There’s one period in our recent history that I refer to frequently, so I thought I’d recount it in more detail and then I can put it to bed. Or just link to it!

So if you’re sitting comfortably, I shall begin…

Our tale begins in late March 2008, it had been an extremely poor month for Aston Villa and we still had to go to Old Trafford to play an on form Man Utd side spearheaded by Rooney and Tevez, backed up by Christiano Ronaldo having the season of his life.

Actually, to say Utd were on form is an understatement; they were on fire! They had beaten Fulham 3-0 at Craven Cottage, Lyon 1-0 at Old Trafford, Pompey 1-0 at Fratton Park, Derby 1-0 at Pride Park, Bolton 2-0 and Liverpool 3-0 at home before we arrived to cap off the month.

By contrast, Villa were in tatters. We opened March with a 1-1 draw away to Arsenal, followed that up with another 1-1 draw at home to Middlesbrough, lost 2-0 away to Pompey and then lost 1-0 at Villa Park to Sunderland. I was going to paste in some of the blog posts and comments form the time, but there’s really no need, you can imagine how all that was going down.

March 29th 2008 – Man Utd, Old Trafford

You can call MON many things, but negative is not one of them. I’m surprised that he didn’t come in for more stick than he did for his team selection against Utd, but perhaps he received a little respect for having a go.

Starting XI: GK – Carson, RB – Reo-Coker, CB – Mellberg, CB – Laursen, LB – Bouma, RM – Agbonlahor, CM – Petrov, CM – Barry, LM – Young, CF – Carew, CF – Harewood.

Alright, it was a 4-4-2, but that was 3 strikers on the pitch.

Carew was forced off before half time, Shaun Maloney replacing him. Salifou came on for Harewood for the last 21 minutes and Isaiah Osbourne replaced Bouma for the final 10 minutes.

In truth, Villa were totally played off the park and barely got a look in. Ronaldo got the opener, Tevez doubled the lead before half time with Rooney adding a second half brace. We were taken to the cleaners with the only plus point being, ironically, that Reo-Coker had played pretty well at right back.

Result: Lost 4-0.

You can imagine the reaction. There was no shortage of talk about MON’s perceived failure during the January window, only bringing in Wayne Routledge and additionally upsetting a fair few fans by acquiescing to Gary Cahill’s strong desire to look for first team football elsewhere. Incidentally, we took £5m from Bolton for Cahill, how much did we pay for James Collins again?

Anyway, it was interesting how many armchair experts felt that the team looked tired and among the wailing and gnashing of teeth there were plenty of proclamations that MON needed to rotate more to relieve their tired limbs. Gabby, in particular, was frequently singled out and labelled as exhausted. Well, he was 21 years old at the time.

April 5th 2008 – Bolton, Villa Park

MON stuck with the 4-4-2, but made one change; recalling Zat Knight in place of Marlon Harewood.

Starting XI: GK – Carson, RB – Mellberg, CB – Knight, CB – Laursen, LB – Bouma, RM – Petrov, CM – Reo-Coker, CM – Barry, LM – Young, CF – Carew, CF – Agbonlahor.

Barry opened the scoring early with a headed goal from Young’s cross, but it was 10 minutes into the second half before Gabby doubled the lead finishing Barry’s cross. Barry added a third on the hour mark and substitute Harewood, on for Carew, finished the visitors off with 5 minutes left to play.

Result: Won 4-0.

Tired? Leggy? Exhausted? Please, give me a break!

OK, it was only Bolton, no one was getting carried away, but after March it was a relief as much as anything to get a win, any kind of win.

April 12th 2008 – Derby, Pride Park

Why change a winning team? Because they’re tired? Nah, MON sent the same team out against Derby.

Starting XI: GK – Carson, RB – Mellberg, CB – Knight, CB – Laursen, LB – Bouma, RM – Petrov, CM – Reo-Coker, CM – Barry, LM – Young, CF – Carew, CF – Agbonlahor.

This Derby side, it turned out, were the worst to grace the Premiership, but Villa destroyed them. Six names on the score sheet, but I think Petrov’s goal will come to mind before the others from Young, Carew, Barry, Agbonlahor and Harewood.

Result: Won 6-0.

Who’s looking tired now?

April 20th 2008 – Birmingham, Villa Park

The game we had all been waiting for and I suspect the blues fans would have wished had been scheduled during the previous month. Do you think MON needed to give anyone a rest? Nope, same team sheet.

Starting XI: GK – Carson, RB – Mellberg, CB – Knight, CB – Laursen, LB – Bouma, RM – Petrov, CM – Reo-Coker, CM – Barry, LM – Young, CF – Carew, CF – Agbonlahor.

Young and then Carew made it 2-0 by half time and then followed that up with another each in the second half, but in the reverse order. Mikael Forsell got one back, but Gabby destroyed any hopes they may of held of getting back into the game.

Result: Won 5-1.

April 20th 2008 – Everton, Goodison Park

Having entered April 8 points adrift of Everton, this game was poised beautifully with Everton in 5th place with 61 points and Villa right behind 3 points adrift. Of course, MON sent the same team out again.

Starting XI: GK – Carson, RB – Mellberg, CB – Knight, CB – Laursen, LB – Bouma, RM – Petrov, CM – Reo-Coker, CM – Barry, LM – Young, CF – Carew, CF – Agbonlahor.

It would be fair to describe this as a battling performance and a show of character. Goalless at half time, Phil Neville opened the scoring 10 minutes after the break thanks to a deflection off Martin Laursen. However, Villa didn’t give up and Gabby fired Barry’s superb cross in with 10 minutes to go, just minutes after MON rolled the dice by bringing Harewood on in place of Freddy Bouma.

Unfortunately, Everton were back in front just four minutes later when Yobo broke through and finished superbly. Villa weren’t out of it and this time Everton’s lead lasted only a minute before Barry sent in a quite brilliant cross for Carew to head in. It set up a frenetic end to a very exciting game, but it finished honours even.

Result: Drew 2-2.

April Record: Played 4, won 3, drew 1, lost none. Scored 15, conceded 1.

May 2008 And Rafa’s Influence

We entered May, then, still 3 points behind Everton with 2 games left to play. We had Wigan at home, finishing at Upton Park on the last day of the season, while Everton would go to Arsenal the day after we played Wigan and then close the season at home to Newcastle. Everton had a goal difference of +21 to Villa’s +22, so any win at home to Wigan on May 3rd would send us above them, level on points ahead of their game at the Emirates.

And then on May 2nd, with Liverpool safe in 4th place, but unable to catch Arsenal who were 7 points ahead of them, news leaked in the Liverpool press that the Reds had put in a bid for Gareth Barry. Funny that. Liverpool’s position was secure, their final two games effectively dead rubbers, we had everything to play for and our final position would certainly effect any future decisions Barry might have about his future.

The Villa of March returned for the Wigan game, we were easily beaten 2-0 and it wasn’t just Gareth Barry who looked distant. As it turned out, Everton lost 1-0 at Arsenal, leaving us 3 points behind, but now the GD was level with +20. We would have to rely on them losing at home to Newcastle, while we would need a victory at Upton Park.

Everton won, we drew. That was that and the summer would be dominated by the Gareth Barry transfer saga.

Villa finished 6th with 60 points, but it almost went to the wire and had it not been for the lack of class from the red side of Liverpool… well, we’ll never know now.

6th is normally enough for a UEFA Cup place, but with Portsmouth winning the FA Cup and Tottenham winning the Carling Cup it meant that Everton took the last European place. However, we were fortunate that the InterToto had a season left and we used that as our route into Europe the following season.

Back To The Present

So, here we are two years later. We’ve just suffered a terrible beating at the hands of Chelsea to cap another disappointing March, although it was an improvement on previous years. First game of April? It is, of course, Bolton.

Déjà vu all over again?