Hopes & Resolutions

With a brand-new year upon us, we look at our football clubs and speculate as to what their hopes and resolutions might be for 2025.

Aston Villa enter the new year on the back of an incredible 2024, but their Premier League form towards the end of 2024 left some fans a little concerned.

‘The Villans’ will be hoping to qualify automatically for the Champions League last sixteen and push on in the league towards a top-5 finish which should see them qualify for next year’s tournament too.

In terms of resolutions – I’m certain that Unai Emery’s men will be focused on their defending, determined to see far fewer goals conceded in the second half of the season and first half of next!

Birmingham City will be hoping to maintain their impressive form in League One and finish the season in the automatic promotion spots, negating the need for the lottery of play-offs!

I’m sure their resolutions will be concentrated upon making a much better fist of life in the Championship.  Assuming they get there, ‘The Blues’ will be determined to trouble the top of the league rather than struggle at the wrong end again. 

Over at The Molineux, Wolverhampton Wanderers will be hoping for survival – that simple!!

Their Premier League form has been a disaster for some time now and their new manager will need to turn things around very quickly if ‘The Wolves’ are to survive.

They should certainly resolve to support their new man in the transfer market and deliver a squad which has the quality to compete – something Gary O’Neil was denied by the clubs owners in 2024!

West Bromwich Albion will be hoping for a return to early season form which saw them competing in the Championship’s top-6 – their form towards the end of the year seems to have fallen off a cliff and ‘The Baggies’ will need to steady the ship quickly and begin to deliver wins again.

Their resolution for the first half of 2025 will surely be to draw fewer games – they have become the country's ‘draw-specialists’ and this must be addressed if they are to get back into play-off contention.

Everything looks rosey at Walsall as we enter 2025 and their hope and resolution will be exactly the same – maintain their current form!  If they manage this, ‘The Saddlers’ should return to League-1 with games to spare.

Tamworth FC have enjoyed a fantastic 2024 and will, like Walsall, be hoping to simply continue their upward momentum.  Very impressive from The Lambs’ when considering their annual budget compared to their rivals in the National League.

All-In-All, plenty of positivity and hope for fans of all of our clubs as we say ‘goodbye’ to 2024.