Emery Points to 1982 and Leicester as Carragher Row Hits Villa Ambitions

• Unai Emery cited Aston Villa’s 1982 European Cup win and Leicester’s league title to argue that clubs who are not favourites still win the biggest prizes, per the Mirror.
• His comments follow Jamie Carragher’s suggestion that Emery would suit Manchester United, which led Villa to threaten the television pundit with legal action.
• Emery intends to sign a new contract, and his side visit Old Trafford on Sunday.

A Coach Who Wants to Stay and a Pundit Who Says United Are Bigger

Unai Emery reached for history to make his case for Aston Villa’s ambitions. Speaking before Sunday’s trip to Old Trafford, the Villa head coach cited the 1982 European Cup and Leicester’s league title. His remarks come in a row over Villa’s standing that Jamie Carragher started.

“Aston Villa won [the European Cup] in 1982. They were favourites at that moment? I think not,” Emery said. “Leicester won the league 10 years ago. In football, everything can happen. Of course, the favourite teams, they are (competing for) the Premier League and Champions League.”

What Emery Said About Dreams and Difficulty

“With Villarreal, we played in the semi-final four years ago. We were close. Borussia Dortmund played three years ago in the final. They are teams not favourites, but sometimes they are having their opportunity to fight for this title.”

“In the Premier League, it is more difficult. We finished two times fourth in the league and in those times we were in December two or three points behind Manchester City and Arsenal. To keep the consistency in 38 matches is the difficult way. But we are working, trying to get our best.”

“Of course, it is very difficult to win the Premier League, very difficult to win the Champions League. I have my dreams, thinking in objectives like that. In all my moments working in all the clubs, I was setting my demand high and my objectives high, sometimes achieving and sometimes not.”

“Last year, we achieved the Europa League, which is the second competition in Europe. Still being positive how we can continue improving, how we can even not being contender in the Premier League or Champions League, we have to compete and we have to try to get our best. Over the time, we will see how we can achieve our objectives.”

The Carragher Row Behind It

Carragher, the television pundit and former Liverpool defender, suggested that Emery would be a good fit to replace Michael Carrick as Manchester United manager. Villa supporters objected, a sweary message from Carragher followed, and the club threatened legal action. He apologised to Villa, then wrote in a newspaper column that it was “beyond doubt” that United eclipse Villa on every conceivable metric.

“It did not strike me as controversial to suggest that when a club of United’s size wants Aston Villa’s managers or players, traditionally they get them,” he added.

Carragher doubled down on United’s size, saying United sit below Villa on results but remain the bigger job.

“United clearly are not at the level of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and PSG right now,” he wrote. “But when any manager goes to Old Trafford, over the course of their contract they will be expected to build a team that will go head to head with those European giants. Anything less is failure. Villa are not judged to that standard.”

“Emery is Villa’s best coach since their 1981 title-winner Ron Saunders, but he can take his side to Barcelona, get soundly beaten 3-0, and it will be brushed off as an understandable setback against European aristocracy. United managers cannot suffer that kind of loss without more scrutiny.”

A Villa Statement and a Contract Plan

Villa’s own statement came on Wednesday. Chairman Nassef Sawiris met Emery, Roberto Olabe, the President of Football Operations, and Damián Vidagany, the Director of Football Operations. The club said:

“Aston Villa held an important working meeting today to plan the club’s future and lay the foundations for its long-term sporting and institutional project.”

“The discussions focused on jointly planning the club’s long-term strategic direction, with positive discussions establishing a clear commitment beyond 2029 for the joint development of the club under the sporting leadership of Unai Emery based on the shared ambitions and common goal to reach excellency and keep growing during the next years.”

“The objective is clear: to build an ambitious, competitive Aston Villa capable of taking on the biggest challenges and achievements.”

Emery’s current deal runs to 2029 and pays him close to £15million a year, and he was said to be on a shortlist for the United job if Carrick is sacked. On Friday he confirmed that he intends to extend.

“We were speaking about how we can set our project stronger with a [new] deal, yes,” he said. “Nassef is very ambitious, a hard worker and his commitment to the club is huge. It’s easy for me to have meetings with him as normally we are on the same page.”

“It’s about increasing our budget each year, and our revenue. Improving players, selling players, buying young talented players. This is the process and vision we should keep for the future.”

“I had a very good, positive meeting with Nassef. Let’s talk next week, trying to get everything that we have spoken about together.”

Barcelona Behind Them, Old Trafford Ahead

Villa won all three of their Champions League games this season before losing 3-0 at Barcelona on Tuesday. On Sunday they visit Michael Carrick’s United, with kickoff at 4.30pm. Carrick has spoken about matching Ferguson while his job is questioned.

“It’s Manchester United. We haven’t won one match there in the four years I’ve been here.”

“It’s very difficult for us. It’s a fantastic club. They performed very well last year to get into the Champions League.”

“This year in the league they’ve not been consistent at the start but they should recover. We played Barcelona in the Champions League on Tuesday and this game is of the same level.”