Promotion 2016/7

[Mantis]

14 minutes ago, One For The Road said:

I wonder if Wolves fans thought that way when they went down.....

Yep, and I bet many fans of Hull, Burnley, QPR, Fulham, Cardiff, Norwich, Reading, Blackburn etc thought they'd get relegated again too...

Just saying, it doesn't happen a lot more than it happens.

[terrytini]

Too early to say, but nowhere near too early for a thread.......it is now a major topic.

For those saying the Championship lacks quality - have a look at our results over the last 10 years or so against teams from lower divisions ....then multiply any desire those Clubs had to beat us by about a million...........it will be very tough.

For those who think we have no chance without a takeover - get rid of the obvious cancerous players, replace with half a dozen decent ones,  get lucky with the Manager - whoever it is will need to gel quickly, which is usually luck - and we could see a degree of quality in the remainder sufficient to do very well indeed.

[briny_ear]

As long as someone remembers to bring that bag full of magic wands with us to the Championship, we will be fine.

[Mantis]

17 minutes ago, terrytini said:

Too early to say, but nowhere near too early for a thread.......it is now a major topic.

For those saying the Championship lacks quality - have a look at our results over the last 10 years or so against teams from lower divisions ....then multiply any desire those Clubs had to beat us by about a million...........it will be very tough.

For those who think we have no chance without a takeover - get rid of the obvious cancerous players, replace with half a dozen decent ones,  get lucky with the Manager - whoever it is will need to gel quickly, which is usually luck - and we could see a degree of quality in the remainder sufficient to do very well indeed.

That doesn't really make much sense. Clubs aren't going to be more motivated to beat us in the Championship than in one-off cup games. I don't think you can make too many comparisons to the cups.

[Kingman]

To put things into perspective Burnley just became the 19th club out of the 75 to be relegated since 1992 to achieve automatic promotion back to the mother land.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

2 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

I don't agree with this.

I mean if you literally mean this squad and manager plays next season, then yes. 

But if you're making the assumption that we'll appoint a different manager and sign a few players, I actually think we have a very good chance of promotion, whilst acknowledging this is Aston Villa and we are more than capable of **** it up.

I literally mean this owner and this "board", or lack of one. We are rudderless, skint and with probably the worst squad of footballers ever to bring shame to the game.

I firmly believe we will appoint Nigel Pearson or Steve Bruce and do nowhere near enough with the squad. If the board had stayed in place and they had been given the leash they were supposedly going to be given then maybe, just maybe, we'd have had a shot. As it stands our board consists of Randy Lerner, Charles Krulak and Steven Hollis. **** it up is about the only thing we can legitimately expect them to do. 

What manager in his right mind would take the job now? The dreams of Moyes, Hughton and Karanka etc are nothing pipe dreams.

Either Lerner goes or we continue to fall. If not next season, then soon. We certainly won't be promoted.  

[Jareth]

3 minutes ago, Kingman said:

To put things into perspective Burnley just became the 19th club out of the 75 to be relegated since 1992 to achieve automatic promotion back to the mother land.

So it's greater than 1 in 4 - not brilliant odds, but each case is different - our chances are unknowable at the current moment. 

[dont_do_it_doug.]

41 minutes ago, Mantis said:

Yep, and I bet many fans of Hull, Burnley, QPR, Fulham, Cardiff, Norwich, Reading, Blackburn etc thought they'd get relegated again too...

Just saying, it doesn't happen a lot more than it happens.

Southampton, Leeds, Charlton, Blackpool, Wigan...

You might say "oh but we are bigger than those teams". That is an illusion, under Randy Lerner we are not. We never will be again for as long as he is around. 

[villa89]

3 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Either Lerner goes or we continue to fall. If not next season, then soon. We certainly won't be promoted.  

Yep, a takeover is the only cure for the club's free fall. Even with new owners we still won't get promoted next year. Far too much work to be done on the playing staff and club culture side of things.

[Kingman]

7 minutes ago, Jareth said:

So it's greater than 1 in 4 - not brilliant odds, but each case is different - our chances are unknowable at the current moment. 

Yeah if we get new ownership, a new board, a new manager and a turnround of 15/20 players then we will see what happens.

[Mantis]

17 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Southampton, Leeds, Charlton, Blackpool, Wigan...

You might say "oh but we are bigger than those teams". That is an illusion, under Randy Lerner we are not. We never will be again for as long as he is around. 

I'm talking about teams that went straight down again. There aren't many. It's way less likely than some make out.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

12 minutes ago, Mantis said:

I'm talking about teams that went straight down again. There aren't many. It's way less likely than some make out.

Talking about past teams is irrelevant. However, looking at our current squad and ownership circumstances make it far more likely than you are making out, in my opinion. We are a **** mess and to suggest anything else is the stuff of fantasy. 

[Mark Albrighton]

1 hour ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Talking about past teams is irrelevant. However, looking at our current squad and ownership circumstances make it far more likely than you are making out, in my opinion. We are a **** mess and to suggest anything else is the stuff of fantasy. 

I enjoy reading your posts Dave, I really do. Always find them interesting.

But currently, when I see your avatar pop up, I just know I'm about to read something that's going to bring me down, regardless of whether or not I agree with it. In fact it brings me down more when I agree with it.

Just for me, could you find something positive, a crumb of comfort....pretty please?

You don't even have to mean it. 

Edited May 2, 2016 by Shropshire Lad

[terrytini]

1 hour ago, Mantis said:

That doesn't really make much sense. Clubs aren't going to be more motivated to beat us in the Championship than in one-off cup games. I don't think you can make too many comparisons to the cups.

Well I disagree.  I think we will be any sides number One target next season.  And I think for many sides it will be the equivalent of a cup game. And they will raise themselves in the same way. And I think we have seen enough quality from lower League sides up close for people who write off the quality of the League to get a nasty shock.

As I said though, I also think those who write us off  - already !  - could be equally surprised, as I think it likely our quality will match what's there.

Where I do have doubts, which don't require any predictive abilities, is in our spine/resilience/spirit/determination.  That will be our Achilles heel if anything is, which is why I think the 'battle' element of Cup Competitions, which we will face EVERY game, is relevant.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

13 minutes ago, Shropshire Lad said:

I enjoy reading your posts Dave, I really do. Always found them interesting.

But currently, when I see your avatar pop up, I just know I'm about to read something that's going to bring me down, regardless of whether or not I agree with it. In fact it brings me down more when I agree with it.

Just for me, could you find something positive, a crumb of comfort....pretty please?

You don't even have to mean it. 

Well, together we have moved towards bringing about change. I truly believe that. Whether through direct action or just by being the classy, no-nonsense, fervent supporters that we are we will undoubtedly attract the right kind of owner to the club. I don't buy the bollocks that suggests that any potential owner would look at supporter lead protest say, or the fantastic scenes home and away that we receive a ton of worthy credit for and think "I don't want to go near that lot". Certainly not the right kind of owner.

No, they'll look upon us and think, my oh my, that lot are organised, prepared, passionate and they actually give a shit don't they. Wow. If I do a right by them they will come back in their droves and together we will make this club great again. We certainly wouldn't need free cardboard **** clappers to help us create noise when we are about to win the league. 

If I didn't think we could help bring about such change I personally would never have joined AVPG. There will be light at the end of the tunnel, even if we have to venture a little further into the black than we would like. 

[Mark Albrighton]

8 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Well, together we have moved towards bringing about change. I truly believe that. Whether through direct action or just by being the classy, no-nonsense, fervent supporters that we are we will undoubtedly attract the right kind of owner to the club. I don't buy the bollocks that suggests that any potential owner would look at supporter lead protest say, or the fantastic scenes home and away that we receive a ton of worthy credit for and think "I don't want to go near that lot". Certainly not the right kind of owner.

No, they'll look upon us and think, my oh my, that lot are organised, prepared, passionate and they actually give a shit don't they. Wow. If I do a right by them they will come back in their droves and together we will make this club great again. We certainly wouldn't need free cardboard **** clappers to help us create noise when we are about to win the league. 

If I didn't think we could help bring about such change I personally would never have joined AVPG. There will be light at the end of the tunnel, even if we have to venture a little further into the black than we would like. 

[Mantis]

10 minutes ago, terrytini said:

Well I disagree.  I think we will be any sides number One target next season.  And I think for many sides it will be the equivalent of a cup game. And they will raise themselves in the same way. And I think we have seen enough quality from lower League sides up close for people who write off the quality of the League to get a nasty shock.

As I said though, I also think those who write us off  - already !  - could be equally surprised, as I think it likely our quality will match what's there.

Where I do have doubts, which don't require any predictive abilities, is in our spine/resilience/spirit/determination.  That will be our Achilles heel if anything is, which is why I think the 'battle' element of Cup Competitions, which we will face EVERY game, is relevant.

I'm not saying they won't raise their game but it's ridiculous to suggest they'll raise their game more than in cup games. I expect the novelty will wear off pretty quickly in fact. It'll probably be how other PL teams often used to raise their game against Man United but that's about it.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

2 hours ago, Mantis said:

I'm not saying they won't raise their game but it's ridiculous to suggest they'll raise their game more than in cup games. I expect the novelty will wear off pretty quickly in fact. It'll probably be how other PL teams often used to raise their game against Man United but that's about it.

You say that, but we play a different team every week. We're not going to get to Rotherham in November with them thinking "well, we were excited to travel to Villa Park to try and take Aston Villa's scalp, but that was back in August. Not that bothered now". 

The novelty might wear off for YOU, but don't confuse your feelings with those of fans/players of other clubs. 

The one thing going for us in that respect however is that there are a fair few clubs down there who have recently been in the Premier League or whom aspire to who won't see us as a cup final in the slightest. QPR, Fulham, Hull, Cardiff. However, also be aware that the likes of Leeds and Forest, at least the supporters and thus the media hype surrounding those games, will also think blimey, a proper big club at last. Then we've got to play the scum, Wolves, Burton and possibly Walsall twice, to whom we are the biggest of the biggest scalp they could possibly imagine in their puny, wretched existence. 

Honestly mate, I get your need to try and find the positive. But in doing so you are missing reality. It's going to be tough and as things stand, impossible. So let's hope something drastic changes, soon. I came to the conclusion a while back that by living in denial, I was giving him the remit to carry on butchering us. 

[maqroll]

I still can't believe we've actually been relegated. Missing out on the TV money is catastrophic if we don't find some sugar daddy to save us. Christ Almighty.

[HanoiVillan]

All this 'we'll be people's number one target' stuff seems like nonsense to me. I mean, don't get me wrong, if we don't change owner I think we'll struggle massively next season. Currently our board consists of a moron, an oaf and a cheapskate, that doesn't sound like a winning combination. But we'll lose those matches because we're crap, not because other teams 'raised their game' in some way. All SHA could possibly care about is beating us, and lo and behold they failed to do so, even in a season when we lost 95% of our matches. 

Edited May 3, 2016 by HanoiVillan