Life in the Championship

That's a good, positive outlook KM and I'll do my best to share it.

A lot needs to happen in the closed season to facilitate it but fingers crossed that Lerner, Fox etc are prepared for the battle.

Good post KM, It's good to hear that members of the Worldwide fanbase intend to stick with the club during these challenging years. I too feel we will be a powerhouse in the Championship next season and although i keep hearing "You have no chance of going straight back up" from fans of all ilks i actually think that is more wishful thinking on their parts than reality.

We would most certainly be regarded as the biggest fish down there dependent on who comes down with us that is, and surely would have the financial clout and pull to attract the necessary players to at least have a strong chance of promotion at the first attempt?

Not saying we would do it of course but we would surely be one of the favorites?

My biggest concern would be if we have the same people in charge at the top as i feel their methodology is seriously flawed and will be unsuccessful whatever the division we are in. I do not include Remi Garde in that though at this point just the people alongside and above him.

KMitch wrote:

Thinman wrote:Maybe it's the emotional eye of the storm but us anyone else feeling strangely calm about our current predicament?

Gone is the angst. We've reached rock bottom (apart from the relegation bit) and things can't get any worse.

Trying to view it all with detached interest. What will Lerner do in January? New players?  Exiting players? Club sale at a knock down price? Remi stays or goes? Approach to the summer? Etc etc.

I've already come to grips with relegation, and judging by comments from Tom Fox and Remi Garde, so has the club.  I'm completely numb to any Villa related news, good or bad, at the moment.  That said, I don't share the common perception that we're going to go down and will never come back up, aka pull a Leeds.  Even with our tightassed owner, Villa will still have more financial clout in the Championship than almost everyone else, and we'll be exempt from a lot of the Financial Fair Play regulations of the Championship for a few seasons.  We'll go into next season the bookmakers favorites to bounce straight back, and with a few solid moves in the transfer market, I think we can do it.  I also don't think we'll lose 90% of our team either as everyone is fearing.  Newcastle kept a lot of their key players when they went down a few years ago, and I can see most of our key players sticking around too.  I'm looking forward to a season where we're actually in the running to win a trophy, as opposed to hoping for mid-table at best.  Having the realistic prospect of winning most of our games over the course of the season is something us as fans have needed for a long time.  I just hope the club decides to finally upgrade AVTV to allow livestreaming of all the club's matches, like so many other clubs do, so all us Villans abroad can partake in the excitement.  

I can't be as positive, Villa has been rotten for the past 5 years - the key factor has been Lerner he constantly makes awful decisions and isnt committed to Villa - when he is shifted a black cloud will move away from Villa and we may have a chance the problem is the longer he stays the more I believe we'll become another average Championship club or even worse!

I think we have to now resign ourselves to the Championship next season. I'm looking at the squad and thinking who would be useful to have next season in the first team or as a squad player;

Bunn
Bennett
Clark (might leave)
Baker
Lescott
Crespo
Bacuna
Westwood
Gardner (if he can stay fit which is unlikely)
Grealish
Gestede

I think start looking at options in the u21's - the likes of Calder, Bateman, Robinson, Kinsella etc.

- some players I havent mentioned is probably because I think they'll be sold or will be leaving but we may keep a few players on high wages depending on 1 if we can't get rid and the board want to back Garde - it's a very unpredictable time.

I'd move heaven and earth to keep:

Ayew (so important)
Amavi
Veretout
Grealish
Westwood
(and maybe Bacuna - simply because I like how he does his job and never moans)

then I'd bring in academy players and buy a few new ones, like Tom Heaton, Sam Byram.

The rest of the squad I couldn't care less about. I'd do my utmost to get rid of Zog and Gabby as well. I'd even release them if that was the only option. We need to get the mentality right again, as I think that's the biggest cancer of this club next to that sugarbag of a yank owner.

Joppe84 wrote:I'd move heaven and earth to keep:

Ayew (so important)
Amavi
Veretout
Grealish
Westwood
(and maybe Bacuna - simply because I like how he does his job and never moans)

then I'd bring in academy players and buy a few new ones, like Tom Heaton, Sam Byram.

The rest of the squad I couldn't care less about. I'd do my utmost to get rid of Zog and Gabby as well. I'd even release them if that was the only option. We need to get the mentality right again, as I think that's the biggest cancer of this club next to that sugarbag of a yank owner.

I hope we can keep the top 3 players you've mentioned, just think we won't Lerner never fails to p*ss us off.

I've always thought Ayew looked a great talent, but I think he's proved it the last few months. He's been playing with absolute shit and managed to come across as a player that belongs in the European leagues. If we can keep him next season it would be fucking massive for us. I'd honestly double his wages and more.

I think Amavi will be with us next season, purely because of his injury but I can't see the other two (i.e. Ayew and Veretout) being here.

Really need some players who WANT to play for Aston Villa and are willing to put the effort in to achieve that aim, not the bunch of scroungers that we currently have!

Why would anyone keep westwood adds nothing plus much to weak for Championship

KMitch, we haven't got any "key" players, there isn't one match winner or match saver amongst  them, I hope they all have relegation buy out clauses , they can all do one for me, shower of shit, the lot of them.


Thinman, I too have reached a period of calm & resignation about our plight, I think most of The Holte End has as well, the Arsenal game was as quiet as I ever can remember , Apathy Villa FC.

I'm not going to apologise but in our household we are looking forward to Villa being in the Championship. The premier league stinks and I've said before I'm so bored with playing Arsenal, Chelsea etc etc, it's a sad day when the likes of Crystal Palace, Leicester, West Ham etc are so much better than us, but one day, no idea when, Villa will be back and hopefully with a team that want to play for the shirt. I thought Remi would be a good appointment but sadly he's as inept as all the others, he won't be any good in the long run but will Fox & co change anything.
The only thing that's bothering me is how are things going to pan out between now and May as I can't in all seriousness see Villa wining a game and we never never get any rub of the green, it's just sickening, utter humiliation.
Happy New Year fellow villans x

Agree with every word of that. I can't see another win either although there is the chance I guess of a lucky 1-0 against someone once we are mathematically relegated but I won't hold my breath for that.

My expectations have now been managed down to being hopeful that we won't beat Derby's lowest points record.

We can do this Villa. C'mon!

As to next season. It all depends on what happens in the summer. If the usual suspects such as Fox, Riley and Garde are still here then I expect another season of struggle. Years of circling the League 1 plug hole would be a real prospect.

I will never accept anything less than the best for this club, but I must admit it will be nice to possibly have a squad I want to be associated with. Winning matches is bizarrely less important for me..

I think anyone who is assuming it'll be nice to be in the championship just to start feeling the warmth of wins again needs a reality check, it's my opinion that this avalanche decline we have witnessed in recent years may not be finished with a drop into the championship. People need to realise how utterly incompetent Aston Villa FC has become,we don't have a single player in the current squad that will either be here or is cut out for championship football. I seriously think that should the seemingly inevitable happen this season then our biggest objective probably needs to be arresting the decline and avoiding another league drop. We are utterly shambolic from top to bottom. Without a change in ownership to someone who has the heartbeat of Villa in their body combined with some acumen in their head then we could be outside of the top flight for longer than some seem to currently think. We are not the same as Newcastle of a few years back, at least Mike Ashley is actually a good businessman who has made his own fortune and does make some correct calls! Who knows, maybe Villa will bring in four outstanding players in January and go on a 12 game winning streak and this securing another year in the premier league..................

""Who knows, maybe Villa will bring in four outstanding players in January and go on a 12 game winning streak and this securing another year in the premier league..................""

oh please don't Dazzle

We are the only club who buys random players from anywhere be it Spanish B leagues, French lower leagues and goodness knows where else having worked out how they will fare in the Premier League with a giant calculator!

Bizzarre is an understatement

The Utterer wrote:""Who knows, maybe Villa will bring in four outstanding players in January and go on a 12 game winning streak and this securing another year in the premier league..................""

oh please don't Dazzle

We are the only club who buys random players from anywhere be it Spanish B leagues, French lower leagues and goodness knows where else having worked out how they will fare in the Premier League with a giant calculator!

Bizzarre is an understatement  

I thought they used FIFA 15 (or should that be FIFA 16 now)!

First time poster. Knocking round the various forums for years being entertained but thought, as the new year is about to start, to get involved.

Been a fan for nearly 50 years so remember the pain and humiliation of having the noses in a higher division than us. The joy of tearing up the old 3rd division and having more away fans than home supporters on away days.
48 000 at the Bournemouth game in 1972 at Villa park where a helicopter was employed to try and dry the pitch out. We won!!

So it is with great sadness that I see the predicament we are in. It is sad because it could of been avoided.
Lerner came to us with with a Villa tattoo on his calf and daddies money, having sold the company.
He then continued to make a mess of Cleveland Brown and sold them.

O'Neill was appointed, but by whom? Lerner allowed him to waste millions on average players, with the exception of Young, Milner, Downing etc, and extremely high wages. Presumably because we were not an attractive option.
When these Crown Jewels were sold off Lerner had fallen out of love and money not invested. Saddled with high wage bills and a poor philosophy to rid us of the bomb squad, mistake after mistake has been made, which fellow posters have summed up.

When Villa do get sold we will be added to a list of failures at the hand of our owner. A well intentioned, nice bloke no doubt.
But we who have Villa in our blood have no choice but to pick up the pieces.

Championship football beckons. Maybe then I will be able to watch Match of the Day, because I can't whenever Villa lose!

Will we return? I can only agree with posters who suggest that with Lerner at the helm and his current mindset of trying to do things on the cheap, we will stagnate further.
There have indeed been baffling decisions. Appointing McLeish....who in their right mind.....!
Replacing Benteke with an unproven championship striker.
Not replacing Hutton.
Not replacing Guzan.
All of which are now being considered.
We fans know we may lack particular insight, unless you have been a professional footballer, but so many posters have been spot on for years when summing up our shortfalls. We should therefore expect a better level of expertise from those within the club.

I am willing to give Remi a chance. He quickly Sussed out Gabby, Zog, was reluctant to play Westwood, Sussed out Guzan and Hutton. Unfortunately, we have lost half a season now. If only they had read the forums.

Best quote I saw was....Lerner......from hero to Nero!
Uncertain times ahead gentlemen.

Up the Villa!

Welcome Gaz, I also remember the nostalgia of those days when Villa Park was absolutely rocking.
One of my best memories was the Wembley final against Spurs when we gave them a fright when they were flying high and we were in the second division.

Martin Chivers done us.
The only game my mrs has ever been to was the semi final of European cup when we beat Anderlecht 1-0.
The year before I met her I was down at Highbury to see us win the league, courteousy of Middlesbro beating Ipswich. Someone said we took 20 000, if that was possible. Remember seeing fans dancing on the roofs of coaches.

Memories I know...but the chairman, managers and players that come and go can never take them away. When we inevatively drop into the championship we will visit away grounds with our heads held high, because it's not our fault. We will give support the likes that had rarely been seen and people will point at us and speak to their kids of the time the mighty Villa came to town.

Sometimes you got to enjoy the journey regardless of the destination.

Take a look at this shit.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3378725/Manchester-United-home-games-officially-boring-watch-English-football.html#_ga=1.32442430.1084487891.1451587781

I'll tell you what, even if I want to see us winning trophies again, I really couldn't give a shit if we're relegated. Look at that. I knew we were shit, but fuck me.

Joppe84 wrote:Take a look at this shit.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-3378725/Manchester-United-home-games-officially-boring-watch-English-football.html#_ga=1.32442430.1084487891.1451587781

I'll tell you what, even if I want to see us winning trophies again, I really couldn't give a shit if we're relegated. Look at that. I knew we were shit, but fuck me.

It just makes me laugh because that is what we have become a laughing stock!

2016 the year Villa get relegated!!!

What we need now is to accept the inevitable and buy players with our focus firmly on the championship. We need young players who are putting in shifts week in week out in the championship but whose clubs will not be promoted. We also need a couple of nasty players who will give these players in the championship who are thinking "Lets kick lumps out of these millionaire fairies" a rude awakening. We need to accept our fate rather than bring in a load of mercenaries like QPR did trying to stay up and make our situation worse. Believe me its going to be tough enough next season because EVERY team is going to be trying to kick us when we're down.
I say get the right players in now and treat the rest of the season as a prolonged pre season. Who knows we might actually win a few.

Spot on.

                   Heaton
Byram Okore   ?    Amavi/?

?    Veretout  a dirty bastard/Calder Grealish

Ayew Afobe

Gardner, Clark, Steer, Donacien, Sellars, Lyden, Kinsella Hepburn Murphy, Calder.

I would play Gardner in front of the back 4 he did it for forest (they love him there )prob end up there would be appreciated