Papillon

I do not think Lerner should or would axe McLeish at this point. Why? a) We are very unlikely to go down. We are a few good points above much worser teams, who will struggle more than us in picking up points. It is not like we will go out and lose every game from now and until the end of the season Who would we replace him with? It would cost a whole lot to sack him and his backroom staff, and it would cause a turmoil. Insecurity and everything that comes with it. We do not need more instability for the players c) If new owners come in; they will sack him in 15 minutes - and that is why I think he was hired in the first place d) If no takeover, sack him in the summer. As mentioned above, we are highly unlikely to go down. But he deserved the can, no doubt about it. He will leave in the summer and if not, we are in serious trouble!

Of course Randy Lerner knows McLeish is utterly inept as manager for this club. However, the foundation of his decision is not known to anyone on this board. Was McLeish just hired as a man one could easily fire in one year? That has been my opinion all along. Steady the ship and then fork him out. Then it comes to the main thing; why would Lerner have such an idea from the start? Either he just wanted this season to be exactly that, just performing at bare minimum to stay up and probably clear up deadwood in the summer. Start fresh, balance the books a bit and lower expectations. Then fire McLeish and hire someone new who would bring some excitement back to our club, because come next summer we will enjoy everyone other than McLeish. OR, his plan was all along to sell up and in the meantime just make our prospectus more flattering to a new investor/owner. We can easily get rid of many players in the summer, McLeish could be fired in a second because no-one would miss him, the squad would be thin and thus a new manager could build his own team instantly without putting too much energy towards selling 20 players like City had to. Anyway, I do not think McLeish will be here next season. He is simply a puppet in the process, someone who would never argue with anything and then take his hat and leave this place when told so. If a new owner came in and we had a semi-good manager on a 4-year contract they would struggle to just sack him. Let's say we had Mark Hughes on good money, and we did pretty well this season.... they would have to let him stay on - like Ranieri when Abramovich took over Chelsea. This is me hoping of course. I am just a believer of logic, especially in business. Why would Lerner keep Villa in his portfolio when we are losing money, he is never here to see us play, Birmingham is a shithole compared to New York and everywhere else in the States where he can do business, he had struggled to get a good team after spending a lot of money and he clearly has lost interest in the whole project. I am pretty sure he will sell up within a short period time, every factor leads to that conclusion. - So why did we spend some money in the summer? To avoid relegation, to please the fans somewhat, to act like everything is normal - And why would he reject claims about a takeover? To avoid media frenzy, competition from other club owners, to keep a low profile and to keep the players on their toes

It is so sad to be right all the way, this is so annoying. He will never give us anything than crap results and boring football. We are losing revenue, reputation, players, fans the lot. Sack him!

Interesting, against how many teams have Wigan had 60% possession this season? That is Barcelona figures....

Easily. He is brilliant. I still haven't worked out which is his stronger foot yet and he covers acres of ground. What??? He was crap today and created nothing. Then he got subbed and Ajax suddenly started to create stuff and won the game. Also a very bad pass that lead to a dangerous United counter-attack. Think Fergie made up his mind today about this player

They would always say something like that. And it is called relationships and marketing in the corporate world. They would even call Fulham and Bolton the same. And West Ham of course, whom they already supply ass ugly kits. I remember when West Ham got Macron and we all laughed at them, they hated the kits as well. And still do. Come to think about it, what is the difference between Villa and West Ham if you were Macron? - Both claret and blue - Next year both will probably be in the bottom half of the Premier League table - Both with defensive and unattractive managers/teams - Few, if any star players in any team. Darren Bent is probably the only one, and I don't think he is going to be here next season anyway. In some semi sweatshop Italian label's mind, we are just the same as West Ham.

That team would easily find itself in the lower part of the table, and quite possibly amongst the favourites to go down. No experience, no grit, no ability to deal with harsh results/unluck/losing streaks and no cover for injuries. If you think Lerner will sell off every high-earning player just to cut costs you are mistaken! A relegation will kill off every rational towards cutting wages so to speak.

I called "dead man walking" on the day of his appointment, and seldom have I been so right. Sometimes big people, even professionals, make obvious mistakes and this was clearly one of them. The problem is the apathy from the board, the players and the fans all in combination. The players does not look like they care much, not having any tight bonds with the club. They know they will go to another club within weeks, especially our stars such as Darren Bent and Charles N'Zogbia. And what about Dunne, Given, Petrov, Clark, Gabby and the others? Some will stay but most will bugger off, and I will not hold anything against them. I said one week ago that we were in fact safe this year, but looking at it again the race is open. It is probably not more than 10-15% chance, luckily. The gap of points is not that big, but there are some seriously weak teams under us.

I was against Macron from the start, but if the numbers are true and we are getting vastly more than we did from Nike then ill go with it. I do think the arguement that 'id rather be a big fish is Macrons small Pond' theory is a joke. Key word is SMALL! Based off this why dont we just get relegated to League One then we can be the biggest club in the small League One Pond? If I had 2k to spend on a gambling holiday could I a) Go to Blackpool and be a high roller. Go to Macau or Vegas. I know which one id choose, Blackpool like Macron is the inferior option in terms of quality. I think your analogy would work if we were paying to go with Macron. As it is, they're paying us more than Nike. As for the relegation to League One thing, we're talking about a little logo on our shirts to be fair, not league postions. Not the same really. In the big scheme of things though, it is very important and a big sign in my opinion. Brick after brick we are building down the wall we put up a few years ago. Resignation, from trying to compete to just embracing the fact that we cannot anymore. - Telling the world we have lousy financials and no backup from the owner - Letting MON go and appointing a very poor manager in Alex McLeish - Selling our best players without any form of defense against them leaving - Not re-investing the money we got from selling these players - Extreme lack of communication from the club, i.e breaking down relationships with the fans - Supporters do not show up at the games anymore, hostile crowds etc. - Revenue down, interest falling, poor results, negative sentiment - Disgruntled players, we all know what these gusy are really feeling atm. All in all, letting Nike (the best option) go and appointing Macron (who?) is just a small step in the same direction as the abovementioned slippery slope. We will not go down this year, that is almost impossible given the points we have already and also the really poor teams under us like Blackburn (in even more turmoil than us), Wigan, Bolton etc. Some of them might go on a streak, but so can we and we will comfortably end up something like 14th - 15th without ever really being in danger. However, next season (if we keep up the same level of sacrifice and surrender, we might end up in the Championship. Lerner first saw this as a hobby, now it has turned into a dangerous investment with poor returns; so it will never be in his interest to just give up. I predict one of three likely outcomes this summer: 1) Nothing. McLeish stays and we are probably going to be in the bottom 2) McLeish is sacked and we lay out a new strategy with a new manager 3) He is actively trying to sell the club and we get new owners suddenly

Hutton was extremely close to being sent off after just 5 minutes. He recklessly threw himself in front of the ball with two feet stretched, if he was 5mm closer to the strikers legs there would have been a broken leg. I just cannot understand why he would tackle like that, just outside the box, after such a short period of the game gone by. Prior he needlessly gave away a corner instead of kicking it for a throw-in, totally alone with poor pressure from the other striker. I registred during the game that he has tons of incredibly poor passes, attempts that go right into the path of the opposition. I am not taking away his assist and contribution to the attacking play at times last night, but he generally is a very limited defender - and dear I say a total liability. Reckless to say the least, and it is a miracle he hasn't got red-carded more this season. The Shane Long tackle was terrible, and the one he served last night was even worse - he was just lucky to not hit the guy cleaner with the pace he took with him in the challenge.

Alan Hutton.... first he gives away a stupid corner instead of a throw-in, and then he recklessly jumps into a double footed challenge when he could have just blocked it/gotten his body in the way. Luckily they were caught offside... that tackle was inches away from a red card after 5 minutes.

There is a reason why Nike represent Man Utd, Arsenal, Barcelona et al. There is also a reason why Macron make kits for West Ham and Bangor City. We should want to be represented by Nike for that simple reason. Them **** up is of course not good enough, but writing them out of the equation is also stupid in my humble opinion. It is all about creating a longlasting relationship, and if we become better it will only benefit us in every department to have Nike along the way. Macron is shit, easy as that. We cannot afford to lose our best players, postpone stadium development, lose attendances, lose matches, hire worse managers and just continue the spiral down to every link of the chain.

Interestingly enough, I have read two articles written by Everton-fans after the game and they both stated Albrighton as our best player....

Nike is somewhat exclusive whilst Macron is incredibly shit. It is easy as that, brand recognition. Have you ever seen a car from afar and kept you eyes on it, before realizing it was not a Porsche but a Hyundai? Another thing, this template thingy is kind of strange to me. The kits never look like the templates in real life anyway, and all producers would look the same on a template.

I think QPR fans will have a fun time the next couple of transfer windows....

What the hell does Luis Suarez do that high? What is it? 9 goals in one season? Terrible goalscorer, since he is supposed to be one.

Dude... he doesn't even play football anymore, he plays soccer. In New York! He is one of three of the biggest mercenaries in the world

My sentiment towards Randy is ambivalent. When he came her we were incredibly happy and the appointment of MON (yeah yeah yeah Doug whatever) gave us a big spark. We spent money, not Chelsea or City money, but we got some exciting players and fought off other clubs to good players. Signings like Ashley Young for 10M and even continuing getting players in was very interesting. We scored goals and even let ourselves believe winning 1-0 boring was not good enough. Linked with tons of good players, like Wesley Sneijder at one point. Steady improvement and hitting 6th three times in a row, even sniffing around 4th at one point when Arsenal were 9 points behind us or something like that around Christmas. I went to Villa Park every year and I don't live in the country. Purchased jerseys every year as well, even though I seldom used them. Well, being a much more satisfied fan, following SkySports, VT etc. every day. Now, I just resent Randy somewhat for bringing us the illusion and then rapidly taking it away in a matter of months. Like being satisfied with your personal economy, then winning the lottery before realizing it was just a problem with the numbers. I have no plans to attend Villa Park this season, or the next for that matter, because when I went to the Wolves game at VP last season I had such a letdown. The crowd was a bit hostile, the atmosphere outside VP was down from past seasons, the team was crap, the manager was crap, everyone were angry and we lost the game after playing incredibly bad. People can say whatever they want about me as a fan, and I seriously do not care, but there are a lot like me who will not bother to show up anymore. One thing is us people living abroad, having to sacrifice 500-750 pounds for just one weekend and one game, but we can see that locals are doing the same because they are just not that into it anymore. And that is the nature of modern football is it not? I can accept us being what we are as a mid-table club, but I cannot accept the fashion of which things have been dealt these last couple of seasons. The lack of information and lack of leadership is second to none.

For whom? The fans? Maybe... but as we see people don't come to games when we suck... For the owner? Never has been. It's a business, a company yielding profits (well, at least not draining his accounts) and in our example; a very cheap club he could probably sell for double the money or more.

Of course when he makes a mistake he is suddenly a liability. I have seen performances from his this season to guarantee him being a major player in the future. And now? A very, very good player who would walk into our team easily - and a player who will make most England squads for the rest of his life. And he is 19 years old for god's sake! The liability is certainly Rio Ferdinand, because everyone expects everything from him and he has lost his legs.

The odds alters as punters pick their bets, but the odds is set objectively (with margins of course) beforehand.

He obviously isn't. He is very good, amongst the best. But not THE best, and certainly not by some distance. City can play without him and be as solid, especially when de Jong is fit. The best is probably David Silva (if I was to give an opinion).

I get physically sick when I see Alex McLeish talk on the telly.... absolutely repulsive person.

John Henry is a billionaire as well. I'm not sure he is even a dollar billionaire. I'm fairly certain he's worth less than Randy, though. If Liverpool don't make Champions League next year I think they will soon enough embark on similar restructuring to ourselves - Luis Suarez leaving for a big Italian or Spanish club for starters. Bent out Carroll in (as a permanent signing) would be an interesting piece of business that I would consider. There is not an OUNCE of truth in any of that whatsoever. Henry is only one of several Billionaire owners and companies that make up FSG that own us and the Red Sox. Their hugely successful and profitable and have other rich minority shareholders on board like LeBron James who also throw some money in the bucket. This link makes it very clear who has more money between our lot and Lerner as well as all other owners: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_English_football_club_owners Listen, you hate us, I get it, but lets avoid wishful thinking and outright lies. Jesus Christ you are delusional. LeBron James? Really???? Owning is not the same as throwing millions into endless pots of expenditure. The way you say successful and profitable, and still use the "their" in the beginning is fantastic. They are maybe rich and famous, but owners are always investing money to get x times interest upped with time. Unless they are Man City oil tycoons, and do not signal this instantly, they are nothing but careful investors. If you think billions in worth is going to be invested in players for a shitty club like Liverpool, you must be clutching straws. I hate Liverpool. I loved their previous owners. I hate their fans, I hate their stupid love towards Gerrard and Carragher... and I hate their stupid song which was never intended towards them and I love the fact that they will never, ever be the top team in the Premiership during my lifetime.

Yeah we get you Alan Partridge, the Wings were better than the Beatles.