I've seen some really bad things happen at Villa, in my time as a fan. Losses in league cups to lower league teams (Scunthorpe, Sheffield United) but I have never felt so deflated and depressed as I do at this moment.

Don't get me wrong, Bradford deserve their massive achievement 100% and I wish them all the best for the final.

But whilst this is their finest hour, this is also my clubs darkest hour and I am not sure we can pull this around in time to save our premiership status.

It is easy to put the blame on people, O'Neill, McLeish, Houllier or even Lambert (who isn't faultless when it comes to tactics). But we really need to look at the build up to today, and the little things that have happened to cause such an incredible drop over the past three years.

From the moment he took over as the custodian, Lerner stated that he would do everything to achieve the goals he had for Villa and the ultimate aim was champions league football.

The first three years were incredible, we saw a league cup final, three 6th place finishes, inspirational moments and a team that looked well on its way to being something special.

All of a sudden Lerner decided he could no longer afford to support the wage bill, finance high earning players or make any large investment in the team. With this O'Neill stepped down and the motion was set in place.

Now, what I do not get is for a man who came in saying he had a 5 year plan, why did he not have this plan worked out so that the investment was steady, why did he let things run riot, how did he not notice there was a problem sooner?

Well, I think he made the gamble that we would get champions league football and when that failed he just cut funding dead, on the spot, gave in with the avalanche plan and looked to recoup costs.

OUCH!

Everybody knows what happens when you try to stop a runaway train, you get a derailment and mass casualties.

Players were sold, they were not replaced with quality, managers came and went for high fee's - it felt like names were being pulled out of a hat and given a chance to manage us. From Houllier to McLeish, how can any person of logic make this choice? These appointments were like chalk and cheese, you cannot go from one set of ideals to another and expect miracles.

We have been badly run, from the top for the past three years. And just like the minor success we had with the over-the-top investment, there is a disaster around the corner waiting for us if we do not put this right with investment in the team. 

 This team, over the past three years has had its heart ripped out, it is now lifeless and drifting into the championship.

We need to invest in quality, players who can change games and make things happen, we miss Milner, Barry, Young and Downing and there are no players at this club who can change a game.

I cannot see this happening though, Nero is fiddling whilst Rome is burning and with just nine days to put things right, a restriction on wages, a lack of quality is going to see us have some very dark days at this club.

All thanks to the errors made right at the top.