ThunderPower_14

If there isn't a takeover now this will be among the worst sports club PR I've ever seen in my life. To allow fans emotions to run wild with speculation of some of the world's richest men buying us and have no takeover at all, when he could have come out at any stage and stopped the speculation would be an absolute disaster and would destroy any goodwill people have left toward the current administration. Just how bad a PR cock up it would be if there were no takeover now is probably the only thing keeping me hopeful that there will be a takeover. Lerner isn't an idiot and sport as a business is about selling hope. If he comes out on Monday and says business as usual he will crush the fan base, but only because he's allowed speculation to go crazy.

I know, what is it with the Group of Death? I don't think there is one stand out group of death this tournament, there are a few pretty tough ones, Holland's group included. Spain, Chile and Australia can spring a surprise when you don't want them to. We've had the group of death for as long as I can remember. In fact I've just had a look and I'd say the last time we had a... comfortable group was in 1998! Not this year. Our two most talented players are Cahill and Bresciano who are both 34. Our best player is probably Robbie Kruse from Bayer Leverkusen but he did his knee in January and will miss the World Cup. Our next best is Mile Jedinak from Crystal Palace, but unlike previous World Cups, the vast majority of our squad will play in minor European leagues, Asia, or worst of all the A League.

I'd love to see him start, and we really don't have a whole heap to lose at this stage.

The tighter the better, the last thing I want is another macron garbage bag

The other 9 clubs are probably benefitting more from the ruling than Man City than they are. Big clubs that don't have the bottomless pit of money City do are probably really happy with the rule, because it keeps them well ahead of their domestic rivals. They can't spend unlimitedly, but they can spend a lot more than the clubs lower down and they're happy that way. Man City have that bottomless pit of money and basically don't care what other clubs spend because they can match it, so it's in their interest to challenge the ruling and challenge FFP. I hope they win.

Based on this, Harry Redknapp, Martin O'Neill or Steve Bruce maybe?

That Millwall shirt is great. Again, can we just have that one in Claret and Blue thanks Macron?

I hate the idea and it would basically be a slap in the face to all the lower league clubs that couldn't afford it. Why would this be better than just having a Premier League reserves comp with matches played as a curtain raiser to actual games or something?

Lerner definitely bought the club with the right intentions, but a combination of massive hits to his personal wealth and the price of success in football skyrocketing saw him priced out. What's happened since is a shame.

The dream here is obviously to beat Man City well to give Liverpool fans hope, before they fail again in the final fixture to hand the title to City

My facebook feed has been very, very quiet overnight. Almost too quiet. **** Liverpool and their stupid fans, i'm really happy they didn't win.

I need a webpage with the URL www.hasrandylernersoldastonvilla.com with nothing on the page but a big NO Then when he has sold us, the webmaster can update it to a big yes. And then I can set it to my homepage. It will be a lot quicker than checking this thread every time I fire my PC up and it's all I really want to know

So they can sit you down and tell you about how they won 3,000 european cups, how everybody loves them, how they always back their manager (exception Hodgson), how they are the biggest and bestest in the world... and of course, how they are so happy the minnows Aston VIlla stayed up. Feck that. Oh don't get me wrong, I hope we crush Man City 5-0 then Liverpool lose another game where a Gerrard mistake directly costs them the title, maybe a red card and penalty or an own goal for Stevie Me. But at least if they win I'll be drunk.

At least if we beat City and I have to watch Liverpool win the league, every Liverpool support I know will buy me a beer.

I'd be happy to be bought by a Bond villain if he was prepared to invest heavily.

I've been buying up on all the various best of WCW efforts that WWE have been putting out lately. I just need a dedicated Sting doco complete with matches and i'll be satisfied

Sit in the Holte End for a Villa win. I've never even been to the northern hemisphere One day

I've got money on us going down. Emotional hedge betting. I'm a terrible gambler and always lose, so if I just bet against my side every week we should theoretically win.

That's too bad, cuz they actually have a nice looking shirt. Wholesale changes to the fundamental image of a club are not a good idea, IMO. Sounds like a similar concept this this Southampton shirt You could argue that a solid shirt is going to look better for fans to wear around than a striped shirt, but it's still a shame.

Definitely not his time at the club. His time at the club was comfortably the most exciting it has been to be a Villa fan in my time supporting the club. We played exciting football, we had exciting players. 6th is an absolute dream now. I'm just still not happy with the way he left. Yes, a lot of it goes onto Lerner but not all of it.

He wasted a lot of it, not necessarily on transfer fees but on big wages and long contracts which hurt us for years after he left. MON bought an exciting team. There is no doubt about it. Young, Milner, Downing, swapping Baros for Carew, there were some excellent signings made. Overall though it was an all in strategy, and when it got a bit expensive Lerner panicked a bit, MON threw the toys out of the pram because he didn't have a bottomless pit of money anymore and the rest is history. Based on that, I wish we'd gotten someone else in. MON was ultimately a failure.

I will almost certainly judge Lerner's tenure by who he sells us to. He came with good intentions, did a lot of good stuff off field that we can be proud of, but when the game became a bit rich for him he should have gotten out sooner. If he sells us to someone who will invest and make us competitive again i'll probably remember him with a mild fondness.

This would be a pretty good result, and that away kit is potentially one of the best we've ever had.

Yep, this. Your collaboration is probably the best heads up we've had since palletgate. Thanks for your work! The away looks like our best away since the 07/08 away, which funnily enough was also white with pinstripes, echoing the European Cup final shirt

Imagine this in claret and blue. Edit: God I want Umbro so bad