Unai Emery has managed to handle PSR issues and packed schedule to deliver European silverware and Champions League football
Eddie Howe and Unai Emery
Newcastle boss Eddie Howe and Aston Villa's Unai Emery(Image: PA)
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Newcastle's myth has been exploded by Aston Villa. We had better believe it and learn. Quickly. United's hierarchy have bleated that you can't be successful when operating with a limited squad and financial restrictions not applied to the Super Six while forced to play three games a week throughout an exhausting campaign.
Really? Villa have just done it with outstanding success, have they not? They have blown United away in terms of PL placing, Champions League qualification, and winning European silverware to end three decades of nothingness.
Their squad proved they could handle the supposed impossible by gaining a fourth-top finish, winning at Manchester City on the final day to spoil Pep's farewell party and claiming the Europa League trophy, while participating in a relentless three-game programme a week throughout.
Villa haven't emerged from out of the blue either. Maybe Newcastle made the last 16 of the Champions League for the first time this season, but they reached the quarter-finals in 2024-25 when the eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain just squeezed past them 5-4 on aggregate after a thrilling second leg which Villa won 3-2.
No, we are playing catch-up and we have to catch up. They are our guilt complex.
Nothing but the Champions League matters? Tell that to the Villans who went bananas upon winning the Europa League. They did the tub-thumping we did when United won the Carabao Cup, another competition written off by Lord Snooty and his pals. When you have been feeding on bread crumbs a plate of caviar and a chilled white is most welcome.
Besides, the Europa Cup stands as Europe's second most important competition and more than the equal of the European Fairs Cup which remains United's biggest ever achievement.
The competition, the comparison, is Unai Emery vs Eddie Howe of course. What might have been and what is. The manager who said no and the one who said yes.
It may seem harsh after what Eddie has brought us, but right now Unai is winning a two-horse race by the length of Northumberland Street.
Indeed it could be argued by those who wish that with Pep gone there is no greater genius in the managerial stables of this country than Emery. Maybe Mikel Arteta can challenge that claim, especially in you are a grateful Gooner, but Arne Slot certainly cannot at Liverpool, Man U have a rookie boss just appointed, Chelsea change managers like socks, and Spurs have just avoided relegation on the last day.
The turnaround Emery produced in the campaign just ended has been nothing sort of sensational. Villa started abysmally - they set a club record by failing to score in their opening four PL matches, going 427 minutes without a goal. It contributed to no wins in their opening six fixtures drawing blanks against the likes of us and Everton while losing to Brentford and Crystal Palace.
A tough summer transfer window involving the constraints of Profitability and Sustainability Rules added to dressing room tension. Yet Emery spectacularly turned it all round.
Aston Villa fans lined the streets of Birmingham city centre for the trophy parade
Aston Villa fans lined the streets of Birmingham for the trophy parade(Image: Nick Wilkinson/Birmingham Live)
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Whereas our season went downhill, especially in the league, Villa's rose from a bed of nails to glory. We ended up losing 17 PL games and languishing 12th which is totally unacceptable.
United and Villa both work under rigid restrictions while Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Man City and Man U do what the hell they like.
However Villa have little or no advantage over us and therefore they are the legit comparison. They have had to sell to buy (Moussa Diaby, Douglas Luiz, Jhon Duran and Jacob Ramsey to us) just as we have (Alexander Isak, Elliot Anderson and Yankuba Minteh with Anthony Gordon to come).
So let us not hide totally behind convenience. The challenge is with our ownership and management not the fans.
What lies in store for us both in the immediate future? Villa are in the Champions League next season whereas we are in the wilderness looking with envious eyes at them and Sunderland but then we have to view it as an opportunity to capitalise on a light load. To believe the tortoise can catch the hare.
Not to give it a crack is to raise another white flag of surrender. We did that many times in the season just finished. That flag has to be burned. There is no more credit in the bank. Everyone is on trial.
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