Aston Villa ended their losing run at Leicester City, but the appointment of Steven Gerrard is starting to feel like it suits neither party.
A goalless draw at Leicester was never going to set many hearts a-flutter, but Steven Gerrard could be forgiven for wiping his brow come the end of 90 pretty uninteresting minutes. This was a result that ended a run of four consecutive defeats, and with Aston Villa still not mathematically certain of avoiding relegation, ending that run was essential. There are no need for panic stations at Villa Park just yet. They are eight points above third-bottom Everton with six games to play and have a game in hand over most of the teams below them; it’s likely that even the 37 points that they have already claimed will be enough to keep them up.
But focusing on their survival is to miss the point about Aston Villa’s season. This season wasn’t meant to be like this. This was meant to be the year that Villa pushed on towards a return to European football, on the 40th anniversary of the club’s greatest achievement. And despite spending considerable amounts of money over the last couple of years and changing their manager in November – when they were 16th and two points above the bottom three – there can be little question that they have stalled.
All of this throws a spanner in the works of the career trajectory of Steven Gerrard. His appointment into the Aston Villa job following his success in Scotland with Rangers was seen as a stepping stone to an inevitable return to Anfield. Not only is this somewhat insulting to Aston Villa – who, let us not forget, are former European champions and founder members of the Football League: a grand club in their own right – but it also placed Villa supporters in a somewhat invidious position.
Even if Gerrard out-performed expectations, speculation would only rise that this accession would be accelerated. There would be a growing perception, if successful, that he’d become…
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