In modern football terms, Villa have the potential to be a club of the same size as Everton and Tottenham: upper mid-table most years, Europa League staples. In other words, around the level they were hitting under Martin O'Neill (which, I seem to recall, wasn't anywhere near good enough for their fans). Not only does modern football not care what happened before 1992, these days it's not even particularly bothered about your history pre-2009 - the year that Financial Fair Play was introduced, kicking away the ladder for clubs who wanted a Sheikh Mansour or Roman Abramovich transformation. For an incoming manager, there could hardly be a bigger poisoned chalice in the Premier League than a club like Villa in their present position: if you get relegated then you'll be known as the bloke who took them down for the very first time; if you survive then they'll immediately expect you to start punching for mid-table the following season and improving year after year lest the fans get restless; the best-case scenario is that you'll take them up to around 7th within a couple of years and then get poached by one of the top clubs before the deluded hordes expect even more from you.
That's a lot of risk for very little potential gain. The only time in recent years I can recall a manager ditching an established club for that kind of scenario was Redknapp to Spurs in 2008, and let's face it, 'Arry must have known that bankruptcy was on the horizon for Pompey when he made his decision. (You could maybe argue Pardew to Palace last season was another case, but expectations at Palace are far lower, and Newcastle are a lot like Villa in being a poisoned chalice for a manager). I think it would be madness for anyone but an out-of-work manager to take them on right now.
