Credit: Tung Manh Phan, Breaking Media

James Barker

Tue 19 May 2026 16:10, UK

John McGinn knows that Aston Villa fans have stuck by their football team down the years, claiming those who were at “Rotherham away” deserve this Europa League final appearance.

Aston Villa supporters will still be pinching themselves come 8pm on Wednesday evening, as their team contests a European final in Istanbul.

Unai Emery‘s team are looking to write West Midlands history in Turkey, with Villa’s last European final appearance coming all the way back in 1982, when they won what is now the Champions League.

It’s the latest high Emery and his side will have taken the Villa fans on in recent years, but it hasn’t always been this good at Villa Park.

Indeed, it was only a decade ago that Aston Villa were relegated from the Premier League, with Championship football on the agenda.

What has John McGinn say about Aston Villa fans?

McGinn has had an excellent 2025-26 season, with the Aston Villa captain enjoying his best goalscoring season in all competitions since moving to Villa Park in the summer of 2018, with 10 goals to his name.

The Scottish international has also provided six assists from 42 total appearances, and he’s played an integral role in helping Villa reach the Europa League final, scoring five times in the competition this term.

Now 31, the versatile midfielder is showing absolutely no signs of slowing down, and judging by his aforementioned numbers, he may only be getting better.

McGinn was signed from Hibernian in 2018 as an untried and unknown quantity in English football, but the £2.75million Villa were reported to have splashed on him remains one of their biggest bargains in recent memory.

He’s one of those characters that just gets it when it comes to the fans, and what it means to represent Aston Villa, as exemplified in a pre-Freiburg press conference on Tuesday.

“The club had just been taken over by Nassef (Sawiris) and Wes (Edens), who are still contributing now,” McGinn said in reference to NSWE’s takeover of Aston Villa in 2018.

“So, the journey has been amazing, and each player, each staff member, each manager has played a small part in the growth of the club. This is an important moment.

“It’s hard to believe seven years ago, that we were competing in a final (Championship play-off final) to get into the Premier League.

“I think for us tomorrow night, it will be nice to see the supporters who were there at Rotherham away, Wigan away: nights like that on a Tuesday night when it’s very easy to stay at home.

“They deserve it just as much as the players do, and hopefully we can give them something to remember.”

What were some of Villa’s lowest points in the Championship?

It took three long, frustrating seasons between 2016 to 2019 for Aston Villa to eventually return to the Premier League.

During that time, there were plenty of moments, whether it be standing in the driving rain, swirling wind or freezing cold, hours from home, for Villa fans to ponder: ‘Why am I doing this?’

Wolves away in October 2017, when Steve Bruce‘s side lost 2-0 in a 5.30pm kick-off, the 1-0 loss away at Bolton in March 2018 and the 3-1 defeat at Norwich in a 12:30pm kick-off – brutal.

Anyone remember the 1-0 loss at Millwall away in a Sunday lunchtime game in early May 2018? How about the 4-1 loss against Sheffield United in September 2018?

How about a 1-0 defeat away at QPR on a Friday night in late October 2018? Then you’ve got the 3-0 loss at Wigan in January 2019 that McGinn made reference too. Oh there was low points for Villa fans alright.

Many will no doubt have some of those nights in mind as their heroes in claret and blue walk out in Istanbul on Wednesday, and guess what, all those experiences will have been worth it.