VillaAndLoyal

Yeah well you've basically elaborated on what I was saying so I don't think we disagree on anything here. I have tried to back Lambert from day one and have defended him on many occasions. But, for me, the last few weeks have pushed me over the edge. Personally, I just don't believe he is good enough. But, as you said, with Lerner still at the helm it almost defeats the object if Lambert were to be sacked. Villa fans need to realise that it is Lerner that is taking this club down, Lambert is merely the face of it. I'd be more than happy to see PL go now, providing there are major changes higher up this club, which i don't think there will be. Which is why, sadly, I fear this club is sinking slowly towards relegation without even a fight.

Right, Paul Lambert is extremely lucky that he hasn't been sacked already. He has managed the unthinkable - and that is, that he's actually made the nightmare of last season seem not so bad. Anyone who can make McLeish look vaguely acceptable is on a hiding to nothing. He has been hit and miss in the transfer market, his policy of buying only lower league youth has seemingly back fired, his reluctance to play several senior players has cost us, he is tactically inept, the majority of his substitutions are either baffling or just plain wrong, he doesn't seem able to motivate players, he doesn't know what his best formation is, his post-match interviews are just cringeworthy and I just have no faith that he is taking us anywhere other than the Championship. So yes, Lambert needs to go imo. But, and this is a big but, the club is rotten to the core from top to bottom. Lambert is only a small part of the overall problem. Randolph Lerner is the main cancer killing this club and unless he goes too then nothing will change. As bad as Lambert has been, he has walked into a club which has been in a dramatic decline for the past 3/4 years and this is a direct result of Lerner's crazy and illogical decisions. Paul Lambert deserves to be sacked quite frankly, despite the fact we are in dire need of stability. But there is no point sacking the manager and letting Lerner sink this club further.

Just get David Cameron to use the money being saved from the police cuts to help buy out the Villa? In all seriousness, with the amount of former players and celebrities we have who clearly have a big fondness for the club, as well as our large fan base, I don't think it would be impossible. But prepare to be shot down on here by people calling you deluded and telling you that Lerner is simply just misunderstood.

Proud History, future? We have a future?

I'm going to this and to be honest, after Bradford, the only reason I'm still going to go is to tick a new ground off. I'm not bothered, or excited, about this game whatsoever. I fully expect to get beat and then it could get ugly on the terraces. I hope we play a weak side and rest players for Newcastle. Saying that, that'll make my Friday night experience even more unpleasant. Just thoroughly depressed being a Villa fan at present.

We lost this game because of two things tonight: Paul Lambert and the fans. Everyone was well aware Bradford scoring tonight was a strong possibility and when they did - yes it was a massive setback blah blah blah - but we still had 30 minutes on the clock to score two goals against a League Two team. A tall order, yes, but by no means impossible. And yet, the mood just changed like a light switch. Suddenly we stopped singing and supporting the team and the negativity flooded back in. The guy next to me turned and said: "this game has just been lost" and he wasn't referring to the Bradford goal. Our mentality, although it is completely understandable, sucks big time. Bradford supported their team for 90 minutes and deserved the win - I hope they enjoy the day out at Wembley. But it wasn't the fans who completely lost the plot when Bradford scored. What on earth was Paul Lambert thinking in the second-half? We were playing 3-1-6 for the last 30 minutes I swear. You've got two strikers in Benteke and Bent who are dangerous in the air in the box and yet we just had six attacking players standing in a narrow line, almost as if forming a brick wall, as the ball gets constantly hoofed up to them. I've honestly seen under-9 teams with better tactics and formations. It made me feel sick. You can have as many forward players on as you like, but if you have no supply line, you have no hope. And this is exactly what Lambert did at home to Southampton. Pathetic and just stinks of someone who hasn't got a bleeding clue. And simple things like defending set pieces - we had every outfield player either inside the box or just outside. Does Paul Lambert not realise that if you stick Gabby and Charles on the two wings you immediately drag 2 or 3 Bradford players out of our box. That is 2 or 3 less players to deal with inside the box. It is such basic stuff that is just going so wrong at the moment and Lambert does not seem capable of putting it right. I've tried to back Lambert, really I have. But tonight has tipped me over the edge. He's literally useless and clueless and any PL manager who gets tactically beaten over two legs by a League Two side really ought to offer his resignation. However, this is not just Paul Lambert's fault and sacking him and bringing another manager in would not really change a thing. The club is rotten to the core from top to bottom and until Randolph Lerner swallows his pride and accepts that he needs to employ some football people to run this football club or sells us to a new responsible owner then nothing is going to halt this steep decline. We've been in trouble ever since Lerner took the reigns and now we are seeing the results.

We need all four sides of the ground standing and everyone, even those of you who choose not to sing usually, to give the lads our vocal backing tonight for 90 minutes. I watched the Blackburn Villa-Park semi last night and we were loud, but only on occasions and we STILL let how the team was playing on the pitch determine how vocal we were. We can get away with that against a poorly supported club like Blackburn. We cannot do that tonight! Bradford have almost 7,000 fans and will be singing all night long - they have nothing to lose - this is their cup final tonight and they are well up for it!! We need to forget the negative thoughts, and forget anything else that has happened this season. We need to drown out the Bradford fans and inspire and roar our lads on to victory - whatever course the game chooses to take. The Holte and lower north will all stand - we need the Trinity and Doug to follow suit and create a hostile atmosphere like Bradford did at VP. We have 90 minutes to turn this around. 90 minutes to make a difference. That difference could be the fine line between another Wembley cup final, or not. It could even be the fine line between turning our season around, or not. I hope every Villa fan inside that ground tonight chooses to make a difference. If they do, we have a bloody good chance. Come on the Villa boys!

West Bromwich Albion and their fans were an absolute disgrace on Saturday, as were West Midlands Police. Last season fans of both clubs frequented the Royal Oak before the game, with Villa taking up two thirds and Albion the final part of the pub. It was a surreal scene, admittedly, for a derby but actually their was no trouble and just lots of singing and banter with the police waiting outside just in case. A perfectly fine and rational situation. THIS season (Saturday) up to 20 police decided to enter the pub well over an hour before kick-off and stood in between the two sets of fans and also in a line leading to the toilets, blocking everybody's way. They proceeded then to tell the landlord to stop selling beer and by 45 minutes before kick-off had kicked practically every Villa fan out into the freezing cold. They spoke to our fans with disdain and threatened to take pints off people unless they downed them (surely that is making people more drunk, not less) and then 'WMP football unit' has the bare faced CHEEK on Twitter to claim 1.) that the licensee had decided to close the pub and 2.) that people with drinks had been allowed to finish them. Both statements not true at all. The landlord was, actually, slumped against the bar arms folded looking mightily pissed off at the massive amount of lost trade the police had caused. Then, when something kicked off in the Villa end at the end of the game, I saw a female copper thump an innocent middle-aged man from point blank range with a truncheon in the face, knocking his glasses off in the process. This guy, ironically, turned out to be a solicitor himself and was certainly not causing any trouble and was understandably hurt by the incident. It was disgraceful behaviour and just highlights how football fans in general are just treated like animals, whereas a large section of the police seem intent just to have a ruckus to make their shift go quicker. A lot of them seem power mad and many situations are definitely inflamed, rather than squashed, by the police's input. Despite a fiery atmosphere at the start of the game, the whole Villa end put rivalries to one side to pay tribute to Albion's former player and the minute of applause (which actually lasted a lot longer than a minute) was impeccably observed by our away support. Not eight minutes later and Albion are starting to show their true colours by taking part in the truly horrendous 8th minute applause mocking our 8-0 defeat at Chelsea. This is the same small time gesture their own official Twitter account was proudly highlighting a few weeks back and it really does show you how bitter and obsessed they are by us. Despite what a certain Villa hater on here claims, I was right next to the segregation and I was left in no doubt why they were standing and 'applauding'. Then, in the 19th/20th minute, they embarrassed themselves as a football club again by mocking our Petrov gesture and the hate in their eyes was palpable. Our fans were able to put football to one side and be the bigger men by joining in with their tribute, but could they do the same or at least just let us get on with it? Could they hell, they just cannot control their deep rooted bitterness towards our club. And franky, it stinks. Throughout the game all they sung about was Aston Villa. I'd say 60 per cent of their songs either had our name in or were exclusively about us. Us, on the other hand, sung 'SOTB' twice if I remember correctly. The chant of the day went up in the away end - 'you're obsessed with the Villa, we know what you are' - and the poor Albion fans only knew how to respond with yet another verse of 'SOTV'. The poor buggers really do hate us, almost as much as Blues, and they so desperately want us to hate them back but I really do just pity them. I've never encountered such a bitter club in all my time. At the final whistle I saw coins chucked into our end and a lad of about 10, in a White hoody, spit into the Villa end. And yet, when we had an argument with a group of Albion fans on the way back to our car, one of them claimed they were a 'family club' and that their main derby was with Wolves - oh give me a break, is the word 'deluded' another word you want me to associate with your club? By this point, coupled with the second-half capitulation, I was pretty pissed off and asked one of the Baggies fans (a man of about 60) what it was like forever living under our shadow? To which he laughed and I asked him why he found it so hilarious and informed him that we were, of course, the Midlands biggest club. He laughed again. So I asked him who on earth was the biggest Midlands club if it wasn't us? I must have asked him about 20 times before he stopped chuckling and finally let out a quiet 'the Albion' before laughing again. Yes, I definitely can add 'deluded' to that list but at least they have a sense of humour. Horrible, horrible little small time club with bitter and twisted supporters but thankfully they only enter our minds twice a season. Whereas most Albion fans clearly have a Villa dartboard in their homes with our European Cup placed in the middle. Oh, did I just mention our history again?

West Bromwich Albion and their fans were an absolute disgrace on Saturday, as were West Midlands Police. Last season fans of both clubs frequented the Royal Oak before the game, with Villa taking up two thirds and Albion the final part of the pub. It was a surreal scene, admittedly, for a derby but actually there was no trouble and just lots of singing and banter with the police waiting outside just in case. A perfectly fine and rational situation. THIS season (Saturday) up to 20 police decided to enter the pub well over an hour before kick-off and stood in between the two sets of fans and also in a line leading to the toilets, blocking everybody's way. They proceeded then to tell the landlord to stop selling beer and by 45 minutes before kick-off had kicked practically every Villa fan out into the freezing cold. They spoke to our fans with disdain and threatened to take pints off people unless they downed them (surely that is making people more drunk, not less) and then 'WMP football unit' has the bare faced CHEEK on Twitter to claim 1.) that the licensee had decided to close the pub and 2.) that people with drinks had been allowed to finish them. Both statements not true at all. The landlord was, actually, slumped against the bar arms folded looking mightily pissed off at the massive amount of lost trade the police had caused. Then, when something kicked off in the Villa end at the end of the game, I saw a female copper thump an innocent middle-aged man from point blank range with a truncheon in the face, knocking his glasses off in the process. This guy, ironically, turned out to be a solicitor himself and was certainly not causing any trouble and was understandably hurt by the incident. It was disgraceful behaviour and just highlights how football fans in general are just treated like animals, whereas a large section of the police seem intent just to have a ruckus to make their shift go quicker. A lot of them seem power mad and many situations are definitely inflamed, rather than squashed, by the police's input. Despite a fiery atmosphere at the start of the game, the whole Villa end put rivalries to one side to pay tribute to Albion's former player and the minute of applause (which actually lasted a lot longer than a minute) was impeccably observed by our away support. Not eight minutes later and Albion are starting to show their true colours by taking part in the truly horrendous 8th minute applause mocking our 8-0 defeat at Chelsea. This is the same small time gesture their own official Twitter account was proudly highlighting a few weeks back and it really does show you how bitter and obsessed they are by us. Despite what a certain Villa hater on here claims, I was right next to the segregation and I was left in no doubt why they were standing and 'applauding'. Then, in the 19th/20th minute, they embarrassed themselves as a football club again by mocking our Petrov gesture and the hate in their eyes was palpable. Our fans were able to put football to one side and be the bigger men by joining in with their tribute, but could they do the same or at least just let us get on with it? Could they hell, they just cannot control their deep rooted bitterness towards our club. And franky, it stinks. Throughout the game all they sung about was Aston Villa. I'd say 60 per cent of their songs either had our name in or were exclusively about us. Us, on the other hand, sung 'SOTB' twice if I remember correctly. The chant of the day went up in the away end - 'you're obsessed with the Villa, we know what you are' - and the poor Albion fans only knew how to respond with yet another verse of 'SOTV'. The poor buggers really do hate us, almost as much as Blues, and they so desperately want us to hate them back but I really do just pity them. I've never encountered such a bitter club in all my time. At the final whistle I saw coins chucked into our end and a lad of about 10, in a White hoody, spit into the Villa end. And yet, when we had an argument with a group of Albion fans on the way back to our car, one of them claimed they were a 'family club' and that their main derby was with Wolves - oh give me a break, is the word 'deluded' another word you want me to associate with your club? By this point, coupled with the second-half capitulation, I was pretty pissed off and asked one of the Baggies fans (a man of about 60) what it was like forever living under our shadow? To which he laughed and I asked him why he found it so hilarious and informed him that we were, of course, the Midlands biggest club. He laughed again. So I asked him who on earth was the biggest Midlands club if it wasn't us? I must have asked him about 20 times before he stopped chuckling and finally let out a quiet 'the Albion' before laughing again. Yes, I definitely can add 'deluded' to that list but at least they have a sense of humour. Horrible, horrible little small time club with bitter and twisted supporters but thankfully they only enter our minds twice a season. Whereas most Albion fans clearly have a Villa dartboard in their homes with our European Cup placed in the middle. Oh, did I just mention our history again?

I reckon we'll win, lose or draw.

Liam came up with the 'We know what we are...' chant bless him. Yet I'm sure he'd be the first person crowing about Tesco's history if it came close to matching ours. Oh crap, I just mentioned our history for a 683059382259th time...

I also don't think we will make any signings.

Brilliant article which sums up perfectly the fact that Lerner has been taking this club down from the minute he stepped foot in this place with his desperate lack of sporting knowledge and business acumen.

This isn't rugby and there's a reason the Villa ticket office would never sell a home ticket to a Bradford fan if they knew for certain they were that persuasion. It's all very well getting on your high horse about it but if you don't want trouble then buy a ticket in the correct end. Simple.

Can't see this game being off. The snow is now cleared from the pitch, Albion have hired in gritters to clear the surrounding area, staff are due in at 8am tomorrow to continue the snow-clearing efforts, there will be a bigger effort to get this game on due to it being on TV, the game is at 5.30pm so more time to make everything safe, and Leicester's match tonight has also gone ahead. If there is no more snow tomorrow as predicted I'll be very surprised if this is off.

Their forums resemble Villa Talk at the moment. 50 per cent planning protests for before the Everton game and the other 50 per cent calling the first 50 per cent 'morons' for doing so.

Of course this was pre-planned for several weeks, if not longer. You don't just sack your manager and appoint another one within the same day otherwise.

Mantis, I've already explained why this game being off would be bad news. We're a lot MORE likely to get 'smashed' if this game is cancelled and Albion get their best players back to fitness by the time the game is rescheduled. They are on a terrible run of form at the moment and a fixture backlog is the last thing we need. If we're going to get anything from them, then it'll be tomorrow. Even some of their own fans don't want it to go ahead, and that speaks volumes.

Unbelievable decision and Southampton fans are rightly seething on social networking sites. They've now gone from a settled side pushing their way out of trouble to a club with the potential to be thrown into chaos and likely to implode. This manager was sacked from Espanyol in November for sinking them to rock-bottom. The Catalan club is now out of the relegation zone, by the way. I cannot see how this can be anything other than a negative and disruptive move, which of course is good for us. But it does still piss me off, modern football and the people who tend to hold all the cards in this day and age are by and large a disgrace.

The snow isn't the problem per se, it's the sub-zero temperatures coupled with the snow. Really can't see this going ahead, knowing the health and safety culture in this country. I'd be gutted if this is indeed off though. This is the best time for us to play them and already I've heard some of their fans say: "I hope this game gets called off so we can get our players back and fit" - it would be a nightmare if this doesn't go ahead and simply cause a fixture backlog we could well do without.

I had to laugh at a comment on a Bradford City website I've just seen. One fan says to get as much beer in beforehand as possible, as no alcohol is served at the ground and the poster is then asked why. The response is: "Isn't alcohol a depressant? The Villa fans are depressed enough already mate." Sad but true!

Thanks Mark!

Thanks briny_ear. I'm trying to keep this as sensible as possible but TRO you just seem to be sidestepping the points I make, which are now established facts, and instead blurting on about one manager. Every single manager signs crap players and wastes money, just ask Man United fans. It is your subjective opinion that M'ON did it more than most but his role in this is certainly not the reason everything went pear shaped. I don't think anyone on this board thinks O'Neill is a messiah, I personally think he was an above average manager and nothing more. He had many faults. But your sentence here: "you make it sound like Randy wasted the money.... I say Randy thought he was getting quality and in the main he didn't." says it all. Randy DID waste the money because 1.) He had no sustainable plan to start with which meant disastrous/ridiculous amounts were paid in terms of transfer fees and wages and 2.) ultimately the money wasted was largely down to the fact there was no proper management structure in place whereby there were football people overseeing the finances and transfer situation. Of course Lerner & Co would rubber-stamp a player like Sidwell on say 50k a week because they don't have the football knowledge to say "hang on, he's not worth that much" and similarly Martin O'Neill is a football manager who simply wanted the players he wanted, he can't be blamed for the wages which were eventually agreed. If football men had been kept and installed from the start THIS type of situation, the situation which has all but destroyed us now, would never have happened or it would have been far better managed with less consequences. If you can't see this then I officially give up.

Newcastle away we were very good and, but for a cracking Ben Arfa goal, we would have picked up a deserved win. But yes, they have been very hard to come by this season!

In terms of the question re: the league cup semi reaction. I would hope that Villa Park would absolutely erupt if we were to turn this tie around and make it to Wembley. Why are so many fans concerned about "looking smalltime" and about what other fans of other clubs will say these days? Why are we so caught up about what happened to Small Heath in terms of the league cup and then relegation? Aston Villa has a prestigious history and a big part of that is our League Cup successes which bizarrely some of our fans now almost seem embarrassed to win, or be a part of. The only reason I won't be on that pitch if we win on Tuesday is because I'll be in the Upper Holte. These next two games are THE perfect opportunity to turn our season around and inject a bit of much-needed positivity into the club again. Why should we hold back? I've got images in my head of a Villa fan mildly applauding the win on Tuesday and turning to his mate to say "But it's our Premier League status we really want to preserve" Do people not realise that success in the cup could very well translate to an upturn in form in the league? We as Villa fans have had seasons upon seasons of misery now and I think a few people need to get a perspective back about what following football is all about. I for one will be going mental if we win on Tuesday and I couldn't give a stuff if anyone thinks i'm "small-time" because I'll be going to Wembley.