I was Aston Villa's promotion hero but I never saw this stunning rise coming

Albert Adomah helped Villa to promotion in 2019
-Credit: (Image: PA)


Aston Villa promotion hero Albert Adomah admits he couldn't have foreseen his old side's rise into the Champions League materialising so quickly after leaving the club upon their return to the Premier League in 2019. Adomah spent three years at Villa and, at the third time of asking, contributed to restoring their top flight status.

Adomah, who has since returned to the West Midlands and is playing for League Two promotion chasers Walsall, recorded 11 assists under Roberto Di Matteo and Steve Bruce in Villa's first season in the Championship. He ended the second year, which culminated in play-off heartache at Wembley, by clinching the club's top scorer award with 15 goals.

It proved to be third time lucky for Villa, and for a host of players who'd be helping to lift the club back into the top flight without joining them on the adventure; Adomah left that summer, along with Alan Hutton, Glenn Whelan and Mile Jedinak, among others. Now, as he watches from afar, he concedes he's been taken aback just how quickly under NSWE his old club have risen.

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“I couldn’t have predicted it," he told SkyBet. "We knew that we’d get promotion to the Premier League – that’s why I joined the club when they came for me. Once they got to the Premier League it was about stability and for them to finish in the top four last season and now to be in the Champions League – it’s an amazing achievement.

“Villa was a great experience. It’s a massive, historic club and my three seasons there were amazing. My first season I got the top assists, second season top goal scorer, and my last season was the promotion season to the Premier League. It was an amazing time.”

Adomah played the final months of his time at Villa under Dean Smith, who led his boyhood club back to the top flight thanks to the winger, Jack Grealish, Tyrone Mings, John McGinn and Tammy Abraham, to name a few. Adomah, who has since had spells with Nottingham Forest and QPR, reflects fondly on those months under the former Villa boss.

“I had a good relationship with Dean Smith," he added. "With him, it was like the reverse of me, that’s his club and the team he supports. He always wanted the best for the club, which he did achieve, to get the club promoted to the Premier League. He managed them in the Premier League for over a season which was good for him as that was his aim and objective, to get his boyhood club into the Premier League. He was a good manager.”

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