Villa lose a third successive match to make it 13 defeats in the last 25 League games under David O'Leary and so a season ended that had been more notable for the acrimonious way in which O’Leary operated and his seeming desire, from early in the season, to distance himself from the club and his responsibilities, than for any particular footballing highlights.

Villa had been poor for much of the season and the optimism that 2003-04 had unexpectedly given rise to was roundly dashed on the rocks of acrimony.

Seemingly happy to belittle and bemoan his squad both individually and collectively in public, there can be no doubt that a broadly similar squad, underachieved as a result.

Indeed but for the form of (the admittedly excellent David O’Leary signing of) Nobby Solano and the continued class shown by Juan Pablo Ángel, Villa’s tumble down the table could have been much more severe.

What was abundantly clear however was that under David O’Leary all was not harmonious.

The defeats had come thick and fast and the myriad of changes made to the match day squads was at times as confusing as it was worrying. Admittedly Villa suffered from poor luck on occasion but that couldn’t explain away the issues.

Coupled with poor form, his denigration of his team and a tendency to discard genuine prospects with alacrity, prospects for the future under O’Leary were not encouraging. And just as he had surprised many with his achievements the previous season, there were few surprises that the O’Leary many had feared would arrive did so in 2004-05.

Admittedly key players like Martin Laursen and Olof Mellberg were often injured, as were influential and stabilising figures like Gavin McCann however equally it seemed that a haphazard and oft changing selection policy was also a destabilising factor in the failure of the team to find any consistent runs of form through the season.

The obvious conclusion was that things needed to change ahead of the 2005-06 season if there was going to be material improvement under an unpopular manager and Chairman. At a minimum new additions to the squad were required as was a clear vision for the both the team and club.

Nobody would be surprised if O’Leary wasn’t in post by the start of 2005-06 but few thought the same could be said of the problematic Chairman.

Centre forward Carlton Cole made the final appearance of his loan spell from Chelsea aged 21. Cole had made 30 appearances, 10 as a substitute and scored 3 goals and numerous assists during his season with Villa.

Forward Darius Vassell played his final game for Villa aged 24 before moving on to Manchester City for a fee of £3,240,000 in July 2005. Vassell played for Villa between 1997-98 and 2004-05 making 201 appearances in total with 77 as a substitute. In total Vassell scored 43 goals for Villa over his 8 seasons with the club.