Blog: Things are changing for Aston Villa at breakneck speed

December 21st 2012. A date reported by some to indicate a fulfilment of a Mayan prophecy for the end of days, or rather the end of the Mayan long form calendar. If the doomsday fanatics are right, then this article will be consigned to oblivion along with the rest of us, hit by some mysterious planet called Niburu that is due to wipe us out.

However, the Mayan doomsday prophecy wasn't really written as such. In fact, what peddles itself as the current doomsday prediction is a bastardisation of the Mayan calendar and new-age writing from the 80s which was laden with UFOs and other "interesting" ideas. That calendar didn't take into account leap years either so, technically speaking, we are way past their predicted date.

The Mayan "prophecy" is just humans panicking about age old traditions. If I'm wrong, and the doom mongers are right then you, sir/madam, have something of a Pyrrhic victory on your hands. Good luck with picking up your winnings at the local bookies.

Some may be thinking to themselves "What in the world does any of this have to do with Aston Villa Football Club?". I'll get to that now.

A few short years ago, the financial situation at our beloved football club was well on its way to a doomsday scenario. The wage bill was way out of control and, unlike the Mayan predictions, was altogether very real.

Villa have, as a result of this financial readjustment, had a rough few seasons with perspective from hindsight bringing that fantastic perfect 20/20 vision that we all wish we had looking forwards.

A few years ago, the idea of a Villa player signing for £40k a week wasn't just something that was feasible, it was largely probable as many of Martin O'Neill's signings cashed in on a final contract, or a big payday at the twilight end of their careers. Villa's team were largely older players, many of which had little reason to come to the club besides earning more money than elsewhere.

Fast forward to the present day and £40k a week isn't the average figure being handed out to new recruits. With Ashley Westwood, Villa's signing from Crewe, on a reported £10k a week, Paul Lambert is certainly establishing a real value of value, especially when one considers Westwood is on a quarter of Nigel Reo-Coker's reported salary whilst he was at Villa. Reo-Coker now plies his trade under Mick McCarthy at Ipswich, Villa's opponents in the FA Cup.

In fact, when drawing comparatives on the reported wages of players in the Lambert era vs. that of the O'Neill era, the context appears even more sharply in focus. Villa were one of the top five spenders on wages at the pinnacle of their bloated wage bill period, though the value of the squad rapidly diminished as the best players were cherry picked leaving only overpaid, aging individuals, and nothing like a squad reflective of the wage bill.

The mind boggles when considering that Habib Beye was on more money than Christian Benteke and Westwood's reported combined wages. Had Beye been a single blip on the transfer dealings list that O'Neill had indulged in, it may well have been forgiveable. For fans, however, the reality was Beye was one of many.

What Lambert is doing with wages that are smaller, and with players who are starting to gel together, with less money and very little time is nothing short of miraculous. Of course, Villa are far from out of the mire as they languish at the bottom end of the table, but Villa's young manager appears to be both cost cutting and improving the team at the same time.

Seven goals in seven days came last week as the club beat Norwich away in the league cup and Liverpool away in the league. A team who were solid defensively but lacking in potency up front were coming good, and in a manner that many may have not predicted even six months ago.

Last season, Darren Bent, Gabriel Agbonlahor, and Emile Heskey were regulars. Nowadays, only Agbonlahor features with any regularity as Bent appears largely out of favour and Heskey has since moved on to the A-League. Things are changing at Villa Park and at something of a breakneck speed.

Andreas Weimann, a player seen by many in recent years to be just another academy product now has a polish to his game that belies his age, displaying predatory instincts to rival Bent and an almost psychic connection to his strike partner. Benteke, Weimann's aforementioned partner up front, has been a revelation with the massive Belgian hitman drawing plaudits from pundits far and wide.

Even Barry Bannan, seen by many - myself included - as too fond of the long pass, has been polished and made into a real player. Lambert, in bringing players in progressively has turned individuals who looked like mere "nearly men" into something on a whole new level.

Take Westwood for example. In one of his first games, he came on and looked lost. If people were to make a snap judgement on that performance alone, many would have said he wasn't good enough and would have written him off already.

Of course, snap judgements are foolish - much like those who suggested Benteke was the new Heskey after his early first touch was sloppy - and Westwood has been galvanised into a real, ready-made Premier League level player.

Lambert had the management ability to take young Westwood out of the firing line after giving him a taste of what was needed. He didn't persist doggedly just because he signed the player, forcing him to potentially fall to pieces in the pressure. No, Lambert showed Westwood what was needed and gave him the breathing space to let him accomplish his targets. Whatever Lambert did and is doing in training with his team is quite frankly amazing.

That Lambert has managed these managerial master strokes alone is one thing. That he is managing to do it on-the-fly, whilst cutting the wage bill is nothing short of genius. Ottmar Hitzfeld, the man who recommended both Lambert and Michael Henke (Villa's current head of European scouting) to Randy Lerner, has given Villa fans two presents that really shouldn't be underestimated.

Villa's Christmas may well have come early and, rather than looking at the doom-and-gloom that has swallowed up much of the psyche of the fan base over the past few seasons, our future may well be filled with far more hope than any bastardised Mayan doomsday ever could inspire.

The future is bright and, at last, even other teams are having to admire how Villa play the game. Times they are a-changing.

The last thing for me to do is wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and a happy holiday season to everyone who has been kind enough to read my pieces each week.

• You can follow Matt Turvey’s regular opinions at his own site, Aston Villa Life at www.astonvillalife.com, via the site’s Twitter account @astonvillalife, or via his own Twitter account @MatthewSTurvey.