Aston Villa’s Director of Football Operations, Damian Vidagany, has shared an important message with the club’s fans ahead of our crucial run-in to end the season.
There was disappointment in midweek as we exited the Champions League, but there was an overriding sense of pride after a memorable European run, which ended with a stirring comeback win over Paris Saint-Germain at Villa Park, but it wasn’t enough over the two legs to book a spot in the last four.
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Unai Emery and the players will have to quickly put that behind them now though as we focus on the Premier League and qualifying for the Champions League again next season, while we have a FA Cup semi-final clash with Crystal Palace fast approaching too.
In turn, there is still so much to play for this year, and Vidagany has rallied the supporters for a big final push across the two competitions, as we have the opportunity to make this an even more memorable campaign if we can finish strong.
“First, I would like to show how grateful we are to the supporters – from everyone at the club, the manager, the players, and the staff – for the European night atmospheres we had at VP. We know how hard it was for many people to get tickets… and pay for them,” he wrote in a letter to the Villa Fan Advisory Board.
“We had the responsibility to make it worthwhile, and we did our best. We finished angry because we should be in the semi-final, but we will have our opportunity to come back stronger.
“It comes to my mind the nice meeting we had at Christmas. I remember that I asked you to keep the faith and trust the process of the team. We delivered. Now is the time to ask you one more thing. We need you every single match providing the energy and strength to the squad.
“We cannot ever think that we have had enough. We want and we need to qualify for UCL again. This is where we belong, and we won’t stop now. Not a second to be self-proud of what we did. Everything is coming now. We want a trophy, and we want to go Champions League.
“We need you guys fully engaged, please help us spreading the message: A winning team, a winning club, never is full and never is tired of getting new challenges.
“Newcastle tomorrow is the new “PSG” for us. It is like a UCL semi-final.
Up the Villa.
Damian Vidagany.”
Vidagany has come across as a class act since he arrived at the club, and as well as playing a pivotal role behind the scenes to help Emery and the management team, his communication with the Villa fans has been both refreshing and enjoyable as gets his message across so well and speaks honestly and openly.
It’s hard to disagree with anything he’s put in the letter above and so while he has acknowledged the difficulties of the process, it’s hoped that we can all answer the call in the coming weeks and help the team get over the line as we look to keep building under Emery and enjoy further success and progress this season and beyond.
That starts with the visit of Newcastle Utd on Saturday evening in what is a crunch showdown as we look to close the gap on our rivals in the battle for a top-five finish in the Premier League, and with just six games remaining, we can’t afford to slip up now as every game is vital.
