The Irish driving Premier League performance

Perched high above the pitch, Seamus Brady will have a bird’s-eye view of Aston Villa’s opening game of the new Premier League season and what he sees could just change everything.

The matchday accreditation badge hanging from his neck will state that he is Villa’s performance analyst, but what his role entails is simply to observe the game against Bournemouth from a high vantage point and scribble down his thoughts.

At half-time, Brady will then hurry down several flights of stairs, take the elevator to the ground floor, squeeze past the security barriers, flip open his notebook, and catch his breath before delivering his opinion to Villa manager Tim Sherwood.