thetrees

I suppose the opposite of this is hanging someone because they might be guilty.

My expectations are simple. I don't expect to win anything and I don't expect us to finish in the top 4, indeed the Chumps League is of zero interest to me. I don't even expect us to win every game against apparently inferior opposition. I just expect to watch a side that entertains, looks organised and has a good go at whatever opposition arrives at Villa Park. If you take into consideration how many points were won away from home last season our VP form was pretty bad all last season. And that's what I pay my money for. If they win every home game and lose every away game in a season, Small Heath excepted, that's fine by me.

I don't want MON to be sacked, I want him to acknowledge the fact that he is not capable of doing the job and resign. Sometimes people take on more than they have the capacity to execute. Nothing wrong with that as everyone wants to 'get on', but if they find themselves drowning they should get out.

I sincerely hope that you are right. The problem I have with O'Neill is whether he has crossed that bridge from eccentricity to complete madness

You're right, I have no idea at this time. But if they let me sift the applications for job of manager of Aston Villa I will produce them a short-list of 5 very accomplished candidates

I bemoaned this on a couple of occasions last season. We play better with NRC in the side. Today it was crying out for him to be there to break up the play in midfield. O'Neill obviously didn't agree.

Curiously the pro-MON contributors to this thread think that the antis are talking about one game. We're not. We are talking about consistent displays of managerial incompetence that have blighted virtually all of 2009. I really do think that the guy has completely lost it, and his going now would save a lot of tears in the not too distant future.

He hasn't improved season on season though. Last season we were several points clear of Arsenal, who were always going to catch us, which was perfectly acceptable. But we were 10 points clear of Everton, a similar club with less resources, and they overhauled us. That was a slump of cataclysmic proportions, and one that we don't look like recovering from. The 'loss of the dressing room' theory is a good one, because if we look at a number of players they certainly don't look like they are playing for the manager.

My 'Dear Martin' thread got locked and redirected to Matchday reaction thread. Mods prerogative of course, but it was more about the loss of direction of O'Neill since the turn of the year, to which today's appalling performance just adds. I wrote three years ago that he was the man to galvanise the club for a period and move on and all that he has done for me is reinforce that view. He allowed Everton to overhaul a 10 point advantage last season because his teams lack motivation, direction and basic understanding, and I don't really think that he knows how to fix the problem. I certainly would prefer it if he moved on leaving any money available to be spent by the new manager.

Just finished Blue Oyster Cult's 'Secret Treaties', rolled through Boston's debut album and now halfway through their 'Third Stage'

Gareth Barry = Villa legend I would welcome him back in a heartbeat and shake his hand at any opportunity. He could have signed pre-contract terms in January. Instead he went for a fee of GBP12m. I don't blame him for doing right by himself and his family, and I thank him for acting honourably and doing right by our football club. There are plenty of players who have spat on us over the years and Gareth isn't one of them. I wish him every success and hope that he has a brilliant World Cup next year.

That would be a more than fair comment He certainly did. I'm not too qualified as I have only seen them with Dickinson on the Number of the Beast tour, which must be a looong time ago, but saw them a lot with di'Anno. They were a tremendous live act and their global success came as no surprise.

Perhaps the thread should be expanded to classic rock songs over 8 minutes length. Then stuff like 'Stargazer', 'Won't get Fooled Again' and oodles of Rush tracks could be included. On the original subject though I just can't choose.

Still is according to our kid who saw them at Twickers last year :nod: I was there and can indeed verify that this is true. Curiously Dickinson's predecessor, Paul di'Anno fronted an incredible live band. Having seen Dickinson as the front man for Samson prior to his Maiden days I can only conclude that it is the band as a whole that has that on stage wow factor, rather than its front man.

I witnessed my first live baseball game the other week and couldn't quite get that the visiting player needed to miss the ball in order for the home side to win. I found myself willing him to hit it to take the game further and make it interesting. He didn't :cry:

Unfortunately it was inevitable as government policy over the years has created a feeding ground for the far right. Labour banged the drum of the ultimately divisive 'multi-cultural society' for many years, before conceding that it didn't work. They immigration and asylum system has seen people with 'leave to stay' maiming and murdering in our cities. The same system has married perfectly to our out of control welfare system, resulting in us having far more claimants than we as taxpayers can afford. The majority of the electorate have been excluded from a greater say in how their lives are run, while those in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been presented with much more self determination. I am not sure that the BNP is 'the ultimate protest vote'. Whilst registering a protest vote isn't a bad thing, I think that voting for any party that has an agenda of hate is bad for the country as a whole. Fortunately a general election should see the BNP pegged back again. Perhaps Mr Brown could do Britain a favour by pegging the far right back sooner rather than later.

If they pip Sunderland to Bruce, yes. If Shearer stays, no. And either way Boro' are far better equipped to bounce straight back.

I think i need to visit the GP tomorrow. I've just posted about not wanting Newcastle to go down, and now I have to defend 'Arry. Great bloke, cracking manager, plays football the right way and (get this) he's straight. I would have him at the Villa in a heartbeat. Spurs will walk 5th spot next season and pick up one of the knock out trophies. Back OT the biggest tosser is Benitez, who has absolutely zero respect for any club, manager, player or supporters.

Is this actually true? I wouldn't post it if it were not true....

When clubs give tours of their grounds, they generally focus on achievements, trophies, great players etc. At the Sty they show people a mark on the touchline that denotes where an opposing player took a throw in that went under his goalkeeper's foot and into the net, which was immediately followed by the most visual example of hooliganism seen in this country for many years. That is the sad, twisted culture that so typifies SHA at every level. We should all pray that they should stay down, and if they do next season might just be the season where they begin the plummet to their richly deserved oblivion.

I voted undecided. Main reason for me is that as far as I am concerned the gospel according to Sky is that 'the four' will remain 'the four', and the FA and their referees will uphold Sky's wishes, so chasing a final league position above 5 is not achievable. Therefore I pay my money to watch home games and be entertained, with a decent percentage of wins. This season we have won a pitiful 5 home games, as many as West Brom or Middlesbrough, and some of the football that we have witnessed is atrocious. So, when we finish 5th, the team will have improved over last season, and the manager will have reached the pinnacle of what he can achieve at the club in league terms. Thus far his cup record at the Villa has been appalling. Next season he needs to put a cup on the shelf, any cup will do, just to keep the interest alive.

Again, you'r totally correct. But if the running of the company by the govt means the first thing employees do en masse, is defect to somewhere where there are jobs, at more reasonable pay scales, is that a resonsible way to look after the company? Moving forward, RBS have made huge losses, but is collapsing the company morale and losing staff the way to turnthings round? Remember, the losses made were done so by agroup of less than 500, out of a total staff of 177'000, and by a relatively small part of the overall group. Do you kill the head of the patient whilst the heart is unhealthy? I can really understand that those who dont understand the low pay/decent bonus balance of the average bank employee, the majority of whom earn less than£ 25k pa would be against these payments. What gets me is that those who know better, such as MP's, many of whom have close "relationships" with them, were simply making political capital, now willing to distinguish between the city boys with their bonuses of 3-4 times basic salary, and most of us, looking at 10%. It was just a stick to beat us all with for point scoring. The fact the Govt can't as major shareholder bring itself to treat us all the same, shocks me genuinely. They couldn't "prefer" one part of the civil service over another, in the way they have bank emplyees. Thats what makes me bitter. Interesting. If you work is as good as your reasoning I think that you would walk out of the office with a bonus under your arm in my company :winkold: Bitterness is understandable, but ultimately the only person it affects is you. I have no idea how old you are but if you are a younger person with time on your side I would channel that bitterness into more positive energy and take a watching brief. If plenty of people are leaving your organisation that creates opportunities for those further down the ladder. Mass departures tend to change management thinking and focus on keeping the good employees who are left. The natural follow on from that is of course those employees being promoted and moved up the pay scale.

As I see your argument. Years ago, when I was an employee, my stock market listed company failed to make a profit, although they didn't make a loss. In that particular year I made roughly half the revenue of the company and it remained my 'best ever year', until 2008. I wasn't paid a penny in bonus as the company needed to be in profit, something that I accepted without question. Now the boot is on the other foot as I am an employer within the same organisation, but we are no longer stock market listed. If we failed to make money in a given year there would be no bonus for me, but I would still consider paying bonuses to hard working staff if I felt that they merited one. Pay scales are a different matter, but I have a simple view of that. If you think that you are worth more money, ask. If they don't agree with you find another job and leave.

For me it is difficult to pay any bonus if a business is making losses, indeed there should be some kind of law against the paying of any kind of bonus in a loss making organisation. As a Barclays employee who was used to an annual bonus said to me recently "This year's bonus is that we still have a job" Bonuses are just that. The problem is that people have become so used to them they expect them and, even more worryingly, they budget* for them. *Budget in 21st century speak is spend the hell out of your credit card in the expectation that you will receive a bonus that will pay it off.

her competence could indeed be questioned If you look at the years between her election and the war, the country wanted her out and her party was planning to topple her, so things obviously weren't going very well. On that basis Cameron will need a war around 2012/13. History has proven that you cannot undo socialist mismanagement and negligence in two or three years. I must have missed the bit where we got a socialist government. And indeed the bit where Cameron did anything to prove that his lot would be any different or better than the current encumbents. My statement was based on the general held thinking that the Conservatives will win the next General Election and therefore Cameron will be the next PM. I make no comments or recommendations as to how well they will do, if at all. I certainly do not envy them in their task of trying to sort out the criminal mess that the country is in.