COMMENT: Time to back your manager Mr Lerner

SO Aston Villa have survived after a difficult Premier League campaign and will be eating at English football’s top table again next season.

A combination of finding some form late in the season – partly because manager Paul Lambert finally settled on his best side and those players started to gel together – and Wigan running out of steam has left Villa in a position of being able to relax instead of facing an all or nothing showdown on the last day.

Like most Villa fans – many of whom work within the Birmingham business community – I have ridden the emotional roller-coaster this season but what has become apparent is that in Paul Lambert Villa have a manager who knows his own mind, has a very good eye for a player – Benteke, Lowton, Sylla – and values youth and effort above reputation.

All of which is music to owner Randy Lerner’s ears of course because his clear policy over the last few seasons has been to get Villa’s wage bill down.

Lambert knew that when he arrived at the start of the season and has got on with his job quietly and efficiently. He bought cheaply from the Championship (and below) and abroad and at times it looked as if this policy might cost Villa their place in the Premier League.

But those young and unheralded players have come of age late in the season and can only get better.

The great news for Randy Lerner is that not only are Villa still in the top tier – with another injection of TV money for next season making it an even more attractive proposition – but it has – relatively speaking – been done on the cheap.

Villa took a huge gamble this season and have just about got away with it.

The other bit of good news for Villa’s American owner is that there are still quite a lot of high earners on the club’s books who don’t seem to be part of Paul Lambert’s plans and can be sold on:  the likes of Bent, Ireland, Given and Dunne.

But whilst Villa fans are behind Lambert and are delighted by some of his player purchases, none of them want to see Villa embroiled in a relegation fight again next season.

For that not to happen Randy Lerner needs to back his manager in the market. Adding some good, seasoned pros to the vibrant young talent already on show will go a long way to seeing Villa progressing next season.

Apart from being a football club, Villa are a big business in this area. They are the only team in the Midlands that can attract more than 40,000 people to their home games and the club’s corporate offering is second to none. 

Those backing the club – on the ‘terraces’ or in the hospitality boxes – will want to believe that the team can not only survive in the Premier League but thrive in it.

And it’s not just about buying players, of course. Villa appear to have a fairly rigid wage structure. If they want to keep the likes of Christian Benteke at the club then such players need to be rewarded appropriately for their efforts.

Villa fans are tired of seeing the best talent – Ashley Young, Gareth Barry, James Milner – being sold to so-called bigger clubs. It’s time to draw a line in the sand and to fight much harder to retain the most talented players.

I’m convinced that Villa have a bright future under Paul Lambert but only if he gets the backing he needs from the club’s owner.

Over to you Mr Lerner.