Don_Simon Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 1 hour ago, Philosopher said: Reality is if we are good enough the qualify for the champions league then we are far better placed to compete for the FA Cup next season, and puts us within striking distance of competing to win the league. The benefits of top 4 out weigh that of winning one of two lesser trophies. I prefer to be pragmatic here rather than romantic. My only caveat mentioned before is the tiny bit of me that is superstitious feels that the FA Cup curse needs to be broken. I follow Villa because they were my local club and I love football. The fleeting pleasure of winning a trophy is not why i follow Aston Villa. If it was I'd have been a Man U or Arsenal fan. What I do like (as well as the feeling of winning a trophy) is the feeling I get after we win a game. If we become a top 4 team we get alot more of that feeling. Reality is qualifying for the champions league means we didn't win anything. Reality is also, (in the world of this poll), if we win the FA Cup, we've won something. An actual trophy. I've never seen us do that and it means so much more than coming fourth in the league. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Follyfoot Posted December 1, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted December 1, 2023 5 hours ago, meregreen said: Trophy cabinet full of “qualifications” would be a sad sight. FA Cup being paraded on an open top bus in front of thousands at Victoria square, before being shown at Villa Park, now that’s the thing dreams are made of. Damn you, got to change my underwear now 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YLN Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 I voted for Champions League qualification because I really like us being in European competition and that would be the most exciting for me. I've seen Villa play Everton often enough and I've been excited about Villa being in the Champions League for a long time, including that time when Carew scored off his shin and we qualified, until later that game when we didn't. Winning the FA Cup or the Conference would also be very exciting and good, but the FA Cup is probably more exciting if you're English, and the ECL has been won by West Ham every other year it has existed, so not quite the amazing historic cup to win. The FA Cup is still a great thing to win, oh my god, I would just favour being in the Champions League. They show the Champions League on RTE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YLN Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 13 hours ago, Zatman said: A trophy, people don't remember who finishes 3rd in a season I can't remember who won the FA Cup two years ago. People don't remember most things. It was probably Man City wasn't it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhan_Zhuang Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 I voted Conference League but really there is an argument for any of the three options. Hopefully we win the Conference League AND qualify for the Champions League; pretty sure unai Emery is targeting both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mallett Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 I think to some degree this is a vote on how optimistic people feel about the current Villa project. I think that a vote for the champions league shows that you believe that we are building towards becoming part of the sky 6 (7) (8?). To break into the next level of club we need regular cl qualification. This could be our breakthrough season. A vote for a cup shows you don’t quite believe in the longevity of our current success and want something in the bank to quantify it. As an old Villa fan I have seen our good teams be short lived. I voted for a cup. But this team does feel more long term than under Gregory, Taylor, Little Atkinson etc.Could entry to the cl lift us to another level like it did Spurs or do nothing as it did for Everton or Leicester? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejs1111 Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 UCL qualification everyday and twice on Sunday. Frankly I agree with others that we are fully capable of winning the EUCL and finishing top4-5 and getting UCL. So we can certainly have our cake and eat it too this season. But the UCL qualification will certainly be what UE and the owners are reaching for. It will raise the commercial stature of AVFC globally, increase our revenue to new levels, allow Monchi and co. to recruit a higher caliber of player as well. This will improve the overall squad significantly- which will make League Cup and FA Cup trophies more achievable in future seasons with a rotated squad. Even if the UCL is too strong of a competition in the short term as many are suggesting, we would simply drop down to the later stages of Europa like NUFC will likely be doing. And who do we have managing? Only the Europa king himself... Unai Emery. Who's to say we don't drop down and win that trophy? Thereby qualifying for UCL again the following year? Personally, I don't buy the 'too soon' argument that Villa cannot compete in UCL next season. UE took Villareal to the UCL semifinal FFs- does anyone think that squad was a super power? UE has so many more tools and resources at his disposal here at Villa- I'm confident he will be able to put together an extremely competitive squad for UCL play. UTV 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginko Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 (edited) 7 minutes ago, ejs1111 said: But the UCL qualification will certainly be what UE and the owners are reaching for. It will raise the commercial stature of AVFC globally, increase our revenue to new levels, allow Monchi and co. to recruit a higher caliber of player as well. This will improve the overall squad significantly- which will make League Cup and FA Cup trophies more achievable in future seasons with a rotated squad. Yep, agreed. As nice as a trophy would be, CL qualification would do more to help us grow as a club and a squad, which would set us up for more success in future. It’s a no-brainer for me. Edited December 1, 2023 by Ginko 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 (edited) I can't believe people are actually saying they'd rather qualify for the Champions League than win an actual trophy, we aren't going to turn into the next Wigan if we don't qualify for the Champions League, they've just returned to their natural position, as have Portsmouth, both had financial difficulties, but so have Everton who have qualified for Champions League Also qualifying for Champions League wouldn't mean we would suddenly magically have a much better chance of winning other trophies, as other clubs like Spurs and Everton have found, and we wouldn't suddenly start signing players of a better class than we already have either, that kind of logic would only begin to make some sort of sense if the quesiton was would you rather win a trophy or be guaranteed a top four finish for the next five plus seasons; Newcastle qualified for the Champions League this season, they don't look any more likely to win a domestic trophy than they did, and haven't suddenly started buying players of a better class than they were already able to Ask Spurs fans and I bet most of them would swap all their Champions League Qualifications for just one FA Cup win And if we were to actually win the FA Cup, not one person would swap that for Cl qualification Champions League qualification isn't a prize in of itself, it's just been marketed that way Winning a trophy would mean our best season in over twenty years, that wouldn't be worth throwing away for a top four place which would guarantee us nothing whatsoever, other than the chance to take part in another competition Edited December 1, 2023 by useless 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don_Simon Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 7 minutes ago, useless said: I can't believe people are actually saying they'd rather qualify for the Champions League than win an actual trophy, we aren't going to turn into the next Wigan if we don't qualify for the Champions League, they've just returned to their natural position, as have Portsmouth, both had financial difficulties, but so have Everton who have qualified for Champions League Also qualifying for Champions League wouldn't mean we would suddenly magically have a much better chance of winning other trophies, as other clubs like Spurs and Everton have found, and we wouldn't suddenly start signing players of a better class than we already have either, that kind of logic would only begin to make some sort of sense if the quesiton was would you rather win a trophy or be guaranteed a top four finish for the next five plus seasons; Newcastle qualified for the Champions League this season, they don't look any more likely to win a domestic trophy than they did, and haven't suddenly started buying players of a better class than they were already able to Ask Spurs fans and I bet most of them would swap all their Champions League Qualifications for just one FA Cup win And if we were to actually win the FA Cup, not one person would swap that for Cl qualification Champions League qualification isn't a prize in of itself, it's just been marketed that way Winning a trophy would mean our best season in over twenty years, that wouldn't be worth throwing away for a top four place which would guarantee us nothing whatsoever, other than the chance to take part in another competition I liked this for the snowmen. I agree with the sentiment. But like the snowmen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwivillan Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 6 hours ago, meregreen said: If “romance in football is dead”, then football is dead. If football be the food of love, play on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinker Posted December 1, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted December 1, 2023 Under Emery we're going to do it all anyway but let's get a cup under our belts this year and a decent run in the CL next year and win it the year after. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheltenham_villa Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 3 hours ago, maqroll said: Wigan won the FA Cup a few years back, and where did that propel them to as a club? We need CL above all. And Leicester won the league and played champions league football. The Wigan fans will remember every second of the day and will talk about it for years. I was lucky enough to have been a teenager during the United and Leeds league cup victories, they are some of the best days of my life. Im not saying we wont get that from champions league qualification, but it just doesnt feel like something ill talk about in the years to come. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginko Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 38 minutes ago, useless said: I can't believe people are actually saying they'd rather qualify for the Champions League than win an actual trophy, we aren't going to turn into the next Wigan if we don't qualify for the Champions League, they've just returned to their natural position, as have Portsmouth, both had financial difficulties, but so have Everton who have qualified for Champions League Also qualifying for Champions League wouldn't mean we would suddenly magically have a much better chance of winning other trophies, as other clubs like Spurs and Everton have found, and we wouldn't suddenly start signing players of a better class than we already have either, that kind of logic would only begin to make some sort of sense if the quesiton was would you rather win a trophy or be guaranteed a top four finish for the next five plus seasons; Newcastle qualified for the Champions League this season, they don't look any more likely to win a domestic trophy than they did, and haven't suddenly started buying players of a better class than they were already able to Ask Spurs fans and I bet most of them would swap all their Champions League Qualifications for just one FA Cup win And if we were to actually win the FA Cup, not one person would swap that for Cl qualification Champions League qualification isn't a prize in of itself, it's just been marketed that way Winning a trophy would mean our best season in over twenty years, that wouldn't be worth throwing away for a top four place which would guarantee us nothing whatsoever, other than the chance to take part in another competition Portsmouth, Wigan and Everton didn’t have the resources we have, and they definitely didn’t have as good a manager and one who is used to qualifying (and winning) European cup competitions. As for your other example at the other end of the scale, Newcastle are a special case in that as soon as they got taken over they were able to buy a higher standard of player, and I bet you their odds of winning a cup are higher than they were in previous seasons. Spurs are doing well this year, and if they keep it up and finish high then they’ll definitely be in a better position to strengthen, so that argument doesn’t work either. Obviously it’s not a sure thing, but with the team we’ve been assembling both on and off the pitch over the last year, we’re in a great position to kick on to the next level, and qualifying for Champion’s League football will help us massively with that. Also, in order to qualify for the next five seasons in a row, you have to start by qualifying once. Winning a domestic cup competition would be amazing, but it would do little to aid our progression and cement a place in the upper echelons of the league. Your thinking is too short-term and romanticised. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lichfield Dean Posted December 1, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted December 1, 2023 Win something. This nonsense about about finishing fourth being equated to winning a trophy is another symptom of the modern game's ills, even if it does get you into the "bestest tournament in the world ever". 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 My final verdict on the subject (and I hope no one is thinking thank bloody hell for that), sorry to say we have no say in the matter whatsoever anyway, we can't choose, so doesn't really matter what we think, just have to accept what we get, I would prefer a trophy but either that or a Champions League qualification would be great news. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ginko Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 Getting fourth now sets us up better to win more trophies in the future. Winning a trophy this season but missing out on CL isn’t the end of the world, but it doesn’t progress us as far. Either would be amazing, I don’t think anyone would disagree with that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Strog Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 FA cup. I wasn’t even thought of the last time we won it. I’ve seen us win pretty much everything else so this would be the icing on the cake. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Platt Posted December 1, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted December 1, 2023 (edited) FA cup only trophy I have not seen us win. I was a kid for winning The League and European Cup. Been to 4 League Cup Finals seen us win 2. And 2 FA Cup finals both massive let downs. So the FA Cup is the holy grail for me. Edited December 1, 2023 by S-Platt 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWARLEY2 Posted December 1, 2023 Share Posted December 1, 2023 As a fan i will put a trophy before anything else. Can still stir up the feeling in my memory i had in 1994 and 96 . And to be fair i had the same for the play off final. As a football club they want champions league for the increased revenues and exposure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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