Doctor Tony went to Rome…
In June 2016 Chinese businessman Dr. Tony Xia and his company, Recon Group, purchased Aston Villa Football Club in an attempt to revive one of English football’s sleeping giants. After relegation from the Premier League and years of mismanagement on and off the pitch Xia set ambitious expectations of returning the club to being one of the top 6 clubs in the country within 5 years and becoming one of the top 3 clubs in the world in less than 10 years. Despite high profile managerial appointments and spending a substantial amount on player transfers, Villa finished a disappointing and mediocre 13th in England’s second tier. This story looks to document a Football Manager 2017 simulation of his time in charge of the biggest club in the Midlands.
Chapter 2: The nightmare before Christmas
After a short, albeit unbeaten November, the club headed into their first clash of the month against Leeds one point behind their opponents and one point out of the playoffs. Pressure on Steve Bruce’s tenure had been building due to the side regularly conceding early in matches, a lack of goals and an inability to keep up with fellow promotion favourites Newcastle & Norwich despite heavy investment all over the pitch by the Doctor in the offseason. So on an afternoon where the club hoped to cement the idea that it had turned a corner and was ready to compete, it instead got the complete opposite. Two goals within the first 16 minutes put Villa right on the back foot and whilst Ritchie De Laet second goal for the season gave the fans hope going into the sheds for half time, another two goals in the second half to the home side resulted in Villa’s biggest defeat of the season thus far.

Xia acted ruthlessly. Bruce was shown the door immediately after the defeat and was followed by his loyal assistant Stephen Clemence. Bruce had lasted just 20 games in charge of Aston Villa Football Club with a 35% win ratio to show for it.
If the board had hoped the axing would result in a response from the playing squad they would be sadly disappointed with the club losing their first home game with interim manager Colin Calderwood in charge 1–0 to lowly Wigan. Calderwood gave starting debuts to youngsters Harry McKirdy and Khalid Abdo who struggled to cope with the hostile atmosphere created by the fans at Villa Park. They had been sold a new dawn by ownership that was rapidly looking as successful as the last one, then again Rome wasn’t built in a day and Dr Xia was preaching patience with the squad despite experienced players Jedinak, De Laet & Kodjia all coming under media scrutiny.
It didn’t get any easier for the Lions as they had a midweek match at Carrow Road. Calderwood stuck to his guns and once again started McKirdy who rewarded his faith with a goal in the 8th minute. Though Alex Pritchard quickly equalised for the Canaries, the travelling faithful could be happy with the effort put in by those in the claret and blue and just when it looked like they would be rewarded with a well earnt point, Graham Dorrans snatched victory for the hosts a few minutes before injury time.
Villa failed to respond to the disappointment of midweek and their trip to the nation’s capital was over as soon as it started thanks to a Luke Freeman goal in the first minute. The club was in freefall. Xia attempt to put the brakes on was the shock appointment of Garry Monk from promotion chasing Leeds. Ironically the manager who masterminded the defeat that proved to be the final straw of previous manager Steve Bruce had now claimed his position.

Monk was handed a late Christmas present in the form of a home debut against rock bottom club Burton Albion. After receiving a rapturous reception from the Holte End he took his place on the sideline, barked instructions and watched whilst goals to Scott Hogan & Jordan Amavi gave him the start he and the club desired.
A much sterner and salivating test was just around the corner as Monk would spend New Year’s Eve at Villa Park facing his old side Leeds United. A win would go a long way in justifying his move to the Midlands and would have the club in touching distance of the playoffs once again, but Villa’s early frailties were once again exposed by the opposition as they conceded twice in the first 15 minutes once again. Birkir Bjarnason managed to pull a goal back for Villa just before half time and when Jonathan Kodjia struck in front of the Holte End it looked like the home side would go on to get a crucial victory, however it was Stuart Dallas who scored the winner for The Whites and must have left Garry Monk pondering what on earth had he done?



2017; a new year, a new transfer window. But before Garry Monk could start putting his stamp the Aston Villa squad he had inherited, they faced an away trip to Cardiff City Stadium against the struggling Bluebirds. His players perhaps showing signs of a NYE party hangover failed to manage even a shot on target as the home team strolled to a comfortable 2–0 victory. Related to his side’s poor performance or not, Monk started working the phones and brought in 22 year old winger, Duncan Watmore on loan from Sunderland for the rest of the season.

Watmore would make his debut off the bench only days later as Villa, assisted by a Christian Fuchs red card early in the match, saw off Premier League Leicester City 2–1 thanks to goals from Hogan and Hourihane to put their name in the hat for the 4th round of the FA Cup.
Monk then went back and raided his former club, bringing in soon to be out of contract forward Souleymane Doukara for £250,000. The club also extended Aly Cissokho’s contract until 2020 despite the full back currently being out on loan with Greek club Olympiakos.

Despite starting to shake things up off the pitch the gaffer refused to make too many changes on the pitch as Watmore and Doukara both watched from the bench as second half goals from Amavi and Kodjia secured a win at Molineux. Meanwhile before the next fixture Monk brought in two more new faces in the form of Irish midfielder David Meyler on loan from Hull and Dutch attacking midfielder Sander van de Streek from SC Cambuur for £1.3m.


Monk handed his most expensive signing a debut at Villa Park again Preston and he was rewarded as the Dutchman earned him a point, cancelling out Paul Gallagher’s opener although he would have hoped for more against the relegation battlers and he would be further frustrated as they were defeated by fellow battlers Bristol City at home in the following fixture. Compounding his issues, shining light Conor Hourihane earning himself a late red card and subsequent suspension.
With promotion looking extremely unlikely Monk turned his attention to the FA Cup hoping a good run would help him convince the board and the fans he was the right man for the position as the side headed to Home Park to face Plymouth. On a miserable day, Duncan Watmore managed to provide a ray of sunshine scoring a magnificent individual goal, however the hosts were able to earn a replay from the penalty spot to add to Villa’s congested fixture.
On transfer deadline day the Villans were visitors to Griffin Park to face another relegation battler in Brentford and it looked as though the hosts were going to pull them into mess as they were a man down and a goal down within 20 minutes thanks to Jack Grealish lashing out and sent off. De Laet managed to get on the end of a Hourihane through ball the 10 men of Aston Villa were level just minutes later. With the match headed for a stalemate Monk swung three changes including switching strikers, sending Hogan on for Kodjia. Hogan, who Bruce and Monk had persisted with all season, despite only 6 goals from 27 Championship starts, took his demotion to the bench personally, scoring a brace in 15 minutes and winning the encounter. Hourihane was once again the architect for both of them, giving him 3 assists for the game and 14 for the season, one of the few who could hold his head high for his performances thus far.


Monk made one last move before the transfer window slammed shut sending out Czech striker Libor Kozak to French club SC Bastia for £475,000, his time in the Midlands destroyed by major injuries.

Overall the club was one of the busiest in the Championship over January, bring in 4 players and losing 4 players (3 youngsters on loan). Only Newcastle were more active and they sold nearly £30m worth of players. Aston Villa, with a small net spending of £1.1m, were the biggest spenders in the league despite Xia not providing his new man Monk with a warchest to play with.

To go back and read Chapter 1 click here
