Raver50032

I write this alone on my bed I've poisoned every room in the house The place is quiet and so alone Pretend there's something worth waiting for There's nothing nice in my head The adult world took it all away I wake up with same spit in my mouth I cannot tell if it is real or not I try and walk in a straight line An imitation of dignity From despair to where From despair to where Outside open mouthed crowds Pass each other as if they're drugged Down pale corridors of routine Where life falls unatoned The weak kick like straw Till the world means less and less Words are never enough Just cheap tarnished glitter I try and walk in a straight line An imitation of dignity From despair to where From despair to where The Villa walk in a straight line An imitation of dignity From despair to where

Only 20 years ago, we were top of the Premier League... (maybe 2nd).

Feed the Hare and he will score... His sub appearances are fondly remembered... But I doubt his stats were anywhere near as mesmeric as Le Fondre's!!!

I must admit, I am finding it hard to think of another club that does seem to be really taking the financial fair play shit as seriously as we seem to be - unless we're only doing to 'safeguard' Randy's investment when he comes to sell... I look at QPR and I think - how the **** is that sustainable? Comparably small stadium, but mega rich owner... Surely, they are defeating the object? Further north, a light blue team seem to be financing their way to another title challenge by sponsoring their own stadium? As has been pointed out and clarified, the financial fair play stuff is aimed more specifically at European qualification - but I shudder to think what will happen to QPR if Fernandes and Co decide to call it a day. Their wage bill must be stratospheric. And all that stuff about a super-casino being the big plan round here... I thought I heard that Randolph despised gambling, and was the reason we parted ways with 32Red? Which raised my eyebrows even more with the current Genting genitals.

Careful there Doctor... I got criticised for scaremongering in another thread for suggesting something similar. But I agree, first and foremost, being relegated will take this club a long time to get over. I believe maybe 5 to 10 years.

Good point actually... I personally put our early season woe down to players still finding their feet and gelling. I wasn't expecting things to get so bad, I will admit that.

Fair enough, I live my life with a half empty glass. Can't change that. If my passion is deemed over the top, well, so be it. Apart from Citeh (who changed owners - big time) and Toon (who were lucky that a lot of their decent players didn't actually go when they dropped down a league), who has ever benefitted from going down? Who has bounced back stronger with a genuine ability to challenge? Does anybody think it will happen here with the current owners? Swansea and Stoke seem to have benefitted from a good road map - totally different styles of football, but effective on the pitch. They've been building for years... and years... We're going down on a shoe string of perceived austere poverty, seemingly with less fight than a collective of prunes on the turn (apart from the odd 20 minutes here and there). So, going down, for me, really will set us back for a long time. There ain't really a lot more family silver to sell off to strip it back - but then if we do... how much further will we fall? So, I guess (and accept to a degree), we have to be patient, and then we go again... It shouldn't have gotten to this stage - not for this club. We are where we are though. And for the record, I saw relegation in 1986/87 - nowhere near as bad as what's happening now. Never the sense of stigma or embarrassment at the results or for being associated with the club. Yeah, and we nearly messed up the opportunity to come back up straight away even then... The negative records we are creating this year/season alone justify my passion and 'over the topness.' I'm not scaremongering, just posting my opinion and thoughts - believe what you will. I will openly admit I was wrong, when I am proven wrong. Believe me, I hope I am... but my empty glass says it will stay empty for a goodly while yet.

The club knew what they needed to do after the Chelsea, Spurs and Wigan games - and they have (so far) chosen to ignore January as an opportunity to sign players to make sure we stay up, make sure we get to Wembley, and give us a good chance of winning the cup. Well, I say they knew what was needed... On here, a DM seems to be the popular choice. It should never have been allowed to get like this... if the club genuinely cannot afford to bring players in, we are going down to where the owners deserve us to be. Next 4 games are real horror show... If anybody thought Wigan, Southampton and Newcastle at home were MUST WIN games, then Hammers at home is make or break. We have to believe we can draw at Everton, and get a draw somehow out of Man City (stuttered at Loftus). 5 points from those four games or forget it IMO.

Doubtful - many of them seem to be too busy playing golf, crashing their fast cars or shopping or taking pictures of their latest sexual conquests, dabbling in the 'politically correct' world of 'Twatter' or 'Facefuck' etc. They are most unlikely to give a shit about what fans say on a forum anyway. And for 30k a week (or whatever, before any of you start), you can call me what you like. You can even call me a white-honkey or throw a..... actually, to be classified as 'racist,' what would someone have to throw on the pitch at a white player, just out of interest? A John Terry doll? I'd still just get on with the game... It's not difficult to pass, shoot, tackle and move into space... is it?

I'm with Richard on this. Whichever way you choose to cut it - relegation will cause significant damage to this football club. For me it would set up back between 5 and 10 years. True, there is life beyond the Premier League. But there is more chance of us playing in league 1 in 5 years time, than of us challenging in the top 10 should we go down. In my opinion anyway, so don't even ask for any scientific evidence of this or 'for the win' type retorts of 'when did I say that?' etc. This isn't the time for Billy Big Bollox point scoring. Suicide isn't painless... it hurts like hell... (Carter USM). January 2013 - AVFC committed suicide.

Well, now that you come to mention it, maybe tonight's chant should be... PUT THE LOTION IN THE BASKET....

Stakka Bo... Here we go again...

I see what you are saying Woodytom... but I think we have been a victim of circumstance and changing goalposts... 1992-93 - finished 2nd in Premier League Season 1 - these days, that would have been Champions League Football. We missed the boat there and didn't strengthen when we needed to - culminating in the 1994 League Cup win, then 1994-95 and near relegation. 1995-96 - WON the League Cup, FA Cup Semi (never a 3-0 game while I have a hole in my arse) and, finished 4th in Premier League Season 4 - these days, that would have been Champions League Football. We went on to dally with a League Title in a following season under John Gregory, throwing it all away after being top at Christmas. So... Rolls Royce or Ford Mondeo - we have had chances to be BIG since 1982. It's just that our placings have never been fashionable until UEFA changed the goal posts and let any old mucker into the Champions League. And, if Chelsea can get so badly bullied in the final of the ECL, (just like we did in 1982), and eventually win it. Anyone with an ounce of ambition can get there... It's just how long you are prepared to persist. Right now, we're a Mondeo with more than one flat tire. But we can be repaired.

In Before Da Lock...

It's an interesting quandary that isn't it... On the one hand there is the 'blind love' support where people will continue to pump 450+ quid for a season ticket come what may and who may or may not have anything other than football in their life - they will always be part of the furniture. On the other hand, this is the 21st Century, football competes with a lot more leisure pursuit finances than 40 years ago (my perception anyway) - which makes us customers and consumers. I've had a spiralling downward and receding interest in football generally since the 2010 World Cup and find it harder and harder to motivate myself to exercise my season ticket spending each year - more and more I become disappointed with a feeling that I am not getting value for money, and certainly not enjoying it. I've been a Villa fan as long as I remember, and I have experienced great joy, and the horrors of relegation - but it never felt quite like it does now... I have never felt so humiliated to be associated with the Club - never felt such a prolonged and consistent misery, even back in 86-87. Never been as bad as this. I believe there is serious damage being done to the 'fathful' by all this, and I understand fully why people may throw in the towel. Quite simply, it ain't cheap. And football competes with so many other things now. We're having the stuffing knocked out of us. I don't want to feel miserable week in week out - had enough of that last season, and I threw in the towel and boycotted after the Swansea capitulation through to McLeish's sacking, renewing my ticket as soon as he left the club. I've tried it again this season, and after another 450+ quid and a steady stream of humiliations and humblings, find myself quesitioning why I go... Why do I spend so much money on something that makes me miserable? So, since Eck was appointed, that the best part of 900 quid down the drain on feeling like shite... For that kind of money, a customer should experience some sort of entertainment. There are no guaratees in football, I know that. The win rate at Villa Park however over the last 24 months has been ridiculous... and how many games have been truly enjoyable? I'd be struggling to name 5 if the truth be known. And in that 5, I would put the 3-2 defeat to United in there as 'enjoyable' as it was an entertaining game, even if the final result was predictable and frustrating. Everyone is different - but your point is correct, will they come back? My decline has been since the World Cup, so it's not just Villa - it's football as a whole. I used to watch ANY football that was shown on the tele - I was mad for it. I just can't be arsed with it any more... No interest even in the Champions League unless there's a British team in the final these days. I certainly can't be bothered with England friendlies and qualifying games... Same old, every time with them. I'm a family man and I have other hobbies/interests to fork out for. Stuff that generally makes me happy. Even if we stay up, I can't see me renewing next time - it's too much of a financial risk for so much money on something likely to make me so mad. Something that makes me punch walls... verbally abuse match officials... It's not a nice state to be in... And it happens so much more frequently these days... I'd rather go on a cruise or something. I really would be freeing myself of the habit of just turning up... And further, I might even find that I don't miss it... I didn't miss it one bit from Swansea at home to Norwich away last season. I felt relieved actually. Sure, I'll always be a Villa fan - but I would have freed myself from the whole match day grind and my daughter (bless her) would get extra time from me at home. Stuff that's important... I might buy a shirt, I might not. I have said it before in another thread - the Club does **** all for me and wouldn't do jack shit if I was destitute outside New Street Station wearing my Villa shirt. Just like I am a consumer, Villa are a business and seek any which way to get money out of me - even sending me an email after the Bradford 2nd leg thanking me for my support on one hand, then asking for money on the other by reminding just how many more key home games there are to go in this season. Well Villa - you've already had my money, so tough tits. I don't think I'd be back to be fair... But I certainly wouldn't look down my nose at anyone that did... You pay your money, go when you want, stay away when you want. Live your own life as you're a long time dead - certainly life is too short to be miserable every week in the wind, rain and cold watching the club die on it's arse.

We've changed our name to Aston Vanilla... always getting licked...

I agree to a point BJ - football, particularly top flight football is not a money making exercise. It is a rich-man's playground. More and more, the richer will get rich, and the pretenders will have a go and fall by the wayside. I don't see how anybody with any real intent of challenging the upper echelons of the Premier League can actually be doing it to make money. Sooner or later, you have to do something to stay ahead of your immediate competitors. When you settle for doing the bare minimum, there is only one way you are going to go... And that is what we're doing... we've trod water, now we're out of breath and sinking. If he hasn't got the funds, i can't blame him for trying to stablise his investment - but he must look to pass us on to somebody that can make us competitive again. If we settle for just making up the numbers, whether here or in the Championship (or maybe even lower given how bad things appear to be if all is to be believed on this site and in the press), we might as well all pack in and go and watch Manure, Chelski or Citeh... Maybe that's what UEFA want... It's where all the money seems to be right now. We're Aston Villa - not Pelsall Villa. Snobby I know... Jealousy for sure... I won't hide how I feel. Right now, we are getting just what 'we' (not the fans) deserve. We are harvesting what we have sown. Doesn't make it right and any more pallatable.

Hi Mantis, probably off topic this, so sorry for that, and this is not a dig... honest. To reflect your current feelings for the manager and the club in general, do you intend to update your signature? Seems we didn't wake up from our nightmare after all... I'm not trying to be clever... UTV :-/

Brave man Tony - I fear that had I jogged back to my car, I might have slipped on the shitty snow/ice covered pavements around the ground and back streets. Horrid conditions to get to and from a match. For that reason alone, I demand a re-match...!!!

I think we will be saying that the club knew before December where we were lacking, and they had an opportunity to get someone in before the Southampton game, before the two Bradford games and couldn't (wouldn't?) make it happen. Losing the 6 pointers at home to Wigan (and how) and Southampton (cheating fekkers) cost us. Bradford City beating Swansea in the final - that could have been us... Anyone for a morning at the Pleasure Beach before the away match?

I expect/want the club to be able to compete - and right now, we do not look like we can. If we cannot afford a Premier League Quality Player (as appears to be suggested in other threads - before you all start), we have no business being in the league we're currently in. If we are in a position where we cannot compete 'for evermore,' I'd turn my back on it all. **** if I'm spending 450+ quid on a season ticket just to turn up and see Villa make up the numbers. I don't love football that much. I expect us to compete - we're Aston Villa. We gave league football to the world. The Premier League in England without Aston Villa would be like Nigel Kennedy having no violin to play. Yeah, that sounds snobby. But it's true - this club is not here to simply make up the numbers. You earn the right to be in the top flight - and we fall well short at the moment and it ain't good enough. -- Well you and I, Collapsed in love. And it looks like, we might have made it, Looks like we've made it to the end... What happened to us? Soon it will be gone forever... Infatuated only with ourselves, And neither of us can think straight any more. Well you and I, Collapsed in love. And it looks like, we might have made it, Looks like we've made it to the end.

Okay - I will buy out the whole Bradford first eleven - I will put up £7,500 right now. For that, we would get a sensational goalie, and a set of players that can score from corners and defend them. And for buying the club, I would give you 20k. I'd even offer to go round the ground before each match and make sure there was soap in the dispensers of the gents loos. Someone else would have to go and do the ladies though... Before I put on my tin hat - most of this post is written in jest. I will leave it up to you to decide what I might be serious about.

This - I still have all the flags! Some memories better than others. I have the badges too - got a nice little collection going on my coat now. I used to wear them with pride, but the way I feel right now, it feels like they are on display like a masochist might show you his Prince Albert.

Don't do yourself down Richard - I fully agree with you - and it was clear that you wrote from the heart. Great post - keep the faith... That said - the humiliations just keep on coming...

If it was only one game, I'd understand your logic. Proud History - From Despair To Where?