danceoftheshamen Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 Regarding the fan base & the attendances under MON i don't believe that we really ever saw the full potential of that. I know quite a few Villa fans who were right on the brink of starting to go up regularly again but then things started to sour & it put them off again. These aren't glory hunters they are Villa fans who basically stopped going because of Ellis & the dismal 25 years we suffered after winning the European cup etc... Talk about an anticlimax!.. The problem is that for such a "large" club we have consistently under achieved ever since those heady days apart from the odd flicker here & there. This has in my opinion distanced the club from it's fanbase to a point. Many are simply fed up, sick of false dawn after false dawn & broken promise after broken promise & it will take something significant to awaken that fan base fully again. A cup win or top 4 finish even would help. In my memory Villa have always had a marque player or two as well. Ginola, Yorke, Bruce Rioch, Andy Gray the list is long...But if you starve someone long enough their stomach shrinks... & to me this is what happened to Villa's fan base.. they couldn;t stomach the monotony anymore and attendances along with interest were waning. So then Finally!!. After a quarter of a century in which we had to endure a shocking lack of ambition displayed by the previous chairman... Finally he sold up!.. To a Billionaire!! The future was bright the history was proud & the lion was about to awaken again... All the fans needed was a bit of evidence now.. many started to come back straight away many others like the ones i mentioned earlier were a touch more cautious having had there belief battered for over two and a half decades. They wanted to believe but just wanted a bit of evidence first maybe?!... It started ok too, A few 6th place finishes were ok, not brilliant but ok but then when qualifying for Europe we strangley kept throwing in the towel?! So it never quite happened really in my opinion & the football was pretty ordinary too in all honesty. Then just as quickly as things were flickering into life & people were daring to believe again...Disaster! Randy pulled the plug..finito! .. Thats yer lot!... Mon walked & the rest is history (although not of the proud kind). So it was finished just before it actually got started properly. Now it's even worse if anything than Pre Lerner.. Yet another huge let down for the fanbase & this time it could be terminal for many.... What a shame! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I don't think it was simply a case of throwing the towel in at 6th place but rather preventing the club from falling into financial disaster. The "success" years of 07-10 were built on sand. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 It really comes down to that one season where we were legit contenders for a CL spot. Had we qualified for the CL that season, everything would be different now. Randy rolled the dice and came mighty close. But not close enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I still don't think getting 4th once would have solved all problems. We would have had to consistently stay up there and qualify in order to continue with a wage bill that high. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickyhell Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I don't think it was simply a case of throwing the towel in at 6th place but rather preventing the club from falling into financial disaster. The "success" years of 07-10 were built on sand. Built on the sand of the myth of the legend that was Martin O Neill. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 There would have been a cash windfall from the CL, and bigger name signings in order to compete and advance, and make more money. Success begets success and all that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 (edited) It really comes down to that one season where we were legit contenders for a CL spot. Had we qualified for the CL that season, everything would be different now. Randy rolled the dice and came mighty close. But not close enough. I was never convinced about that season or the others. We ( in some ways) are the same now... good forward line that can finish in the top half, poor defence that is fit for the championship. The season you refer to was good forward line decent defence.... midfield fit for the bottom half of the league, who could not keep the ball , much like now... Petrov was probably in recent times the only one that could. When we were having our better times we relied on breakaways and counter attacking and spent most of our time chasing the ball, thats what wore us out hence the tail off's at the end of season...it was no surprise to me that March in those days was barren for points. We had our good moments for sure but it was brittle and we won more away than at home which lends itself to the style of football we adopted....The amount of Home wins was never going to take us anywhere remotely special.It was still a bit peaky and troughy with sparse consistency. In many ways we have had a similar scenario going on for many seasons....and certain players have masked over the cracks, just like Benteke is doing right now. In truth we have been carrying some awful players for too long and worst of all they have been changed, but the quality has stayed with us.i.e one bad one out a different bad one in. All much of the same. Edited February 4, 2013 by TRO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickyhell Posted February 4, 2013 Share Posted February 4, 2013 I still don't think getting 4th once would have solved all problems. We would have had to consistently stay up there and qualify in order to continue with a wage bill that high. Its a bit of Chicken and eggs, if we had of reached CL it would have justified the investment, we didnt and it didnt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozvillafan Posted February 4, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted February 4, 2013 I still don't think getting 4th once would have solved all problems. We would have had to consistently stay up there and qualify in order to continue with a wage bill that high. Its a bit of Chicken and eggs, if we had of reached CL it would have justified the investment, we didnt and it didnt. And playing in the Europa league didn't help. It doesn't turn a profit unless you reach the final and we always treated it as second rate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DelboyVilla Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 There would have been a cash windfall from the CL, and bigger name signings in order to compete and advance, and make more money. Success begets success and all that. Very much so look at Spurs they are now firmly embedded as top 4 contenders every year. I think the other thing we lost when MON went was that hard nosed I'll sell you when I'm ready attitude towards want away players. Lerner and Faulkner are just happy to sell whatever the consequences to the team and not worry about building a side.I think that this year we will see money made by the club and this will go towards paying off some of the Loans from the Lerner Trust. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicMushroom Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 I don't think it was simply a case of throwing the towel in at 6th place but rather preventing the club from falling into financial disaster. The "success" years of 07-10 were built on sand. It also coincided with his divorce. I think that single event is a little down played. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickyhell Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 There would have been a cash windfall from the CL, and bigger name signings in order to compete and advance, and make more money. Success begets success and all that. Very much so look at Spurs they are now firmly embedded as top 4 contenders every year. I think the other thing we lost when MON went was that hard nosed I'll sell you when I'm ready attitude towards want away players. Lerner and Faulkner are just happy to sell whatever the consequences to the team and not worry about building a side.I think that this year we will see money made by the club and this will go towards paying off some of the Loans from the Lerner Trust. MON could not sell the players he bought because he paid too much for them, Villa will make a loss this year, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicMushroom Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 I still don't think getting 4th once would have solved all problems. We would have had to consistently stay up there and qualify in order to continue with a wage bill that high. Its a bit of Chicken and eggs, if we had of reached CL it would have justified the investment, we didnt and it didnt. It would of cost us a lot more to consolidate our position, and with Man City's wealth it probably became a liitle risky in pursuing that original goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickyhell Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 I don't think it was simply a case of throwing the towel in at 6th place but rather preventing the club from falling into financial disaster. The "success" years of 07-10 were built on sand. It also coincided with his divorce. I think that single event is a little down played. yep we have the same opinion of him as his wife. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagicMushroom Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 I don't think it was simply a case of throwing the towel in at 6th place but rather preventing the club from falling into financial disaster. The "success" years of 07-10 were built on sand. It also coincided with his divorce. I think that single event is a little down played. yep we have the same opinion of him as his wife. Dont know how they sort whom owns what during a divorce, but if she is awarded half of what the Lerner trust borrowed us, then she proably has a say in what happens to us? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dickyhell Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 I don't think it was simply a case of throwing the towel in at 6th place but rather preventing the club from falling into financial disaster. The "success" years of 07-10 were built on sand. It also coincided with his divorce. I think that single event is a little down played. yep we have the same opinion of him as his wife. Dont know how they sort whom owns what during a divorce, but if she is awarded half of what the Lerner trust borrowed us, then she proably has a say in what happens to us? I doubt she has any say at all, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 There would have been a cash windfall from the CL, and bigger name signings in order to compete and advance, and make more money. Success begets success and all that. More signings increases an already huge wage bill and then what if we failed to qualify the following year? Bigger wage bill and no champions league money. A team like spurs couldn't repeat it the following year but they were able to stay around there as their wage bill wasn't out of control and they earn more money than us. They also sold players which put money back into rebuilding the squad. Just don't see us getting 4th solving all the problems the club had created by then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 It really comes down to that one season where we were legit contenders for a CL spot. Had we qualified for the CL that season, everything would be different now. Randy rolled the dice and came mighty close. But not close enough. I don't think it would have made any difference. Everton made it once and it did nothing for them. Spurs did it a few seasons back and it didn't transform their team. They finished 5th the season after. Spurs have a sustainable young squad built as much by the vision of the chairman as by any manager. They can miss out on 4th and it won't bankrupt them but they have the talent to challange. We spent money on it but the owner left all the planning to the manager and had no vision or direction from above. When the manager left we were properly ****. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted February 5, 2013 Moderator Share Posted February 5, 2013 It really comes down to that one season where we were legit contenders for a CL spot. Had we qualified for the CL that season, everything would be different now. Randy rolled the dice and came mighty close. But not close enough. Honestly it really wouldn't have been. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacbuddies Posted February 5, 2013 Share Posted February 5, 2013 Debate, counter debate, argument, counter argument. Randy Lerner can be summed up quite quickly and easily. He is a proven failure as a sports club owner. The evidence is there for all to see and be witness to. End of story and really should be the end of this thread (but it won't be!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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