Author: Ardan Beveridge

Sunday 15th May 2022 Premier League @Villa Park K.O 14:00 GMT Aston Villa returns to Villa Park following Tuesday night’s outing against Liverpool. Where the hosts were strong underdogs in the week, Sunday’s game sees a good match-up of two teams with relatively little to play for this season. Sitting just one place, and one point above the Villans, Palace are seeing out a solid end to the season. Recent wins over Southampton and Watford however have been narrow, and Villa will look to pounce on this. Steven Gerrard spoke of how Villa’s aim is to breach the top ten…

With three goals in as many games, Jacob Ramsey is making a lasting impact on Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa side. Providing the assist for Phillippe Coutinho’s debut goal against Manchester United, Ramsey continues to grow in stature with every passing appearance. As published in the Daily Mail on Thursday evening, England boss Gareth Southgate is monitoring events at Villa Park closely as he prepares to name his first national squad of this world cup year. Now a seemingly un-droppable asset in Villa’s armoury, a Three lions call up beckons – the question is, will it be in time for Qatar……

“In a world of England youth football, they all know Louie Barry because he’s the best 16-year-old in the country – and he’s just gone to Aston Villa.” Those were the words articulated by Aston Villa Chief Executive, Christian Purslow, in February last year. There was a buzz of media attention when the West Bromwich Albion wonderkid signed for Barcelona’s ‘La Masia’ academy in August 2019. As the only ever English player to join the most prestigious academy in the world, it’s undoubted that Barry is a player with not only serious capabilities now, but astounding potential. That’s the main…

Dean Smith was more than the Head Coach of Aston Villa Football Club. He was a gentleman that understood. I am trying to avoid as many clichés as I can, I want to put on record the gratitude we owe him. They say you don’t choose Aston Villa, it chooses you In the summer of 2018, Aston Villa was a bleak football club. Deprived of a leader, defeat in the previous Championship campaign left our once great name teetering on the edge of self-destruction. After the new owners had arrived, it wasn’t long before they acknowledged the desperate need for…

Ever since the Premier League restarted after the COVID lockdown in 2020, Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz has been one of Aston Villa’s best performers. On course to reach a century of Villa appearances before this season’s out, Luiz rapidly evolved into one of Smith’s first names on the team sheet. A capped Brazilian international, former U23’s captain of the national side, and an Olympic gold medalist, Douglas Luiz took a different route to the top than most of his teammates. Childhood Luiz grew up in the Nova Holanda favela, in Rio. An area with a growing reputation; one of deadly…

At the same stage last season, Ollie Watkins had six goals and an assist to his name. As Villa’s record signing at the time, the former Brentford man was living up to his name as the Championship player of the year. Contrastingly, this season, Watkins has struggled to find the net as he did last time around. With his goal against Tottenham (on the eve of the 7-2 anniversary), it looked as if Watkins was up and running again. Until finding the net in Sunday’s defeat, however, the striker’s struggles in front of goal had continued. There can be many…

Axel Tuanzebe is into his third loan spell at Aston Villa. After impressing in two previous campaigns at Villa Park, the Manchester United loanee is still yet to establish himself in the United picture. Despite Ole Gunnar Solskjaer claiming he sees Tuanzebe as ‘the future of United’, his performances at on loan at Villa haven’t yielded regular football in Manchester. For a player of such ability, and at a significant age in the career of a footballer (23), does Tuanzebe join Villa for good this summer, or keep chipping away at the United management next year? The Villa Stance Tuanzebe…

Writing this article, I’m expecting an adverse response. This is obviously a topic resonating with Villa fans, and I hope to give a somewhat different viewpoint on the situation. It’s been a month since Jack Grealish moved from Villa to Manchester City, and the dust is yet to settle on the record-breaking saga. Having progressed through our age groups since he was six, Villa and Grealish seemed an unbreakable pair. For the majority, including myself, the reality of Grealish leaving was impossible to fathom. Even during England’s Euro 2020 campaign, it was surreal seeing the then Villa captain in the…

Aston Villa signing James Ward-Prowse was a constant on the back pages of this year’s transfer rumblings. The Southampton skipper is the prized asset on the south-coast – explained by him penning a five-year deal last week. Reports earlier this summer stated Villa’s bid of £25 million was rejected by Southampton – who were more eager than ever to keep their main man after the departures of Jannik Vestergaard, Ryan Bertrand, and of course, Danny Ings. What could’ve been had the saint’s man left St Mary’s for the Holte End? How much stronger would Villa’s European push be? Midfield needs,…

Before our final pre-season match on Sunday afternoon, Aston Villa announced the loan signing of Manchester United’s Axel Tuanzebe. On the bench to face Salernitana, Tuanzebe had just committed to a third temporary spell at Villa Park. Having first signed for the Villans in January 2018, Tuanzebe made five appearances that year as he was hampered by injury. Even with this troubled debut campaign, Steve Bruce saw enough to re-sign the player on a season-long deal. In a summer that also saw the arrival of John McGinn, Tuanzebe’s signature brought excitement back to Villa fans after the summer was spent…