Supporter behaviour towards own players

[MarkM]

Well if OPTA and co say he's a fine player who am I to argue!

Who said the stats say he's a good player? They just show that, more often or not, his long passes hit their target. It's a tad more reliable than relying on your memory. When you already think Bannan is shit, you're bound to remember the poor passes and forget the good ones.

And vice verse as well. Lots of fans remember remember the very occasional good pass then conveniently forget the dross before and after. He's hopeless, and no OPTA stats will convince me otherwise.

I'm with you on this one.

He is useless and should not be anywhere near a Villa team

[old man villa fan]

Have we ever been this bad before though? Even in 86-87 I don't remember us being this appalling.

Oh, I do. We finished bottom of the old Division One, with a lot of kids in the side. It was pretty grim. And we've had bad patches before where we were in danger. That first season back in Division One, then 1994-95, 2002-03. There are probably others.

Maybe I'm just unlucky to have the nutters congregate around me at the moment. Not really sure, hence the OP.

Off the top of my head I don't remember us being on the end of some of, if not the most humiliating defeats in the club's history in 86-87 though. That's what we've had to endure this season. So for me, so far, this is the worst season ever. We're not down yet and we can still stay up. So all's not lost, yet.

6-0 at Forest, didn't exactly fill me with hope that things would work out ok.  3-0 home and away to Spurs, 5-0 at Southampton, 3-0 at Charlton and Everton, 4-0 at Arsenal, 4-1 at Chelsea, 4-2 at Watford, 4-1 at Norwich and the rest.

I would suggest your memory is a little clouded.

I am not sure of your age but I was a touch humiliated losing 3-0 away to Walsall in 1971.

We are going through a very bad spell but the most humiliating in our history, I do not think so.

[Pete3206]

Something that arised out of last night's game for me, and to be fair has been bugging me for a while now.

Is the era of fans being complete arseholes to their own players during a game a relatively new thing or has it always gone on? It certainly seems much worse these days than it ever used to be. I'm all for giving players the bird at full time but during a game it seems counter-productive.

I'm particularly interested in the opinions of those who would use the seats even pre-Taylor report, back as far as when I first started going to games regularly in the mid-1980s.

There's not a game that goes by it seems when someone is barking abuse at our own players. The three arseholes in the row behind me last night seemed to be particularly targetting Bannan, Ireland and N'Zogbia. In the past, in the days of terracing it would be possible to move away, but thats not the case now, hence my interest in answers from people who've always used seats.

The scapegoating, the finger pointing, the barracking of our own players, it's always been the way at Villa Park when things seriously don't go our way.  I can't stand it to be honest and fear it could destroy some of our younger players.  I suppose the other way of looking at it is that it sifts out the weak from the mentally strong but it doesn't half make Villa Park a wretched, poisonous place to visit.  Imagine trying to play football with a baying mob on your back? 

The players aren't delivering good enough performances that their massive salaries demand. Worse still, a few of them don't seem to give a shit. They have been humbled by an average 4th division team and they deserve every bit of criticism that comes their way. They need a rocket up their arses. They had a near full house and a platform to deliver the performances of their lives last night. And, despite a long run of wretched performances, the fans still turned up in force. However, our sorry bunch failed miserably, while a team that was assembled for £7,500 played like their lives depended on it and deservedly walked off with the spoils.

Finally, you say you hate scapegoating and finger pointing, yet you're doing exactly that with a section of supporters. It always seems to come back to the fans eventually.

[tomd2103]

Last night one thing really caught my attention. Benteke failed to control a ball around the half way line and there was a huge collective groan from the Villa fans. Thinking about it, I'd say we've been doing it for ever. I guess it's just a 'Villa thing'.

It's hardly just a 'Villa' thing.  It happens at most clubs. 

[Meanwood Villa]

There was a lad in front of me trying to get the crowd going around the 70 minute mark, "come on, support the boys" that sort of thing. I remember thinking that it had got to the point where the players needed to give me something to get enthusiastic about. Different from outright abuse I suppose.