Unai Emery: Aston Villa goes from black and white to full color in three years

On 6 November 2022, a packed house at Villa Park exploded in joy as Aston Villa beat Manchester United at home for the first time since 1995.

New coach Unai Emery’s dream debut came less than a week after the work permit hurdles that delayed his appointment were cleared.

There had been fleeting moments of joy in the past, but for many years, nothing like this had ever happened. It seemed as if the club had finally emerged into the light after years of gloom.

In the dressing room after the match, the mood was electric, with handshakes, hugs, singing, dancing and the feeling that something new had begun that the sleeping giant, Aston Villa, had finally awakened from its slumber.

But amid the hysteria and celebrations, Emery and his team were more measured, and Unai’s objective analysis of the victory was clear.

And he was not happy. Villa won, but on the players’ terms. It was an all-encompassing, chaotic, unruly affair. This was not the football Unai had envisioned.

In that moment, he knew that the football that the fans demanded nonstop and at 100mph was the complete opposite of the controlled, patient, deliberate, deliberate and dominant game he wanted to implement at the club.

All Unai and his team had to do was convince everyone at the club – players, owners, managers, fans – that this was the way the club should go. If they don’t want to, he will move on. Three years later, it’s still there.