Robbie09

Great post. If long standing and loyal season ticket holders decide not to renew next season in an attempt to force change then why are they any less loyal than those that renew and continue to accept the turgid drivel served up this season? The past 18 months or so have been awful yet utterly predictable and easily avoidable. After last season's flirtation with relegation i renewed early as i thought Lerner and his sidekick Faulkner wouldn't make the mistake of appointing another poor manager..... The appointment of McLeish underlines just how piss poor their judgement is and the position we now find ourselves in as far as poor football, supporter disillusionment etc is no surprise given his track record. I wouldn't slag anyone off who decides not to renew because maybe by taking that action they may instigate change. The board will only pay attention to revenue and a major drop in season ticket renewal is likely to make them sit up and notice more so than fans that turn up and accept the situation. Therefore who is the better fan - the one that blindly supports the team or the one that instigates change for the better?

Good to see you're renewing in a different part of the stadium to me. That means there's no chance of me sitting near to you.

I agree. His CV is awful and his man management skills wouldn't last 5 minutes in this era.

Nope you said by July 2012 not by the start of season 2012/13. Is it a yes on that basis?

I seem to recall you stated recently he'd definitely be a Liverpool player come July. Do you still think that is the case because I'll wager £20 to Villatalk he won't be.

Sadly making each match hell for him will make the match hell for the players. Do whatever you want before and after the game, but during it the focus needs to be on the players. These next 2 games are massive. This. I loathe the fact that McLeish is our manager but first and foremost we need to support the team to ensure survival. Once that is achieved then we can turn the heat up on the manager.

Lower tier sold out, now selling tickets in the upper tier.

Whilst it's worrying times at the moment, i think we'll survive as long as we don't lose to either Bolton or Blackburn. If we pick up a t least a point in each of those games it maintains the gap between us and them with fewer games to play. Lose on Saturday and we really are in the plop though.

Wishful thinking but I don't think Randy has the balls to axe him yet.

I'd much rather get the points on the board first with victories against Blackburn and Fulham and then really turn up the heat on McLeish. If we survive (which I think we will) then the expected lack of season ticket renewal will i think force Randy to act. To an extent i agree with LeafyVilla. Last season at St James Park if KMac had made changes at half time we may have salvaged a point but he didn't and we got hammered. That day told me that he is either tactically too naive or not decisive enough at first team level.

To repeat what others have said, they are bad enough under usual circumstances. Points total is the same as last season when we were bricking it but we had at least started to show some sporadic form. The team seemed relatively settled, there was a formula and a plan. We still had the Wolves performance to come but in the games against Manchester City, Man United and the wins against Wigan and Blackburn we had started to show fight. This is a worse experience than O'Dreary's last season for me as at least he had the excuse of an abysmal squad to contend with. McClown has that excuse too. Only Bent and Given are quality and then Agbonlahor and possibly Cuellar average. The rest of them are horrific, and can leave in the summer. So Ireland, N'Zogbia, Clark and Gardner are horrific? Yes there's some dross in the squad but I think you're way off in your statement.

Yes I'm sure he'd leave a top of the table club with limitless funds to join us...... Don't you remember the carnage he caused during his short reign at Forest?

What odds are you offering?

Wiggyrichard i agree wholeheartedly. Sadly there are a few people who appear to post for the sake of it without adding any value to the topic of discussion.

The Mirror and The Star?

Media makes up a lie about a player,,,, Supposed fan calls him a pr*ck.... This story is 2 years old from when he was at city and was rubbished by him then, just resurfaced again because of Henry... But any excuse for you to slate him right? Spot on dude, couldn't agree more with your post.

On what basis do you form such a comment? It's his money, he can spend it on what he wants. Ireland donates an absolute shed load of money to a charity foundation he started which benefits a childrens hospital. Care to comment on that? Hopefully he's less abusive about what you spend your money on.

You must have read my previous post as this was in response to it but I'm seriously struggling to understand how you could post this in response to what I'd posted. No the blame doesn't clearly lie with the players. As I previously stated as an example, look at Sunderland under O'Neill compared to Sunderland under Bruce. This is nothing to do with comparing O'Neill and McLeish, just compare Sunderland under O'Neill to under Bruce with exactly the same players. The players haven't changed, there the exact same players and they haven't become better players. They are simply playing for a different manager, they are motivated and they are playing to their strengths or he is picking players that who's strengths match the system he wants to play. In short Sunderland are an example of the impact of the manager on a group of players. I firmly believe while we have some issues with some players the main problem is the manager not the players. How about not pick him in the first place, especially not in midfield. I don't think we would be that much better off put it that way. We are no better than Birmingham were last season and I'm damn sure he has a better set of players to work with than he did there last season. So I'd argue that despite better resources the end result is the same so the problem quite clearly is the manager. Totally agree with TrentVilla. The current squad at his disposal is in my opinion a top 10 squad, and far better than the dross he had last season at SHA. Sadly he's managing to turn us into relegation candidates with his tactics. Admittedly there are players (especially in defence) that are making costly errors but the attacking talent available to him should be better utilised to compensate for this. After all the best form of defence is attack.

"I've enjoyed my spell here at Villa. It's a great club but it was my choice to go to the States. I could have stayed in the Premier League for a few more years but I didn't. "When I go back to LA, it could be completely different. At this moment in time I can't tell what will happen. It's a case of watch this space. "But people have seen over the years with the clubs I've been at, how quickly I leave if I don't think I fit in. "Once I get something in my head I make a decision fairly quickly and stick to it."

Just read Keane's comments about a possible return to the premier league - maybe there's more to this USA jolly than just idea sharing with the Browns coach....

Great post. Given his cruciate injury, it's far too early to write him off.

Absolutely this. I can't believe that anyone thinks it could be a blessing in disguise especially given that during his absence we will come up against the more physical forwards in the mould of Yakubu and Kevin Davies.

No

Great post. And you've summed it up precisely by saying the board should be ashamed of themselves. The current state of affairs is soley down to them for firstly allowing O'Neill's spending to get out of control and then with the subsequent managerial choices.

Don't bother dude. I penned one last season during Houllier's reign and as a season ticket holder of 40 years I didn't even have the courtesy of an acknowledgement. Eventually I rang the club to see if the letter had been received and they confirmed it had so they couldn't hide behind the excuse that the lettter had got lost in the post.