Matt Maher: Unai Emery's power remains despite Aston Villa's shock off-field change

For a little while, at least to the untrained observer, it may have appeared to be eroding.

From Sunday’s impetuous early stomp down the tunnel at the Stadium of Light, through the extraordinary post-match press conference in which he branded his players “lazy”, to the moment it emerged Monchi would be leaving the club, you wondered whether the foundations of the Kingdom of Unai were beginning to wobble.

Instead, with the dust settling and vision once again clear, you suspect they are strong as ever. One close ally might have departed, yet another is arriving in the shape of Roberto Olabe, ready to fit right into a structure in which Emery remains the authority.

That’s not to say Monchi’s exit, after little more than two years as president of football operations, isn’t big news.

It would feel markedly more significant, however, if his replacement had been someone with no previous connections to Emery, an appointment driven by club ownership to try and claim back some of the control ceded to the manager since his arrival in November 2022.

Olabe, on the contrary, has known Emery since they were team-mates at Real Sociedad 30 years ago. Just over a decade later, he was responsible for giving his fellow Basque one of his first jobs in management at Almeria.

He was also on Villa’s original shortlist to become president of football operations before Monchi was appointed in June, 2023.

That particular list was drawn up by Emery and Villa’s then chief of staff, Damian Vidagany, with some input from co-owner, Nassef Sawiris.