Where did it start to go wrong?

[TRO]

There are many factors that have contributed to our current demise and many people have contributed to it too.

I think one of the most significant shifts was the departure of Gareth Barry.

We have never replaced his quality and more importantly never replaced his type.

Despite Martin O'Neill giving us respectable league positions he faultered when Gareth left.

i don't blame Gareth for leaving he gave us c12 years of consistent performance in so many defensive positions, but the club sat on their hands and did nothing to sign the sort of player that would keep him happy......sure the money was a lure......but we sure had our money's worth out of him.

I understand too we had a chance of getting him back, when he left Man City and I also am told he wanted to come back to us.....do we ever learn.

For me, he is and has been sorely missed and his absence has been significantly instrumental in our downfall.

Edited January 10, 2016 by TRO

[rodders0223]

The day Randy bought the club.

Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda..we were ultimately doomed the day this moron walked into the boardroom. No amount of what ifs will convince me he would ever have built anything sustainable.

[Kingman]

Starts and ends with Lerner… 

Asset striped the club with sales of Barry, Milner, Young, Downing and the likes of late and replaced them with players from Crew, Sheff Utd etc. 

Never ever recovered.

[TRO]

2 minutes ago, rodders0223 said:

The day Randy bought the club.

Shoulda, Woulda, Coulda..we were ultimately doomed the day this moron walked into the boardroom. No amount of what ifs will convince me he would ever have built anything sustainable.

We only know now.....but he simply has no idea of what is required.

ps I was referring in the main to the team rather than the club.

Edited January 10, 2016 by TRO

[sne]

Obviously lots of mistakes and bad decisions had led us to where we are now.

For me 2 events stand out in memory.

# When MON fielded a reserve team away to CSKA in the UEFA-Cup.

# When MON decided to sign his pal Heskey instead of a proper striker when we had a real chance of making the CL.

As a bonus, for me I knew Lerner would be a terrible owner the second Krulak said they would run the club as a business.

[Zatman]

2010 Cup final was a crucial day as looking back from afar and it was an all or nothing game. **** you Phil Dowd

the 2-2 at Stoke started it but we recoved a bit of momentum after that but also a hammer blow

[tarjei]

Yeah, since Heskey it's been going downhill. Not to lay the blame at his clumsy feet, he's just a footballer, but that was a bad decision that was followed by an endless row of bad decisions.

[DCJonah]

The day MON left. It's been shit decision after shit decision. 

[villa4europe]

We signed heskey arsenal signed arshavin in the north London transfer window special

[H]

The sad thing is, even Heskey would be too good for us now.

[useless]

It's gone wrong and it will go right again and then wrong once more and so on. 

[Daweii]

I don't like having a go at Martin O'Neill anymore as while he was certainly a catalyst it's not his fault that he was replaced with the managers that were chosen.

So while O'Neill, and Lerner by extension by not giving into his demands, which in hindsight it would have been far cheaper to give him £50 million to spend to keep him as we'd likely still be one of the big boys now but again everything is more obvious in hindsight. 

Where it truly started to go wrong was with McLeish as that is when we were operating 100% sell to buy and the last few of O'Neill's good signings were gone. Where as Houllier still had Petrov, Young, Reo-Coker, Downing and then later on Bent. McLeish only really had Bent as the rest had all left over the summer and the last few O'Neill signings such as Collins and Dunne were starting to under perform.

After this and McLeish was forced out it just hasn't been the same since. Lambert showed signs of steadying the ship all thanks to Benteke's 19 league goals, but that obviously didn't last. So while O'Neill was the starting point, it really started to go wrong during the McLeish era.  

[Arj Guy]

1 minute ago, H said:

The sad thing is, even Heskey would be too good for us now.

He plays for the championship equivalent of us, Bolton. So no he wouldn't

[H]

Just now, Arj Guy said:

He plays for the championship equivalent of us, Bolton. So no he wouldn't

Championship equivalent? I think we'd be hard pushed to beat Bolton right now.

[TRO]

15 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

The day MON left. It's been shit decision after shit decision. 

I was originally a Mon fan....but his record with us in terms of recruitment put paid to that.....but you are right it has got gradually worse since.

Edited January 10, 2016 by TRO

[H]

There's also the wider issue of the Premier League in general and money in the game taking over.  There's been lots of bad decisions, signings, managers etc. but it's also reality that any decent player we do sign or bring through the ranks will be gone in a season to a club who will most likely just destroy their international career and stick them in the reserves.  If Jack Grealish had had a good season you can bet he wouldn't be here by the end of January. It's increasingly difficult to build a decent team now and it's too late to ever catch up. 

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

 

 

[Arj Guy]

5 minutes ago, H said:

Championship equivalent? I think we'd be hard pushed to beat Bolton right now.

They are adrift at the bottom like us. Not as adrift as we are tho obviously

[DCJonah]

6 minutes ago, TRO said:

I was originally a Mon fan....but his record with us in recruitment put paid to that.....but you are right it has got gradually worse since.

It can be questioned but then at the same time we kept getting more points every season. 

[sharkyvilla]

Basically when my old man said, 'How about supporting the Villa?'.  Seriously though I think MON walking out on the eve of the season was the catalyst then it's just got worse and worse.