Dan Bardell: Steven Gerrard has lost the Aston Villa supporters
We’re delighted to welcome The Athletic’s Dan Bardell as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
Steven Gerrard has lost the support of the committed Aston Villa fans and the club can’t have any complaints about it, according to Dan Bardell.
Amid a 2022 that has seen none of the strides on the pitch that were expected when the former Rangers manager was brought in after winning the Scottish Premiership, and backed in the transfer market to bring in Champions League-quality players, there is significant unrest among the fanbase.
The away supporters had vocally turned on him at the City Ground as the club played out a dismal 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest on Monday (10 October) and Bardell isn’t surprised in light of the performances on the pitch.
“Nothing in 2022 has told me that Villa are on the right track with the current manager,” he said, speaking exclusively to Villa News.
“I want Steven Gerrard to do well, I’ve stressed that. If he is doing well that means Aston Villa are progressing.
“Villa are an expectant fanbase, and I genuinely don’t think it’s unreasonable expectation that this team should be in the top half and go on a couple of cup runs.
“Fans are bored, and things are starting to happen. The away fans were calling for Gerrard’s head at Forest, I’ve seen the videos so I know it happened.
“Those fans that go away every single week are a loyal bunch of who are behind the team. I know a lot of them, they’re not unrealistic or unreasonable people.
“They’re frustrated, and they’ve turned now. The fans that do podcasts and things like that, again are quite reasonable. They’ve all gone.
“Because in 2022 Villa have offered very little to show they’re heading in the right direction. Everyone was waiting on preseason, and we’ve come back after that and we’re no further forward.
“I don’t think you can even blame the two injuries really because [Boubacar] Kamara has only recently go injured and we weren’t looking good with him in the team.
“There’s just nothing there at the moment to think that Villa are heading for anything other than a dog fight.
“I think when fans are calling for the manager’s head, it’s not something I’m usually for, but I don’t think the club can have any complaints about it.
“Because I can’t think of one bit of Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa that I think are heading in the right direction, and it pains me to say that.”
Two wins by mid-October, and neither of those exactly convincing, while regularly playing down to the level of the weakest sides in the league, is not the way to give the supporters what they want.
The arrival of Philippe Coutinho, Lucas Digne, Diego Carlos and Kamara was supposed to signify a push for Europe, but with three injured and the other producing next to nothing that plan is currently heading in the wrong direction.
If the supporters are already calling for the manager to go during an admittedly dismal unbeaten run then things could turn ugly for Gerrard if Chelsea turn up at Villa Park on form on Sunday (16 October).
In other Aston Villa News, Paul Merson has predicted the result of the Chelsea visit.