Letter From Damian

Damian Vidagany is Aston Villa's Director of Football Operations and very much Unai Emery's right-hand man. 

The Villa FAB was greatly encouraged by our first meeting with Damian back in December. He is a football man through and through, and it was clear that the meeting was never intended as a PR exercise. His transparency and thoughtfulness were both welcome and refreshing.

It’s our belief - and his - that for Villa to truly break into the 'big six' and achieve the belief and consistency required, the team and the supporters must move forward together, working in unison, especially on match days.

Following the dramatic night at Villa Park against PSG  - a powerful reminder of what a fully charged home crowd can achieve - Damian sent the Villa FAB the message below. He kindly agreed that we could share it publicly, as it was written with every single Villa supporter in mind.

Message to Villa supporters

18th April 2025

Dear Fan Advisory Board members,

First, I would like to show how grateful we are to the supporters - from everyone at the club, the manager, the players, and the staff - for the European night atmospheres we had at VP. We know how hard it was for many people to get tickets… and pay for them. 

We had the responsibility to make it worthwhile, and we did our best. We finished angry because we should be in the semi-final, but we will have our opportunity to come back stronger.

It comes to my mind the nice meeting we had at Christmas. I remember that I asked you to keep the faith and trust the process of the team. We delivered. Now is the time to ask you one more thing. We need you every single match providing the energy and strength to the squad. 

We cannot ever think that we have had enough. We want and we need to qualify for UCL again. This is where we belong, and we won’t stop now. Not a second to be self-proud of what we did. Everything is coming now. We want a trophy, and we want to go Champions League.

We need you guys fully engaged, please help us spreading the message: A winning team, a winning club, never is full and never is tired of getting new challenges.

Newcastle tomorrow is the new “PSG”  for us. It is like a UCL semi-final.

Up the Villa.

Damian Vidagany.