blandy Posted November 24, 2012 Moderator Share Posted November 24, 2012 Absolutely, but you won't catch me mourning the absence of anyone who disappears if we get relegated or announces their reasoning on a message board. I would be sad when, and it is when not if, any team gets relegated (well, apart from a couple) and their fans don't want to go anymore. It's as much a reflection of the pricing and the way football is going as the natural feelings people get, of disappointment and so on. If you look at Villa in the 70's Man CIty in the 90's or Rangers today, that's where fans stuck by their club when it was struggling, and it's fantastic. That's why I'd be sad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaForever1970 Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 I would be sad when, and it is when not if, any team gets relegated (well, apart from a couple) and their fans don't want to go anymore. It's as much a reflection of the pricing and the way football is going as the natural feelings people get, of disappointment and so on. If you look at Villa in the 70's Man CIty in the 90's or Rangers today, that's where fans stuck by their club when it was struggling, and it's fantastic. That's why I'd be sad. One of the few good things about getting relegated would be getting rid of a lot of idiot fans, at least 20 members of this message board would be off to a Manchester based club, so obsessed with money that they are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Posted November 24, 2012 Share Posted November 24, 2012 Therefore you are not actually a fan of Villa but a fan of the Premier League? Would you have come over to see Villa play Watford in the PL? You didn't really understand much of what I wrote did you? Or you just pinched out the part you saw worth bickering. No I don't just support Villa because we are in the Prem, but I know my interest would falter if we relegated, at least commercially. I guess that is the same for many people abroad, people the club needs for revenue and general support. Some teams bounce back without any loss like Newcastle, some clubs just die into the abyss like Nottingham Forest and Derby. We do not have the same support as Newcastle (or even Leeds!) and would suffer much more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El-Reacho Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 You didn't really understand much of what I wrote did you? Or you just pinched out the part you saw worth bickering. No I don't just support Villa because we are in the Prem, but I know my interest would falter if we relegated, at least commercially. I guess that is the same for many people abroad, people the club needs for revenue and general support. Some teams bounce back without any loss like Newcastle, some clubs just die into the abyss like Nottingham Forest and Derby. We do not have the same support as Newcastle (or even Leeds!) and would suffer much more. Of course I picked out the bit I took most exception to, but I could have picked out most of your post. You said that supporting Villa in the Championship and Barry Bannan being our best player would be a terrible experience - for me that's not the natural attitude of a football fan supporting their club. I'm not trying to be facetious here, but by what you've written in your post, you are part of the problem that you have actually outlined. If most of Villa's fans are going to bugger off if the club were to drop into the Championship then they're not really the club's fans to begin with; they're there to see Premier League football, not Villa. Therefore, should Randy throw money at the team to create a nothing more than a product that will attract people to Villa Park? I live in Ireland and getting to Villa Park costs me a fair chunk too, but I love it because of the effort I have to go to get there; of being in Birmingham on match day, getting the train with the fans, and being in Villa Park. I don't buy a ticket to see the opposition - I buy a ticket to see Villa, and if the worse case scenario were to happen I will continue to do so regardless of who they are playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisVillan Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 I would be sad when, and it is when not if, any team gets relegated (well, apart from a couple) and their fans don't want to go anymore. It's as much a reflection of the pricing and the way football is going as the natural feelings people get, of disappointment and so on. If you look at Villa in the 70's Man CIty in the 90's or Rangers today, that's where fans stuck by their club when it was struggling, and it's fantastic. That's why I'd be sad. Without straying into post-on-poster, let's just say my attitude does not extend to all fans or all posters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Papillon Posted November 25, 2012 Share Posted November 25, 2012 Of course I picked out the bit I took most exception to, but I could have picked out most of your post. You said that supporting Villa in the Championship and Barry Bannan being our best player would be a terrible experience - for me that's not the natural attitude of a football fan supporting their club. I'm not trying to be facetious here, but by what you've written in your post, you are part of the problem that you have actually outlined. If most of Villa's fans are going to bugger off if the club were to drop into the Championship then they're not really the club's fans to begin with; they're there to see Premier League football, not Villa. Therefore, should Randy throw money at the team to create a nothing more than a product that will attract people to Villa Park? I live in Ireland and getting to Villa Park costs me a fair chunk too, but I love it because of the effort I have to go to get there; of being in Birmingham on match day, getting the train with the fans, and being in Villa Park. I don't buy a ticket to see the opposition - I buy a ticket to see Villa, and if the worse case scenario were to happen I will continue to do so regardless of who they are playing. I am a fan of Aston Villa, if I was not and just a lover of football I would "support" the best teams in this league with success every year. Obviously, I would not come her to bicker about this if I didn't care. I want Villa to be the best it can be and I want us to be in the Premier League because it is the only league that really matters in England and especially for me who sees every game on TV from abroad. I am not the best fan compared to the ones that go to every game and worship the club like a religion, although I would see every game if I lived in Birmingham. My point is that many fans are like me, the club needs the most amount of fans like me to care - or revenue and general interest in the club would go down enormously and we would become another Coventry or Sheffield Wednesday. The core fans are always there, some would go to each game in League 1 but if the club was in League 1 it would not be the same AVFC anymore. It would be another sport, a level of ability far, far under what I would spend time on watching and caring so much about. My interest in AVFC would never die and I would always say that I am a Villa-fan, but ask any international fan of Forest, Middlesbrough and Sheffield United about their level of affection the last few years compared to their better days only 5-10 years ago. This is not a competition of who is the best fan, I couldn't give a damn about that, but all I did was to stress that we are not the club who would benefit from relegating. Teams like Newcastle have the support around it to always bounce back up, IMO we do not. We had 36.000 or so at home against Arsenal on a Saturday evening, that should give you an indication of life in the Championship. Relegation will be horrendous for us, not only because getting back up is extremely hard for any team, but because the long-term outcome could be total abyss. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted November 26, 2012 Share Posted November 26, 2012 I reckon the default crowd level for Villa in the championship would be around 25,000, particularly if, as seems increasingly likely, the recession goes on for another 5 years. The difference in the early 70s was that there was a real sense amongst the fans of ownership of the club (not least because of the share issue that helped rescue the business), that we had forced the board to change and modernise, and that we had created a momentum that would take us back to the top. A group of really excellent players helped, too! I think almost all of that has dissipated now. Deadly Doug made Villa his personal plaything and, however much people like Randy Lerner as a person, the fact is he bought the club back off us and runs it according to his own ideas. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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