In 1981 Aston Villa won the League Championship using fourteen players, ten of which played over 85% of their games, seven were ever-present. In 2016, when Leicester City won the Premier League, eleven players played more than three-quarters of their league fixtures.

The following season only five Leicester players reached that threshold, Villa added one player to their squad, used 25 players and had just two ever-presents. Leicester finished twelfth, Villa eleventh. Villa won the European Cup, arguably an easier competition than the league to win, but that’s not the point; stick with me.

It’s possible that after the Bristol Rovers game, I gave the impression that I thought Karl Robinson should go. That wasn’t the point, the issue is alignment of ambitions. Both Villa and Leicester’s titles were the result of an unexpected alignment of a range of factors – the quality of their first choice team and the fact they all maintained form and fitness throughout the season. There was no room for error and there was no error. When both failed to invest the following season, they paid the price of not having that extra capacity. Managers, Claudio Ranieri and Ron Saunders left within months of winning their titles because expectations of the manager, fans and board were misaligned.

If you want to change something, you have to over-invest in it. There’s effort involved in staying the same, so you can’t rely on that effort to also make changes. That either means you have to sacrifice something you’re already doing or you have to increase your investment of time and effort. 

This summer has been a familiar tale; late signings, slow start to the season. In the past, that’s been followed by a revival where all is forgiven. Why is that? Is it just the Robinson way? Is it that the board isn’t prepared to invest deeply and quickly enough? Is everyone OK with this scenario and the potential risk that there won’t be a revival?

From the board perspective, they’re planning to invest millions in a new stadium, are they willing to invest similarly in a promotion chasing squad right now? Is promotion desirable, given the exponential costs of running a Championship team in a stadium which currently has limited opportunity for commercial growth?

A new stadium is three to four years away minimum and that should give us a resource that allows for sustainable Championship football. If he’s still here, Karl Robinson will have been manager for seven years. Few managers serve that length of time; they might get a better offer, something could go wrong and they get sacked, or they may simply run out of steam and need to take a break. Given that chances of him making it to the new stadium seem slim, can Robinson picture himself there? And, if he doesn’t see himself at the stadium, then where does he think this might end and how close does he think he is to that point?

And then there are the fans; promotion is always the ambition, but there’s also an appetite to maintain the short term situation as-is, as long as the mid and long term plans are progressing. That patience won’t last forever, particularly if the long-term picture is fuzzy; some clarity on the ownership would offer some headroom, as would progress on the stadium.

As for last night, boos rang out across The Kassam at half-time in a way we haven’t heard in years. But, that was partly to do with how the half ended – we conceded a second goal in injury time, then made a mess of a free-kick in a good position seconds before the whistle went. It was all immensely frustrating.

It wasn’t a good first half, but as an attacking threat we actually looked marginally better than we have done and in the second half we were dominant. Ironically, it was probably our best performance of the season, even with the worst outcome. Marcus McGuane looked strong in midfield, there was movement down both flanks which looked menacing, even if the final ball wasn’t great. 

This raises questions about established players – if McGuane is in control of midfield, what’s Brannagan’s role? A lack of supply is impacting Matt Taylor, so how do we get him firing? And where does James Henry (the Greatest of All Time, let us not forget) fit into this? These questions all need to be resolved and, because it wasn’t resolved in pre-season, that’ll have to happen on the pitch. It’s frustrating to watch, but I’m pretty confident it will eventually work itself out. The question remains how far behind we’ll be when that happens and whether that’s acceptable.

We’re seeing teams that are developing a competence for this level which should, at least, see them safe from relegation; Bristol Rovers, Cambridge, Lincoln, all of whom have been in the Conference in recent years now playing at the third tier. Given the current financial climate, that might be good enough for now. They don’t swashbuckle their way to promotion, spending wildly; they’re organised and resolute – aiming for a point away, hoping for three.

And I think one of our difficulties is that we’re not Sheffield Wednesday, Derby or Ipswich and we’re not Lincoln, Bristol Rovers or Cambridge. We have an identity crisis – should we invest in solid foundations? Players who are good for this level. Or do we invest in players who will get us to the next level? Or, are we somewhere in the middle, investing in players who could play in the Championship, but are prone to injuries and losses of form?

Nobody would turn down promotion if it happened, it would be a bit like Villa in 1981 and Leicester in 2016 – nobody plans for it, things just fall into place. But if the board is happy to hold things for a year or two while the stadium is resolved, will that keep Karl Robinson happy? If Robinson wants to go for broke this season, do the board have the appetite to back him given their other priorities? Where do the fans stand in all this and more significantly, what’s their direction of travel? Losing faith, gaining faith, holding firm? Most importantly, are we all aligned? One group’s success could be another’s disappointment.

So, it’s not so much the merits of whether Karl Robinson and the players are good enough; Robinson is a good manager, the players are good players, there is no lack of effort or commitment on the pitch. I’m sure we’re good enough to improve our current position, but whether everyone agrees on that relatively low bar being the target, of that I’m much less sure.