Aston Villa had a disastrous season last year being relegated from the Premier League with just 17 points, only winning 3 games all season.

Their fate was sealed early in reality with their two best players Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph being sold to Liverpool and Manchester City respectively.

Weimann was sold to Derby, Vlaar was let go on a free transfer and Darren Bent also went to Derby. They failed to sign players with any Premier League experience, signing players from the French Leagues most notably Jordan Ayew and Jordan Amavi who both proved fairly successful.

Players like Idrissa Gueye and Scott Sinclair didn't have bad seasons either, but the former is expected to leave whilst Rudy Gestede who was their joint top scorer has proven he can do it at this level with Blackburn.

The manager at the start of the season Tim Sherwood saw his team win their opening game against Bournemouth before then losing 8 of there next 11 games, and Sherwood was sacked with that opening day win his only success at the club.

After some instability Remi Garde was appointed, fortunes did not get much better with the side winning only 2 more games that season.

Garde left at the end of March when the side's fate was sealed and had lost 11 in a row including a 6-0 defeat to Liverpool.

But after Randy Lerner sold the club to Tony Xia there is reason for the fans to be optimistic in the Championship next year, so here are THREE reasons why Di Matteo will lead them to glory.......

 

New owner willing to spend

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A lot of fans lay the blame firmly at owner Randy Lerner's door for not selling the club sooner and also conducting some awful transfer business.

Villa have been on a steady decline with him at the helm and their relegation capped it off.

Also last season Delph and Benteke kept them up, so selling them and reinvesting the money in the wrong places was foolish. A

ll the new signings were failures apart for Amavi, Veretout and Ayew and Villa will take a big loss on them.

But finally Tony Xia completed his takeover of the club and by the sounds of it he is willing to invest in the squad to get them back up straight away, and has already shown ambition by bringing Di Matteo in.

He wants to wake up the sleeping giant by convincing big names to stay and adding some talent.

 

Di Matteo's experience

Roberto Di Matteo

The coup of Roberto Di Matteo was an impressive one from Tony Xia and showed his intent right from the get go.

Acquiring a Champions League winning manager will convince players to play for them and also may convince some of the bigger names in the Villa squad not to leave.

He won the Champions League with Chelsea so knows his stuff, but it will not be easy in the Championship.

He is the right man to bring the big names in and keep them, and fans will surely get behind them

Squad depth

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Villa without a doubt boast one of the strongest sides in the Championship and with the new owner, they are bound to add some new faces as well.

If Di Matteo can convince players like Jordan Amavi and Jordan Ayew to stay, they will be very dangerous in the Championship.

Also Gestede is proven as this level, as is Scott Sinclair who was promoted from this division with Swansea a few years ago.

He will need to strengthen the defence but he also has youngsters like Jack Grealish who will get first team football next season and will be keen to impress.

Thoughts Villa fans? Leave thoughts and opinions and below!