'From black and white football to full colour' - Emery's three years at Villa

On 6 November 2022 a packed house at Villa Park exploded with joy as Aston Villa beat Manchester United on home soil for the first time since 1995.

A dream debut for new head coach Unai Emery, less than a week after the work permit hurdles that delayed his appointment had finally been cleared.

There had been fleeting moments of joy in the past but, for many years, never anything like this. It felt like that the club had finally broken through into the light after years of gloom.

In the dressing room after the match the mood was electric with handshakes, hugs, singing, dancing and the feeling that something new had begun - that the sleeping giant that is Aston Villa had finally been roused from its slumber.

But, amidst the hysteria and the celebrations, Emery and his team were more measured, and Unai's objective analysis of the triumph was clear.

And he was not happy. Villa had won, but on the players' terms. It had been an end-to-end affair, chaotic and uncontrolled. This wasn't the football that Unai had envisioned.

In that one moment he knew that the non-stop, frantic, 100mph football that the fans demanded was the polar opposite of the controlled, patient, measured, deliberate, dominating game that he wanted to put in place at the club.

All Unai and his team had to do was persuade everyone at the club - players, owners, directors, fans - that his was the road the club had to take. And if they did not want it, he would move on. Three years on, he is still there.

Emery's journey and how he nearly went to Newcastle

It was never going to be an easy task. Emery arrived at Villa with the club 16th in the Premier League, only a point above the relegation places.

But Emery is no stranger to dealing with adversity. A serious knee injury sustained at Lorca Deportiva brought an end to his, less than memorable, playing career in 2004. He could have been a better player but he played with "fear", a herbicide that stops athletes growing.

Lorca immediately kick-started his managerial career and he repaid them by winning promotion at the first time of asking. In his next job at Almeria he took the Andalusian club into the top flight for the first time in their history and then, while still in his late thirties, took an ever-demanding and financially constrained Valencia into the Champions League three seasons in a row.

Three Europa League titles on the bounce with Sevilla followed an ill-advised six-month stopover at Spartak Moscow. But two seasons and seven trophies at PSG, where his team established points and goalscoring records that remain to this day, put Emery's career back on track.

It was only ever going to be a matter of time before the Premier League came calling and, at first sight, Arsenal and Emery looked like a marriage made in heaven. It wasn't.

He was sacked in the autumn of 2019 after a winless run of seven games.

Salvation and the chance of redemption came in the shape of Villarreal, where the chemistry between Unai, club owner Fernando Roig and his son Fernando Jnr - who runs the day to this day - produced instant results.

The club's victory over Manchester United in the final of the 2020-21 Europa League delivered Unai's fourth - and Villarreal's first - major trophy win.

From 2014 to 2016, Emery won an unprecedented three consecutive Europa Leagues

It was months after that triumph that Emery received notice, following the Saudi takeover of Newcastle, that the club wanted him as their replacement for the recently sacked Steve Bruce.

Irritated by their lack of clarity, he told an agent that had told him of Newcastle's interest: "Tell them to call me directly and not beat around the bush."

The message got through and shortly afterwards he was contacted by Amanda Staveley, representing the club's owners.

The following day he received confirmation that they wanted him to be their new boss.

Unai was certainly interested in Newcastle's offer but no agreement or contract details had even been discussed, so he was understandably upset when he was questioned about the move minutes after his Villarreal side had beaten Young Boys in a group-stage Champions League game.

What especially rankled was when he heard that the English media had published stories that the deal was effectively done and dusted, claiming he would be travelling to England after the game to take training as early as the Friday.

Newcastle had underestimated Unai's commitment to Villarreal and overestimated their own importance as a club. If he had been uncertain about what to do, the leak and its fallout helped clarify his next step.

Unai would - at least for the time being - remain at Villarreal. He still had a point to prove there. He called Villarreal owner Roig and told him "I am staying, 100%. Zero doubts".

What followed was a run in the Champions League that took the club all the way to the semi-finals, with victories over the likes of Juventus and Bayern Munich before their eventual elimination by Liverpool.

Reputation well and truly restored.

Time to 'awaken the giant'

Dismissal at Arsenal had left a bitter taste in the mouth, but also the overwhelming feeling that he still had unfinished business in the Premier League.

If Unai learned one thing from his time in north London, it was about the need of a top-flight manager to have a protective circle of loyal colleagues around him - people that understand him deeply, anticipate his needs and clear the path for him.

When a meeting was organised at Jorge Mendes' Madrid home with Nassef Sawiris, one of the Villa owners, Unai's first call was to one of his closest confidantes, Damian Vidagany.

At the meeting, both Unai and Damian stressed how often the difference between success and failure often came down to one thing - time.

Nasser wasn't there to offer a job. Nor a project. He wanted Unai to design one.

Unai was impressed. When things got even worse at Aston Villa, the club agreed to pay Villarreal his release clause of about £5.3m. On 24 October 2022 Villarreal announced Unai's departure and Villa confirmed him as their new manager.

Before doing anything else he asked Damian to join him in this latest adventure.

Unai envisioned a structure which contained those people who understood his vision and could help him execute it. Unai knew that Damian and his chosen people could breathe life into the atmosphere. Without that motivation the project would flounder before it had even begun.

Without even knowing any of the details - length of contract, role, salary etc - Damian accepted without hesitation. He would help Unai build a project, awaken the giant.

What he did immediately at Villa

In the gym, flanked by the 10 assistants he had brought with him to the club, he met his squad for the first time. First impressions are not everything although, as a former player, he did not underestimate their importance.

Hoping above hope that his English would hold steady, he announced: "I'm not happy. I'm sad because a colleague of mine, Steven Gerrard, has been sacked.

"He was not the only one responsible for what went wrong here. You are responsible. You and everyone in the club. We cannot always put the blame on the coach.

"And something else. I didn't come here to waste my time. I've come here to win things."

Training often revealed habits ingrained in the squad's style. Players would shoot when it wasn't the best option, crosses were delivered aimlessly without assessing whether a forward was in the right position. A cross, Unai would frequently insist, was a pass and not a hopeful punt.

For some, leaving their comfort zone was disorientating - for others terrifying. Gradually the penny dropped. Unai with his 24/7 approach, his willingness to roll up his sleeves and get on with his task, wasn't just tweaking tactics, he was changing the way they thought about football.

Senior players like Emi Martinez, Ollie Watkins, John McGinn and Lucas Digne embraced the change. Their enthusiasm became contagious.

"We've gone from black and white football to full colour," was a statement heard in the first-team canteen.