2014–15 Aston Villa F.C. season

The 2014–15 season was Aston Villa's 23rd season in the Premier League and 27th consecutive season in the top flight of English football, as well as their 140th season as a professional football club. Villa participated in the FA Cup and League Cup. The club was managed by Paul Lambert, until his sacking on 11 February 2015. He was replaced by Tim Sherwood on 14 February.

Key events

12 May 2014: Randy Lerner announces that he has put the club up for sale after eight years of ownership.
20 May: Academy graduates Marc Albrighton and Nathan Delfouneso are both released from the club.
5 June: The club makes its first summer signing with former Arsenal and Fulham defender Philippe Senderos agreeing to join the club on a free transfer from Valencia.
10 June: Joe Cole joins the club on a free transfer.
1 July: Roy Keane is appointed as the new assistant manager to Paul Lambert, following the dismissal of Ian Culverhouse towards the end of the previous season.
8 July: Chief executive officer Paul Faulkner steps down from his role after failing to reach an agreement on a new non-operational role at the club.
11 July: Kieran Richardson signs for a fee believed to be £600,000 from relegated Fulham.
8 August: Aly Cissokho joins on a four-year deal from Valencia.
15 August: Colombian Carlos Sánchez arrives at the club for a fee believed to be £4.7 million.
16 August: Villa win 1–0 against Stoke City in the first match of the new season.
21 August: Tom Fox is appointed as the club's new CEO, after five years as Chief Commercial Officer at Arsenal.
27 August: Villa are knocked out of the League Cup after a 1–0 home defeat to Leyton Orient of League One.
2 September: Villa complete a season-long loan for Tom Cleverley from Manchester United, with a view to a permanent move.
17 September: Paul Lambert signs a new contract committing himself to the club until 2018.
4 October: Christian Benteke makes his return after six months out with a ruptured achilles tendon, coming on as a substitute in a 2–0 defeat to Manchester City.
2 November: For the first time since 1967, the club suffers its sixth straight league defeat after losing 2–1 at home to Tottenham Hotspur.
28 November: Roy Keane leaves his role as assistant manager with immediate effect.
13 January 2015: Carles Gil becomes Villa's first January signing after joining the club on a four-and-half year deal.
30 January: Scott Sinclair joins on loan until the end of the season, with a view to a permanent move.
1 February: A 5–0 defeat at Arsenal sees Villa go six league matches without scoring.
10 February: Villa fall into the drop-zone for the time in the season, after losing 2–0 away to relegation rivals Hull City. This prompts angry scenes from the travelling support towards the manager.
11 February: Paul Lambert is sacked as manager 24 hours after defeat to Hull.
14 February: Tim Sherwood is appointed as the new manager of the club. However his first match in charge ends in defeat against Stoke City.
28 February: Villa lose 1–0 to Newcastle United condemning them to a seventh consecutive defeat, beating the six recorded earlier in the season.
3 March: The run of defeats is eventually ended courtesy of a 2–1 victory over local rivals West Bromwich Albion.
7 March: Villa reach Wembley for the first time since 2010 after beating their rivals for the second time in a week. West Bromwich Albion go down 2–0 at Villa Park in the FA Cup quarter-finals.
14 March: The club records its biggest victory of the season, 4–0 away against Sunderland. All four goals were scored before half-time.
7 April: Christian Benteke scores a hat-trick to salvage a 3–3 draw against fellow relegation candidates Queens Park Rangers.
11 April: Villa beat Tottenham Hotspur 1–0 at White Hart Lane in Tim Sherwood's first game against his former employers.
20 April: The club reaches the FA Cup Final after a 2–1 win against Liverpool at Wembley Stadium. Christian Benteke and Fabian Delph scored the goals to take Villa to the prestigious final for the first time since 2000.
16 May: Despite being thrashed 6–1 at Southampton, Villa's Premier League safety is confirmed after Hull City lose to Tottenham Hotspur.
24 May: Villa end the season in 17th place in the Premier League, their second lowest finish since its inception, after a final day defeat to already relegated Burnley.
Players

Transfers

In

Summer

Date	Position	Player name	Old club	League	Transfer fee	Notes	Source
5 June 2014	DF	Philippe Senderos	Valencia	La Liga	Free transfer	Officially joined on 1/7/14, after release from Valencia.
10 June 2014	MF	Joe Cole	West Ham United	Premier League	Free transfer	Officially joined on 1/7/14, after release from West Ham.
11 July 2014	MF	Kieran Richardson	Fulham	Championship	£600,000
8 August 2014	DF	Aly Cissokho	Valencia	La Liga	£2,000,000¹
15 August 2014	MF	Carlos Sánchez	Elche	La Liga	£4,700,000¹

Winter/Spring

Date	Position	Player name	Old club	League	Transfer fee	Notes	Source
13 January 2015	MF	Carles Gil	Valencia	La Liga	£3,200,000¹
19 May 2015	MF	Scott Sinclair	Manchester City	Premier League	£2,600,000¹	Originally a loan, made into a permanent move.

Out

Summer

Date	Position	Player name	New club	League	Transfer fee	Notes	Source
20 May 2014	MF	Marc Albrighton	Leicester City	Premier League	Free transfer	Signed for Leicester on 23/5/14 after release.
20 May 2014	FW	Nathan Delfouneso	Blackpool	Championship	Free transfer	Signed for Blackpool on 29/7/14 after release.
10 June 2014	FW	Jordan Bowery	Rotherham United	Championship	£250,000
6 August 2014	MF	Samir Carruthers	MK Dons	League One	£220,000
1 September 2014	MF	Karim El Ahmadi	Feyenoord	Eredivisie	£320,000¹

¹Fee officially undisclosed
Winter

Date	Position	Player name	New club	League	Transfer fee	Source
23 January 2015	MF	Daniel Johnson	Preston North End	League One	£50,000¹

Loans

In

Summer

Date	Position	Player name	Club	League	Duration	Return Date	Source
2 September 2014	MF	Tom Cleverley	Manchester United	Premier League	Season-long	30 June 2015

Winter

Date	Position	Player name	Club	League	Duration	Return Date	Notes	Source
30 January 2015	MF	Scott Sinclair	Manchester City	Premier League	5 months	19 May 2015	Move was made permanent on 19/5/15.

Out

Summer

Date	Position	Player name	Club	League	Duration	Return Date	Notes	Source
9 July 2014	FW	Nicklas Helenius	Aalborg BK	Danish Superliga	Season-long	30 June 2015
1 August 2014	GK	Jed Steer	Doncaster Rovers	League One	3 months	1 November 2014
4 August 2014	DF	Antonio Luna	Verona	Serie A	6 months	2 February 2015	Loan originally season-long but cut short in February.
6 August 2014	MF	Yacouba Sylla	Kayseri Erciyesspor	Süper Lig	Season-long	30 June 2015
8 August 2014	MF	Daniel Johnson	Chesterfield	League One	3 months	8 November 2014
11 August 2014	MF	Aleksandar Tonev	Celtic	Scottish Premiership	Season-long	30 June 2015
18 August 2014	DF	Janoi Donacien	Tranmere Rovers	League Two	Season-long	30 June 2015
20 August 2014	DF	Joe Bennett	Brighton & Hove Albion	Championship	Season-long	30 June 2015
26 August 2014	MF	Gary Gardner	Brighton & Hove Albion	Championship	4 months	1 January 2015

Winter/Spring

Date	Pos	Player name	Club	League	Duration	Return Date	Notes	Source
16 September 2014	FW	Callum Robinson	Preston North End	League One	2 months	26 November 2014
23 September 2014	MF	Chris Herd	Bolton Wanderers	Championship	1.5 months	8 November 2014
10 October 2014	DF	Enda Stevens	Northampton Town	League Two	1 month	6 November 2014
31 October 2014	GK	Jed Steer	Yeovil Yown	League One	2 months	31 January 2015
6 November 2014	DF	Enda Stevens	Doncaster Rovers	League One	7 months	30 June 2015
10 November 2014	MF	Daniel Johnson	Oldham Athletic	League One	2 months	5 January 2015
26 November 2014	FW	Darren Bent	Brighton & Hove Albion	Championship	1 month	29 December 2014
2 January 2015	FW	Darren Bent	Derby County	Championship	4.5 months	30 June 2015
10 January 2015	MF	Gary Gardner	Nottingham Forest	Championship	4.5 months	30 June 2015
26 January 2015	DF	Chris Herd	Wigan Athletic	Championship	1 month	30 June 2015	Player returned early due to injury,
2 February 2015	DF	Antonio Luna	Spezia	Serie B	5 months	30 June 2015
2 February 2015	FW	Callum Robinson	Preston North End	League One	3 months	11 May 2015
26 March 2015	FW	Graham Burke	Notts County	League One	2 months	30 June 2015
26 March 2015	DF	Lewis Kinsella	Luton Town	League Two	2 months	30 June 2015

Competitions

Pre-season and friendlies

Premier League

League table

Result summary

Results by matchday

Matches

FA Cup

Round	3	4	5	6	SF	F
Ground	H	H	H	H	N	N
Result	1–0	2–1	2–1	2–0	2–1	0–4

League Cup

Round	2
Ground	H
Result	0–1

Statistics

Overall

Games played	45
Games won	15
Games drawn	8
Games lost	22
Goals scored	40
Goals conceded	65
Total goal difference	–25
Clean sheets	12
Yellow Cards	82
Red Cards	8
Most appearances	Cleverley
Most minutes played	Guzan
Top scorer	Benteke
Worst Discipline	Clark
Points	38
Best Result	4–0 v Sunderland, Premier League
Worst Result	0–5 v Arsenal, Premier League 1–6 v Southampton, Premier League

Appearances

;Notes

Goalscorers

Correct as of 24 May 2015

Players with the same number of goals are listed by their position on the club's official website

Players highlighted in light grey denote the player had scored for the club before leaving for another club

Players highlighted in light cyan denote the player has scored for the club after arriving at Aston Villa during the season

Players highlighted in Blonde denote the player has scored for the club before leaving the club on loan for part/the rest of the season

Disciplinary record

Correct as of 24 May 2015

Players are listed in descending order of

Players with the same number of cards are listed by their position on the club's official website

Players highlighted in light grey denote the player has received a yellow/red card for the club before leaving for another club

Players highlighted in light cyan denote the player has received a yellow/red card for the club after arriving at Aston Villa during the season

Players highlighted in Blonde denote the player has received a yellow/red card for the club before leaving the club on loan for part/the rest of the season

;Notes
¹Red card rescinded by the FA on 23/12/14.
²Cleverley received one yellow card whilst playing for Manchester United.

Suspensions

Clean sheets

Includes all competitive matches.

Injuries

Players in bold are still out from their injuries.
Players listed will/have miss at least one competitive game.

Date reported	Pos.	Name	Injury	Notes	Recovery time	Return date*	Source
2/1/14	FW	Libor Kozák	Broken leg	Occurred during training incident	15 months	8/4/15
3/4/14	FW	Christian Benteke	Ruptured Achilles tendon	Occurred during training.	6 months	4/10/14
17/7/14	MF	Joe Cole	Thigh injury	Occurred in pre-season match against Mansfield Town.	5 weeks	23/8/14
16/8/14	DF	Jores Okore	Illness / knee injury		1 month	13/9/14
23/8/14	DF	Aly Cissokho	Ankle injury	Occurred in match against Newcastle United.	1 week	31/8/14
31/8/14	DF	Ron Vlaar	Calf strain	Occurred in match against Hull City.	6 weeks	18/10/14
20/9/14	DF	Nathan Baker	Sickness bug		1 week	27/9/14
20/9/14	MF	Ashley Westwood	Sickness bug		1 week	27/9/14
20/9/14	FW	Darren Bent	Sickness bug		1 week	27/9/14
27/9/14	FW	Gabriel Agbonlahor	Illness	Fell ill during warm up before Manchester City match.	1 week	18/10/14
9/10/14	FW	Philippe Senderos	Thigh injury	Occurred whilst on international duty.	1 month	8/11/14
14/10/14	MF	Fabian Delph	Dislocated shoulder	Occurred during training.	2 months	13/12/14
18/10/14	DF	Nathan Baker	Hamstring injury	Occurred during match against Everton.	2 weeks	2/11/14
25/10/14	DF	Alan Hutton	Ankle injury	Occurred during training.	3 weeks	24/11/14
8/11/14	FW	Nathan Baker	Knee injury	Occurred during match against West Ham United.	2 months	17/1/15
8/11/14	DF	Ron Vlaar	Calf injury	Occurred after match against West Ham United.	5 weeks	13/12/14
20/11/14	FW	Philippe Senderos	Calf injury	Occurred whilst on international duty.	5 months	20/4/15
2/12/14	MF	Joe Cole	Hamstring injury	Occurred in match against Crystal Palace.	1 month	4/1/15
8/12/14	MF	Ashley Westwood	Medial ligament injury	Occurred in match against Leicester City.	3.5 weeks	4/1/15
1/1/15	DF	Ron Vlaar	Knee injury	Occurred during match against Crystal Palace.	6 weeks	7/2/15
17/1/15	MF	Fabian Delph	Achilles injury	Occurred after match against Liverpool.	1 week	1/2/15
19/1/15	MF	Joe Cole	Hamstring injury	Occurred during training.	2 weeks	7/2/15
19/1/15	FW	Gabriel Agbonlahor	Hamstring injury	Occurred during training.	1 week	1/2/15
5/2/15	DF	Nathan Baker	Knee injury	Ongoing injury.	2 months	4/4/15
14/2/15	MF	Carles Gil	Thigh injury	Occurred during training.	1 week	21/2/15
14/2/15	FW	Gabriel Agbonlahor	Hamstring injury	Occurred during training.	1 week	21/2/15
17/2/15	MF	Chris Herd	Medial ligament injury	Occurred while on loan at Wigan Athletic.	N/A	Post-season
21/2/15	DF	Kieran Richardson	Calf/shin injury	Occurred during match against Stoke City.	6 weeks	7/4/15
24/2/15	DF	Aly Cissokho	Groin/pelvis injury	Occurred during training.	2 months	20/4/15
26/2/15	DF	Ron Vlaar	Calf muscle strain	Ongoing injury.	5 weeks	4/4/15
3/3/15	FW	Christian Benteke	Hip injury	Occurred during game against West Bromwich Albion.	11 days	14/3/15
1/4/15	MF	Scott Sinclair	Hamstring injury	Occurred during training.	2 weeks	19/4/15
2/4/15	MF	Ashley Westwood	Hamstring injury	Occurred during training.	2 weeks	19/4/15
4/4/15	DF	Alan Hutton	Ankle/foot injury	Occurred during match against Manchester United.	1 month	2/5/15
8/4/15	MF	Carles Gil	Hip/thigh injury	Occurred during under-21 match against Wolverhampton Wanderers.	11 days	19/4/15
11/4/15	DF	Ciaran Clark	Knee injury	Occurred during match against Tottenham Hotspur.	N/A	Post-season
11/4/15	FW	Gabriel Agbonlahor	Hamstring injury	Occurred during match against Tottenham Hotspur.	1 month	9/5/15
19/4/15	DF	Nathan Baker	Knee injury	Occurred during match against Liverpool.	1 month	24/5/15
11/5/15	FW	Libor Kozák	Back injury	Occurred during training.	N/A	Post-season
16/5/15	DF	Jores Okore	Knee injury	Injury aggravated due to player's involvement in matches.	N/A	Post-season
18/5/15	DF	Kieran Richardson	Calf injury	Occurred during training.	10 days	30/5/15
23/5/15	GK	Shay Given	Groin injury	Occurred during training.	5 days	30/5/15

'Return date' is date that player returned to any AV match day squad.

Awards

Club awards

At the end of the season, Aston Villa's annual award ceremony, including categories voted for by the players and backroom staff, the supporters and the supporters club, saw the following players recognised for their achievements for the club throughout the 2014–15 season.

Supporters' Player of the Year	Fabian Delph
Supporters' Young Player of the Year	Jack Grealish
Goal of the Season	Carles Gil vs. Bournemouth, FA Cup

Divisional awards

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