As John Carver admits he’s applied for the Aston Villa job, here’s a reminder of what he said about them last season

Aston Villa fans, after a season of doom and gloom, things are *finally* looking up.

Why? Well - it seems that the man that not so long ago described himself as "the best coach in the Premier League" is a near certainty to take over as manager at Villa Park... sort of. John Carver, who was in charge at Newcastle during last season, has revealed on 5live Sport that he's applied to become the new manager of Aston Villa (and let's be honest, there probably won't be too many others that are so keen at this moment in time). https://twitter.com/JacquiOatley/status/715982135178477569?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw But if the Villa board are willing to overlook his less-than-impressive run of results with Newcastle last term, the comments he made about their club a little over a year ago probably won't help his application that much. Carver was in the crowd to support Newcastle at Villa Park on the final day of the 2008-2009 season, and saw his team relegated to the Championship. Last season, Carver reflected on that day ahead of Villa's league clash with Newcastle at St. James' Park. "How they reacted to the way we got relegated wasn't nice and it could spur our fans on," he said about the Villa supporters who apparently took great delight in witnessing Newcastle's relegation.

"I never spoke to anyone for an hour after the final whistle went that day. That really hurt me. Sometimes when you come up against Aston Villa that stays in there.

"I remember the reaction of their fans after the game. That will never go away. Every time we come up against Aston Villa that's in the back of my head. Definitely."

When asked if there would be any love lost if Villa were relegated, Carver added: "Absolutely not. It’s funny how things work out in life."

It certainly is, John.