A Footballing Decree Nisi

[GaztonVilla]

I’ve had a long chat with myself recently. I’ve come to the realisation that, having fallen out of love with football a while ago, I can no longer rightly call myself an Aston Villa fan.

I’ve been holding on to this delusion, justifying to myself the time, money and effort I have invested in being a Villa supporter. The tens of thousands of miles driven, the thousands of pounds and the thousands of hours are not easily written off. The effort I put into starting and running a supporters club in this small corner of the country, again not easy to write off.

However, like a marriage that stays in place for the sake of this kids, my marriage to Villa has remained for the sake of my own sanity. For my own sake, I must now declare this marriage over. I’ve reached the tipping point. I’m out.

I don’t get any joy from being a Villa supporter anymore. In days gone by, win lose or draw, I’d have enjoyed the match. Newcastle and Sunderland would be the first 2 away games I’d look for when the fixtures were released. Last season, I didn’t even check to see when those fixtures were on. This season I haven’t bothered either.

What has caused me to finally decide on this sporting emancipation? You probably won’t like the answer. I could go on for hours and pages and days and paragraphs explaining exactly why, but it boils down to this simple statement.

The people.

Footballers, the people who run the game, and the supporters. Each group has their faults and I am powerless to change them. Yet, I am particularly turned off by the attitude and actions of some of the so-called supporters of Aston Villa. If things don’t go their way, the immediate reaction is to lash out and blame individuals. The sporting element is gone. People are immediately branded as poor human beings. This ire isn’t restricted to the players. Men and women who simply do their best at their daily jobs are subjected to some pretty horrific abuse by the nameless and the mindless. Have a read of some of the posts on this website or listen to the talk in the stands at Villa Park and try to tell me that these distasteful actions and words are those of a minority. Where I once enjoyed the tribal element of supporting this football club, I now find that things have irretrievably too far.

So, I’ve taken the decision to divorce myself from AVFC. In all honesty, it’s an easy decision to make. The plaster doesn’t need ripping off – it’s already limp and falling off anyway. What I’m doing now is simply deciding to embrace what should have been obvious to me for some time.

I’m sure I’ll have a mourning period and, like a lonely divorcee, I’ll be tempted to go back during some particularly dark moments. I’ll wean myself off things like Villa Talk and I’ll probably be seen in the Off-Topic sections for a little bit. This will fade away too I’m sure. And if you're muttering to yourself about this being self-indulgent hogwash, good for you.

I’m pretty strong in my resolve and I’m out.

[villan501]

I’ve had a long chat with myself recently. I’ve come to the realisation that, having fallen out of love with football a while ago, I can no longer rightly call myself an Aston Villa fan.

I’ve been holding on to this delusion, justifying to myself the time, money and effort I have invested in being a Villa supporter. The tens of thousands of miles driven, the thousands of pounds and the thousands of hours are not easily written off. The effort I put into starting and running a supporters club in this small corner of the country, again not easy to write off.

However, like a marriage that stays in place for the sake of this kids, my marriage to Villa has remained for the sake of my own sanity. For my own sake, I must now declare this marriage over. I’ve reached the tipping point. I’m out.

I don’t get any joy from being a Villa supporter anymore. In days gone by, win lose or draw, I’d have enjoyed the match. Newcastle and Sunderland would be the first 2 away games I’d look for when the fixtures were released. Last season, I didn’t even check to see when those fixtures were on. This season I haven’t bothered either.

What has caused me to finally decide on this sporting emancipation? You probably won’t like the answer. I could go on for hours and pages and days and paragraphs explaining exactly why, but it boils down to this simple statement.

The people.

Footballers, the people who run the game, and the supporters. Each group has their faults and I am powerless to change them. Yet, I am particularly turned off by the attitude and actions of some of the so-called supporters of Aston Villa. If things don’t go their way, the immediate reaction is to lash out and blame individuals. The sporting element is gone. People are immediately branded as poor human beings. This ire isn’t restricted to the players. Men and women who simply do their best at their daily jobs are subjected to some pretty horrific abuse by the nameless and the mindless. Have a read of some of the posts on this website or listen to the talk in the stands at Villa Park and try to tell me that these distasteful actions and words are those of a minority. Where I once enjoyed the tribal element of supporting this football club, I now find that things have irretrievably too far.

So, I’ve taken the decision to divorce myself from AVFC. In all honesty, it’s an easy decision to make. The plaster doesn’t need ripping off – it’s already limp and falling off anyway. What I’m doing now is simply deciding to embrace what should have been obvious to me for some time.

I’m sure I’ll have a mourning period and, like a lonely divorcee, I’ll be tempted to go back during some particularly dark moments. I’ll wean myself off things like Villa Talk and I’ll probably be seen in the Off-Topic sections for a little bit. This will fade away too I’m sure. And if you're muttering to yourself about this being self-indulgent hogwash, good for you.

I’m pretty strong in my resolve and I’m out.

I felt quite emotional reading that just shows in lights what the villa is doing these days, I dont know him from adam but from reading the post he seems villa forever, if the club dont pull something out buy friday at midnight I have a feeling that villa park will be empty and more fans will walk away and I for 1 will not blame any of them.

Great post Gazton that was from the heart

[Ginko]

Not that I don't agree with a lot of your points Gazton, but it's a little dramatic don't you think? Either ways, good luck to you, hope to see you in Off Topic still though.

[villianusa]

Not sure how you can fall out of love with the Villa but I do feel for you and the way you are feel. I hope there comes a day where you fall back in love with the greatest club in the world.

UTV.

[Oaks]

I understand how you feel, most people around football arnt particually nice. I must admit my love for the game is also slowly whaining, last season almost killed it off. I haven't seen Villa play well for years now, haven't seen us win live in almost the same amount of time. But prices go up. The game is run by money spin. 99% of clubs will achieve nothing until a multi Billionaire come in now, and then it's almost nothing to do with the club itts self.

I also think as we get older out prioritys change. Some of us grow up and out of this overblown multi million pound soap opera.

[Dr_Pangloss]

Pathetic.

[TRO]

I’ve had a long chat with myself recently. I’ve come to the realisation that, having fallen out of love with football a while ago, I can no longer rightly call myself an Aston Villa fan.

I’ve been holding on to this delusion, justifying to myself the time, money and effort I have invested in being a Villa supporter. The tens of thousands of miles driven, the thousands of pounds and the thousands of hours are not easily written off. The effort I put into starting and running a supporters club in this small corner of the country, again not easy to write off.

However, like a marriage that stays in place for the sake of this kids, my marriage to Villa has remained for the sake of my own sanity. For my own sake, I must now declare this marriage over. I’ve reached the tipping point. I’m out.

I don’t get any joy from being a Villa supporter anymore. In days gone by, win lose or draw, I’d have enjoyed the match. Newcastle and Sunderland would be the first 2 away games I’d look for when the fixtures were released. Last season, I didn’t even check to see when those fixtures were on. This season I haven’t bothered either.

What has caused me to finally decide on this sporting emancipation? You probably won’t like the answer. I could go on for hours and pages and days and paragraphs explaining exactly why, but it boils down to this simple statement.

The people.

Footballers, the people who run the game, and the supporters. Each group has their faults and I am powerless to change them. Yet, I am particularly turned off by the attitude and actions of some of the so-called supporters of Aston Villa. If things don’t go their way, the immediate reaction is to lash out and blame individuals. The sporting element is gone. People are immediately branded as poor human beings. This ire isn’t restricted to the players. Men and women who simply do their best at their daily jobs are subjected to some pretty horrific abuse by the nameless and the mindless. Have a read of some of the posts on this website or listen to the talk in the stands at Villa Park and try to tell me that these distasteful actions and words are those of a minority. Where I once enjoyed the tribal element of supporting this football club, I now find that things have irretrievably too far.

So, I’ve taken the decision to divorce myself from AVFC. In all honesty, it’s an easy decision to make. The plaster doesn’t need ripping off – it’s already limp and falling off anyway. What I’m doing now is simply deciding to embrace what should have been obvious to me for some time.

I’m sure I’ll have a mourning period and, like a lonely divorcee, I’ll be tempted to go back during some particularly dark moments. I’ll wean myself off things like Villa Talk and I’ll probably be seen in the Off-Topic sections for a little bit. This will fade away too I’m sure. And if you're muttering to yourself about this being self-indulgent hogwash, good for you.

I’m pretty strong in my resolve and I’m out.

I made the same decision 2/3 years ago, not for exactly the same reasons, but similar.

ps ...and I only live down the road from the ground.

pps you never fall out of love with the club.... I just got fed up of feeling meloncholy every time i watched them play, you end up moaning and over analyising...it just get tedious and repetitive.

[Nabby]

I can see where your coming from I would just say your issues with our fans are not limited to us ,it's an issue with fans in general.

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

The whole thing with what happened when Lerner first arrived, giving us all that hope, appointing an exciting manager to kick things off and then backing us like he did- we all felt that AVFC was back where it belonged. Exciting squad, european nights at VP again. Everyone was proud to represent claret and blue.

Fast forward to now and its incredible the state we find ourselves in now. We hit the self destruct button and everyone is depressed again so we all know how you feel. We'll be back, one day..

[snowychap]

Goodbye.

[McGregor1888]

I’ve had a long chat with myself recently. I’ve come to the realisation that, having fallen out of love with football a while ago, I can no longer rightly call myself an Aston Villa fan.

I’ve been holding on to this delusion, justifying to myself the time, money and effort I have invested in being a Villa supporter. The tens of thousands of miles driven, the thousands of pounds and the thousands of hours are not easily written off. The effort I put into starting and running a supporters club in this small corner of the country, again not easy to write off.

However, like a marriage that stays in place for the sake of this kids, my marriage to Villa has remained for the sake of my own sanity. For my own sake, I must now declare this marriage over. I’ve reached the tipping point. I’m out.

I don’t get any joy from being a Villa supporter anymore. In days gone by, win lose or draw, I’d have enjoyed the match. Newcastle and Sunderland would be the first 2 away games I’d look for when the fixtures were released. Last season, I didn’t even check to see when those fixtures were on. This season I haven’t bothered either.

What has caused me to finally decide on this sporting emancipation? You probably won’t like the answer. I could go on for hours and pages and days and paragraphs explaining exactly why, but it boils down to this simple statement.

The people.

Footballers, the people who run the game, and the supporters. Each group has their faults and I am powerless to change them. Yet, I am particularly turned off by the attitude and actions of some of the so-called supporters of Aston Villa. If things don’t go their way, the immediate reaction is to lash out and blame individuals. The sporting element is gone. People are immediately branded as poor human beings. This ire isn’t restricted to the players. Men and women who simply do their best at their daily jobs are subjected to some pretty horrific abuse by the nameless and the mindless. Have a read of some of the posts on this website or listen to the talk in the stands at Villa Park and try to tell me that these distasteful actions and words are those of a minority. Where I once enjoyed the tribal element of supporting this football club, I now find that things have irretrievably too far.

So, I’ve taken the decision to divorce myself from AVFC. In all honesty, it’s an easy decision to make. The plaster doesn’t need ripping off – it’s already limp and falling off anyway. What I’m doing now is simply deciding to embrace what should have been obvious to me for some time.

I’m sure I’ll have a mourning period and, like a lonely divorcee, I’ll be tempted to go back during some particularly dark moments. I’ll wean myself off things like Villa Talk and I’ll probably be seen in the Off-Topic sections for a little bit. This will fade away too I’m sure. And if you're muttering to yourself about this being self-indulgent hogwash, good for you.

I’m pretty strong in my resolve and I’m out.

I've never known a more poisonous, unsupportive lot of fans than the 10-15 per-cent of fuckwits who follow our club. I'm not surprised you want out because they are a wearying, energy-sapping bunch. We need positive people with reserves of support and belief to lift the club. I 'd urge you to think again,my friend, and keep the faith. Don't allow negative people to relegate you or our club.

[McGregor1888]

The whole thing with what happened when Lerner first arrived, giving us all that hope, appointing an exciting manager to kick things off and then backing us like he did- we all felt that AVFC was back where it belonged. Exciting squad, european nights at VP again. Everyone was proud to represent claret and blue.

Fast forward to now and its incredible the state we find ourselves in now. We hit the self destruct button and everyone is depressed again so we all know how you feel. We'll be back, one day..

You say "fast forward to now" but there was a significant section of our support moaning when we were finishing sixth season after season. As I say, we have a small proportion of our support who are serial moaners and who simply delight in dragging the club down. If we are struggling they seem to prefer putting the boot in as opposed to supporting and lifting. Very odd behaviour for people who claim to be "supporters".

Keep the faith. Lift the club.

[TRO]

I’ve had a long chat with myself recently. I’ve come to the realisation that, having fallen out of love with football a while ago, I can no longer rightly call myself an Aston Villa fan.

I’ve been holding on to this delusion, justifying to myself the time, money and effort I have invested in being a Villa supporter. The tens of thousands of miles driven, the thousands of pounds and the thousands of hours are not easily written off. The effort I put into starting and running a supporters club in this small corner of the country, again not easy to write off.

However, like a marriage that stays in place for the sake of this kids, my marriage to Villa has remained for the sake of my own sanity. For my own sake, I must now declare this marriage over. I’ve reached the tipping point. I’m out.

I don’t get any joy from being a Villa supporter anymore. In days gone by, win lose or draw, I’d have enjoyed the match. Newcastle and Sunderland would be the first 2 away games I’d look for when the fixtures were released. Last season, I didn’t even check to see when those fixtures were on. This season I haven’t bothered either.

What has caused me to finally decide on this sporting emancipation? You probably won’t like the answer. I could go on for hours and pages and days and paragraphs explaining exactly why, but it boils down to this simple statement.

The people.

Footballers, the people who run the game, and the supporters. Each group has their faults and I am powerless to change them. Yet, I am particularly turned off by the attitude and actions of some of the so-called supporters of Aston Villa. If things don’t go their way, the immediate reaction is to lash out and blame individuals. The sporting element is gone. People are immediately branded as poor human beings. This ire isn’t restricted to the players. Men and women who simply do their best at their daily jobs are subjected to some pretty horrific abuse by the nameless and the mindless. Have a read of some of the posts on this website or listen to the talk in the stands at Villa Park and try to tell me that these distasteful actions and words are those of a minority. Where I once enjoyed the tribal element of supporting this football club, I now find that things have irretrievably too far.

So, I’ve taken the decision to divorce myself from AVFC. In all honesty, it’s an easy decision to make. The plaster doesn’t need ripping off – it’s already limp and falling off anyway. What I’m doing now is simply deciding to embrace what should have been obvious to me for some time.

I’m sure I’ll have a mourning period and, like a lonely divorcee, I’ll be tempted to go back during some particularly dark moments. I’ll wean myself off things like Villa Talk and I’ll probably be seen in the Off-Topic sections for a little bit. This will fade away too I’m sure. And if you're muttering to yourself about this being self-indulgent hogwash, good for you.

I’m pretty strong in my resolve and I’m out.

I've never known a more poisonous, unsupportive lot of fans than the 10-15 per-cent of fuckwits who follow our club. I'm not surprised you want out because they are a wearying, energy-sapping bunch. We need positive people with reserves of support and belief to lift the club. I 'd urge you to think again,my friend, and keep the faith. Don't allow negative people to relegate you or our club.

I could not disagree with you more ....I don't think any of our supporters deserve the discription as poisonous. I think Villa Fans are amongst the best in the country.

Some fans manage a better resolve than others, some will put up with most things that hit them others are more discerning and want the top prizes or play top class football. The ones that set their sights high are the most likely to get frustrated first, but Hey arn't they entitled to reach for the stars.

We have experienced in the last few years a catalogue of poor decisions at the club.... some fans handle that better than others, it doesn't make one camp anymore right than the other.

This manager clearly has a bigger job than we all thought , but already some misjudgements have been made because PL intimated that there will be no more signings a few weeks back... with 2 poor performances it looks like we are now desperate for some.

The judgement/Decision making at the club seems to change like the weather.

To start blaming any % of fans is barking up the wrong tree.

as they say don't shoot the messenger.

[PriceyDownunder]

I gave serious thought to switching off at half time v Everton, and going to bed (and I'm talking 1.00am), but I couldn't... I just couldn't... Villa is in my blood, and as much as it pisses me off, I can't turn my back...

[TRO]

The whole thing with what happened when Lerner first arrived, giving us all that hope, appointing an exciting manager to kick things off and then backing us like he did- we all felt that AVFC was back where it belonged. Exciting squad, european nights at VP again. Everyone was proud to represent claret and blue.

Fast forward to now and its incredible the state we find ourselves in now. We hit the self destruct button and everyone is depressed again so we all know how you feel. We'll be back, one day..

You say "fast forward to now" but there was a significant section of our support moaning when we were finishing sixth season after season. As I say, we have a small proportion of our support who are serial moaners and who simply delight in dragging the club down. If we are struggling they seem to prefer putting the boot in as opposed to supporting and lifting. Very odd behaviour for people who claim to be "supporters".

Keep the faith. Lift the club.

equally with your view the suffragettes would still be cuffed to the railings.

You make a simplistic reference to 6-6-6 yes it was better then but all was not perfect either and some folk made reference to the poor standard of football i.e " Hoofball" or "smash & grab" if thats what they saw and didn't like it ,so be it, they are entitled to give their views.

Randy probably didn't like the high wages for journey men or the fact they wre getting splinters in their arses, sitting on the bench.....Folk are entitled to say their bit.

Thats not being unsupportive on the contrary its discerning.

Thats what this club is lacking Drive and a determination not to accept second best.

[KjParton]

I think anyone in love with the club will never fall out of love. I know I will Never ever fall out of Love with Villa, its in my blood until the day I die

[maqroll]

I’ve had a long chat with myself recently. I’ve come to the realisation that, having fallen out of love with football a while ago, I can no longer rightly call myself an Aston Villa fan.

I’ve been holding on to this delusion, justifying to myself the time, money and effort I have invested in being a Villa supporter. The tens of thousands of miles driven, the thousands of pounds and the thousands of hours are not easily written off. The effort I put into starting and running a supporters club in this small corner of the country, again not easy to write off.

However, like a marriage that stays in place for the sake of this kids, my marriage to Villa has remained for the sake of my own sanity. For my own sake, I must now declare this marriage over. I’ve reached the tipping point. I’m out.

I don’t get any joy from being a Villa supporter anymore. In days gone by, win lose or draw, I’d have enjoyed the match. Newcastle and Sunderland would be the first 2 away games I’d look for when the fixtures were released. Last season, I didn’t even check to see when those fixtures were on. This season I haven’t bothered either.

What has caused me to finally decide on this sporting emancipation? You probably won’t like the answer. I could go on for hours and pages and days and paragraphs explaining exactly why, but it boils down to this simple statement.

The people.

Footballers, the people who run the game, and the supporters. Each group has their faults and I am powerless to change them. Yet, I am particularly turned off by the attitude and actions of some of the so-called supporters of Aston Villa. If things don’t go their way, the immediate reaction is to lash out and blame individuals. The sporting element is gone. People are immediately branded as poor human beings. This ire isn’t restricted to the players. Men and women who simply do their best at their daily jobs are subjected to some pretty horrific abuse by the nameless and the mindless. Have a read of some of the posts on this website or listen to the talk in the stands at Villa Park and try to tell me that these distasteful actions and words are those of a minority. Where I once enjoyed the tribal element of supporting this football club, I now find that things have irretrievably too far.

So, I’ve taken the decision to divorce myself from AVFC. In all honesty, it’s an easy decision to make. The plaster doesn’t need ripping off – it’s already limp and falling off anyway. What I’m doing now is simply deciding to embrace what should have been obvious to me for some time.

I’m sure I’ll have a mourning period and, like a lonely divorcee, I’ll be tempted to go back during some particularly dark moments. I’ll wean myself off things like Villa Talk and I’ll probably be seen in the Off-Topic sections for a little bit. This will fade away too I’m sure. And if you're muttering to yourself about this being self-indulgent hogwash, good for you.

I’m pretty strong in my resolve and I’m out.

You'll be back 8)

[HolteEndRob]

[LeafyVilla]

I understand where Gazton is coming from, it's not just Villa its football as a whole ( I think ), I fell out of love with the game about 3-4 years ago in favour of Ice Hockey, football was always number one for me and hockey number two but something happened and I just really lost my love for the game of football whilst my enthusiasm for hockey went through the roof, I'm not sure what changed back then or what changed to reacquaint me with football, but I'm sure it has something to do with the people/money etc that dominate the game now because as we now start another season of maybe struggle I've come to realise that season after season Villa will never ever be in a position to win the Premier League title unless some random Joe Bloggs bloke is prepared to throw insane amounts of money at it, where as in Hockey as bad as my team are it is so much more of a level playing field almost any thing can happen and almost anything does.

So I certainly won't be slating Gazton for giving up on Villa/football unlike some have because I've been there myself...

[dappadan]

Just another victim of taking football too seriously.

Just chill out and enjoy it for what it is.

Bloody drama queens