Jesus, wasn't expecting to get as many backs up with that comment, wasn't intended as a wind up. We were big in the late 60s, early 70s then fell into oblivion in the grand scheme of things, as others benefited from the start of Premier League, including the juggernaut of Manchester United.
Villa were one of the EFL founder members with fantastic early success, then obviously won the European Cup nearly a century later. Go to the Midlands, it's a massive catchment area and if people don't support United or Liverpool, it's usually Villa. We have been so lucky with the investment we've been given, but without that we are a mid table top division team with about 30-40k hardcore fans (consistently higher crowds than Villa in the Championship, so fair play). The last 10 years has been great but we need to sustain that for the next 20-30 years to be considered up there with the Uniteds, Liverpools, Arsenals. Loads of fans coming through in Gen Z and younger, but it'll take these guys starting to come to games and bringing their kids too for us to grow as a genuine fanbase. Currently we wouldn't fill a stadium the swamp's size week in week out. They struggle due to their drop off in success, and they're a generation or two ahead of us in their establishment at the big table. History isn't everything, we are a fantastic club with a fantastic bunch of fans and we are here to stay; but we're not a massive club.
Back to Grealish, I agree he's stuck around at Villa and been a legend there. Most of their fans probably wouldn't begrudge him a move to a title contender.