A Tale of Continued Woe- Wake up Aston Villa before its too LATE

The pain goes on and in fact gets worse by the week. Some recent new additions to the tale of woe that is Aston Villa managed by Paul Lambert, owned by Randy Lerner.

1. No 2nd half goal scored since first game of the season

2. No goal at The Holte End for Villa since April 5th

3. 7 goals scored in 13 games, with only 3 goalscorers.

4. A third member of staff appointed by Lambert leaves the club, but somehow he remains.

5. Worst stats in Premier League for shots on target, goals scored, amount of shots, shot conversion rate, chances created and shooting accuracy!

6. The board remains short on football/Villa knowledge so the continued strategy of allowing poor managers too much autonomy and not enough accountability goes on, allowing them to fob them off with virtually any excuse that enters their head! Excuse management is rife at Villa, certainly on football matters.

7. 32 points from 37 games since Dec 4th 2013 and 3 points from last 9 games and no victories.

8. A manager that has now managed over 100 games with a win % of less than 30 and has lost 48 of those games.

9. The football is even worse to watch than Mcleish, all from a manager who promised something very different when he arrived. If results were better there could be some justification, fact is the results over a calendar year are Relegation material with a capital "R'!

10. Lowest home crowd since Dec 1999 (On a night we should have been celebrating an illustrious 140 year history) and no prospect of that improving whilst this now proven failure of a football manager remains. We approached the game like a League One side hoping to get a replay from a much bigger club.

At what point did the above become acceptable to a club like Aston Villa FC?? The manager repeats in every press conference/interview that the fans have huge expectations! Really?! Right now all fans want is to see the team play to their potential and at least attempt to play football. I don't think that's huge expectation Mr Lambert but its clearly expectation beyond your ability so Aston Villa wake up and act, before its too late, otherwise a future keeping Leeds Utd and Nottingham Forest company in the Championship beckons.

Radio interview link below.

http://www.mixcloud.com/UnityFM/sports-lounge-daniel-razas-interview-with-howard-hodgson-november-2014/ …

It's a shocking mistake to have not appointed someone with football knowledge to advise the board. I thought that would of been one of Foxs fist acts as CEO??

I might also add:

1. 12 players on loan of which Lambert signed 6.

2. 1 point taken off Burnley and QPR (Teams below us but for how long?!)

Howard, have you been able to speak to Tom Fox face to face to discuss your (our) concerns?

A copy of my email to Tom Fox -


Dear Mr Fox

Firstly welcome to Aston Villa Football Club, you have joined a great football club and there is little doubt you have the opportunity to awaken a giant of English football.

I am a passionate Aston Villa Fan and I have been since my Dad took me on the Holte End for the first time in 1985. I have seen some highs and seen a few lows no doubt. I am a director and co-founder of an award winning marketing company and as such I believe I speak with knowledge regarding both the business and football sides of the club (i've played at a high level with and against former England Internationals).

I have huge concerns regarding the 'brand' of football that has been on display at Aston Villa now for a number of years. I will stick with the Paul Lambert era; he promised us all attractive, free flowing and attacking football when he arrived and apart from glimpses towards the end of 2012/13 season we have not seen it. Gary Neville summed Aston Villa up perfectly last Monday when he said words to the effect of "Aston Villa have now been worked out as purely a deep lying counter attacking team".

We play extremely boring football and the fans have had enough, you do not need me to tell you how bad the attendances have become and I guarantee you that 'brand' of football is the reason. We are bottom of near every stat that relates to the attacking side of the game such as shots on target, shots at goal, goals scored, chances created (you do not need me to go on). The game of football is evolving rapidly and Lambert's methods are miles behind.

The playing side and awful football resulting in low attendances rests with the manager, he's had nearly 3 years and taken us backwards which I did not think possible after Big Eck. He has broken a ridiculous amount of negative records many relating to awful results at Villa Park. We are a laughing stock, his staff that he appoints either walk out or get sacked for 'bullying'. He buys players and then does not use them or sells them within 12 months.

My 6 year old lad desperately wants to come to more games but I will not bring him to every game because it's nothing short of boring and depressing. After the Southampton game he informed me that he now wants to play for Man City or Chelsea when he's older because Villa are rubbish. Give me a reason to challenge this because I cannot think of one!!! There will be tens of thousands of other parents in exactly the same situation, act now or you lose the next generation.

I could go on long into the night but you will probably not read this so I will stop now.

Please if you feel the need to chat with a genuine fan with a balanced approach to football and business then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Up the Villa

Kind Regards

Richard

As always Howard, a depressing and accurate summary, lol.

Richard, great letter, sums it all up. I do hope he has the grace to read it.

First of great post Howard, if somewhat depressingly in its truth and accuracy. We need to keep spreading the word. The facts don't lie. He's a fraud and been found out.

Great letter Richard and to be fair to Tom Fox, I know of letters in which he has reolied, so keep writing and keep it respectful and constructive and you may get a response. It's certainly being heard. Whether or not that brings about any change is another matter. UTV

Yep Richard top post and thanks for sending it to Tom.

Howard, well done AGAIN!. However as this thread is titled 'Continued Woe' we are continuing to make our thoughts known but none at B6, absolutely no one is listening.

As you know I followed us from 1965 and started in real dark days, through the old 3rd Divison, was at Highbury in 81 and Rotterdam in 82 so I have seen the highs and the lows.

I have never been so fed up and to a point disinterested in AVFC. The place is a lethrgic resting place with absolutely no direction or plan. The hope Lerner had was a quick sale and despite all the bullshite that was posted on this site nothing happened or was close.

I have decided I will not be attending B6 to watch this shambles until there is some hope that things will turn around.

Yes, it is in the blood but I fail to see any prospect of change that would warrant me changing this stance. We all make our own decisions about how we deal with this situation and this is mine. By all means others are entited to attend and get behind the team but I owe my sanity to keeping away and not getting angry, frustrated and depressed on what they serve up.....it's not healthy for an old git :)

Denis_B wrote:Howard, well done AGAIN!. However as this thread is titled 'Continued Woe' we are continuing to make our thoughts known but none at B6, absolutely no one is listening.

As you know I followed us from 1965 and started in real dark days, through the old 3rd Divison, was at Highbury in 81 and Rotterdam in 82 so I have seen the highs and the lows.

I have never been so fed up and to a point disinterested in AVFC. The place is a lethrgic resting place with absolutely no direction or plan. The hope Lerner had was a quick sale and despite all the bullshite that was posted on this site nothing happened or was close.

I have decided I will not be attending B6 to watch this shambles until there is some hope that things will turn around.

Yes, it is in the blood but I fail to see any prospect of change that would warrant me changing this stance. We all make our own decisions about how we deal with this situation and this is mine. By all means others are entited to attend and get behind the team but I owe my sanity to keeping away and not getting angry, frustrated and depressed on what they serve up.....it's not healthy for an old git :)

Not quite An old git yet Dennis (me, not you ) but I feel exactly the same as you. I'm not setting foot inside VP or giving the club a penny until LambOUT Has been removed and I see who he is replaced with (I fear Pulis, although I'd still prefer him to Lambert as a short term appointment) desperate times for this once great club, in fact it is still great, the owner just doesn't realise it and doing his best to prove otherwise.

Depressingly enjoyable thread. Some great reads.

villabromsgrove wrote:Howard, have you been able to speak to Tom Fox face to face to discuss your (our) concerns?

I saw Tom Fox at Villa Park on Nov 11th. He's clearly a top executive with many commercial skills that will benefit the football club. However I am concerned he appears to still think Paul Lambert is the right man despite the huge evidence that points to the contrary and allows him to pretty much run the football side.
My impression was he and Randy really want Lambert to stay but if we drop into the bottom 3 and stay there then they will be forced to act. Forced is the right word here as it really is the last thing they want to do.

Denis_B wrote:Howard, well done AGAIN!. However as this thread is titled 'Continued Woe' we are continuing to make our thoughts known but none at B6, absolutely no one is listening.

As you know I followed us from 1965 and started in real dark days, through the old 3rd Divison, was at Highbury in 81 and Rotterdam in 82 so I have seen the highs and the lows.

I have never been so fed up and to a point disinterested in AVFC. The place is a lethrgic resting place with absolutely no direction or plan. The hope Lerner had was a quick sale and despite all the bullshite that was posted on this site nothing happened or was close.

I have decided I will not be attending B6 to watch this shambles until there is some hope that things will turn around.

Yes, it is in the blood but I fail to see any prospect of change that would warrant me changing this stance. We all make our own decisions about how we deal with this situation and this is mine. By all means others are entited to attend and get behind the team but I owe my sanity to keeping away and not getting angry, frustrated and depressed on what they serve up.....it's not healthy for an old git :)

Den mate, I hear, feel and share you pain and anger. I've been going since 1977 so was very spoilt until 1983. Since then its largely been a roller coaster with highs and lows but at no point have we had such a fallow period where the club has lost its soul and identity. As Ron Atkinson said "Aston Villa has become irrelevant" and that is very sad.

Richdalton wrote:A copy of my email to Tom Fox -


Dear Mr Fox

Firstly welcome to Aston Villa Football Club, you have joined a great football club and there is little doubt you have the opportunity to awaken a giant of English football.

I am a passionate Aston Villa Fan and I have been since my Dad took me on the Holte End for the first time in 1985. I have seen some highs and seen a few lows no doubt. I am a director and co-founder of an award winning marketing company and as such I believe I speak with knowledge regarding both the business and football sides of the club (i've played at a high level with and against former England Internationals).

I have huge concerns regarding the 'brand' of football that has been on display at Aston Villa now for a number of years. I will stick with the Paul Lambert era; he promised us all attractive, free flowing and attacking football when he arrived and apart from glimpses towards the end of 2012/13 season we have not seen it. Gary Neville summed Aston Villa up perfectly last Monday when he said words to the effect of "Aston Villa have now been worked out as purely a deep lying counter attacking team".

We play extremely boring football and the fans have had enough, you do not need me to tell you how bad the attendances have become and I guarantee you that 'brand' of football is the reason. We are bottom of near every stat that relates to the attacking side of the game such as shots on target, shots at goal, goals scored, chances created (you do not need me to go on). The game of football is evolving rapidly and Lambert's methods are miles behind.

The playing side and awful football resulting in low attendances rests with the manager, he's had nearly 3 years and taken us backwards which I did not think possible after Big Eck. He has broken a ridiculous amount of negative records many relating to awful results at Villa Park. We are a laughing stock, his staff that he appoints either walk out or get sacked for 'bullying'. He buys players and then does not use them or sells them within 12 months.

My 6 year old lad desperately wants to come to more games but I will not bring him to every game because it's nothing short of boring and depressing. After the Southampton game he informed me that he now wants to play for Man City or Chelsea when he's older because Villa are rubbish. Give me a reason to challenge this because I cannot think of one!!! There will be tens of thousands of other parents in exactly the same situation, act now or you lose the next generation.

I could go on long into the night but you will probably not read this so I will stop now.

Please if you feel the need to chat with a genuine fan with a balanced approach to football and business then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Up the Villa

Kind Regards

Richard

Excellent, articulate letter which Tom will definitely read and is certainly worthy of a response. I've written many with similar content. What we desperately need now is the best possible response IE Take the advice and cut Lambert loose! At least give the club a chance of reconnecting with its fans and becoming at least competitive again, playing football we can all believe in. May not be the best squad in the world but it has players capable, coached right, of doing far better than this.

It's the disconnect with the fans and the disconnect with reality that is most disturbing. Silence from Lerner, bizarre public relations/social media activities, indifference from the players.

A new manager and a complete re-think are required. And it's not like there's a lot of time to get this done. Yet it would appear the board think they have all the time in the world.

What the hell is it going to take for them to wake up?

HH 8166 wrote:

Richdalton wrote:A copy of my email to Tom Fox -


Dear Mr Fox

Firstly welcome to Aston Villa Football Club, you have joined a great football club and there is little doubt you have the opportunity to awaken a giant of English football.

I am a passionate Aston Villa Fan and I have been since my Dad took me on the Holte End for the first time in 1985. I have seen some highs and seen a few lows no doubt. I am a director and co-founder of an award winning marketing company and as such I believe I speak with knowledge regarding both the business and football sides of the club (i've played at a high level with and against former England Internationals).

I have huge concerns regarding the 'brand' of football that has been on display at Aston Villa now for a number of years. I will stick with the Paul Lambert era; he promised us all attractive, free flowing and attacking football when he arrived and apart from glimpses towards the end of 2012/13 season we have not seen it. Gary Neville summed Aston Villa up perfectly last Monday when he said words to the effect of "Aston Villa have now been worked out as purely a deep lying counter attacking team".

We play extremely boring football and the fans have had enough, you do not need me to tell you how bad the attendances have become and I guarantee you that 'brand' of football is the reason. We are bottom of near every stat that relates to the attacking side of the game such as shots on target, shots at goal, goals scored, chances created (you do not need me to go on). The game of football is evolving rapidly and Lambert's methods are miles behind.

The playing side and awful football resulting in low attendances rests with the manager, he's had nearly 3 years and taken us backwards which I did not think possible after Big Eck. He has broken a ridiculous amount of negative records many relating to awful results at Villa Park. We are a laughing stock, his staff that he appoints either walk out or get sacked for 'bullying'. He buys players and then does not use them or sells them within 12 months.

My 6 year old lad desperately wants to come to more games but I will not bring him to every game because it's nothing short of boring and depressing. After the Southampton game he informed me that he now wants to play for Man City or Chelsea when he's older because Villa are rubbish. Give me a reason to challenge this because I cannot think of one!!! There will be tens of thousands of other parents in exactly the same situation, act now or you lose the next generation.

I could go on long into the night but you will probably not read this so I will stop now.

Please if you feel the need to chat with a genuine fan with a balanced approach to football and business then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Up the Villa

Kind Regards

Richard

Excellent, articulate letter which Tom will definitely read and is certainly worthy of a response. I've written many with similar content. What we desperately need now is the best possible response IE Take the advice and cut Lambert loose! At least give the club a chance of reconnecting with its fans and becoming at least competitive again, playing football we can all believe in. May not be the best squad in the world but it has players capable, coached right, of doing far better than this.

Cracking email and your post is spot on as well HH.

I sent Tom Fox an email a few weeks ago and he replied in some detail. I got the impression that he believes in Villa and will try to do the right thing by us.

I agree with you HH that we may not have outstanding players but they are capable of playing better football collectively than they are currently being coached to deliver. New focussed  management and better coaching will give us a chance of getting disillusioned fans back on board. It would also help to secure survival so that we can continue to plan to become the Premiership force that we should be.

Amazes me the media haven't been more vocal about the fact the Villa are the worst performing club out of all 92 league side in England. If that was almost any other premiership (or even championship manager to a certain degree) there would be no end to the amount of pressure the media would apply. Why is the media so quiet about it?

Synopsis wrote:Amazes me the media haven't been more vocal about the fact the Villa are the worst performing club out of all 92 league side in England. If that was almost any other premiership (or even championship manager to a certain degree) there would be no end to the amount of pressure the media would apply. Why is the media so quiet about it?

Personally I don't think the media care.

When we've been a good side, we've not gotten the coverage we deserve. So with us currently being crap, they are even less interested.

It's not just us - the situation at the Blues is remarkably poor, yet it's not difficult to imagine that at some other clubs, there would have been much more coverage.

I just don't think the media really care about this area. Maybe it's our accents... 

Synopsis wrote:Amazes me the media haven't been more vocal about the fact the Villa are the worst performing club out of all 92 league side in England. If that was almost any other premiership (or even championship manager to a certain degree) there would be no end to the amount of pressure the media would apply. Why is the media so quiet about it?

As Big Ron Atkinson said last season.. "Aston Villa have become irrelevant to the National Media".. Very sad but currently true.

HH 8166 wrote:

Synopsis wrote:Amazes me the media haven't been more vocal about the fact the Villa are the worst performing club out of all 92 league side in England. If that was almost any other premiership (or even championship manager to a certain degree) there would be no end to the amount of pressure the media would apply. Why is the media so quiet about it?

As Big Ron Atkinson said last season.. "Aston Villa have become irrelevant to the National Media"..  Very sad but currently true.

Ouch, that hurt!

I think with more time, hopefully Tom Fox will improve the club in the area's required.

avfc85 wrote:I think with more time, hopefully Tom Fox will improve the club in the area's required.

Well I've seen little evidence thus far to justify your optimism.....was he responsible for the 4 year contract given to McMuppet?

Denis_B wrote:

avfc85 wrote:I think with more time, hopefully Tom Fox will improve the club in the area's required.

Well I've seen little evidence thus far to justify your optimism.....was he responsible for the 4 year contract given to McMuppet?

He's not going to deliver anything significant in his first season "in charge"..other than a business plan perhaps.

The next significant events are not til March.
a) next set of accounts -no Fox activity therein but may be some "post period" information about whats happened since June 1
b) new Sky package details ie how much more cash we will get from 16-17...key data point for any buyer.

By then also, with the new TV package, there will be a better picture of how the global TV reach is expanding (which it is..albeit with new competition from Bundesliga, amongst others) and that improves the asking price for any sponsorship deals.

The fact that BAML are still being paid is perhaps significant..there may be someone on the back burner until a) and b) become apparent. Until then - set the controls for the heart of the 40 pts.

I don't think it's significant. After all, Lambert is still being paid and I see no logical reason for that whatsoever.

I honestly wouldn't put it past Randy to keep the For Sale sign up in the garden and still pay the agent even though Fox seems to have told him that he desperately needs to get his house in order first.

But then, Lerner doesn't seem to have any issues with wasting money.

And Fox has come out and stated that it's Lambert's ability to admit mistakes that makes him so cute in the eyes of the owner.

Name me another business where the manager can make mistakes so monumental that he sets negative records over and over and over yet is considered a key member of the team moving forward because he can admit to these mistakes? Not learn from them! No, no, no....that wasn't mentioned as it's clear he hasn't. And isn't. it's just having the ability to admit you're a fuck-up that makes you so valuable at Villa.

The blind leads the blind.

The article by Fox naming Paddy Riley as part of the team at Villa Park shows he hasn't got a fucking clue.