It was all change for Aston Villa following their 16th-place finish in the 2011-12 season, with Paul Lambert joining in June from Premier League rivals Norwich City.
Lambert was tasked with rejuvenating the squad and his decision to throw the club's youth players in at the deep end was justified in the end after a successful battle against relegation.
Here, Sports Mole takes a look at Villa's season, from the lows to the highs.
August
In pre-season, Lambert went about reshaping the squad and brought in players of youth and experience, including Matthew Lowton from Sheffield United and Ron Vlaar from Feyenoord. He also brought in Ashley Westwood and Christian Benteke - who would prove an inspired signing - on deadline day.
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The season started in the worst possible fashion for the Villans, as they succumbed to back-to-back defeats - losing 1-0 to promoted West Ham United and 3-1 at home to Everton.
The attention turned to the League Cup and Villa beat Tranmere 3-0 to end their August on a high note after the disappointing league start.
September
The Villans picked up their first league point of the season with a well-earned 1-1 draw away to Newcastle, and followed that up with their first win as they put Swansea City to the sword in a game that saw both Lowton and Benteke score their first goals for the club.
However, they came crashing down to earth the following weekend as a Rickie Lambert-inspired Southampton saw Villa lose 4-1 at St Mary's.
Their League Cup form continued with a 4-2 trouncing of Manchester City at the Etihad and, back in the league, Darren Bent scored late to salvage a point for the Villans at home to West Bromwich Albion.
October
With the league starting to take shape, Aston Villa's inconsistency continued. They submitted to Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 at White Hart Lane before the international break and after the action returned it was Fulham who edged the points at Craven Cottage.
A Michael Turner equaliser for Norwich stopped Villa taking all three points in a 1-1 draw at Villa Park before the month ended with another high-scoring League Cup win - this time Benteke scoring twice in a 3-2 win away to Swindon Town.
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Just the one league point in October left Villa 17th, sitting precariously above the relegation zone.
November
The start of November offered false hope for the Villans, as Gabriel Agbonlahor scored the only goal in a 1-0 win away to Sunderland.
However, they were undone by both Manchester sides in the space of a week - first United claimed a dramatic 3-2 win at Villa Park, before a rampant City put five past the sorry Villans.
Those two results led to an improvement in the last two games of the month. A 0-0 draw at home to Arsenal preceded a Benteke header was enough to give Villa the win against Reading, which was enough to lift them out of the bottom three.
December
The unbeaten run continued into the middle of December, as Villa claimed two draws - 1-1 at Queens Park Rangers and 0-0 at home to Stoke City - which were followed up by a stunning 3-1 win at Anfield.
The League Cup run also carried on as Andreas Weimann scored twice in a thumping 4-1 win at Carrow Road against Norwich City.
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However, the rest of the month would prove to be disastrous with three devastating league defeats over the festive period.
Two days before Christmas Villa were humiliated by a rampant Chelsea in an 8-0 defeat, before the return to Villa Park proved equally fruitless. Gareth Bale helped himself to a hat-trick in a 4-0 win for Spurs, three days before struggling Wigan turned them over 3-0.
Only the earlier run of form was keeping Villa from falling back into the bottom three.
January
The Villans finally put an end to their scoring drought on New Year's Day, but they could not quite do enough for a win in a 2-2 draw with Swansea.
Two cup games followed and although Villa advanced in the FA Cup at the expense of Ipswich Town, their League Cup run looked to be ending with a 3-1 defeat to League Two side Bradford City.
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Back in the league Southampton achieved the double over Villa with a 1-0 win before the Villans spurned a two-goal lead to draw with West Brom.
The misery was not about to end as despite winning 2-1 Bradford defeated Villa in the League Cup and a disastrous January ended with a home defeat to Newcastle United, which left them 19th.
February
Benteke scored his fourth goal in three games against Everton, but Villa were again denied victory with a late Marouane Fellaini equaliser.
However, the run of eight league games without victory was finally ended at the expense of West Ham, a result that also saw them climb out of the bottom three. However, two weeks later it was defeat again as Santi Cazorla scored twice to help Arsenal to a 2-1 win.
March
March started with a 1-0 reverse to Manchester City before things finally started to click as Villa came from behind to defeat fellow strugglers Reading 2-1.
Another vital win followed as Villa edged out QPR 3-2 to bring up their first back-to-back league wins all season but a defeat to Liverpool on the last day of the month kept them in the bottom three.
April
Villa's third win in four games arrived at the first time of asking in April; the 3-1 win at Stoke was important to make up ground on one of their fellow strugglers, with Matthew Lowton scoring one of the goals of the season to make it 2-1.
© Neal Simpson / PA Photos
Villa were denied another win when a Fabian Delph own goal earned Fulham a point at Villa Park and Villa were in danger of slipping back into the mire with a 3-0 defeat to a Robin van Persie-inspired United.
Benteke fired a hat-trick of his own a week later as Villa trounced Sunderland 6-1.
May
Villa finally reached the 40-point mark with a 2-1 win at Norwich and, although they were beaten 2-1 by Chelsea, it proved enough to see them survive in the Premier League.
Their final outing of the campaign saw them travel to relegated Wigan and the two teams shared four goals evenly as Lambert's men ended the year in 15th place.
Matt Domm
