VillaAndLoyal

They made a lot of noise? I am actually stunned at that comment, if you were indeed referring to Queens Park Rangers fans. That was easily the quietest away ground I have been to for a while. Their support was worse than the Emirates, worse than Fulham and worse than Blackburn, hell even worse than Wigan. None of their fans in the whole ground were standing and they made little to no noise throughout - until we caved in on 93 minutes. Our fans on the other hand were a different class, as you have correctly alluded to. I just cannot fathom how any Villa fan, in that away end, could have thought QPR made a lot of noise throughout. They were beyond dire.

A **** Walkabout :| I thought I was getting away from the never ending chains on Broad Street.

He is a top manager...Not a TV personality. I dont care that he makes blunders in the press..All I know is that behind the scenes he is a mastermind in his work. He can coasch players to be world class = proven...He can turn a average looking footballing nation into a world class footballing nation = proven. I dont give a monkey's toss how he comes accross on the TV or in the press...All I care about is Aston Villa being a top club again...This man was the closest thing we had...It may not come around again now for along time. You dont throw away an opportunity just because he isnt great in the media or on TV.. What an absolute load of drivel. You said he was a great professional, and then said you don't care about how he portrays this club in the media? Which one is it? Because you aren't making sense. Was it professional to have a slanging match in the media with John Carew? Were his actions professional throughout the Liverpool debacle? Was it professional to effectively forfeit a cup match despite saying you really wanted to win before it? I could go on. You say "all in know is behind the scenes is he is a mastermind in his work" - do you? How? Are you a Villa insider or something? If not, you are purely speculating and you don't actually know anything. His contract was terminated, apart from his ill health, because he clearly wasn't right for the job. So stop kidding yourself that we somehow threw away the greatest thing to ever happen to Aston Villa - you're surely on a wind-up? Last season was a joke in every sense, largely because of Gerard in one way or another.

I thought this thread was a Villa themed 'Where's Wally' picture puzzle?

Houllier or McLeish? That's like asking your son or daughter whether they want a three-wheeler metro or a second-hand Skoda for their birthday? Both are uninspiring and shite.

I'm really looking forward to ticking a new ground off the list but I'm definitely not looking forward to how we will fare in the match. We should be winning at places like QPR but, under the current regieme, I can't even see a draw. I think we're in a false position in the league and as the level of opposition improves in the coming weeks I predict the wheels will well and truly fall off for us.

I've tried to avoid this board since McLeish was appointed because I was so totally appalled at our chairman's decision, and the PR spin which was given as a "reason" for appointing our manager. Since then, I've accepted that I cannot change the decision and have continued supporting the team. But tonight, unfortunately, didn't surprise me. Despite it being one of the worst home performances I've ever seen. Lerner is to blame for this potential situation we find ourselves in. There was not one logical reason why appointing McLeish was the right thing to do. But McLeish, having found himself here, is to blame for this result most definitely. Outplayed by a second string Bolton team with no away support. Whatever Lerner is planning for the club (that remains to be seen) he has drastically cut back and Villa will suffer for that on the pitch as a result, we are a vastly weakened team without Young, Downing, Reo-Coker & Co. But McLeish should still be getting more out of the players he does have at his disposal. We now play far too narrow, with no creativity on the wings or down the middle, we play a negative formation with only one up front at home, and we can't string more than 4 passes together. This has been the case in all of our games so far this season, without exception. I used to get really angry at performances like tonight, but it was so predictable when McLeish was hired that it's impossible to get wound up by it. He should never have been appointed, never in a million years. I also note that football fans in general this season, myself included, are getting more and more disallusioned with football. Money has ruined the game, modern players have ruined the game and the attendances at grounds across the UK reflect that. I'm a season ticket holder but I honestly dread home games now, they bore the hell out of me, but I still go because I feel it's my duty as a Villan. Away games are far more pleasant because drink and a good sing-song is usually involved. But as far as games go now, football is becoming increasingly predictable and unless you have an oil tycoon you can kiss goodbye to winning the league, the FA Cup or finishing fourth... in short, competing. Totally depressed with football in general. But roll on QPR eh...

I am astounded that, after 10 pages of this thread, only two posters have noted the most worrying factor of this new season - the complete lack of width in our team. It is destroying our attacking threat. There are two factors for this, McLeish's tactics and Randy Lerner's decision to sell two of our best players, both of whom were wingers. The most important player in our team now is Darren Bent and we have to find a way of still utilising the wing to offer him service despite the sales of Young and D*wning. However, in the opening three PL games Bent has had absolutely no service whatsoever, and bar a fortuitist ricochet against Blackburn, would still be looking to open his account. We are far too narrow, especially on the right side, and it might make us less likely to concede but it is completely nullifying our attacking threat and making Bent seem anonymous. That is the manager’s job to sort out and I hope he does, because we should be trying to build the team around Bent now, not change our style of play to a more central system which starves Darren of the crossed deliveries he thrives on. A big part of that lack of width is down to Charles N'Zogbia. For the past three weeks I've said, yes he was poor, but he's probably not match fit and will come good etc but there's only so many more weeks I can give that excuse. We signed him as a winger - why on gods earth is he not playing on the wing? His body language is atrocious, especially for an apparent big name signing, he offers nothing in the way of tracking back and on a number of occasions played us into trouble today because of it, and seems to run like a headless chicken into blind alleys. But, more worryingly, is his complete lack of link up play with Bent and his willingness to always run with the ball into the centre of the park, and not out wide. Why? Watching this from my K4 vantage point made his positional nous (or lack of) all the more frustrating. He looks totally disinterested and today he was taught a lesson in wing play by a squad member, Agbonlahor, who doesn't even play there. I’m very disappointed with his contribution so far and on this initial showing he doesn’t seem to be an equal replacement to Ashley and/or D*wning, let alone both.

He was awful.

Tonight there were more negatives than positives for me. I think we'll really struggle this season if AM insists on playing a 4-5-1 formation (or similar variation) all the time, particularly at home. I thought the same despite a good win against Blackburn and I think it again tonight. For the most part we looked like a powder-puff Arsenal side. Lots of pretty, intricate, passing but actually not going anywhere very quickly and with little creativity, quality in the final third or penetration. Rather like Blackburn and Fulham, Darren Bent received little service of the type he needs and resorted to dropping deep to collect the ball on many occasions, just to keep himself in the game. If we are to utilise our main marksman fully this season we need to sort this out, which is perhaps easier said than done after selling his two greatest supply lines in Young and D*wning. The defence looked steady tonight, bar a 10/15 minute Hereford spell, and Richard Dunne looks to be regaining a bit of fitness which he so badly lacked last season. Guzan looks a pale shadow of the keeper I thought he might become when he first joined the club. He didn't have a great deal to do but some of his decision making and distribution is woeful, good job we have Shay. Special mention for Stephen Ireland, who was my man of the match. His behaviour and attitude was appalling last season but credit where credit is due, he ran the show tonight and was our one bright spark going forward. Should have scored with the header but he'd done brilliantly in the move up until that point, and should have perhaps been more ruthless on a couple of other occasions, where he unselfishly tried to play a team-mate in instead. He played a number of defence splitting passes, was generally assured and productive on the ball and with his distribution and also tracked back and put in more effort than some of his previous showings in Claret & Blue. Earlier I alluded to the Darren Bent supply line and this situation is even more worrying, in my opinion, given the form of our two natural wingers N'Zogbia and Albrighton. It is far too early to jump to conclusions about Charles, and I'm sure he will turn out to be a great addition, but tonight he was poor, as he was against Fulham and Blackburn. Little movement, playing too narrow, no creativity, doesn't seem capable of beating a man at the moment and I’m hoping this will all improve as he beds in and gets his fitness levels up to speed. Marc is the more worrying concern for me, however. Ever since his injury last season he has looked totally off the boil, a pale shadow of his former self. He looks bereft of confidence, unable to beat a man and just simply not the player which had people, myself included, championing him as a star of the future. I really hope he turns a corner and soon because he disappointed at the end of last season, in pre-season, and again tonight against a pretty lacklustre opposition. Barry Bannan again showed signs of his technical brilliance but I thought he flitted in and out of the game and lost his way in the second half. His composure on the ball is a breath of fresh air but he is far from the finished article and needs to learn when not to play that 'Hollywood' pass, as was noted last season. Clearly a very good prospect though. Lastly, Jean II Makoun disappointed me tonight. I was backing him in the pub before the game and still think we need to keep him and let him prove himself with a run in the team. But tonight, against such lowly opposition, he was extremely poor and made numerous sloppy passes and didn't really add anything to a Villa midfield of Ireland and Bannan which was functioning fairly well anyway. Another player who needs to up his game. Wolves will be our first proper test this weekend and I think we will come away with a score draw.

McLeish didn't get an "excellent reception" at all. Martin O'Neill got an excellent reception when he first joined the club. I'd say, as expected, he got a respectful and understated reception from the Villa fans, as was the case in pre-season and at Fulham. Some gave polite applause in the Trinity and there is a general feeling now that the decision has been made (to appoint him) so we may as well get on with it and give him a chance. But there were no songs about Alex, and to call it an excellent reception is not correct.

3-1 Boro The gift that keeps on giving...

I'm sorry but what a load of rubbish. He's always played that way, plus, as he showed a lot of bottle in even taking the job you really think his tactics are now going to be geared towards damage limitation with the fans?

My summary is that my head hurts

They may have the most dedicated fans, I couldn't argue with that. They're still inbred spackers though. How the flying f*ck are they the most dedicated fans? I'm really interested to know why on earth you think that.

It's quite easy to sit here, in pre-season, and with very little prospect of playing them again soon, and think that actually, if Blues went bust, we would all miss the occasion of derby day. Admittedly, it is always the fixture I look forward to most, like many others. But then I remember what "Birmingham City" is really like. I think of their fans pissing and spitting on our supporters, I think of them attacking women and children down back streets, I think of them throwing bottles, bricks and rocks at all and sundry, I think of how sick I feel on the rare occasion we lose to them, I think about how suicidal I would feel if they ever got taken over by a wealthy owner, I think about them winning their only major trophy and how they all came out of the woodwork for that one day, I think about all those times they've sang 'Shit on the Villa' at the top of their lungs, I think about their rancid Royal B*ue shirts, I think about the Sty which they call home and I think about my utter, unwavering hatred for them. It's only then I get my conclusion. Small Heath Alliance disappearing from the face of this earth would be the greatest gift one could ever wish for. Here's hoping

Three sides of the ground, over 6,000 Villa, very impressive !!

That's why the board has to go. They're turning us into a joke. Yeah, its not like the main memeber of our board isnt being charged with money laundering is it, oh wait hang on...... Yeung is a joke. Lerner is a business man. That much may be true, but isn't that the problem? Lerner is a businessman. What businessmen are successful in the Premier League these days? You can't try and balance the books, or make a profit, and be successful. Something has to give.

Is it true that Randy has been, off the record, trying to find a new buyer for the club over the past eight weeks or so?

I really, really, really hope Roy Keane comes out of retirement and breaks both Downing's legs so he never plays football again. Judas word removed.

This. I think you honestly underestimate the Villa support General and it would not be surprised if you skim read these responses, if at all, with a smug look on your face. But let's be clear here, you saw what happened to Hicks and Gillet, if you wan't to go down the same road then you're doing a brilliant job. Alex McLeish is the last manager in the whole world the Villa fans want - if you understood the Club and its fans you'd understand this. Therefore, going by your reaction that the abuse he has had is "uncalled for" and then defending him to the hilt, I can only conclude that you, in fact, don't know what the ethos of this Club is about and are nothing more than irresponsible owners who tried, and failed, to tap into the English game. I'd love you to prove me wrong, but I have major doubts about whether you will.

One of the worst days being a Villa fan I can ever remember. Completely depressed, puzzled, angry, bemused, embarrassed, perplexed and every other negative adjective under the sun. I was honestly looking forward to this summer. No more Villa, no more stress. How wrong I was. Free plastic flags and mosaics aside, if they go through with this Randy and his team will have truly burn't their bridges with me and the majority of Villa fans. Oh, and just when I thought my day couldn't get any worse, I'm the first person to post on the 666th page :| Kill me now!

This is one of the most shameful, if not THE most shameful day as a Villa fan I have ever experienced. No knee-jerk reaction here, just someone who has witnessed their Board confirm, in black and white, that they intend to consider THE most nonsensical footballing decision at Villa Park I can ever remember. Absolutely disgraceful. More than 12,000 fans sign up to a protest group online - more than this entire messageboard and all its inactive members - hundreds upon hundreds of emails flood into the Club and media outlets across the land, banners hung on the famous Holte End gates and even plans of fan protests. And yet, in the Board's statement, they want someone "who understands the Club's ethos" - how ironic is that statement? By interviewing Alex **** McLeish YOU have shown you don't understand the Club's ethos, nor the wishes of the vast, vast majority of fans. We have noses already mocking us, the media have been laughing for the past 10 days, and now our own Board has turned round and slapped us in the face. I am positively fuming with rage. They have just shown what Aston Villa Football Club means to them, and they have just made the most illogical and amateur mistake they could ever dream of making. Disgrace.

Don't worry, Ancelotti will be appointed last friday. Oh christ, don't remind me! That feels like a million miles away now! Here was me prattling on about Carlo Ancelotti when all the time they were (possibly) plotting to secure the services of Alex **** McLeish. Sends a cold shiver down my spine!