Aston Villa’s 3-1 loss at St. James’ Park was Kevin MacDonald’s last day on the job. He wasn’t Martin O’Neill. He said he never wanted to be and left the position after the season’s second match. Club owner Randy Lerner had told the media he wanted MacDonald to stay but moments after the reserve team coach had gone back to the kids, Lerner’s Plan B was already in motion. A press conference was called at Villa Park to confirm the story that had started as internet oddity two weeks earlier. On August 23, 2010, Bob Bradley was named manager at Villa.
Four days later, James Milner was sold to Manchester City, giving Bradley a minor war chest and a void in midfield, a combination that justified bringing in Mike. Michael Bradley, Bob’s son, had played for him with the MetroStars and on the United States men’s national team. Why not with Aston Villa? Tolerantly absorbing the cries from critics who said the signing was a symptom of paternal myopia, Villa agreed to give £8 million to Borussia Monchengladbach for Mike. The fee would climb to £12 million if Mike played to the expectations of Bob, who justified the move as filling a need never been adequately addressed when Gareth Barry left. It was a strangely desperate yet understandable way of trying to quell doubters. Ultimately, nobody begrudged a man’s desire to manage his son, particularly when his son was a very good footballer.
Villans initially underestimated the regard Bob Bradley had for his son, but as the fall wore on and Michael Bradley’s presence on the field become as constant as the lead official, fans started to wonder if Bob would ever sub Mike off. It was a phenomenon United States’ fans had become used to. Mike almost always played. No matter the stakes or situations, the player’s form or alternatives, Michael Bradley was on the pitch. Even in a meaningless friendly that August, Michael Bradley had played 90 minutes for the U.S. though Bob had six substitutes at his disposal. Now in Birmingham, Bradley was the obligatory name next to Stiliyan Petrov’s in midfield, but although the captain received occasional rest – a nod to his age, we were told – Michael Bradley started and finished every match except February 5’s against Fulham. Michael was suspended for that one. Even then, Bob mistakenly put Michael’s name on the team sheet.
Michael’s playing time was a footnote to an exciting and confusing first season for Bob Bradley and Aston Villa. The American’s unwavering reliance on a 4-4-2, ceding much of the field’s middle by playing Michael and Petrov deep, was the subject of a running joke around Villa Park. Started by the supporters, the quip would eventually be heard amongst lower management: Villa had gone across an ocean to get their new manager and found the only man in the world who loved 4-4-2 more than Martin O’Neill. Apparently Birmingham was unaware: Bradley’s formation was not standard English fare. Bradley’s got admirable Calcio influences.
It was a chiding brought from insecurity, uncertainty about the coach’s results. This was embodied in Villa’s Carling Cup run. For the second year in a row, Aston Villa would use the League Cup as a route to Wembley, with Michael Bradley leading a change squad to the final against rival Birmingham City. It was an unimpressive run, though. Fortunate whistles in the fifth round against Reading kept Villa alive until extra time, where Nathan Delfouenso saw them through. In the final, Villa’s luck boomeranged, losing 5-1 to their arch rivals, a result apologists rationalized as Villa’s fourth-or-fifth-choice squad facing a “B-plus” opponent. Though the description was an exaggeration, few asked why a fourth-or-fifth-choice squad was sent-out in a cup final against the club’s rivals. The loss left the club embarrassed.
Despite mixed results, some players were thriving under Bradley’s stewardship. Stewart Downing had surpassed the form that made him a regular England call-up with Middlesbrough. As a result, the winger had become the club’s media darling, overshadowing Ashley Young. Young was considered by most to be the superior player, yet Downing received a disproportionate amount of the accolades. Media perceptions were always something Bradley coolly let slide, but as the Downing cabal intensified, Young became more disillusioned. Confused as to where his efforts fit in with a club that was allowing a pecking-order to be established for its players, Ashley began meeting the world glazed with a pretense of disdain and incredulity. Soon, he was perceived as an attitude problem – a misunderstanding. It wasn’t that he wanted Villa to be his team. He just wanted Villa to make sense.
The FA Cup proved to be Bradley’s greatest accomplishment, giving Villa two more trips to Wembley, reaching their third cup final in two years. The high-point of the competition was the semifinal, where Bradley led the team to an upset of eventual league and European champion Manchester United, who had come into the semifinals without a loss in 2011. Having blown-out Everton in their sixth round replay, Villa got an early semifinal goal when John Carew overpowered Patrice Evra. Late in the second, Villa burst out of a match-long bunker to seal their win, Ashley Young finishing a counter attack. Aston Villa advanced to the final, beating Manchester United 2-0.
In the final, early goals from Young and Downing had Villa up 2-0 over Chelsea. Aston Villa was 45 minutes away from an improbable piece of silverware. However, one minute into the second half, a Didier Drogba blast from distance cut Villa’s lead to one. Worse, Chelsea had found a weakness in Villa’s defense. As the half went on, the Blues repeatedly attacked right back Luke Young, sending Frank Lampard wide to join Florent Malouda and Ashley Cole, continuously creating opportunities down the left flank. Bradley’s adjustments were his stock substitutions. Fabian Delph, having developed into Bradley’s reflexive first substitution, was subbed-in. Emile Heskey was brought-on for Carew, and the team (as always when drawn or ahead) went 4-5-1 late by bringing on Mark Albrighton for Gabriel Agbonlahor. All along Chelsea battered Luke Young, and when the Blues got a second goal from Drogba and a late corner-kick conversion by John Terry, Chelsea had their third straight FA Cup. Villa had lost another cup final.
Aston Villa had also come up short in Europa League, though Bradley did improve upon Martin O’Neill’s performance. Bradley’s predecessor had never prioritized the European tournament. Bradley not only navigated his team through the tournament’s preliminary playoff but had gotten the club out of group play. In the first leg of Villa’s two-legged, knockout round tie against Club Brugge, Bradley mistakenly started central defender Richard Dunne, hampered while recovering from a knee injury. Brugge would exploit Dunne for a goal and earn a draw at Villa Park. In Belgium, Bradley would inexplicably start midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker, who had performed poorly in the first leg. An early Reo-Coker giveaway gifted midfielder Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe a goal. Reo-Coker was removed on the half-hour mark to a loving kiss on the head. Villa, however, would be eliminated by the Belgians.
For most of the season, Villa’s FA and Carling Cup runs offset a disappointing Premier League campaign, with the club sitting 11th after a loss to Manchester United on the first day of February. Going forward, an easy schedule and improved form helped Villa rebound, and by the time the calendar turned to May for the club’s last three league matches, Aston Villa had climbed to eighth. On May 7, the club fell behind early to relegation-destined Wigan before two late goals gave them unimpressive three points at Villa Park. The next week Villa went to the Emirates with high hopes, riding a three-month-long sure into seventh place. An 11th minute goal from Agbonlahor had Villa up early, but a quick response from Samir Nasri plus a Marouane Chamakh goal eight minutes from time right after the obligatory Albrighton-for-Agbonlahor substitution – marked another second half turn away from Villa fortunes.
Aston Villa went into the season’s last match in eighth, hosting seventh place Liverpool, who had slid to the edge of Europe, late season unrest amongst new owners derailing the club’s season. Bradley sent a shock through supporters pre-match when he elected to start Emile Heskey, who was scoreless in 16 league appearances. Remarkably Heskey would find two goals, giving Villa a 2-1, second half lead in a match otherwise dominated by Liverpool. Stewart Downing would seal the match in the 71st minute with a direct kick into the right of goal, Villa earning a 3-2 win after a late penalty kick from Steven Gerrard went sailing over the crossbar.
A seventh place finish, two cup finals, and advancing out of group play in Europa League earned Bradley plaudits from half of Villa’s fans. The other half looked at the perceived mistakes and wondered what might have been. Why couldn’t Villa have done better against Birmingham City in the Carling Cup final? Why didn’t Bradley adjust in the FA Cup final against Chelsea? Why were Nigel Reo-Coker and a clearly hobbled Richard Dunne allowed to be decisive against Club Brugge? And where would Villa be had Emile Heskey not found his first two goals of the season against Liverpool?
As was the case in his tenure with the U.S., Bradley’s results first year results at Villa Park were more than the sum of their parts. When you looked at the examples of stoic formation, predictable substitutions, and curious lineup choices, you saw reasons for failure. Yet the results were relative successes. Could another manager come-in and build upon what Bradley had done, addressing the problems while retaining the solutions? With Villa finishing seventh, they would be attractive to a bigger name, a coach who could built-upon Bradley’s success. Or would letting Bradley go undo the subtle aspects of success not-so-easily picked-up upon by team sheets and substitutions? There was undoubtedly something underpinning Bradley’s success. That those underpinnings were not apparent doesn’t mean they didn’t exist.
Now approaching the 2011-12 season, Villa is in the same position as the United States was last year. Bradley, with one more year on his deal, needs to be re-upped or allowed to move-on. He could continue through the remainder of his contract, but a coach awash in questions in the last year of his deal creates too many uncertainties. But before they can do that, Villa needs to find an answer to the question that perplexed U.S. fans for years – a question to which U.S. soccer ultimately demurred:
If Bob Bradley’s not a good coach, then why the good results?
