Matt Maher: Tom Cairney of Fulham, who helped Aston Villa win the championship
Observing Tom Cairney commemorate 300 Fulham appearances this week was as a reminder of those “sliding doors” moments that frequently affect both sport and life.
The 32-year-old midfielder has only ever represented the Cottagers, Hull, and Blackburn, but it is arguable that Villa is another team he made a significant contribution to.
His game-winning goal in the 2018 Championship play-off final is considered to be one of the most significant in the team’s history. Five and a half years later, they are third in the Premier League and right in the middle of the title fight.
The Villa team’s loss at Wembley appeared dire at the time. In a couple of days, they found themselves in a financial crunch with the administration looking down on them. Then came the incredible last-minute rescue by Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, and ever since, with a few bumps along the way, the general trend has been upward.
One cannot help but ponder what may have occurred if Ryan Fredericks had been sent off for stamping on Jack Grealish a few minutes later, or if Cairney had missed his chance in the 23rd minute and Villa had gone on to win and secure promotion.
It is also difficult to know, of course. Perhaps everything went well in the short run. For a while, owner Tony Xia’s empire’s fissures would have been covered by the guaranteed £170 million in profits gained through promotion. Is it possible that Xia would have sold to more financially stable successors after exiting the market when things were good?
However, the truth is that the owner of the 2018 sale seemed desperate, hanging onto whatever he could for as long as he could, even though he was at his wits’ end.
The most likely scenario, had Villa defeated Fulham, is that they would still be in financial problems but would have done so much later, perhaps to the point where even wealthy investors like Sawiris and Edens would have decided they were too much of a danger.
The 2018 play-off final taught us that sometimes you may luck out even when it feels like the reverse is true at the time.
