Aston Villa fans show value of standing by manager as Ward finds redemption
Carla Ward wouldn’t have blamed them. In fact, after five games, five losses and zero points, the Aston Villa manager expected the turn to come.
“If you said to me ‘if you lose the first five games, do you think the fans are going to have your back?’, I probably would have said ‘no’,” Ward said in the annals of Ashton Gate after her side’s 2-0 victory over Bristol City on Sunday afternoon.
“They probably would have come hunting for me, hunting for blood.”
By that token, the first minute of Villa’s eventual 2-0 victory of Bristol City on Sunday afternoon was patently odd in its conspicuous lack of blood lust. Rather, the travelling Villa support (an impressive legion of claret and blue) pumped out a vociferous ‘Carla Ward’s Barmy Army’ in the match’s opening minute, as if vocally denouncing as early as possible the notion that Ward was under any sort of pressure; as if confirming to the club’s upper echelons they have no good reason to pull the trigger. Not yet.
An own-goal from City defender Megan Connolly and a late strike from substitute Ebony Salmon ultimately made any premature trigger pulling redundant for now as Villa discovered what the all-elusive P-word (“Point”) tastes like in the 2023-24 season.
Earps reacts to FIFA Best nomination and on season so far with Man Utd
Yet, in an age when football’s top brass habitually indulge knee-jerk reactions, unchecked fan sentiment is the ultimate arbiter for a manager’s fate and players feel the need to confront lofty expectations direct from the terraces (see: Kieran Trippier), Villa’s supporters were a refreshing antithesis to it all.
“They’ve probably kept me in a job, with how much they’ve peppered his social media,” Ward said, gesturing to the club’s media manager beside her.
The sentiment is unusual. Club media managers generally spend their days wading through neck-high abuse and vitriol, stumbling upon the odd nicety like a flower in a swamp but ultimately learning how to take the more sulphuric messages with never-ending pinches of salt.
But as Ward chuckles to herself, a potent mix of relief, joy and incredulity swarming around her, it was quickly evident that her quip was rooted only so deeply in jest.
“That’s the reality, isn’t it?” Ward added sincerely. “It’s testament to the work we’ve done. We’re probably a victim of our own success last year, but they’ve stuck with us and yes, I love the fans, I think they play a big part in why we’re successful.”
Ebony Salmon celebrates the win over Bristol City (Photo by Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images)It’s been far from the start of the WSL campaign Ward would’ve envisaged for herself after last year’s resounding and unprecedented success. A fifth-place finish brings no European adventure in women’s football, but it did stoke the imagination of a club and its support of what the proverbial ceiling might be for a club prowling the fringes of the established top four if supplied with the right financial backing.
Sitting rock bottom without a point to tout after five matches into the season was a far cry from any prospective ceiling, even the low-ballers. Villa, you could maybe argue, have been unlucky: Daly arguably should have had a penalty before Kirsty Hanson was sent off against Manchester United, who eventually grabbed a late-winner through Rachel Williams on opening weekend. Kenza Dali’s laggard return from injury has stilted the usual creative flow.
A tough fixture schedule has put Villa against three of the established top four sides. And for all the hype around new signing Ebony Salmon, the England international was always going to need time to acclimatise to a new league.
These, however, are rationale luke-warm takes rarely, if ever, considered in the hyper-emotive, outrage manufacturing echo chamber of modern-day football, less so when juxtaposed against a five-game losing streak and a place in the league’s relegation spot.
On the pitch, Villa are far from faultless. Last year’s Golden Boot winner Rachel Daly has scored just two goals in six matches. Villa’s defence, which relished its first clean sheet all season against the Vixens, has leaked and creaked more than a dilapidated shack. The self-inflicted errors have, at best, been farcical; at worst, masochistic.
Man Utd boss Skinner sends firm message to Arsenal over Russo contract saga
Calling Villa reinvigorated or re-awakened after Sunday’s performance would be disingenuous. Despite hogging nearly 70% possession, Ward’s side mustered just six shots on target, four until Salmon’s arrival off the bench as the 22-year-old provided some necessary forward thrust as her cross was turned in by Connolly in the 78th minute before her strike sealed the victory shortly thereafter.
For large portions of the match, though, it seemed Villa would only know the sensation of points in a singular sense as they struggled to get the better of Bristol City's stolid defence.
This is not an effort to say more fans should blindly stand by a manager when results spectacularly tank. Or that doing so will undoubtedly flip the script and merit a happy ending. Or that the support emanating from the traveling Villa section of Ashton Gate is any more uniquely or distinctly staunch than another fanbase who finds it difficult to dislike an extremely likeable manager.
But (and this is an important But ) practising patience and employing some perspective when heady expectations aren’t immediately met is, rarely, a problem despite its current place as an exception to the norm.
“The fans sent a video over actually to the club, of all the supporters’ messages, which the group watched this morning,” Ward revealed after her side’s win.
“It shows they’re with everyone. It’s crazy. One thing I did when I came in is I tried to get the fan-and-player connection, and I think we’ve done that.”
Rachel Corsie of Aston Villa is challenged by Amalie Thestrup of Bristol City (Photo by Ryan Hiscott/Getty Images)For now, Ward's job at the helm of Villa is safe. The first points are finally on the board, and, like a luckless, confident-bereft striker who finally bundles one in off their backside, a joyous torrent might just follow.
The full scale of consequences to come from the show of faith afforded Ward during a turbulent period will take time to fully reveal itself as Villa attempt to salvage a campaign that once promised to redefine the English top-flight as a whole.
But appreciating the tangible short-term impact on Ward, and its own potential long-term impact, shouldn't be disregarded.
"It’s been tough," Ward said. "I’m softer than I sometimes come across. So things hurt, especially when you put so much into it, when you put your whole life into something it becomes difficult when that doesn’t work out.
"But the girls have dug in, we’ve had honest conversations about what we want in November and they’ve been absolutely brilliant but they’ve been under pressure too. For them to go out and deliver in the way they did today was first class."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
