Harry

Did not bother to go tonight. Based on the radio commentary it sounded grim and I pity those who paid their hard earned cash for that pile of crap. I may be in the minority but I'm not against McLeish (yet at least). Tonight there were lots of poor performances which are down to the players. We have sold our two most creative players and replaced only one of them with an unfit player who has not gelled with the team yet (he said optimistically). McLeish has to make the best of what he has got which clearly lacks a touch of steel and class in midfield. Lets not forget we have sold four fully fledged England internationals in the past three seasons and not properly replaced any of them. I believe his strength as a manager is to get the players playing and that was sadly lacking tonight. Tactics are difficult to judge when players are not playing well but one up front at home is worrying to say the least I'm not anti Lerner but clearly the ground rules have changed and I think the club should be a little more honest about its objectives and the backing the manager has or has not got. Clearly its the latter. At the end of the day Villa is a business owned by Lerner and he can run it any way he wants. I love the club but I'm sad to admit I have lost interest. I've still got two season tickets and I have no intention of giving those up any time soon. What gets to me is the way the club papers over the cracks with the crap it spouts on the OS and AVTV and I for one am glad that clown the General has given up posting on this site. What's abundantly clear to me is the feel good factor around the club is long long gone. The club seems to expect the fans to remain equally as fervent as previous seasons. Mind you its difficult to judge how much of the lower gates is us or football in general or the economy. My guess is its a bit of all three. Interestingly NU on Saturday brought far fewer fans than usual which points towards the latter two reasons.

Well my other half took me to Stratford and the RSC for the weekend as a late birthday treat so I missed the game and my 2 ST's went unused. Having said that I would bet I saw more drama, excitement, humour and techical ability on Saturday that the 34,000 at Villa Park did. Prior to the game I saw it as three fairly easy points. Hmmm...

I like quite a few posters on VT started my posting 'career' on the football forums of the Evening Mail. For those of you who don't know there was one for Villa and one for Blues. I think I managed to rack up well over 2000 posts on there before seeing the light and posting on here a lot more regularly and then exclusively. In what will be music to the Mods ears the biggest reason I left was lack of proper moderation. People who clearly had multiple ID's, abusive posters, every thread being ruined by WUM's from the Blues forum and visa versa were left unchecked despite the complaints of regular posters. Eventually what was a great forum about 5 years ago was ruined. The Mail promised to sort it out and did nothing and eventually resolved it by closing them about a month ago. I only found out yesterday when I made a very rare trip there to have a look. When it worked it was a nice forum as having much fewer posters than say VT you got to 'know' them a little more. I've no regrets but I know there are a few of us who migrated to VT so I thought I would stick up this thread if nothing else to let them know. Apparently its family flowers only and there will be no wake!

@claverdonvillan

Who the **** is Enda Stevens?? He may be a superstar or he might be shite but who the **** is he?

It's good to see chronic over reaction is still alive and kicking on VT. *eyes cast towards the heavens*

2 games! Yes, just 2 games played and why would he have had reason to change yet with a creditable draw at Fulham and a good 3-1 win at home to Blackburn. Lets face it all managers have some idea of what their preferred starting line up is, it's only when we don't agree with it we start saying stuff about favourites. In terms of who starts as the 2 central midfielders is there a huge case to argue that Delph and Petrov shouldn't be the 2? If Makoun is in fact pissed off having missed 2 games and wants to leave than I would blame the player for that, not the manager. What is more likely is that losing his place at the end of last season and then not being first choice again this season has pissed him off which is understandable at this stage in his career and also not the current manager's fault as he needs to be able to pick what he feels is his strongest XI. One thing for sure is he will be needed at some stage this season, Delph has a tendency to miss games and Petrov isn't the fittest throughout a game. If he does go a replacement is a must. My thoughts entirely.

It was very nice to be at VP and see us win comfortably scoring 3 goals in the process. The attendance was poor at 32k which I guess is maybe 6k down on the opening fixture in the last couple of seasons. I just hope this is not some stupid knee jerk reaction by fans who think the club has let them down in some way. As for season ticket holders I think pretty much everyone around me in the DE stand has renewed but interestingly there was a large empty area in the upper tier of the Holte. As for the overall team performance I was very impressed. Blackburn are shite and will probably struggle this season but I thought Villa look better organised than they have done for a couple of seasons. Every player knew what he was supposed to doing and I thought the midfield was very tight with Delph outstanding, He may be slight but he is a tough nut and never shirks anything. The defence was much much better. The goal has a lot to do with Albrighton's inability to defend, he will need to work on that aspect of his game, coupled with poor marking in the box but that was the only reach mistake I noticed. I was also really pleased to see Clark, Bannan and Albrighton all get decent runs. Long gone are the days of MON's baffling substitutions and players playing out of position. Hopefully that bodes well for the future. Final special mention for Gabby - best goal I have seen at VP for ages and a great first half performance. I hope the injury will not keep him out for the Wolves game.

I think last season they had around 26,000 in the end so it looks like its well down on last year but I think that's a combination of the recession as well as general apathy with football coupled with the upheavals at the club. My take on club is that season ticket sales have suffered simply because the club has so significantly scaled back its ambitions, at least in the short term (one would hope).

Well I have renewed and counting back its my 7th successive year. Personally I was in the football wilderness for many years with Uni, professional exams, marriage and then kids. I never lost my interest in football or Villa but it was just a combination of time and money as many posters have mentioned. What brought me back was when my son was about 6 or 7 he started getting interested in football and expressed some interest in Man U! Well he had a Villa shirt and was sitting in the family stand at VP before he knew what had hit him. That was in DOL's second season I think and we bought season tickets the folowing year. I'm lucky in that I can afford the tickets, probably because I'm maybe a little older than a lot of the posters on this thread, having just reached the big 50. I buy two adult tickets as my son does not now want to go to every game and I got fed up with upgrading for mates so I've paid £1,050 for my seats in the DE stand. I don't go to away games and I normally miss around three home league games a season through holidays but I do get to most cup games at VP. Overall its a fairly expensive addiction but I'm lucky as live in Sutton Coldfield so I'm close to the ground and one of my mates and his son have the seats next to us so we share the driving. Given all that its not too much of a time commitment despite what my other half says. This season I did think quite hard about whether to renew, the add ons the club offered made no difference to me. In the end I just decided I would miss it too much. Of course the counter argument is you pick and choose your games but I've always found that many of the best games are the ones you would not pick. The fact that the ST sales may have declined would not surprise me at all. The real test for me will be seeing who is filling or not filling the seats around us. Personally I think the decline, if there is one, will be a combination of tough economic times which may posters have overlooked coupled with disillusionment with football in general an Villa in particular. The crazy money clubs like Man City are now throwing around will kill the PL eventually and that has spoilt it for me far more that the woes of our club. Long gone are the heady days of football where many clubs were in with a shout. As for Villa the feel good factor under MON is long gone. I don't blame Randy for acting the way he is now doing. As far as I can see the finances of the club were out of control and are still a long way from being sorted. OK he has to shoulder much of the blame for allowing MON such a free hand. Much as many dislike Paul Faulkner he has tried to reign back the clear excesses. At the end of the day we are beholden to Randy as basically he finances the club and its his or his family's money (in trust or otherwise) that backs the club. Where I do have a gripe is I don't feel the club has been honest with fans. Clearly plans have changed but why not be honest about what the plans now are? We get little clues periodically but I think fans would have more respect if they honestly knew. After all that would give them a much clearer view of whether they wanted to renew or not. I do think they take fans a little too much for granted. Maybe this season will be a wake up call on that score.

I tend to agree with that. A point away is OK for the first game of the season but there is plenty for the manager to work on. The big plus I took from the game was how much better we were organised defensively from last year. Blackburn next week is the game where McLeish really needs to deliver.

Its time for our annual invitational fixture against Blackburn to be arranged. No need for a thread though.

My sense is, and I hope I'm wrong, is that this deal is dead in the water. Whelan want more because he thinks we will pay it and we won't as we appparently agreed a price of £9m. Cue Everton stepping in and signing him in a couple of weeks time, probably for the original £9m with Whelan making a big fuss in the media about getting the price he wanted, having using the £16m plus they got for Jakielka to buy Zog plus some up and coming centreback.

There are ways of leaving a club and ways of leaving a club. Ashley Young conducted himself perfectly and did not disrespect the club. On the other hand Downing did precisely the opposite. I really hopes he **** up at Liverpool and 'those great fans' get on his case. What a grade A gold plated rocket polisher.

I'm OK with the principle of him being given a chance. If money is tight, which I doubt, we do actually have more important priorities and whilst Young has done a good job coverering I'm sure he prefers being at RB. That then gives us Lichaj and Clark as cover with Beye being sold (hopefully). Warnock seemingly acted like a cock but he's a decent player when in form and I agree with Tismyk he got naff all help defending from Downing. Oh and finally spin on the OS about Warnock - treat us like grown ups please. If he's staying and is an integral part of the squad just say so.

Finally... some correspondence from the club. At least he handed in his transfer request, that'll save us some money too right? Thanks for posting this JulieB More platitudes from that clown Faulkner.....great.

Well this window is starting to have shambles written all over. I'm not surprised that Downing has gone. He put a 'for sale' sign over himself the moment he stalled on his contract negotiations. £20m is the lowest end of my expectations but if he put a transfer request in he has forgone quite a bit in bonuses. Throw in the expected departure of Young plus the uninspiring appointment of AMcL and who we seemed to be linked to it's all pretty depressing. We have brought in £36m in transfer fees plus saved massively on the wage bill so every fan is expecting some really decisive moves in the transfer market. I was very optimistic at the end of the season that the only way was up. Sadly we just continue to spiral downwards. AMcL is a decent man but so far off a marque appointment its untrue. RL for some reason has seemingly done a complete U turn in how he sees the club. I think he is like Ellis now in that all we need to keep is a seat at the top table and nothing more. I have no idea what Paul Faulkner brings to the party and I am sick to the back teeth of being patronised by General Krulak, someone who clearly knows little of Villa and nothing of football in general. I would love the club to surprise me in the next few weeks but I won't hold my breath. The best we seem to have to look forward to is the arrival of a too old semi crocked cast off goalkeeper on high wages. Rant over......

The thing that really makes me laugh in this whole sorry saga is LFC spunk up £20m for Jordan Henderson who is hardly proven having spunked up ££35m for Carroll in January who is hardly proven. That's not so say they won't prove to be very good buys as we found with Young and yet with Downing they make literally laughable offers. Is Downing really worth only 60% of the fee they paid for Henderson?? They then offer £15m and now the latest rumour is £18.5m. Even the media is saying £20m but I tend to go with the thought expressed on here that our number is closer to £25m which given the Henderson deal is spot on the money. Every player has a price and if Liverpool or anyone else offer the right price he will be sold. I think LFC are showing enormous disrespect to to us by not offering the right price at the outset whilst also trying to unsettle the player. I would have thought they were better than that but sadly they did precisely the same over Barry. Clearly its endemic.

This £19m seems to keep appearing. My guess is that its what Liverpool would ultimately expect to pay probably spread by Downings agent. The trouble is they paid £20m for Henderson so they have to top that by a margin. I think Cuntiolli of whatever their DoF is called did his business the wrong way round.

Very under whelming link. Why do we have to be linked to other clubs cast offs?

Were Villa to sell for £19m which I very much doubt I think there would be huge questions for the club to answer as that almost smacks of a fire sale. AMcL is on the record saying that it would have to be ridiculous offer for Downing to go. That is not such an offer. Clearly the steer came from the club so he would be being undermined if we accepted a lower offer. I think the £19m is what Liverpool probably want to pay and no doubt they or Downing's agent is putting that about the media. What's interesting is the clear disrespect Liverpool have again shown for Villa. With Barry I attributed it to a combination of the FSW and Rick Parry. Clearly its endemic to that club. Peronsally I can see RL and PF playing hardball on this.

Typical Liverpool, a complete lack of respect. But what do you expect from a bunch of pinch featured dole boys in trackies.

The bit I struggle with is the media are saying we want £19m. How does that square with Liverpool paying £20m for Henderson. AMcL also said we would only sell for crazy money. Now I thought that meant a high price not a low one. For me if they offer £25m they can have him. A £5m premium for an established PL player and international seems pretty fair to me. And they can forget Ngog he is shite. Much rather see Weimann given a shout or the Fonz.

Personally I don't ever think he will be a hit for us but on the other hand what have we got to lose by giving him a second chance? We are paying £65k per week apparently. No one will match that and he's probably worth next to nothing because of those wages. So we can either give him a chance and if he shines we either keep him or flog him on for a decent price. Or we loan him out with a huge subsidy on his wages. So here's AMcL chance to prove he can manage.

No I don't buy that. Personally I think RL will back McLeish in the transfer market. I expect substantial funds to be available including sale proceeds. This will be RL saying I back my manager as I trust him to use it wisely.