Just how bad do you feel about Villa (likely) going down?

[HanoiVillan]

1 hour ago, MakemineVanilla said:

I think anyone who sees any kind of consolation in relegation just fails to understand the consequences of being cut off from the Premier League cash, the size of the barrier it creates, the tightness of the financial regulations, or the shortness of the timetable to escape being permanently trapped in a league, where everything has to be viewed in the context of being third rate.  

There is absolutely no reason to believe that the people who run the club and have systematically brought about this disaster are capable of turning things around, in the three years of declining parachute payments. They have spent the last four years bringing about this disaster which has culminated in the present situation, broke every negative record in a long history of negative records, and look likely to create several more for a club relegated from the Premier League.

Unfortunately this is not the 1970s or even the 80s when the fans could make a difference by just turning up. This is the age when a club's respect towards the fan is proportionate to the amount of money they contribute to the club, which was only £13m out of £117m in 2014 (11%). 

The fans have to face the fact that Villa's exile will more than likely be permanent.

All attempts to try and put a happy spin on this reality does a disservice to those who will have to face further decline and failure.

There will be football but the consolations will be few, if any.  

Jesus . . . just take my service revolver. 

[HanoiVillan]

3 hours ago, GENTLEMAN said:

I fear it is going to be like City in the 90s - a lot of that can describe us now

.

The thing about City in 1998 is it was only ten years before City in 2008. 

[KHV]

50 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Dunno. 8 years out of the top flight is pretty long.

If we got relegated this season and someone told me we wouldn't be back in the premier league until 2024 I'd be pretty gutted!

I probably wouldn't be that gutted, I hate the premier league and if Villa were not in it then I would have no reason to watch any of it or follow any of the crap that surrounds it

[OLDVILLAIN]

I remember the last time we went down,i was gutted but i felt we could come straight back up with a good core of a team.

This time around its going to be a different story.I feel that the only way we are going to grow as a club is for randy lerner to leave and cut his losses.

I would hope that our time in the lower league would help us rebuild and refocus under new owners and or management.

[HeyAnty]

I'm sort of a bit ok with it now.  Way i look at it, ive been beaten down for the past 6 years with the shit we have been producing on and off the pitch.  Be nice to look forward to a game again where we will probably play good football and expect a win.  Maybe even bring in some young academy players and watch them grow, instead of buying useless players like sylia, Bowery, Gestede and them getting game time etc 

[StefanAVFC]

Don't care now,

[Demitri_C]

trips to brentford, preston and coventry await  

[TRO]

3 hours ago, TrinityRoadSteps said:

I wonder how you feel about relegation corresponds with age. The older guys who have been there done that and got the tee shirt are far more relaxed about it than newer fans who have only ever known premier league football and can't see much beyond it.   

Believe you me....I'm one of the older ones.

I don't want to see it, but if its inevitable,so be it......but there should be a lot of scrapping left to do.

I just don't accept going down with a whimper......Make no mistake here, the Ron Saunders/Tony Barton era was no walk in the park.....They had to fight for what they achieved.

ps and so did Graham Taylor Mk 1

Edited December 16, 2015 by TRO

[benireduk]

I think it helps that we've seen a steady decline for years and it's not coming as a massive shock.

If we had made a great start and then gone on an awful run and got relegated on the final day it would be completely different.

As it stands, we have plenty of time to get used to the idea of playing Championship football.

I've never known anything other than Premier League football, but based on the last 3-4 seasons, I can't say I'll miss it. As others have said, at least we will win more games and hopefully come straight back up again.Ask me again this time next season and I might have a different outlook!

[Marka Ragnos]

4 hours ago, MakemineVanilla said:

Old guys tend to romanticise about the 1970s, forget how long the decline lasted, and how long it took to get back, while ignoring the fact that it is a lot more difficult these days.

They also have the sentimental belief that it is their duty to tell the young folk that it is all going to come right in the end.

 

Ha! Count me a sentimentalising, romanticising "old guy" every day of the week, please (@mjmooney). To echo Bob Dylan (which I would, of course), I know that I was MUCH older when I was younger ...

Edited December 16, 2015 by Marka Ragnos

[NoelVilla]

Looking back at the last 5 seasons I have had about enough. I have made a trip to Villa Park once a season for the last 16 seasons minus one in 2010 but Im not going this season. To many other places in the world to visit. Now that it looks very likely relegation will happen I am quite OK with it. A lot of Championship games is streamed via a betting site over here so I guess I can catch many of our games. We will possibly win more games than we loose to so that will be a pleasant change.

As the club is run now it might even be difficult to be promoted immediately but we will be a contender for the two top spots. Might be a fun end of the season for once.

[bradarmstrong_]

At this point I'd rather see some different grounds and hopefully be fighting for promotion with a rebuilt squad. 

[jackbauer24]

ANGRY - that we have an owner who is so useless as to get a club the size of Villa relegated.

RELIEVED - that it's happening finally, I feel it was always coming and in a way wish it happened sooner to instigate change

HOPEFUL - that owning a season ticket will be a pleasure rather than a chore for a year

SCARED - that owning a season ticket will just see the same demise at a new lower level

EMBARRASSED - by how bad we are, the fact we're going down with a whimper, losing 'ever-present' status

AMBIVALENT - which is what Lerner's ownership has made lots of fans feel like.

RELAXED - other than the last few years anyway, I saw this coming on September 1st. I've had very little doubt so have made peace with it. Nothing we can do about it and we know Lerner will do nothing about it so stopped caring. I go every week but don't get angry at the losses and barely celebrate rare goals such is going through the motions at the moment. The outcome is inevitable both game by game and the season as a whole.

So... schizophrenic?!

[terrytini]

Well I'm not at all sure its all over.

"Football eh ? Bloody hell..." as Fergie said.

BUT, if, as seems fairly likely, we DO go down....who cares ? If the choice was between survival followed by growth or relegation followed by doom then I'd care a lot, but it isn't.

It is either survival followed by more of the same or relegation followed by either more of the same, or better, or worse.

Therefore it seems to me the only realistic prospect of escaping what we've had the last 4 years is to go down, and keep going down until we get to whatever level we can be successful at.

Would I swap four more years of 17 th for some wins, fun, and excitement ?

Yup.

[S-Platt]

If it galvanises the support and the team actually get a winning mentality I am not that fussed about going down.  If we as a club reduce season tickets to £300 anywhere in the ground and get a siege mentality and make Villa Park hostile then bring it on!  I want that desire to go again and in a weird way I think going down will encourage me and my friends to go more than we do now.  You can't motivate yourself to spend £40 a ticket to watch capitulation every week.  We all had season tickets for years but the hope has disappeared I just want that back!

[villa4europe]

Long story short - personal pride it will be absolutely devastating, the premier league and everything that comes with it, couldn't give a ****

[Kingman]

Hopefully Coventry, Walsall and Burton get promoted and 1 in 3 games will be a Midland derby. 

Will also cancel BT Sport so I'm about to burrow down for the winter. 

Hopefully we can bring in some proven championship players in January! 

[Shaw_nuff]

Looking forward to it now. We'll be the Man united of the Championship.

And in keeping with that - I'll be driving up from London for the odd game.

[AshVilla]

I feel the same way as the chairman not bothered

If going down means we will be able to win a few matches rather than bend over and give other teams an easy win like we have done for the past few seasons i'm up for it

[New_Jersey_Villa]

Be devastated if we went down to be honest. I'm one of the people who still holds out hope we'll perform a miracle that will have bible scholars talking for centuries.

All these rebuilding discussions make perfect sense, but I'd rather be doing that from the Premier League and not the championship.