‘Bad Santa’ was undoubtedly the most successful Christmas feature during my time with Aston Villa.
Seeing two players – Micah Richards and Brad Guzan – taking on the role of Father Christmas, the pair handed over presents to their colleagues.
They were gifts with a twist – as they highlighted funny facts about the star names in question.
For example, Jack Grealish received an inflatable mattress – the same season in which pictures were featured in the national newspapers of the forward lying down on a Tenerife road.
As Guzan said: “It’s so next time you feel like taking a nap anywhere, you can bring this with you”.
Enjoying 79k views on YouTube, it’s also worth noting that it was launched at a time of real struggle on the pitch.
However, the marketing and communications team took the PR decision that fans would appreciate the universality of the festive period and also that the piece would offer some much-needed merriment at such a tough time.
As ‘The Independent’ pointed out when they highlighted the feature on their online newspaper site: “We dare you to watch this video without laughing”.
Paul Brown 