Fan-focused response to Villa's fixture change 'right thing to do'

Perhaps somebody will ask Unai Emery this week how much difference it really makes for their last home game, against Tottenham Hotspur, to be moved forward from Sunday to Friday at 10 days' notice.
From outside, it is hard to believe that such a well-organised staff as Villa's will find that difficult. Villa played 55 first-team fixtures last season, a figure they will equal for this campaign on Saturday, so turning the squad round for a game every three or four days has become standard practice.
Nevertheless, Villa made a fuss in advance about the change and have expressed their annoyance at the final decision in a smartly respectful way. Keeping grumbles out of their official communications, Damian Vidagany - Villa's director of football operations, and the jolly figure alongside Emery in almost every media appearance - issued a well-pitched missive on social media: "Fixture changed and honestly, not happy..."
So? Well, even if this season ultimately ends in disappointment - and I will qualify that in a moment - it has been a season full of drama and several truly landmark occasions. No Villa fan could seriously say they were not entertained, at least.
But one area in which the club has perhaps let itself down at times recently has been a careless approach to the relationship with those fans.
In their understandable dash to maximise revenue, Villa's handling of some issues, most notably ticket-pricing, left a section of long-serving supporters feeling under-appreciated, banking trouble for the future.
With that in mind, even if it was obvious that a change to this fixture would be of much greater inconvenience - and potentially expense - to supporters than players, it was good to see a senior figure at the club acknowledge that, and say how unhappy he was about it.
Vidagany was also right to note that, on this occasion, the Premier League did have a reasonable motive: to be seen to be even-handed towards two English teams in a European final.
But clearly signalling he understood why supporters would be cross and had been protesting on their behalf was the right thing to do, and a good example for the future.
Let me quickly clarify what I mean by Villa's season possibly ending in disappointment. They are very likely to qualify for Europe for the third season running, and - at worst - go into a competition for which they will be the ante-post favourites, given the strong chance of English sides winning both the Europa and Conference Leagues this season.
The Champions League is the preferred outcome, but the consolation prizes are not bad either.
Listen to full commentary of Bournemouth v Aston Villa at 17:30 BST on Saturday on BBC Radio WM 95.6FM/DAB/Freeview
Tune into The West Midlands Football Phone-In from 18:00 on weeknights

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