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AVFC1874

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  1. Also when people moan about what has happened its worth remembering it was a great few years. People can say about we only got 6th place and never won anything, but in getting it we had brilliant times - 7 away wins on the bounce, beat Blues every time, away wins at Man United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs, chance for us to go to Prague and Hamburg etc and see Ajax at Villa park, 2 Wembley trips, Blackburn 6-4. semi final. Chelsea 4-4, Everton away last minute, Bolton 5-1, the Chelsea win in his first season, the Sheffield United anniversary game, Derby away 6-0, Blues 5-1, day we sent Newcastle down, Mellbergs last game when we qualified for Europe at West Ham, 4-0 wins away at Blackburn and Wigan. List could go on to be honest Maybe we could have got 4th, could have won the cup, could have not signed certain players, broken teams down better at home etc, but despite all that it was 4 seasons that had loads of excitement throughout
  2. When people say Martin O Neill can only take you so far, generally in his career this has been pretty much as far as that club could expect, or very close to it. Maybe he could have won the UEFA Cup and won the title every season in Scotland, and with Villa maybe he could have won a cup and got that 4th place. This is a glittering career though and if he gets Sunderland a cup or UEFA football their fans will have some of their best supporting years under him I can see why people don't like him for why he left, although personally i don't tend to agree with the reasons i hear. I can also see why people feel we overspent on average players under him, but personally i don't see how blame is laid at a manager and not chairman for this Wycombe - Left them 2 leagues higher up and in the football league for the first time ever Leicester - Got them promoted. Left them 8th in Premiership after 2 league cup wins, UEFA Cup football and 4 successive top ten finishes. Celtic - Took over when Rangers had won 11 out the last 12 titles. Broke the dominance and won 3 of the next 5 including a domestic treble and got to a UEFA Cup final. Won 7 old firm games in a row l Villa - 3 successive top 6 finishes, most points in 15 seasons
  3. But that's my point, we did have a good team then! We had a midfield with Barry, Young and Milner. Petrov was probably our worst regular starter in midfield that season, now he's our best. The difference between MON's poor football and AMc's poor football is that MON had the fortune of having match winning players. To dislike AMc is one thing (I voted I want him out, fwiw) but to then try and say "MON is better because his results are better" is ridiculous. Of course they are, did you see the team he had in comparison to what we have now? Lets not forget that he bought or helped develop those better players - when he took over Barry was rated about 3 million quid, Milner was a decentish right midfielder and Ashley Young played for Watford - clearly he has to take credit for making these players part of a midfield that had those results.
  4. Of course he had some bad games, any manager does. The Hull game wasn't pretty but we won and kept a clean sheet - that is a mark of a good team and it meant that we came away happy with three points. To put it in context we were playing in Europe at the time and i think were about 3rd in the table at that game. It was 2 days after a game against Arsenal as well, that is exactly when you need to grind out a result. I had a look at the results around then and it shows how much we were competing at that time. In amongst it were some poor performances, but we still got results, some great performances, and some amazing games -basically it was a fun time. Arsenal (A) Won 2-0 Man Utd (H) Drew 0-0 Fulham (H) Drew 0-0 Everton (A) Won 3-2 Bolton (H) Won 4-2 West Ham (A) Won 1-0 Arsenal (H) Drew 2-2 Hull (A) Won 1-0 West Brom (H) Won 2-1 Sunderland (A) Won 2-1 Portsmouth (A) Won 1-0 Wigan (H) Drew 0-0 Blackburn (A) Won 2-0
  5. I agree with all of that. We improved beyond recognition under him, and were a match for any team in a one off match. We improved our points every year for 4 years which is the one area Littlle, Gregory and Atkinson failed in keeping us where we were. He was stubborn and his attitude in Europe was a disgrace i thought. Some of his transfer decisions were dodgy, but others were inspired, and others were good solid transfers. He also manged to really get the most out of some players. When he took over Barry was a bit part player and left an £18m one, when he took over Gabby had played just a couple of first team games but was believed in and flourished, we bought Milner as a right midfielder and sold him as a centre midfielder who we would do anything to get back now I haven't got a clue why he really left, and whether or not the board were happy. I wouldn't want him back either as i just feel it wouldn't work now, i definitely think he is a much better manager than McLeish however, and we would be far better placed if he was still with us
  6. He was an embarrassment who had us battling with relegation most the season, upset most of us fans by slagging the club off and alienated half the squad. You mention him alongside Ferguson and Champions League Finals?.....
  7. Exactly. Hes had time to assess things here and he addressed that in the window with some crucial bits of business. Give him the summer to sort the rest of MoNs mess out and we will be fine next season IMO. Sack him and we're back to square 1 im afraid. He has to stay until Sept/October next season. If we're still not getting results at that time, hes gotta go, no excuses. All this stuff about O Neills mess irritates me. He left us at a time that meant we couldn't strengthen in the summer. Apart from that though we weren't left in a mess at all. We have just had our most points for 15 odd years and increased them year on year, we were a team that was capable of beating anyone on their day. The fact that another manager can't get the same players, with the exception of Milner, performing isn't a reflection that he inherited a mess at all. He has had a lot of injuries which haven't made things easy, but this wasn't a huge mess he took over. There is no way we should need a huge overhaul just to get back to competiting for 6th place again He has made things really difficult for himself i think. With the fans by downplaying us, from saying the 8th - 12th place team, to the Liverpool farce to throwing away our chances of a cup. And with the players by trying to get all of them to play a new style immediately, instead of gradually bringing in changes, as well as publically criticising a number of them. He is obviously a decent manager, his track record says so. I am not convinced however he will do anything with us, and i don't feel happy with someone in charge who doesn't give the impression he sees us as club as big as we are
  8. Agree with that. Happy or not the players were performing under him, the consistency was brilliant. I think we'll be hard pushed to match it and think people are far too optimistic to think things will suddenly improve now he's gone. Like him or not its no doubt players like Barry, Young, Milner and Agbonlahor had come on loads under O Neill and its not going to be an easy task for any manager to do similar
  9. Some of the suggestions on here are depressing, they just seem like someone who is decent enough, won't be a disaster but is basically a mid table manager. I don't think we should be looking at it like that, for the best part of the last two seasons we have chased top 4 and i'd like to think thats where we are still aiming. Having the right boss to get us there is a massive decision as i can't see the majority of names touted taking us on from where we are
  10. I'm sorry but I HATE this argument. What your saying there would be perfectly reasonable argument for 99% of people. Milner is a multi-millionaire several times over, so has financially secured his and his family's future for years and years. We've supposedly offered him a deal to make him the highest paid player in our history so he'd be earning 65-70k a week at a guess. There's only one word I'd use to describe jimmy and that's greedy. Amen to this. For one footballers do not live on the bread line. For two this is football, not a job at an Insurance company, we live and breath this football club, it is not a service we use. The people who treat football as a service industry are those who go down the villa and boo at half time because were not beating wigan. Football is somehting more than a game and it always will be to the fans. James Milner clearly has no allegiance to the fans that cheered him over the last 2 seasons, frankly he can go **** himself. I just hope he's able to get by on his new wages. 99% of footballers don't really care about the fans though. I am sure they appreciate the support and are thankful for it in the main but they aren't going to make their career moves based on fans support. Ultimately things such as money, chances of success, location of clubs, family circumstances and infrastructure of a club are always going to be more important. Looking at Man City they are probably more likely to win a cup and have far more money to spend on wages. There is the risk that they may change their manager and he may not get in the new team and also the uprooting of his family. Theres also the argument whether someone even bigger may come along for him. I am sure these things will be far more important to Milner than the fact people have cheered him for a couple of years. And i am sure he knows full well that if he has a bad patch he will be booed and scapegoated like many others as well, whether at Villa or Man City
  11. I keep hearing this. Not sure its actually true or its something people are clinging onto now we've had a bad week. Can't help but thinking we could well win a couple on the bounce and suddenly everything looks different Bit of a positive stat anyway considering all i have heard is how shit we are in March and generally - April under O Neill - 14 games and 1 defeat. His first season we won away at Blackburn, Boro and Man City in April. In 2008 we beat Blues 5-1, Bolton 4-0, also won 6-0 at Derby in April. Last season in our bad run we had three draws and lost last minute at Man United. Seems its usually quite a good month for us
  12. Stay 100% Lots of managers might have bought in better defenders than we have got, more players or more glamourours signings. Would they have bought in Ashley Young, Carew, Petrov and Milner though, given Agbonlahor a chance, got the best out of Bouma, seen us take 4 points off Arsenal etc? Different managers get different things right and different things wrong. Overall i think very few managers could have done better on the pitch than we have done - the best season since 1995/96 for points last season in a year when we had 55 games. Last season was good, it had a pathetic run in that can't be forgotten about but the good parts and overall 6th place can't be dismissed. I'm sure a new manager will do it a new way, different players, more cover etc, i'm not sure they will see us getting more points or finishing higher in the league though. In O'Neills first season with us we had a terrible run- i think it was 2 wins in 20 games, he showed he could learn from that and we turned it around. No reason at all he can't do it again, especially given that for 2/3rds of last season we were on course for our best season since we came 2nd. To dismiss all of that one game into a season as we lost and had a bad run in seems ridculous to me. On another note half of the annoyance i think is the fact most people have realised we have decent owners who have put some money in but aren't the richest. Sadly that isn't enough in football now, we will finish above most clubs with less resources than us and below those who have more. Thats almost a given and its getting ever less likely any club or manager can break the cycle unless they get a mega rich owner. O Neill as manager will take the brunt of the annoyance over this and its why i hope we take the cups as seriously as we possibly can this year
  13. No, they are a nothng club. Massive club in my book. Great history, v good support and a lot of pride about them. A very similar club to us in terms of fanbase, history and current status. Definitely a rival for 5th - no way a team that performed as they did last season won't be there or there abouts in my opinion although i do believe we have now got a slightly better team they don't have the European distraction
  14. Would it not be fairest that those who want to book official travel can only do so when they are entitled to a ticket under the priorities that are placed on everybody who goes independently? Otherwise, as we have seen those going with official travel jump to the top of the queue. I agree totally with Stato and would also like to raise this General. To me I do not understand why people on official travel should get priority – looking at other clubs they implement the idea Stato says and only sell to those who are entitled to a ticket - not those prepared to pay most money. I do not understand why being prepared to pay more money should guarantee you a ticket and would have thougt loyalty in watching the club should have far more importance. As already stated we get the position where a fan of another club can book on the travel if they fancy it and have the money whilst someone who goes home and away with Villa but has less money can’t go or ends up sitting in the wrong part of the ground. In addition where tickets are sparce, or if we do this for a match like a final, those with money can effectively buy themselves a guarantee of a ticket while fans who have been to far more games miss out. I am sorry but it just seems the club like to prioritise the fans who have money in these situations
  15. I reckon after Prague and Hamburg away we'll be singing the Bells are Ringing again at away games, in fact hopefully a few of the songs that never get sung anymore will start again after the drunken and proud renditions they will undoubtedly get abroad
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