‘Unai Emery has almost taught us Aston Villa fans how to watch football'

New York Times

19-02-2025

It is still three hours before Aston Villa's match against Ipswich Town, but cars are steadily crowding the surrounding areas.
Parking around Aston has never been the easiest and with matches increasingly selling out, the competition for spaces becomes urgent.
Cars park on curbs outside the Villa Tavern, a home pub packed on matchdays. The Athletic stands outside, waiting for Warwickshire and England cricketer Dan Mousley, who has experienced something of a troubled morning and is running late, owing to a misplaced wallet. Remarkably polite despite the understandable frenzy, he calls twice on the way to apologise.
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He arrives a little while later with his mum, Helen. They are the first of the Mousley family to turn up, with others gently filtering into the pub. The family have 10 season tickets in the North Stand and religiously sit in the same formation for every game.
'Harry at the front with my uncle, his dad, and my cousin and one of the spare seats,' says Dan. 'Then it will be me, Tom, my middle brother, mum, uncle and another cousin.
'Six at the back, four in front,' adds Helen.
Dan is a hardened Villa supporter. He has been a season ticket holder since the 2016-17 campaign, Villa's first in the Championship, and travels to away matches when he can, though the demand for tickets combined with his increasingly busy schedule is proving difficult to overcome.
'There's not many more games I can go to this season after this one,' he says. 'Even though I can't go all the time, I'm not giving up my season ticket.'
The 23-year-old has just returned from Abu Dhabi, where he had been playing for MI Emirates in the International League T20, a cricket franchise tournament based in the United Arab Emirates. It ended a long winter abroad, having gone to South Africa for an England Lions camp — a squad mostly comprised of young, emerging cricketers just below the senior side — and, before that, in the Caribbean, where he made his full England debut for the one-day and T20 series against the West Indies.
'I like Dan's character,' said England's limited-overs captain Jos Buttler following Mousley's debut.
Mousley is a precocious all-rounder, mixing an aggressive batting style with an idiosyncratic bowling technique, which sees him ranked among the fastest spinners in the world with an average of nearly 70mph/112kph.
That is huge 🚀
Dan Mousley launches one into the stands!
Watch #WIvENG on @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK 📺 pic.twitter.com/gpCyNygANT
— Cricket on TNT Sports (@cricketontnt) November 6, 2024
He is a deep-rooted Midlander, born in Nether Whitacre, a rural parish east of Aston and playing domestic cricket for Warwickshire, Birmingham Bears and the Birmingham Phoenix in the Hundred. 'Home is five minutes from Villa's training ground,' he says. 'Come out of Bodymoor Heath, go left, follow it over the roundabout and you're there.'
Helen kindly buys us both a fizzy drink and we take a seat in the corner of the Tavern's outdoor tent. Conversation immediately turns to Villa.
'People know I do this,' he smiles. 'We were playing Durham and we were fielding at the same time Villa were playing at Arsenal. I was asking the umpire what the score was. He would speak to the scoring box upstairs, who would phone down: 'Yep, Villa are winning 1-0, 2-0'. That's how I knew.
'There are other times where I'll be on the boundary. It's happened in the Hundred (a domestic competition). Last August, I was at The Oval and Villa were playing West Ham. There was a lad in a West Ham shirt behind me, so I asked him what the score was. He said, '(Jhon) Duran has just scored, it's 2-1'. I'm stood at deep midwicket in the Hundred play-off semi-final and between balls, I'm asking for the Villa score.'
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Mousley recalls the small windows in the British cricket calendar that overlap with Villa. On occasions, Mousley has needed to dash five miles across Birmingham from Edgbaston following the end of a day's play to make kick-off, sometimes not having time to get changed.
'It was me and Rob Yates, another big Villa fan who plays for Warwickshire,' he says. 'Villa were playing Everton in the Carabao Cup last season and we were in our playing kits and sat in the Upper Holte.
'When we lost to Wolves this month, I was sitting in a sports bar in Abu Dhabi. The problem is that Villa dictate my mood. If Villa lost to West Ham that day at the cricket, I would have been gutted (they won 2-1). That's why my dad doesn't come anymore because he followed us in the '80s and '90s, home and away.'
A bird? A plane? Superman? ❌
It's DAN MOUSLEY! ✅
Diving full stretch and Dan Mousley takes an absolute BLINDER, full-stretched! 💥 @MIEmirates are well and truly back!#DVvMIE #DPWorldILT20 #AllInForCricket pic.twitter.com/e9Xhjhxg5y
— International League T20 (@ILT20Official) January 16, 2025
A steady stream of relatives begin to find us out the back. Watching Villa is an opportunity to bring a tight-knit family together.
'My dad died three years ago and Villa let us transfer his ticket, which was nice,' says Helen. 'On a matchday, we usually stay at my mum's a bit longer. But with Dan losing his wallet, we haven't been able to. We have a family birthday party after the game tonight so we are all now working out how to get there.'
'My grandad passed away three years ago but when he was alive, we used to sit once or twice a year in hospitality during the cup runs, when it was cheap,' says Dan. 'Then, one day, my grandad went, 'Right, let's do everything as a family. Let's get rid of what we do a couple of times a year. We'll get our season tickets back'.
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'My first game back as a season ticket holder was against Huddersfield Town. We drew 1-1, with me, my uncle and cousin going. We're a very close family anyway, but it's nice for us to go. We have the same routine every match — we meet at Nan's and then we'll come here. Maybe not have a drink, but always park around here.'
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'(Donyell) Malen in for (Leon) Bailey,' says Mousley, reading out Villa's team to the family. '(John) McGinn is playing next to (Youri) Tielemans in the pivot. I reckon (Marco) Asensio will come on on the hour mark.' (Mousley is spot on).
'I've watched us when we've been really bad — now we are bringing on players like Asensio! The Bayern Munich game… wow. I've never been so excited for a match in my life. If that was it regarding the Villa I'd be happy. I was behind the goal when Duran dinked Manuel Neuer and it was unbelievable. When Pau Torres scored in the first half and it was disallowed, I got a cut on my shin from celebrating.
'My two brothers, my cousins, my uncle, my mum — everybody was there. That night was special. I was gutted to miss the Celtic game a few weeks ago (Dan was in Abu Dhabi) but it was midnight, so I stayed up for that.'
Mousley vividly remembers his first Villa memory, describing the Paul Scholes' volley that cannoned off the underside of the crossbar and into the net. His obsession, however, was honed and developed during those Championship years, when he had acquired a season ticket.
'Remember the 5-5 against Nottingham Forest?' he says. 'What about Alan Hutton's goal, McGinn's or Conor Hourihane's versus the Blues? One of my favourite memories isn't a home game. We were playing Rotherham away and were 1-0 down at half-time and down to 10 men. Jonathan Kodjia scored a penalty and then Jack Grealish scored. We won 2-1 and I remember just being with a couple of mates, feeling this was our time, that Villa were going to go back up.'
Long hours spent travelling lends itself to finding ways to pass the time. Mousley listens to Villa-related podcasts, quizzes The Athletic on one they were on the day before and says he gravitates around cricketers who share a similar fascination with football. Eminent England internationals, Chris Woakes and Ian Bell, are big Villa supporters.
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'Another one of the Warwickshire boys, Jake Lintott, is a massive Exeter City (of League One) fan,' he says. 'If we've got training Wednesday at 9am, and Exeter are playing on a Tuesday night, even in The Virtu Trophy, he will go.
'I remember last season Morgan Rogers scored for Middlesbrough against Exeter and Jake texted me saying: 'He's a baller, he will be in the Prem in the next few months'.'
With less than an hour before kick-off, we start the mile-long walk towards Villa Park. On the way, we talk transfers, our cricket fascinations and Unai Emery's tenure.
'He can do whatever he wants,' Mousley says. 'The first few months everyone was on edge because we played out from the back and it was slow. Villa Park can get nervy. The fans who were shouting 'get rid' have learned. Emery has almost taught us how to watch football.'
Mousley will return to Warwickshire next week to prepare for the new season that begins in April. He is a multi-format, multi-faceted cricketer who hopefully flourishes into a regular England international. When that time comes, new team-mates will have to get used to talking about one thing.
'Honestly, mate, people get sick of me talking about Villa,' he laughs. 'I just love it.'
(Top photos: Mousley celebrating taking a wicket for England and meeting The Athletic. Getty Images/Jacob Tanswell/The Athletic)