briny_ear

Yes lucky us that we got 8 point from our victory in the last game of the season, what are the odds of that happening again this year :?: Very strange indeed...

Not sure your comment is relevant to this thread but, if the Ipswich fans thought that, they can't count. We had the league won after the 3-0 win at home to Middlesbrough in the penultimate game and went to Arsenal as champions. I remember this well because I paid a lot of money to go to Arsenal to watch Villa pissing around in an insignificant match and losing 0-2. The main thing I recall Ipswich fans complaining about was that they should have been champions because they beat Villa twice in the season.

Will be sorry to see him go. Who knows what plans McLeish has for the defence next season.

There is no such golden rule - it's just a useful target for mid-table clubs. Last season Wolves just scraped 17th place with 40 points. The season before West Ham survived with 35 points (and could in fact have stayed up with 30 points and a goal difference of -39!!) 2008/9 Hull hung on with 35 points. It all depends on how the bottom teams perform and this season they have been pretty poor. The most competitive seasons since the league went to 20 clubs have been 2002/3 when Wolves went down with 42 points; 1997/8 (Bolton 40) and 1996/7 (Sunderland 40). But the norm is for the 18th club - the one to beat - to end with points in the low to mid 30s. This season, to get to 39 points, QPR and Wigan would each need to get 14 points from their remaining 8 fixtures. QPR have to play Arsenal, Chelsea, Man C, Man U and Spurs; Wigan play Chelsea, Man U and Arsenal. All of these teams will be fighting hard for a top 4 place so the strugglers can't expect to get much from those games. They do look to be heading for around 35/6 points at their absolute best - Wolves almost certainly lower.

Why have you suddenly decided to fill page after page of the the Randy Lerner thread with distorted, desperate nonsense about MON, who left two seasons ago? Have you only just noticed he's left or something? Got any views on the two fantastic managers Lerner appointed in his place? Care to make a list of their transfer records so we can see how all the players they bought have slotted immediately and successfully into the 1st XI? And could you give us a rundown on Randy Lerner's forward strategy to get us back into the top 6?

We are at risk of going down under this manager but almost certainly not this season...

I've got nothing against Mazrim saying whatever he likes. Just wanting to offer a counterbalance to the chorus of comments following, such as He really hasn't been spot on.

It's time for the return of Dr Jo...

You being serious? Shorey was hardly an unknown was he requiring a good word to the manager from an old pal. He was an England international. You can however believe that kind of tripe if you want. Mazrim said something about it in one of his earlier posts. Because he can clear that up for us. What makes you think Mazrim is any sort of authority on that matter? Given the utter nonsense he's been talking for the past couple of pages, I wouldn't take his word for anything on Villa matters. The truth is that Sidwell, as I recall, expressed pleasure when Shorey was signed and said something like "I've been telling the manager how good he is". Converting that into a statement that MON only signed him because Sidwell recommended him is typical of the overblown,unsubstantiated sort of bollocks that Mazriim has been spouting.

Thanks for posting this. I was trying to post a scan of it I did on Sunday from the Observer but I lost my battle with photobucket to produce an image that was neither massively large nor incredibly tiny. I'm not sure why you treat it as such bad news though. It shows that all clubs in the bottom 6 are struggling for points, so emphasising how improbable it is that three of the teams will suddenly start picking up loads more points and make up the 9 points on us that would be needed for us to sink into the bottom 3. It is of course very bad news for Liverpool... 8) (PS, how hard is it to do short links?)

This is absolutely the key issue at present. If that's the sort of prematch talk he gives to the players, it's no wonder they hardly bother to turn up on the pitch against top sides.

Sorry, Voinjama, but this is just more of the same denial. We are in the position we are in now because our chairman is disinvesting in the club (rather ineptly as it turns out) and we have had crap managers for the past two seasons. Anyone trying to blame MON or the "mistakes of the past" for the timid way we played against Arsenal - seeemingly as part of the current manager's gameplan - is just way off beam.

I really can't imagine why people are spending their days arguing about whether MON should have got us higher than 6th. For what it's worth, I think it's disappointing he didn't get us higher in his two best seasons but it's COMPLETELY irrelevant. First of all, even if we had got to fourth, there is no way we could have sustained a top 4 position because Lerner simply didn't have the resources to keep us there - and anyone who thinks it doesn't require sustained spending season after season is just living in dreamland. Lerner's business model was complete crap and I suspect that MON jumped ship when he realised that. The second point is that it matters little whether we could have got to a position higher than 6th two or three seasons ago because the situation facing us NOW is that the club is drifting along with an alarming lack of direction, and an unadventurous and unattractive approach to football. The main issue for us now is how we are going to sustain ourselves as a premier league club - forget about 6th or higher. Those are the issues people should be facing up to in a thread about Randy Lerner. I suspect it's too painful for many to confront, so people are retreating into fantasising about the past and what might have been.

Good to see people being realistic about playing teams like Arsenal (and Man C, where I think MLeish made similar comments).

The guy on the radio said premiership history, and i am offended that you swore at me.... If threads which simply repeat what is said on Talksport aren't banned on this site, maybe they should be. Talksport presenters spout rubbish most of the time and the are sooooo... anti-Villa it is painful.

That is brilliant - wonder if Holte-Enders could do that?

My theory is that some people find it easier to dwell on the past than to face up to the reality of the present, which is that we have a chairman who has no vision for the club except to disinvest in it, and has appointed two woeful managers in succession (who have actually continued to spend quite a lot of his money for very poor results). Given all that, who would want to talk about the present, even less the future?

On the example quoted, Davies was out injured long term and Cuellar was playing week in week out at right back at the time that Collins and Dunne were bought. So I would be interested to know what you think MON should have done about the centre back positions at that stage.

I think you need to be realistic about playing teams like Arsenal. (BTW, shouldn 't this thread title be changed now we know it's this season, not in "Premiership history"?!)

Its confusing; previous interviews have been translated as he doesn’t know the club well, not that the club is not good According to a Dutch mate of mine, "Daar wist ik van. Ik ken de club niet heel goed, maar de interesse is mooi” translates as ""I knew about it [Villa's interest]. I don't know the club too well, but it's good that they're interested" So, F off Talksport.

I give up. Photobucket has defeated me - can either post a massive image or a tiny one but apparently no middle ground. Soz.

Shaun Maloney :shock:

Ahh...no, it's certainly not, because Muamba had a cardiac arrest, not a heart attack. It's important to know the difference. Click here for an explanation of the difference.

Managing Villa was a TOP job

SirGaryCahill is...??????? :shock: