Pricey_1984

It really is an amazing achievement by Randy Lerner.

In just 2 years he has managed to get fans talking about relegation and protests instead of trips to Wembley, the possibility of winning a trophy and who we are playing in Europe.

I have to hand it to him, I don't think even a Tory government could **** up so much in so short a space of time!

So is getting us from relegation possibilites to challenging for the top 4 in just over a season.

Not going so well at the minute be shows things can change in a short amount of time if things are in the right place.

It hasn't been 'going so well' since about August 2010. A bit longer than 'at the minute' I would think.

I would say Christmas 2009 but I get your point.

Ah yes Christmas time when we followed up a five-game winning streak, which included a 1-0 smash and grab at Old Trafford, by losing to Liverpool and Arsenal. Villa then got booed off in a 0-0 draw with West Ham but soon after we had reached the Carling Cup final. That was the time when I realised how deluded some of our fans can be. It wasn't going wrong, we still finished sixth and came very close to winning a trophy but that wasn't enough for the fans. And look where we are now. Up shit creek.

fully agree with this.

best central defender at the club for me.

we need to be sorting out a new contract for him asap.

I'd agree, he is one player who is never afraid of recieving the ball and always wants it. Our squad has got too many players who are afraid to recieve the ball in certain positions and dont wanna show for it, especially when were a goal down. This is probably why the defenders resort the hoofing it.

good to see that he asked to play for the reserves yesterday too.

i was at the game and thought he did, when i watched it back a couple of days later the commentator was saying what a good job he'd done against walcott up until walcott's goal.

i don't know if anyones noticed but its no coniencidence that his better performances are coming away from home. chelsea away he was decent, stoke away he was decent, wolves 2nd half when he came he was good, even arsenal last week when we lost he was decent. Hes under pressure at home because he knows the fans are waiting to get on his back for anything he does wrong and this is telling in his performances. I'd also say its no coniencidence that we haven't won at home at home since november and results away have picked up. Its because at home the players know that some fans are gonna jump on any mistake they make.

Support your team and support any player wearing the claret and blue whether you rate them or not.

I'm not the guy who's offended by every little thing. There's always people who generalise that English have horrible teeth just because they saw one English guy with yellow teeth or whatever. Does not bother me. Everyone has to find something offensive and it's bloody ridiculous.

Hell, there's people in this thread who are offended that fans booed a millionaire who's costing the club points that equates to million of pounds from potenial league drops. You would think they're related to Warnock. He doesn't really give a shit about us. It's just a job to him and he'll retire in a few years time in his mansion while most of you will probably have to slave your ass off when you're near 70 to retire.

of course he gives a shit, he looked genuiely devastated that he'd scored a own goal. Just because he earns a certain amount of money doesn't mean he is in human and dont have feelings.

people saying he scored the own goal on purpose are you for real really.

I feel sorry for him i really do, if certain fans weren't waiting for him to make a mistake to have a go at him then maybe he'll get his confidence back.

It was a much better performance second half from him anyway.

i dont know what it is with our fans and full backs over the years ive seen alan wright get stick, gary charles, jlloyd samuel, now warnock and hutton the list goes on. If you dont rate them then fair enough but to be actually waiting for them to make a mistake so you can have a go at them just because you paid your money is pathetic.

would rather have attendances of 20,000 if it stopped the idiots coming.

to be honest i dont think many managers stand a chance here let alone one who has come from our rivals, there were still people moaning when we were getting 6th place finishes and to a cup semi and cup final when MON was here.

thanks good reply. I would ask a question though, why do you think people like me don't like him mainly because he managed the blues. I admit I hate the blues, but his being a blues manager previously has absolutely no bearing on how I feel about him now. In stark contrast I would love him to be successful just so I can turn around to my blue nose mates and gloat that we pinched a great thing from them who will be a legend at our club. So if anything him being at blues and we pinching him I want him to succeed to rub it in my mates faces. Failure they can just say they sold us a lemon. Surely that makes more sense than me wanting him to fail.

His record is my issue, how his teams play, he is unimagative, he makes constant errors, he can't react when other manages do, he's not fixing problems that are happening over and over again, international players don't seem to know what to do, tactics seem one dimensional at best and can't change, his excuses are pitiful and we generally 9 times out of 10 look the poorer team in games......that's my reasoning and that's why I want him gone now. I want to build on a team with a manager over the next 5 to 10 years as we go through this phase we are in with money restrictions.

We, as fans, need to believe in a manager that can do that but with McLeish we can't and the fans seem to be agreeing with me....low crowds, booing at games, forums in meltdown and media commenting.....it's so detrimental to the club that it has to change now or more likely the summer so this club can consolidate and build for the future. McLeish is not the answer and will never be because too many people don't think he's good enough and he isn't, I'm not backing a manager just because I hear the term we need to get behind him....getting behind the wrong person is just foolish. If there is a problem you fix it and move on, we have a problem and it needs fixing before we can move on.

1. AMs past...... when you have 200 Villa fans breaking into Villa Park live on SSN chanting "We Don't Want McLeish" it shows there is a problem. When on camera the guy interviewed says "It a'int about the blouse" when he has "SOTC" written on both sleeves and across his chest you become suspicious about peoples motives. There are too many fans motivated by a hatred of a nothing club that play in a cow shed rather than a desire to support their own team. Which I find pathetic. After all, if we refused to take on ex-blousers we wouldn't have won the European Cup.

2. Style of football..... like I said... workmanlike. Makes the best of what he's got and what he can get hold of. The one thing MON is outstanding at is getting average players to play like world class ones. AM does not have that ability. We are at our true level. Dunne makes mistakes, and for what ever reason he doesn't seem to fancy Cuellar. Thats fine. I trust him. He's got the coaching badges not me. We sold our two best players over the summer and have not replaced them so we were never ever going to move forward.

3. His record.... YES he steered the blues down... twice. They have always yo-yo'd up and down the divisions. You can't polish a turd. They are shite. They will always be shite whoevers in charge. Hughton getting them back up is not an achievement when they are one of the richest clubs in the Championship with a stack or parachute payments. BUT he took that shower of shite to a Carling Cup Final and won it. MON didn't manage to do that.

4. The fans.... the fans not believing AM will go anywhere IS problem. Not AM himself. He hasn't been given a fair crack of the whip and as I said in my OP he needs time to put his mark on the squad, and given that Randy clearly isn't handing out the levels of cash MON enjoyed that will take time. The players at home look shit scared because every mistake they make the crowd turns on them and AM. (See point 1) If walked into my office and told my staff that everyone thinks they are shit and pounce on every mistake with a barrage of abuse, my team wouldn't perform. Its the same thing here at Villa Park.

Having paid £10m in compensation to MON and GH plus back room staff, AM is here for the duration of his contract whether the fans like it or not. My suggestion? Get over it. Support your team. Stop the booing and the moaning.

well said mate.

I remarked at half-time that "we'll still lose" and it was met by looks of disgust by some Villa fans, you should all know better, it's not often I'm right but being a Villa fan for most of my life so unfortunately I called yesterday correctly. I asked my Dad during the second-half why couldn't he have taken me fishing or rowing at the age of six instead of to Villa Park, this one hurts...

i know that feeling mate, i find myself asking myself why i had to be so into football and villa a lot lately.

first of all, what great support it was, was glad to be surrounded by the true fans rather than the moaners by me in the holte end.

first half the game plan worked, soak up the pressure and hit them on the break.

second half we fell to pieces basically but if we held on without conceading and got the fans on there backs it could of been very different.

Not gonna do the usual villatalk in thing and start slagging off players because whatever you think of them you can't say they don't put the effort in. They can't win half the time anyway as ive seen with some posts, you've got Bent getting slagged off for not working hard enough yet your asking what he was doing in the right back position when hes ran all the way from a strikers position to try and put a challenge in.

regardless of whether its been down to the manager or not, he seems a lot more involved in play in the last few games a looks a lot sharper. Long may it continue.

Has anyone got the tickets online from the villa ticket site?

i can do the tickets but can't see the option to book the coach on there?

Didnt have the best of games did he but does it really warrant getting booed by your own fans?

Wish we would stick by players more when there having a bad time because booing them only makes things worse and is hardly gonna help him get his confidence back is it.

still think hes been decent this season, i'm not gonna let a few bad performances make me decide he's suddenly shit like some people on here when there have been far more good performances from him than bad this season.

he's been dire, like proper sunday league dire, for most of the season

you must of been watching different matches to me then, either that or your thinking of last season.

still think hes been decent this season, i'm not gonna let a few bad performances make me decide he's suddenly shit like some people on here when there have been far more good performances from him than bad this season.

Might seem like a minor detail to some but a club's kit supplier DOES have a major impact on people's perception. People naturally associate Nike/Adidas/Puma/Umbro with bigger, more successful clubs and second-rate brands like Macron with small time, second-rate clubs.

Unfortunately it seems as though we, as a club, are regressing, so it might be only fitting for us to end up being associated with a lesser brand. Sad face.

Also, Macron's kits are f***ing horrible and I can't see very many people buying their merchandise, even if it has a Villa crest on it.

this....

its true having a brand like nike give us a higher profile and our kits in more shops etc.

we can't control what kit maker we have though and most of us will still buy the shirt whoever its made by.

hahaha well said darrenm first paragraph was spot on.

stupid sending off last night.

Apart from that i can't see what everyones problem is with him, for the first few games when he didnt look 100% match fit i could understand it but since hes had a run of games he has been fine. As ive said on here before over the years, we always have to have a scapecoat down the villa and the current one is hutton, probably because he was signed by mcleish.

Not sure thought his loan was up end of decemeber/early January?

See he has been recalled then. Will he be involved tonight? i hope so.

You pair obviously havnt read the last 4 or 5 pages of the thread...

i have until its confirmed hes selling i dont believe it and didnt he take the club off the stockmarket when he first took over anyway?

Results normally govern whether a manager stays at a club. Not what the fans think.

If performances on the field continue on a downward spirall akin to our position in the Premiership then things should take care of themselves. I don't want us to be relegated and neither would our chairman so rather than speak of silly protests, it is best just to wait and see where we are after the next three games and then hopefully the right action will be taken to benefit the club?

this.

and hopefully we can actually get behind the lads along the way at home that is, away support is top class.

Hilarious people think he is selling.

Perhaps those same people will be chuffed with some Venkeys type owners?

Could happen just as much as another City owner, grass is not always greener.

I suppose it would be something else to moan about, run the new owners out of town because they are not spend spend spending.

This...

ive been going long enough now to know that our fans have always got something to moan about.

I'm sorry but not going just because times are hard just makes you a shit fan.

i dont want mcleish here and i'm not happy with how things are going at the moment but doesn't mean i'm gonna stop going and stop supporting the club.

Then I must be a shit fan.

Considering the distance between myself and Villa Park, the go/dont go decision is already a fine one regardless of how we're doing. If we happen to be playing the kind of football that we did on Sunday then i'd much rather spend the money on going out for an enjoyable meal instead. Following Villa isnt some kind of religiously driven path of righteousness, if the entertainment on offer doesnt justify driving 2 hours up the motorway, then it's a no brainer.

can understand if you haven't got a season ticket and have to travel 2 hours to game, its more aimed at the people who have brought a season ticket and are saying they can't be arsed to go...

but... i go to the villa to support us and hopefully see us win, if we play nice football on the way to winning its a bonus. I dont go to football to be entertained, i'm a villa supporter not a customer.