2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (John Townley)
James Chester grew up a Manchester United fan but now he follows Aston Villa closer, feeling immense pride to have played his part in the club's rejuvenation. He is regarded as a hero at Villa Park for his selfless contributions to the club's efforts to gain promotion back to the Premier League . Chester even made permanent sacrifices for the cause and damaged his body indefinitely carrying out his service as a consummate professional when Villa relied on him in their most challenging years over the past few decades.
The centre-back racked up 126 appearances in claret and blue after joining the club in the summer of 2016 following Villa’s relegation to the Championship. His commitment was second to none having played every minute of league football during his first two seasons at the club, while he played through pain in 2018/19 even when Villa saw little hope of mounting a promotion push. READ | Major NSWE Aston Villa decision confirmed as revealing new documents emerge READ | Unai Emery will soon be able to unlock an unseen Aston Villa dynamic After Steve Bruce departed the club a few months into Villa's third Championship campaign.
Chester became a mainstay under Dean Smith and marshalled the defence heroically right up until the end of January. He had four different partners at centre-back during that period before eventually succumbing to the pain in his knee. His contributions have not been forgotten by the fanbase as the club goes from strength to strength.
“I was thinking this to myself the other day, watching Aston Villa play and the players they have at their disposal now, I have a sense of pride that I helped the club get to the position they are in now,” Chester admitted. “I thoroughly enjoyed my time there, and had a good relationship with the fanbase, and I’m pleased to see where the club is at now. When I joined Aston Villa in the Championship, it was to get them back to the Premier League where a club of that size deserves to be.
“From my personal perspective, throughout my career and the things I’ve done, Aston Villa is my favourite, just in terms of the age I was at and the responsibilities that were put on me to perform at Villa at a time when the club was in a difficult stage. "The fanbase related to the way I approached the game, and it was a special time for me. I grew up a Manchester United fan, but I’d probably say now I look more to Villa’s scores first, which is a testament to how fondly I think of the time I spent there.
” Former Aston Villa defender James Chester After a season to forget in 2016/17, Villa mounted a play-off charge under Bruce the following season. The former Hull City boss had worked with Chester before and called in John Terry to partner him in defence. Despite the strength of Villa’s squad that year, they fell at the final hurdle, losing to Fulham in the play-off final at Wembley.
A year later, Dean Smith exorcised those ghosts against Derby County while Chester watched on from the sidelines as he was still recovering from injury. “Losing the Play-Off Final [with Aston Villa] was difficult,” Chester said. “That was in the second season that I was there, and it was a good dressing room.
“The start of the third season wasn’t particularly easy because there was financial difficulty with the club and the owner – it’s not how we expected to start having just lost out in the final the season before. “From a personal view, I played through injury a lot during that season and there were a lot of conversations on whether I’d be able to continue playing at that time. “There was an awful lot of enjoyment and excitement in the result and achieving what we did (promotion).
From both mine and the club’s point of view, a lot of relief for what that result meant for the club financially, and myself too because at the time I wasn’t sure whether I would have to retire or not.”.
