A story we look back on today concerns a certain striker who went from Aston Villa down to the very depths of the footballing pyramid.
It's not quite Jamie Vardy's story of rising through the ranks, is it? That had a real Roy of the Rovers appeal to it. The charm of non-league. The boyhood wonder of backing yourself and flying up the divisions. It's fairytales like that that make football truly what it is. However, this tale is quite the opposite.
What was Aston Villa's team like in 2016?
The 2015/16 Premier League season wasn't a good one for Aston Villa. Finishing dead last in the top tier, they had been truly dire. Fans of the club had seen arriving players make very little difference, four different managers, and several mainstays leave the club.
These included former captain Ron Vlaar at the start of the season, then replacement captain Fabian Delph chose to chase the money at Manchester City despite saying he would stay.
The 13-goal top-scoring threat of Christian Benteke moved on to Liverpool after they triggered his £32.5m release clause and while his replacement, Jordan Ayew, took the top scorer mantle with seven goals – it simply wasn't enough.
Villa were constantly fighting a losing battle and were in real need of a relegation reset in the Championship. The decline was especially dramatic, considering the season before's runners-up place in the FA Cup final against Arsenal.
Why did Aston Villa sign Ross McCormack?
While Aston Villa were looking down at the ominous prospect of Championship football, Scottish forward Ross McCormack was lighting up west London. In the season that Villa went down, McCormack had already proven himself as an eye-catching second-tier player.
At Leeds United, he was the league's top scorer with 28 goals in 2013/14. As Fulham found themselves relegated from the Premier League in 2014/15, they looked to McCormack for goals, and following an £11m move in 2014, he enjoyed a two-year spell that saw him bag 42 goals in 100 competitive appearances.
Like the Whites had done, Aston Villa leapt at the chance to sign Ross McCormack and cruise the league. On the 4th of August, Roberto Di Matteo's Villa signed the Scottish striker for £12m with hopes of returning straight back to Premier League glory. Unfortunately, for both parties, their optimism wouldn't materialise as the Villans stagnated in quite criminally mediocre fashion.
What went wrong for McCormack at Villa Park?
Initially signed under Roberto Di Matteo, Ross McCormack started life in Birmingham on decent enough terms, scoring his first goal just 12 days after penning his four-year deal in a 1-1 draw against Huddersfield.
However, life in the Championship wasn't easy for Aston Villa and by October, when a string of underwhelming results was capped by defeat against Preston, Di Matteo got the sack.
Now, while Villa eventually recovered as the guidance of Steve Bruce steadied them to a 13th-place finish – McCormack bore the brunt of the new manager's ideas.
Falling out of favour with the former Manchester United defender, a now 30-year-old McCormack began to show signs of a spiral. Numerous loans saw the 30-year-old go to Nottingham Forest where again he was at a loss before a mini-renaissance in the A-League sunshine offered a welcome change.
Form at Melbourne City especially, in the 2017/18 term was dazzling, with 13 league goals in just 15 games before an extremely brief bit part at Central Coast Mariners.
Where is Ross McCormack now?
The season after, a return to once-former club Motherwell unfortunately didn't jump-start any inspiration and a 33-year-old McCormack dropped into non-league in 2020 with Aldershot as Aston Villa mutually ended his contract agreement in the summer of 2019.
Playing just two league games for the Shots, McCormack took one step lower as his career truly wound down. Currently, the once infamous Championship cult plies a less stressful trade at Liversedge FC of the Northern Premier League Division One East, the eighth tier of English football.
To conclude, it's been a harsh decline for an ageing pro once capped 13 times by his country. Yet, amidst the comedy of (later revealed) details under disagreeable Bruce – like the forward's electric gates stopping him from going to training, and then at his loan at Forest struggling to get off the ground as he simply didn't train for three weeks – McCormack paints the picture of an eccentric cult who seemingly lashed out at the wrong time.
All in all, now at 37 – we can hope that football in its purest, non-league form has regained its charm for a player who will always be remembered regardless – for Championship excellence.