New, minted owners of clubs can’t afford relegation. It’s why I’m so surprised The Geordies are willing to roll the dice on Howe. I assume the parachute payments ease the burden, but the Championship is a hard graft from which to escape!
Villa are very much like their kit fellows, Burnley and WHU…they have a few decent players, but need a manager to figure out a system that keeps them above 40 points every season so the owners are kept happy.
Don’t get me wrong, as I realize they’d all LOVE to be WHU right now, but it’s having the players in place to do it, and a manager that can accomplish the hard work of building the framework for the players.
Villa might be the place for Lampard (& Terry?) to resurrect his reputation. It’s a big club that needs fixing, but can he do it? Would he want it? What about Parker (ex-Fulham)? He had Fulham playing football, but they just didn’t have the personnel to pull it off!
Other than that, or possibly Gerrard (who feels like he’s waiting for Klopp to fuck off!), it’s hard to see a current/past PL name there. Looks like the ownership & DoF have a foreigner in mind, which is never an easy adjustment.
I’d prefer Villa & Newcastle to stay up, but there are zero guarantees in this game! And, I hope Burnley join Norwich and Watford, and never come back! All 3 feel like small time clubs that don’t belong in the top flight!