Aston Villa board member compares relegation battle to Operation Desert Storm

Premier League relegation battles are often likened to wartime struggles, but the comparison is rarely as vivid as this.

But then again, there aren't too many top-flight board members with the war experience of Aston Villa's General Charles Krulak. The former US army general served in Vietnam and the first gulf war, so surely a crunch six-pointer at West Brom pales in comparison. "Let’s just look at Desert Storm. It was 4am and we were standing next to minefields separating Saudi Arabia and Kuwait," General Krulak told The Sun. "There were trenches filled with gas, massive artillery ready to rain down on us and the threat of chemical attack. “It’s easy to give up but you can’t do that. We fought our way through those minefields and the rest is history." Sure, Charles, but you had experienced soldiers fighting your corner, not Alan Hutton and Kieran Richardson.