Brumstopdogs

I've managed to get Harry Redknapp to give his view on this debate http://www.kumb.com/forum/images/smilies/icon_twitch.gif

The talk goes on and on and still Tottenham 2 top flight league titles and no European Cup.......

It's amusing a small north London club that has spent 47 years not good enough to be classed as top flight standard have such a high opinion of themselves. They've only won 2 of the main 2 competitions full stop - and managed the lofty total of one runner up in the big 2 competitions outside 1950 to 1963. Bless them, they really do have ideas above their station! http://www.the-football-club.com/big-clubs.html#INV

General, I guess with your supporter hat on, you have to admit the club look to be going backwards? Teams around us have strengthened while we decided we couldn't do any transfer deals apart from selling our best player of course and Shorey. Funny that. No decent cover for left back and the striker that has been required for years still hasn't been purchased. If reports are to be believed we're now after a manager that wants to keep Heskey (yes, seriously) and in less than a month has got us dumped out of Europe and humiliated 6-0 by a team promoted from the championship. To me the dream with this Board is over - actions speak louder than words. It's a sad day for the club when Birmingham City have a better manager than us and sign players like Hleb while we amazingly dither whether to appoint a manager who may just be the cheapest option. A very disgruntled and disappointed fan.

General, I would also have massive concerns about the appointment of Kevin McDonald as our manager. The manager should be one that excites the fans, has proven premiership managerial experience and can take us to another level. Someone who is popular with the players but ultimately has done nothing as a manager is not someone I want us to be taking a risk on. The appointment of Kevin McDonald to me would have the impact of: a) Huge questions about the ambition of our club Attendances will drop or not improve c) Any feel good factor will be lost for most fans. Hopefully you can hear many fans genuine concerns about him being in the shortlist and appoint someone more worthy and experienced to take us forward?

Yes I am a fan of NRC. Every team needs a hard working defensive midfielder with an engine to last 90 minutes. He is our only fit central midfielder who can do that in my view!

No chance of getting Moyes!

Congratulations to the boys for the hard effort today. A good win against a tough Everton team. There certainly are a number of areas we can improve on but the most important thing today was the result.

Recent quotes from our club captain are: "We need to strengthen our squad before the transfer window closes. Other teams around us are doing it and we are getting left behind." If our club captain can see it and the fans can see it my question is can the board see we need to get some players in before the transfer window shuts?

The best I can see is a 3-1 defeat for us. Big Mac hasn't got a clue and if he plays Ireland and Petrov in a 2 man midfield we will be over-run. What a shambles.

6k at home

At least we've got some money in the bank. Let's not worry that we're declining as a club. The bubble has burst big time.

What a shambles we are. A centre back (Cuellar) playing at right back. A reserve right back (Beye) playing at left back. A central midfielder (Reo Coker) playing on the right. A striker (Heskey) who is just hopeless, and missed a shot from 6 yards being paid full stop. (seriously the Board are happy for this guy to be getting paid £2m+ per year!) No back up for the left back position and no striker cover for Carew and Agbonlahor just two of the alarmingly poor gaps in our squad. Firstly we get humiliated (no not just a "bad" result General) we got HUMILIATED 6-0 in our last game. Tonight, against a team who we had a chance for revenge for we didn't have it in us to beat them and lost once more. We've even lost 3 of our last 4 league games. This dithering of the managerial position is not helping and the club is a laughing stock. I'll go as far to say this is the worst I've felt as a Villa fan in all the years of supporting the club. Surely you, Randy and the rest of the Board really need to take a good look at your roles at the club and see if you're performing well enough as custodians of this great club? The 5 year plan has gone down the pan. We're falling away and the leadership from both our Board (poor communication, dithering and lack of ambition) and our lack of a manager reflect on to the team. Unsettled and uninspiring off the pitch and the same on it.

General If I could make another point. Based on recent seasons we'll probably end up with an average attendance of around 37-38k which is about 5k empty seats. Quick maths here: 19 home games * 5000 seats * say a price of £30 = £2.9m Emile Heskey's projected wages: £50,000 * 52 = £2.6m Problem solved?!

In terms of attendances do you really think 8 wins in 19 home matches and only 29 goals was something that made us an attractive team to watch? How was selling our best player and then not reinvesting the money back into the team really going to improve that? The team surely is crying out for a decent striker. The likes of Heskey, Sutton, Harewood and Carew are the ones we have acquired under your regime! Look at the teams we are up against and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to show we've massively under invested in this part of the team. As for the manager choice look at our rivals: Tottenham: Redknapp Liverpool: Hodgson Everton: Moyes Man City: Mancini The common link they've all very successful managers. I hope the Board have more foresight and ambition than giving the job to McDonald. A manager for 2 premier league games and in one of them gave us one of the worst league results in our history. It was refreshing to see him admit his mistakes after the 6-0 humilation but the sheer number of gaffes he made was unacceptable. Thanks for your comments though General. I trust in you to find the right man.

With all due respect General surely losing 1-0 or 2-0 is a bad game? Getting beaten 6-0 by a team promoted from the Championship and players showing no organisation, pride, belief and desire is an outright disgrace and embarrassment to our great supporters.

Agreed. The lowest scorers in the top half last season have lost their manager. We're looking for direction from the Board to appoint someone quickly (surely we must know who we want) and we badly need another striker. If we don't have both by the close of this transfer window it's another failed opportunity and backwards step.

Did Downing actually touch the ball?

Friedel - 2/10 Young - 3/10 Dunne - 2/10 Clark - 1.5/10 Warnock - 1/5/10 Albrighton - 2/10 Petrov - 1/10 Ireland - 2/10 Downing - 0.5/10 Young - 4/10 Carew 1/10 McDonald: Tactics 0/10 What a surprise Irleand/Petrov (two attacking midfielders) lost the midfield battle. No one could have predicted that could they! No shots on target whatsover! Failed to make the right changes until way too late Emile Heskey - there really is no point to him getting 1 minute on the pitch. Utterly useless! A disgrace, a shocker surely there has to be some positives: McDonald should now not be our permanant manager! (if they have any sense) It's even clearer we need a striker (although it's been clear for about 2 seasons now!) Hopefully we'll learn away from home Ireland and Petrov on their own in central midfield does not work. Hopefully the game will be a lesson that you have to hit the target to have a chance of scoring.

McDonald was proven as way out of his depth today. Poor team selection, poor substitutes, little heart and little organisation. The worst and most gutless Villa performance I have ever seen. About time we use that £18m to get a striker who can get a shot on target in 90 minutes don't you think?

Looks like Spurs are about to announce another youthful signing.

I really hope we learn from last season's match. We played Heskey alone up front and obviously didn't score. We really need an away goal so let's go for it.

Which they have no chance of winning. Big deal. If they concede 3 away to Young Boys (who also hit the post) think what Barcelona and Inter will do to them!

Good old Spurs