Relegation?

Saturday July 11th. The season kicks off in exactly four weeks time, and Villa appear to be a club in total disarray! We have lost or are in the process of losing the whole of the spine of the team. We have come very close to being relegated over the last few seasons and the reasons have been glaringly obvious .... a totally inadequate investment in players and amateurish mismanagement.

In short we have become a Premier League joke!

In the absence of proper information from the club we have to assume that as a club we are currently in limbo.

We have an owner who doesn't want to own us, and we have just TWO classy players in the whole of the squad who unfortunately desperately want to leave. They will almost certainly not be here at the end of the transfer window.

I cannot remember a team that has lost the whole of the spine of the team at the same time. I assume that we will bring in players although if I go on previous history I doubt they will be good enough. I'd be amazed if they gel into a Premier League hardened unit in time to allow us to compete at a high enough level.

I know this is a negative thread and a negative post, but I honestly think that in order to survive this season AVFC needed to demonstrate that they have learnt the harsh lessons of the last few seasons. I don't see any evidence of that, all I see is a shambles and it may get worse.

It's yet another season where we will have to rely on the three newly promoted teams being rubbish enough to go straight back down.

Could this be the season that Villa finally pay for the ignorance and inexperience of a want away owner?

Or am I being too pessimistic?

Nailed on. Never been so certain.

I've just fallen out of love with football. Just a money game these days. All you need to be called a big club is to turn up with some rich owner. It's not about the fans. It's not a sport for the working class. And the league I probably enjoy the most watching (which is incidentally because of the English fans) is more than any other league rotten to the core. I wish we would shut down the academy. Shut down Villa Park for anything not Villa related. If the FA ever asked us a favour and tell them to do one. This game needs reforms or something. No kids should grow up to this sport as it is. Get terraces back. Get cheaper tickets. Lower wages, implement wage caps, implent transfer caps. Make academies mandatory. Remove that absolutely retarded homegrown rule.
Meh to it all. I'm off for coffee.

Cornered Tigers. Top ten finish for me. If I give up hope this early then what's the point.

Keyser Soze wrote:Cornered Tigers. Top ten finish for me. If I give up hope this early then what's the point.

I'll close this thread when the transfer window closes, until then I want to use it as a barometer.

I wanted to see how posters views change as players leave, players sign, and reaction to general Villa news over the next few weeks. I might restart the poll every week to reflect any changes in positivity or negativity.

My opening post tells you clearly where I'm at currently, I hope my view will change to reflect unfolding events.

I think around 14th place if we invest the Delph and Benteke money wisely.

Bottom

I'm not ready to give up yet, relegation would not be what TS signed up for, he has to make a go of this for the sake of his career. I believe they knew Delph was going to leave, please stop listening to paper talk as they would have had us relegated last season. The press have a real dislike for the villa and I find it frankly grating but its getting to the point where fans are starting to buy it. There will be a plan with or without take over the players we are getting are already known and Sherwood will have confidence in them. For me mid table this season beckons unless we get took over then we may see a resurgence.

Dansvilla75 wrote:I'm not ready to give up yet, relegation would not be what TS signed up for, he has to make a go of this for the sake of his career. I believe they knew Delph was going to leave, please stop listening to paper talk as they would have had us relegated last season. The press have a real dislike for the villa and I find it frankly grating but its getting to the point where fans are starting to buy it. There will be a plan with or without take over the players we are getting are already known and Sherwood will have confidence in them. For me mid table this season beckons unless we get took over then we may see a resurgence.  

I admire your positivity and I wish I could share it.

I don't think we needed the help of the media to realise how much we deserved to be relegated last season. After finishing seventeenth we are now officially the worst ranked Premier League team, at least until the first day of the season is over. We absolutely deserve to be where we are, and the shambles that I'm currently witnessing does not fill me with any confidence that we've learned from our previous mistakes.

I'm worried but not panicking yet. Plenty of time left in the window and a couple of clever signings will see us somewhere around 13/14th

you can't beat a good poll on sunny Saturday afternoon......

I voted relegation for the following reasons

I have massive doubts about TS
Its looks probable we will loose Benteke
By some sort of freak we got 10 pts from our first 4 games last season

Take away CB - and those 10 pts - the writing is on the wall.....

I wouldn't be at all surprised if TS is gone by Christmas

Wait Smetro, you DONT like Sherwood? Why didn't you say something sooner?

Villa_Dan wrote:Wait Smetro, you DONT like Sherwood? Why didn't you say something sooner?

I wouldn't say I don't like him. When he speaks much of what he says is pretty bang on.

I have concerns about his ability to organise a defence - if he can't do that that undermines everything else he does.

I think Sherwood has the balls to fight and drag his team up to play aggressive pressing football that will probably be above there collective ability. I don't see it being enough, sadly more a reflection of Burnley last season. Some quality signings might change my view, but that's how I see it at present.

villabromsgrove wrote:I think Sherwood has the balls to fight and drag his team up to play aggressive pressing football that will probably be above there collective ability. I don't see it being enough, sadly more a reflection of Burnley last season. Some quality signings might change my view, but that's how I see it at present.

Ray Wilkins has given me a bit more hope on that front. He feels like the kind of appointment that Sherwood needed to have alongside him.

I've just voted and made it 7-apiece. Think that sums up where we're at, sadly.

kimbo wrote:

villabromsgrove wrote:I think Sherwood has the balls to fight and drag his team up to play aggressive pressing football that will probably be above there collective ability. I don't see it being enough, sadly more a reflection of Burnley last season. Some quality signings might change my view, but that's how I see it at present.

Ray Wilkins has given me a bit more hope on that front. He feels like the kind of appointment that Sherwood needed to have alongside him.

Agree. He is a highly rated coach - I just hope he drills the defence day in \ day out. Leave TS to look after the other end of the pitch !

smetro wrote:

kimbo wrote:

villabromsgrove wrote:I think Sherwood has the balls to fight and drag his team up to play aggressive pressing football that will probably be above there collective ability. I don't see it being enough, sadly more a reflection of Burnley last season. Some quality signings might change my view, but that's how I see it at present.

Ray Wilkins has given me a bit more hope on that front. He feels like the kind of appointment that Sherwood needed to have alongside him.

Agree. He is a highly rated coach - I just hope he drills the defence day in \ day out. Leave TS to look after the other end of the pitch !

Potentially going off on a bit of a tangent here, but at least we have a coaching staff in terms of numbers that looks like a Premier League set-up rather than Lambert doing it all on his own.

FFS seriously!
A thread about relegation on the 11 th of July, just to let the moaning minis and doom mongers have another wankfest .

Think I'll give TBAR a rest for a while I feel like a lone voice sometimes and this site's got way too depressing.

Cheers folks - enjoy not enjoying.

De Kuip wrote:FFS seriously!
A thread about relegation on the 11 th of July,  just to let the moaning minis and doom mongers have another wankfest .

Think I'll give TBAR a rest for a while  I feel like a lone voice sometimes and this site's got way too depressing.

Cheers folks - enjoy not enjoying.

DK, should we ignore the fact that the elephant in the room for the past four seasons has been relegation? Why would we not discuss the fact that we are bloody lucky to still be a Premier League team? Do you think I'm wrong, or do you just not want to discuss it?

villabromsgrove wrote:

De Kuip wrote:FFS seriously!
A thread about relegation on the 11 th of July,  just to let the moaning minis and doom mongers have another wankfest .

Think I'll give TBAR a rest for a while  I feel like a lone voice sometimes and this site's got way too depressing.

Cheers folks - enjoy not enjoying.

DK, should we ignore the fact that the elephant in the room for the past four seasons has been relegation? Why would we not discuss the fact that we are bloody lucky to still be a Premier League team? Do you think I'm wrong, or do you just not want to discuss it?

DK - Bit harsh, that. I'm quite disappointed in all honesty.

I'm far from all doom and gloom and I voted we'll stay up - but I think it's a valid debate. However...

VB - what perhaps would have been a better thread/poll would be a 'where do you think we'll finish'?

That's probably more palatable and gives a wider spectrum of where people may think we'll be. For example, the people voting stay up may be split between "Stay up by the skin of our teeth" and "Stay up? We'll be swimming in the pleasant sea of mid-table mediocrity"

Some may even feel we'll be doing better than that...

It is also more likely to be a fluid, ongoing process as more players arrive/leave, in terms of peoples expectations.

Going down m'loard!! Sick of football at the mo thank god for cricket