Crumbling Aston Villa need to rebuild soon in the aftermath of FA Cup loss to Arsenal

The club steeped in history will struggle to attract big names who are in search of quick success.

Aston Villa fans drummed up support ahead the FA Cup final against Arsenal, at the Wembley Stadium, but in vain. Reuters

They came from far and wide, the Aston Villa diaspora, and turned half of Wembley claret and blue.

Among the luminaries, owner Randy Lerner travelled from his Long Island home, supporter Prince William from altogether closer, only to find the captain to whom he presented the FA Cup was Arsenal’s Per Mertesacker, not Villa’s Fabian Delph.

Yet perhaps the most improbable follower was found in the media suites.

Gianluca Pagliuca, Italy’s goalkeeper in the 1994 World Cup final, classes himself as a Villa fan.

An allegiance developed in 1981, when Villa were last champions of England.

He watched on anxiously in the following year’s European Cup final, when goalkeeper Jimmy Rimmer was injured after nine minutes and his untried replacement Nigel Spink kept a clean sheet as Bayern Munich were beaten.

Villa’s immediately identifiable shirt appealed to Pagliuca – so, too, their deep and rich history.

While they lost 4-0 to Arsenal on Saturday, only one of these clubs has conquered the continent and it is not the one transformed by Arsene Wenger.

History can be both burden and blessing, simultaneously irrelevant and an essential reference point.

Villa’s began before most and, apart from their uprising in the early 1980s, peaked long before everyone else’s.

Long England’s most successful club, they were champions seven times, but only once since 1910.

Only one of their seven FA Cup triumphs has come since 1920.

They have gone 58 years without lifting the cup and may go another 58.

They have only reached two finals since their 1957 victory – abject in 2000 and 2015 alike, they did not really turn up in either.

There is a broader picture, of sizeable, well-supported clubs who, in times when talent was not as concentrated at the top, could imagine glory.

Newcastle United have not won the FA Cup for 60 years, Villa for 58, Leeds for 43, Tottenham for 24 and Everton for 20. Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and the Manchester clubs have won 18 of the past 20 FA Cups.

They may well win 18 of the next 20.

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The framework of the game has changed – there are the superpowers and the rest.

Villa, the biggest club for at least 100 kilometres in any direction from their home stadium, are in the ranks of the also-rans and have been for a while.

The heaviest FA Cup final defeat in 21 years indicated why there were 14 places and 37 points between Villa and Arsenal in the Premier League campaign.

At Wembley, manager Tim Sherwood spoke of how Villa have been embroiled in relegation struggles in four successive seasons.

Sherwood’s immediate aim is to change that, but it will not be easy.

While Sherwood’s brief, encouraging reign has shown the scale of their underachievement under his predecessor, Paul Lambert, and the latent potential in his squad, Liverpool are likely to activate the £32.5 million (Dh182.5m) release clause in top scorer Christian Benteke’s contract.

Villa could lose defender Ron Vlaar and midfielder Tom Cleverley without recouping a penny in transfer fees.

No wonder the notion of a glass ceiling is increasingly prevalent; it is where ambition collides with reality and it is why Villa’s highlights seem ever more distant.

Pagliuca played in one, where his star-studded Inter Milan side was eliminated from the 1994 Uefa Cup when Villa’s reserve left-back Phil King converted the winning penalty in a shootout.

It was a result that disappointed a solitary Villa fan, the visiting goalkeeper.

If his was a quixotic choice of club, the 48-year-old is of a generation where there were reasons to opt for many a club.

When Pagliuca plumped for Villa, their title rivals were not Liverpool or Manchester United but Ipswich.

In an era where a global fanbase is ever more significant to a club’s revenue and profile, the decline of unpredictability has to be a major concern.

Villa must hope their identity and history give them an allure to latter-day Pagliucas.

The sad truth is that they probably do not. Most of the unconverted want at least the hope of success.

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