Are There Similarities to 1986-87?

[Chris Harte]

Steve McMahon did a Stewart Downing at the start

Nah! That was the season before. During early 1985-86. Missed a penalty at home to QPR in his last game, I think. We lost 2-1.

[Dave Clark Five]

John, take a break. You may have seen an awful lot more shite than most of us, but its best to bow out now and allow us youngers a moan. I am not slating you, or your wish to educate wastrels. But what we are seeing is shite and people have a right to moan.

Agreed. I just think the racist abuse is uncalled for. I will let you carry on.

Where is this racist abuse?  Rather than have a go at the mods for something they haven't seen, why don't you try being helpful and drop a PM pointing it out?

I'll have a look in the morning Mr.Wenger.

[The Laughing Policeman]

Whilst I'll admit that our 'recent' experience of having a Scottish manager isn't good.  I give you George Ramsay manager from 1884-1926. His teams won 6 FA Cups and 6 League Championships and is therefore our most successful manager ever.
So AM being Scottish doesn't come into the equation.
By the way there isn't much else in your post to argue with.

Ramsey wasn't the manager and the teams were selected by the directors.

Really?

[dave.woodhall]

This 'Ramsay the manager' story is a recent invention. He was secretary and the team was picked by the directors, with input from the first team trainer and captain. Our first manager was a Scot, Jimmy McMullan, in 1934. He, er, got us relegated.

[adrenachrome]

....
Wihout Tommy Docherty where would we have been today?
His first season woke Villa up from the doldrums. Admittedly it went wrong but it still got people interested in the club again, in no small way.
....

Good to see someone appreciating Docherty. He did far more for the club than he is ever given credit for.

Most assuredly: he galvanised the club, particularly the fans,  and that surge of energy and optimism kept us going. As many posters have mentioned before, after the Doc, we always thought we would get back to the top division even if we had to go down to the 3rd on the way.

It seems almost surreal to remember that we once triumphantly sang:

Division Two
Welcomes you
Aston Villa

[The Left Side]

So who is going to be our Graham Taylor MkII?

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Docherty , Mcneill and mcleish -relegation maybe ?

Wihout Tommy Docherty where would we have been today?
His first season woke Villa up from the doldrums. Admittedly it went wrong but it still got people interested in the club again, in no small way.

Agree 100% about The Doc. His first 6 months at the club were absolutely vital. Crowds were down to 13,000 and within weeks we had over 40,000 for a league game and nearly 60,000 for a cup game. The Doc also brought in Rioch, Hamilton and McMahon. Although we got relegated the following season after a horrendous start, those players stayed with us under Vic Crowe to promote us back out the 3rd division onwards towards ultimate glory 10 years later.

[jonc73]

Interesting to read about Tommy Doc as it was before my time. It always sounded like he was all hype, but that is one of the things so badly missing today..a bit of feel good factor.

[Dave Clark Five]

Interesting to read about Tommy Doc as it was before my time. It always sounded like he was all hype, but that is one of the things so badly missing today..a bit of feel good factor.

Very evident in this clip - http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=45329

[MarkM]

I have to admit, that I feel worse now about supporting Villa than I did back in 86/87

Some of that is that back then there was still the hope that things will get better and that glory may still be just round the corner [or at least down the road] even after the relegation I still had hope and desire.

Now I'm afraid that I just feel empty about the whole thing. If we survive this season [and thanks to some other really poor sides we will] we will just have to go through the same next season.

Our chances of winning anything have gone for a burton along with any chance of a top six finish.

The train has left the station and we missed it

[Risso]

John, take a break. You may have seen an awful lot more shite than most of us, but its best to bow out now and allow us youngers a moan. I am not slating you, or your wish to educate wastrels. But what we are seeing is shite and people have a right to moan.

Agreed. I just think the racist abuse is uncalled for. I will let you carry on.

Where is this racist abuse?  Rather than have a go at the mods for something they haven't seen, why don't you try being helpful and drop a PM pointing it out?

I'll have a look in the morning Mr.Wenger.

Please do. I'd hate to think you were getting on your high horse for nothing.

[JUAN PABLO]

The difference for me , when I went down in 1986 , I could easily afford it . Now I cant .

[Chris Harte]

The players are financially set up for life after a season now, regardless of whether they play or not, regardless of performances.

In 1987 they were not.

Perhaps that is what makes some people feel worse now than back then.

But remember, we are still a long way from being relegated at present.

[Oscar Arce]

Docherty , Mcneill and mcleish -relegation maybe ?

Wihout Tommy Docherty where would we have been today?
His first season woke Villa up from the doldrums. Admittedly it went wrong but it still got people interested in the club again, in no small way.

Agree 100% about The Doc. His first 6 months at the club were absolutely vital. Crowds were down to 13,000 and within weeks we had over 40,000 for a league game and nearly 60,000 for a cup game. The Doc also brought in Rioch, Hamilton and McMahon. Although we got relegated the following season after a horrendous start, those players stayed with us under Vic Crowe to promote us back out the 3rd division onwards towards ultimate glory 10 years later.

Docherty lifted us from the doldrums at a time when we had lost our way.
He is exactly the sort of character we need today.

[QBVILLA]

I personally would like to see Mr lerner take the decision now to relieve McLeish of his duties.He was up against it before he even started and whilst he's quite a likeable bloke his previous job will always be a problem with a number of the fans.This bad feeling has spread from the fans and you can see by the manner of the defeats that it's affecting the players.I can take defeat if I see the side having a go but in the games against United and Liverpool we've simply rolled over.That shouldn't be the mentality of an Aston Villa side and to be perfectly honest it's not what you'd expect of an Alex McLeish side.I can't see him turning it around and whilst it can be argued that less than half a season isn't enough to judge a manager it can also prove to be crucial when it comes to the final league position.Personally i'd go and have a go at getting Paul Lambert in.For me he's a young, hungry and determined character who is having two and half years of great success.The players he currently has at his disposal aren't of the quality we have at VP,but he's got them playing at their optimum.