DJ_Villain

But to become winners you now need to fork out hundreds of millions, which we don't have. I think Sherwood was being a bit more specific in that the current crop of players have just been mentally shot to bits by the past few years. I wouldn't have described us as "losers" under Martin O'Neill. Some terrible management choices (Heskey when we needed someone like Bent, fielding stupid teams in the Europa League, etc.) saw us fall down in that era but I wouldn't say we were losers. We were still a force at that time and teams were scared to play us.

 

However I agree post-MON. McLeish and Lambert brought in such dour, poisonous approaches that the club and the players seem sapped of all fight. We got it back a bit under Sherwood but we seem to have reverted back. I'm confident however that, given a bit of time and investment, under Sherwood we'll be fighters. However, I just don't see that investment coming...

I don't think thats the truth mate...

Lerners got it, but he won't spend it on us anymore...

He is a billionaire... All of that money from the sale of the Cleveland Browns didn't just disappear into thin air...

He is just a selfish word removed...

Grew up in Southampton... Got loads of Southampton supporting friends and always cheer them on and like to see them do well (unless its against the Villa)...

Then I saw how a lot of my mates were supporting Arsenal instead of backing the underdog...

Now? Now they can get f**ked... Hope they get eliminated in the first round by some Liechtensteiner fruit salesmen or Bulgarian part time folk musicians...  

Its your night to make us all love you again Gabby! Come on pal! Do us proud!!

To paraphrase Bane...

'When the shirt makes its way back to the child who it was taken from...

The council estate rotter has my permission to die'

Never liked Roberto Di Matteo since...

 

 

 

 

We should judge him by who he sells to.

After spending 200 million of his own money and seeing "Lerner Out" banners held up by fans, you'd forgive him for flogging the club to the first half broke loan shark with a leveraged buyout deal. It's really to his great credit that he probably isn't going to do such a thing.

He hasn't JUST spent 200m and that is all though, has he? That is half the story and the rest is a nightmare - caused by his own doing - not the fans who have suffered.

 

 

The thing is that it's not about who your owner actually is, but how much money they're willing to throw at their team.  If he chucked more money at the problem and we finished 10th rather than 16th in the last 4 seasons, people would be far more forgiving of Lerner - despite Aston Villa being in a far worse financial state.

 

People are actually calling for an oil baron to be our next owner.  It's a huge shame.

 

 

I don't expect millions to be spent, but I also do not expect us to face such terrible cuts, a manager appointed who just relegated our neighbours and to then give a four year contract to a manager who has broken so many unwanted records.

 

As for the cuts, we are told that it has to happen as we were living above our means (spending was 6th on wages, jeesh), so the chairman who came in without a plan, threw money at nothing and then got the chills. HE made the decisions, nobody else. He was to blame, he is to blame and he should absolutely get stick from the fans.

 

It seems he agrees too - that he got a lot wrong. And fair play to him.

 

 

We won't face terrible cuts again... unless the next owner comes in and overspends, of course.  The rest of your first paragraph is narrative that doesn't mean anything.  Managerial appointments not being correct?  This happens all the time!

 

I would assume the initial plan was to spend big and achieve CL football.  We almost did this.  Of course, almost isn't good enough so we were lumbered with huge costs and slid down the league, as per every single football club that has taken this approach before and failed (oil baron clubs aside).  The difference being that we haven't been relegated and are now operating on steady footing.

 

Lerner's fault?  Absolutely.  I blame him more than anyone for the state the club got into.  However, I also believe he has the clubs' interests at heart and that the drastic cuts were necessary.  As I put originally, if he continued to pump money into the club and we finished 10th rather than 16th for 4 seasons, people would be far more forgiving of Lerner - yet it would've been much worse for Aston Villa as a club.  Whilst tough as a spectacle, I appreciate that.

 

He just doesn't deserve dogs abuse for me.  He messed up, corrected the situation and leaves (potentially) with the club in a decent state.  He also gave us the best footballing years that I can remember (I'm relatively young ).

 

Again, we could've had a much worse owner.

 

He is/was a billionaire... He was never short of a few quid ever; he even sold an NFL franchise during the time he has been our clubs custodian... but when Man City came in and changed the playing field, instead of treating it as a new challenge and putting his money where his mouth was; he shat his pants, bottled it and closed his wallet...

Therein came the inevitable tumble down the league table year upon year...

It is most definitely his fault

 

Don't want him to go to United or Liverpool.

 

That's basically it really.

 

Oh, and the small matter of 35m.

 

Or Chelsea.

 

I'd rather he went to United or Chelsea than Liverpool or Man City!

 

John Carver says he is the "best coach in the Premier League", despite leading relegation-threatened Newcastle to only nine points from 48.

The 50-year-old was asked to take over as manager from Alan Pardew at the end of 2014, but the team have only won two games under his stewardship.

Newcastle are two points above the drop zone having lost their last eight successive matches.

"I still feel I am the best coach in the Premier League," he said.

 

He might well feel like that... and it may well be true...

But he is a shit manager!

 

 

at the time it made sense to call Barry greedy. However looking back now he made the right decision

I don't think any right-minded fan without the claret and blue tinted specs on could possibly have said it wasn't a good footballing move at the time

The season before Barry left we finished quite a bit above City. I can understand why people called him greedy at the time due to City not being in the Champions League which is why he apparently wanted to leave us and City being below us. Obviously looking back he made the right decision but at the time I was angry

 

Still angry, still dislike him and would still be happy for him never to win anything ever again...

If Liverpool get him then they'll have played an absolute blinder because he deserves Champions League. Their fans are understandably bigging their team up and they think they have the divine right to choose whether they want him or not, which IMV is laughable. If it goes the way it should go then they'll never get near him, because there'll be a queue of continental Champions League clubs waiting to outbid each other on him. I really wouldn't rule out Man Utd or Chelsea though.

 

Particularly United.  As it stands, United have 1 solid striker going into next season in Rooney. RVP is done.  Falcao is not wanted.  Chicarito is already being whored out and Wilson will be on loan (maybe even to us).  LVG has also shown that he likes physicality up front when using Fellaini, so bringing in Benteke in that regime as a round peg in a round hole makes absolute sense. As for Chelsea, they had Lukaku and for various reasons to do with attitude and work ethic, they decided he wasn't for them.  But they're not exactly flush with strikers at the moment either and Benteke is the complete forward.

 

To be perfectly honest, I don't mind where he goes as long as it's not Liverpool.  He's not going to move sideways which means he's not going to impact on our season, plus I'd like to be able to watch him every week without scouring youtube et al.  If I can see him progressing and contributing at United then that works for me.

 

Obviously I'd prefer he stay where he is and give us another season, especially if the takeover happens.  But given that we're talking 'what ifs' and given that the likelyhood is the footballing world ain't gonna let us keep him for another season, then the above would be my take.

Rather he:

1) Moved to a club abroad

2) Came a cropper in the summer and had to retire

or

3) Decided to jack in football and took up Olympic curling

than ever see him play against us...

I think Jake Livermore misunderstood when Steve Bruce said "clear the line".

 

 

 

 

Been thinking about what the future holds for Grealish, if he keeps up this form (and especially if he chooses England) it wont be long before the top clubs come sniffing.  If he actually does turn into a 40m+ player, do you think he'd leave us?

 

By all accounts he's Villa through and through and perhaps he'd actually want to spend his whole career with us? I know I would as a fan. If I was earning 5m a year (100k per week) I dont think an extra 100k would sway it for me, because Villa is my club and it's sort of a dream come true.

 

What I do know is that clubs remember the home grown players that spend their whole careers with them, go ask Gerrard and Terry, they will be remembered in the history books.  We could be saying the same about Gareth Barry now for instance, but his name wont be found in our hall of fame.

 

So Jack, if you read this, and you're actually as good as we think you are.  Do you want make your grandpappy and parents proud and take your place next McGrath and co, or do you want to be a 'Gareth Barry' ?

 

Whooah...let's remember Gareth Barry gave us excellent service for 11 years, from making his debut in May 1998 to leaving in May 2009.

 

I'd be pretty content with him giving us a decade's service and then leaving when he's 28 or something.

Yeah... Excellent service for 11 years, no other teams were bothered with him for 10 of those; plays a blinder under O'Neill, gets into the England squad and suddenly the world and his brother wants to sign him...

And what did good old Barry do?

Yep, he jumped ship!

The big chinned Judas c*** can swing for all I care...

F*** Gareth Barry!

 

 

He cost us **** all, gave us 10 years stellar service and made us £12m.

Get over it, you small,small man.

McGrath is a legend for a few seasons but Barry isn't for 11 seasons? Time isn't always what makes you a legend it can be quality of your service, if Jack is going to necome capable of the higher levels of European football if he gave us 3 years of that we would be seeing some thing we haven't seen for a while and therefore memorable! Milner, young, Benteke, Mellberg, Carew, Laursen have all shown us levels we havnt been used to, does it make them legends? Jack May become a legend because of being genuine quality at at time when we Havant produced much it dosnt mean that others before him wernt good players. Gareth Barry on the other hand left yo win a title and if Jack eventually does the same i will not begrudge him for it!

 

McGrath played for us for 7 years, actually won silverware with us and didn't jump ship as soon as someone else was interested...

Like I said previously... It wasn't until Barrys' performances got him into the England squad that anyone even gave a toss about him as a footballer... Suddenly, 'Mr Dependable' wants to leave when we were doing well, regularly qualifying for Europe and narrowly missing out on the Champions League.

The reason Mellberg gets a pass is because he left for a team in a completely different country... A top team like Juventus... Purchased every fan a shirt for his final game...

He didn't leave us for a direct rival competing in the same league as us...

James Milner is a tosser as well...

Both of them left us for Man Shitty... Both of them can get f**ked...

Sorry, accidently posted twice and it wont let me delete the post!

 

Been thinking about what the future holds for Grealish, if he keeps up this form (and especially if he chooses England) it wont be long before the top clubs come sniffing.  If he actually does turn into a 40m+ player, do you think he'd leave us?

 

By all accounts he's Villa through and through and perhaps he'd actually want to spend his whole career with us? I know I would as a fan. If I was earning 5m a year (100k per week) I dont think an extra 100k would sway it for me, because Villa is my club and it's sort of a dream come true.

 

What I do know is that clubs remember the home grown players that spend their whole careers with them, go ask Gerrard and Terry, they will be remembered in the history books.  We could be saying the same about Gareth Barry now for instance, but his name wont be found in our hall of fame.

 

So Jack, if you read this, and you're actually as good as we think you are.  Do you want make your grandpappy and parents proud and take your place next McGrath and co, or do you want to be a 'Gareth Barry' ?

 

Whooah...let's remember Gareth Barry gave us excellent service for 11 years, from making his debut in May 1998 to leaving in May 2009.

 

I'd be pretty content with him giving us a decade's service and then leaving when he's 28 or something.

 

Yeah... Excellent service for 11 years, no other teams were bothered with him for 10 of those; plays a blinder under O'Neill, gets into the England squad and suddenly the world and his brother wants to sign him...

And what did good old Barry do?

Yep, he jumped ship!

The big chinned Judas c*** can swing for all I care...

F*** Gareth Barry!

 

 B-Team/ Europa team.

 

Again, since the Europa is our best chance at making the Champions League for the foreseeable future, it should absolutely be our strongest XI every single game of the competition

 

This!

Remember the stick MON got for fielding a B-team in Russia...

Created a rod for his own back in that instance...

Wouldn't be surprised if that was the occasion where a lot of fans lost faith with him

Obviously not counting THAT Stoke game and signing Heskey.... 

Who do you guys think will be allowed to leave for free/on the cheap?

Weidmans days are numbered I reckon

I don't think we will win the cup, we are Aston Villa, good things just don't happen anymore. Expect the ref to make up the numbers as plucky Aston Villa lose to 12 men.

If the referee is Phil ***kin Dowd, we don't stand a chance...

Fat c*** cost us the last final because he didn't have the bottle to send off Vidic for a red card offense...

Hope he gets dengue fever...

 

 

 

WhoScored.com ‏@WhoScored 5 hrs5 hours ago

Aston Villa: Since Tim Sherwood took charge, only Man City & Arsenal (19 each) have scored more goals in the PL than Aston Villa (17) #avfc

I bloody love that stat. I know it's hard (as others have said quite correctly) to extrapolate Tim's part of this season over a whole season. But I'm very optimistic about next season, and for me, optimism and hope are key parts of being a supporter. You always need to feel that ''maybe we could" feeling, which was absent under Lambert, certainly towards the end of his tenure.

 

This!

I even lost that 'maybe we could stay up' feeling when Lambert left!

Thank f*** for Timmy Tactics... Bloody love the bloke I do!

 

What do you mean Timmy Tactics??? He ain't got none!! You ask Spuds fans!!

 

Thats what he makes people believe...

Leads them into a false sense of security...

Then BLAM!!! Hits them like an angry wombat with a frying pan...

 

WhoScored.com ‏@WhoScored 5 hrs5 hours ago

Aston Villa: Since Tim Sherwood took charge, only Man City & Arsenal (19 each) have scored more goals in the PL than Aston Villa (17) #avfc

I bloody love that stat. I know it's hard (as others have said quite correctly) to extrapolate Tim's part of this season over a whole season. But I'm very optimistic about next season, and for me, optimism and hope are key parts of being a supporter. You always need to feel that ''maybe we could" feeling, which was absent under Lambert, certainly towards the end of his tenure.

 

This!

I even lost that 'maybe we could stay up' feeling when Lambert left!

Thank f*** for Timmy Tactics... Bloody love the bloke I do!

Richard Walker
Jefferson Farfan
Sulley Muntari
 

Song

Already wrote one a page or two back...

A few people liked it...

Edit: Top of page 288 to be exact

Since his 'Me, Me, Me' performance at Swansea that lost us the game; he has gone way off the boil and, personally, I am neither here-nor-there on him signing...

That Swansea performance put me right off him...

Opposition players drive themselves nuts trying to tackle him...

Who was that player yesterday that clobbered Jack to the floor then had the temerity to have a go at the lad about it?

 

 

 

 

 

like leave at the very 1st opportunity of a big contract?

 

You mean the very first opportunity to win the league and play in the Champions League? You begrudge him his medals? Or wanting to win them to begin with?

 

 

of course not but this opinion that people have that Milner is some sort of diehard Villa fan or even a Villa legend is sad and pathetic.

 

some Villa fans hold this guy in better regards than Barry

 

 

In terms of what they've given the club there's no doubt barry is head and shoulders above Milner and don't think any Villa fan would dispute that. 

 

It's easy to see why some don't hold Barry in high regard, though - due to the way they left the club. Barry opened his gob, talked a lot of bull, went to the press, got suspended from training, was disruprive, etc. etc. Milner kept quiet, was thoroughly professional, played for Villa a couple of days before he left and gave his all, as always, not pulling a Dwight Yorke. So there's more context here than simply what Barry or Milner have given Villa throughout the years. 

 

 

Yeah, Milner kept quiet, let his transfer drag out until the season started, didn't hand in a transfer request when he obviously wanted to leave so he could get that fat pay off, left the transfer so late that our manager walked about a week before the first game because of it (supposedly), such a better way to leave, I mean he only screwed over the club and fans to get more money. I'd have loads more respect for the way Downing left if it wasn't for the fact he said he was staying no matter what about 2 weeks beforehand.

 

As for the leaving for CL and title nonsense, yes he got it eventually, and in hindsight Man City would have obviously been a much better choice than us at the time, but people should remember that the season before Milner left, Man City were in the heady heights of 5th and finished 3 points ahead of us. We even took the lead at the Etihad with about 3 games to go that season, if we'd won that game I think we could've finished above them (not sure if it was just that result or not). It's not as if he was leaving to go directly to title challengers and immediately get CL football, a la Young or Yorke, he was going to what seemed a direct rival at the time, though it quickly became apparent that they weren't any more. Some act as if by leaving he instantly got all those things, well it took a while for it to happen (a short while granted). The only apparent thing at the time that Man City were in a better position for was money, everything else at the time was practically the same.

 

I know this is massively OT for the Sherwood thread but the Milner stuff on this forum does my head in some times, yeah he was very good in that one season, but the way people talk about him is pathetic. Face it, he doesn't give a shit about the club or fans, and he's never coming back until we can afford to pay him silly money.

 

This 10000%!!!

However... I wouldn't say no to him signing for us again... but if he doesn't sign for us, I hope he never wins another thing in his life and ends up destitute and miserable...

 

Same goes for Barry...

The big chinned Judas prick...

And yes, I do begrudge the medals they won... They didn't win them with us and I am a Villa fan, not a Man City fan... Why would I give a flying toss if players who jump off the Villa ship win stuff elsewhere?