Caretaker boss Eric Black warns Aston Villa face 'massive challenge'
Eric Black has warned Villa face a "massive challenge" trying to rebuild in the Championship next season.
The caretaker boss believes the mental and physical strain of the second tier will pose a serious test, while players must also get used to being treated like "Manchester United" by opposing teams.
Villa's relegation from the Premier League was all but confirmed by Saturday's 2-1 home defeat to Bournemouth, which left them 15 points behind Norwich City with just five games to play.
Black was assistant boss at Blues when they were won an instant return to the top flight following relegation in 2006.
But the Scot reckons the challenges facing Villa, who have won just three league games this season, are considerable.
"It is extremely difficult. It is a massive, massive challenge for any club to go down," he said.
"When you look at the case of Aston Villa, you come from a base of winning three games this season and in the Championship next season they're going to have to win a minimum of 26 or 27 to get out, which is more than the last five years.
"You've got that complete change of the expectation and the pressure and everything that goes with it.
"Aston Villa now will be like Manchester United if they go into the Championship and go to Rotherham, or wherever.
"It's a huge, huge challenge but it's not an impossible challenge."
"You're the big fish when you go down, none more so than Aston Villa."
He went on: "It is very hard division.
"It's a really tough division. Psychologically it's a hard division and physically it's a harder division than the Premier League at times because of the repetition of games.
"So the squad has to be constructed properly, otherwise you give yourself a mountain to climb."
With relegation now inevitable, non-playing members of Villa's staff are set to this week learn the cost.
A meeting of all full-time, part-time and zero hours employees has been scheduled for tomorrow with up to 50 facing redundancy as the club look to cut costs. All players signed in the last five years meanwhile have clauses in their contracts which will see their wages slashed.
