When it comes to EFL icon: Leeds United and Fulham will make Aston Villa envious. Look at
To suggest that Aston Villa, who had just been relegated from the Premier League, didn’t receive their money’s worth would be an understatement when they signed the striker from Fulham in 2016 for a sum of £12 million. Aston Villa supporters will remember the former Rangers player negatively, but Leeds and Fulham will cherish their recollections of the disaster that was McCormack on and off the field at Villa Park.
Villa supporters could not believe that this was the same man who had scored goals for pleasure at other Championship clubs. It was the epitome of the wrong player at the wrong club. Ross McCormack was a complete failure throughout his tenure at Aston Villa. It was expected that McCormack would make an immediate impact after agreeing to a three-year contract with Villa, given his experience playing in Championship teams and his recent Premier League relegation, but that wasn’t to be. During the first half of the 2016–17 season, the striker made 18 appearances in all competitions, although he only managed three goals—a very poor performance considering his EFL background.
But off the field, things might have been much worse for the Scotsman. Following his absence from training because of a purportedly malfunctioning electric gate at home, Steve Bruce publicly criticized him for his negative attitude. After that, he was loaned to Nottingham Forest for the remainder of the campaign, but he failed to make an impression at the City Ground, managing just one goal. Only two further appearances during McCormack’s tenure at Aston Villa occurred in the early stages of the 2017–18 League Cup. He was then loaned to Melbourne City and Central Coast Mariners in Australia, as well as spending time with Motherwell in Scotland, before being released in 2019.