Mantis

They were there for the **** taking, but we didn't even try. I'm not even going to bother going up to watch us play the better teams anymore and instead use the money to go and see us play the weaker teams, because those seem to be the only ones that McShit even remotely tries against. Oh yeah, and the hoofball needs to stop.

Remember South Africa Even the England got 5 points in the group stage.

This. Far too many are getting teary eyed about his return on this thread for my liking. He was a good player for us, and I have warmed to his petulance over time, but as Paul says he is now on the opposition. He was business-like about his move to United, and we should be business-like with our response to him. I can't help but think the Aston Villa mentality of recent years sums this situation up - what other fans would seem positively excited about welcoming a former player back to us? Let's hope our players don't show him so much respect otherwise we'll get raped. A polite clap if he acknowledges us at the start is fair enough, but christ some people are making out he was some sort of Villa legend. I agree with this. Young is NOT a Villa legend. Great player for us, but that's it. I'd say the only player we have right now who I'd class as a "Villa Legend" is Gabby. Ridiculous. One's an opposition player and one's a Villa player. As a Villa fan I would've thought there'd be no question of who you'd rather be injured. :|

FFS stop going on about Gary Megson.

MON would never have achieved 4th with us. He had a glass ceiling and while he he did well (but not as well as some people think when you take the spending into account), he had certain flaws that always stopped us from getting there. I think Randy "pulling the plug" was the right move as we would've gone bankrupt chasing that damn 4th place.

Gareth's posts

But that's not the Alex McLeish way.

CI you're overrating Ireland and drastically underestimating England. Ireland sneaking 2nd place and England going home with 1 point? Behave.

I don't rate him, and everyone has different opinions you know. I think with the funding he had he did an ok job here, although his legacy leaves much to be desired. Personally I think MON is somewhat overrated on here due to the decline we've experienced over the past 18 months. Many people point to O'Neill's absence as the cause of that, but I don't agree at all.

I think to have this opinion you have to over rate the impact a manger can have in the modern game. I think the clubs infastructure is by far the most important factor. As a Villa fan to not rate MON surely you have to think he didn't take the club as far as other managers could given the restrictions placed on them by the infastructure of the club. I'm sure you could list numerous things MON did badly, but the same could be said of Pep at Barca or Mourinho at Real. No manager is perfect but the set up of certain clubs allows for the manager to make many mistakes and still have success, whilst other jobs are less forgiving. Given the circumstances MON worked in when at Villa, I'd say 3 6th place finishes were pretty good. Had Mourinho taken over at the same time do you really think he'd have done any better? Yes, I do think other managers could've taken us further. The thing is though, Mourinho wouldn't have spunked so much money on medicore British players and I doubt he would've relied on such a small core of players either.

Are you a Sunderland fan in disguise?

No bloody way. It would be a massive insult what with how he **** us over. Not only that but I don't rate him that highly anyway. He's better than McLeish but name me someone who isn't?

No, definitely not. Mediocre manager with some fatal flaws. He's lucky to get the Sunderland job in all honesty.

You know what I meant.

Sweden are to England what Blackburn are to Villa.

Give us a wave Zatman

Oh look it's that overrated guy Zidane.

Yeah, great call that one. A few people complaining because we were drawing a game doesn't change what we did that season. You said you'd rather houllier? You'd rather battle to stay in the league than challenge for top 4? Strange. You said you'd rather MON? You'd rather sign the likes of Harewood than Bent. Strange. See what I did there? Yeah, it was pretty rubbish. Unless of course signing one player is all that counts for you and a 38 game season means nothing. If thats the case then well played sir. I was just bringing you up on that little tactic you use so often.

Yeah, great call that one. A few people complaining because we were drawing a game doesn't change what we did that season. You said you'd rather houllier? You'd rather battle to stay in the league than challenge for top 4? Strange. You said you'd rather MON? You'd rather sign the likes of Harewood than Bent. Strange. See what I did there?

News to me; obviously from the mouthpiece of MON’s no. 2 fan; Pat Murph ****.RIGHT.OFF.

How were we better off the field exactly?

No one says that though.

"We were great for the first five minutes of the second half".

Too short as well.

This is one of the things that really annoys me about him - his lies.