Robbie09

Oh that's right

Chips are down

**** it I'm not going approach

Great support

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.

John Gregory's career:

1989–1990 Portsmouth

1990 Plymouth Argyle (caretaker)

1996–1998 Wycombe Wanderers

1998–2002 Aston Villa

2002–2003 Derby County

2006–2007 Queens Park Rangers

2009–2010 Maccabi Ahi Nazareth

2010–2011 F.C. Ashdod

2011– FC Kairat

Absolutely shit

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

I think Liverpool may be outbid

But I will take that bet on, subject to saying he won't be a Villa player by the start of 2012/13 season

Nope you said by July 2012 not by the start of season 2012/13.

Is it a yes on that basis?

Yes, he's finished with us

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.

We don't need Randy to fire him, we just need to make McLeish resign. Just make each match hell for him.

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.

Lose to blackburn and i fear for the bloke's safety

If we lose to the worst team in the division with supposedly the worst manager in the division how can he still be in a job???

3 points or do one McLeish

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

The only thing that scares me more than finishing the season with McLeish and getting relegated is finishing the season with K Mac, the bloke is no better than McLeish at being a manager, losing 6-0 to newly promoted Newcastle proved that.

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.

We'll comfortably stay up.

Things are really really bad but not that shite enough for relegation.

Next season will be a different story unless we seriously buck our ideas up in the summer.

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.

Anyone else starting to think David Platt could be a good shout

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?

I'd put money on Bent being a Liverpool player by July 2012

What odds are you offering?

On the whole he's played well this season and in patches has been the best player on the pitch for us...yet people still get on his case!?!?

Still head and shoulders above everyone else in the squad technically.

And as for people calling him a prick...grow the **** up!

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.

No smoke without fire & I've heard it from numerous different sources now

The Mirror and The Star?

He's trying to outdo Thierry Henry who I having a 40ft high tank installed in his London pad

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.

Apparently he's planning to install a shark tank to form a new kitchen floor

What a **** prick

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.

BUT…..more of blame in not all clearly has to lie with the players…they are simply not good enough…..McLeish has his faults but when the players cross the white line the players have to tale responsibility…the football if you call it that is shocking…no movement…hoof…McLeish is standing shouting at them and often can be seen looking at them going WTF….keep the ball. The team cant even do basic things right so what chance have we got

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.

Yes poor subs…Heskey on the left…but when we cant make a simple 5 yard pass what’s he to do.

How about not pick him in the first place, especially not in midfield.

If Barry et al were still here with Mcleish as the manager do you think we would be where we are now……if yes then its Mcleish but if no then it’s the team….

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....

We really are laughable at times, we speak about buying over the hill has beens on high wages (which we have) and covet bringing in young promising players (like Delph) and then cannot wait to rip into them.

This kid is talented, he has been misused, abused and ruined by three successive Villa managers. If this kid had gone to Wigan, or Swansea, we would be casting envious eyes at him. Some teams can put these players in and stick by them as they develop and make their mistakes. At VP, we are like the Sun, we set them up for the fall.

I watched this kid run the game against Fiorentina on his debut, the talent was (and maybe still is) there. We just used it poorly.

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

Anyone who thinks this is a good thing is imo, frighteningly wrong.

He has been without question our best defender this season and arguably our best player - albeit the lot of them have been absolutely garbage.

Thought he was excellent in the last game and was the one person who looked to drive us forward at the end - putting his head where it hurts.

Prone to mistakes - Yes. Anymore than others (especially Cuellar)? - No.

Reminiscent of Dann getting injured for Blues, and with Clark out as well, for the 1st time this season, Im worried.

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.

Anyone else thinking Dunne's absence may be a blessing in disguise ?

No

I was disappointed when he joined the club, not because he was ex Blues but because there was a sense of " is this the best manager we can get?" The tripe we played under O'Leary at the end of his tenure was awful, but with the players we now have this unambitious fodder is insulting to the supporters. How much of a genius do you have to be to realise that a) hoofing the ball upfield to Bent is a complete waste of time. If you want to play that way hoof it to Heskey or Gabby instead. the defence are constantly under pressure because they get no respite and c) people watch football to be entertained irrespective of what division their club is in as 48,000 v Bournemouth 1972 shows. The manager has to bear responsibility for setting the team up this way and the board of directors ought to feel ashamed for allowing this underachievement to be served to the supporters.

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.

Has anybody ever written to the club before? To Faulkner or Lerner? Had any luck?

I started drafting a letter during the game today, half in anger and half because I was so bored by what I watching. It's going to be fairly lengthy and will take me a while, but I really must get a few things said about the potential damage and the risks that the club is taking by continuing with McLeish, not only now but in the medium and long term.

I would never have bothered with Ellis but I think there's at least a chance that someone in the new regime might listen.

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.

Probably although I thought he wasnt that petty

McLeish said last week he wouldn't be that petty but I can't think of any other logical reason why Ireland didn't start?