the club, he has got one of the biggest ones in the books already.

He's made a connection with fans who were starting to squint at Villa, and wonder if the spark remained. He's made visiting Villa Park - often a test of endurance - a real day out flanked in optimism with the expectation of victory. He has created an expectation of brilliance, and set the bar at the club so very, very high.

Silverware be damned, that may come down the tracks, this was harder when you look back at where we were just a year ago today.

Villa's decision makers played a blinder with Emery, and for all that has come out in the wash this year with tickets, hospitality, kits and badges, they are extremely fortunate that things didn't continue to spiral.

But then again, with Emery at the helm, how could they?

UTV. Viva Emery.