Always look on the bright side of life

[cannock villa]

After Saturdays defeat, I have done my mourning and now come out the other side. Unless we do something that has never been done by any team in the history of the premier league, we are going down.
Now, i'm old enough to remember the last relegation but more memorably I remember our year in the old second division. I can honestly only look back on it with fond memories, we were the big fish in the little pond.
Of course things could be different this time, football is a different beast these days, but having stunk the Premier League out the last 3 - 4 years, I will look forward to seeing a winning side again even if it is against poorer opposition.
So my message to the ones who haven't been here before is don't worry, it may not be as bad as you think, you may even enjoy it more than the last few years. Anybody know Graham Taylors number.

[brian green]

Or as my son put it, no more hanging on by our fingertips until the last game.

[Richard E]

After Saturdays defeat, I have done my mourning and now come out the other side. Unless we do something that has never been done by any team in the history of the premier league, we are going down.
Now, i'm old enough to remember the last relegation but more memorably I remember our year in the old second division. I can honestly only look back on it with fond memories, we were the big fish in the little pond.
Of course things could be different this time, football is a different beast these days, but having stunk the Premier League out the last 3 - 4 years, I will look forward to seeing a winning side again even if it is against poorer opposition.
So my message to the ones who haven't been here before is don't worry, it may not be as bad as you think, you may even enjoy it more than the last few years. Anybody know Graham Taylors number.

I remember the away games from that season fondly, the home matches not so much. Losing at home to Blose, Stoke, Oldham, Milwall etc and draws against colossi like Barnsley and Huddersfield.

[Hookeysmith]

We would be a huge scalp for most clubs and its a long tough season but I think I may enjoy it
I have not given up hope of our survival just yet but I long for the days when we had a more even playing field. The premiership is lost for me ever since it became a sky induced rigged deck based purely on money spent.
Can you imagine the horror on sky / EUFA's faces if Leicester keep this up and end up in the Chumps league.

So to go into games on occasion being the favourite again would be better than the shite we have now

[levico]

Let's not get too excited about the Championship, things have moved on.

I would expect Lerner to pair down to the bone to reduce costs. For one thing the squad will be unrecognisable and we have no idea how Garde will fair.

We may end up flirting with relegation all over again.

[remy]

I only started supporting Villa from 1987 my first players were Alan McInally , Ormydroid, Olney, Cascarino. I was hooked :-)

Since then my passion has increased year on year and spread to my children. Over the last 5 years I've witnessed our club torn apart by the selfish interests of the owners, managers and players. The fans as usual all suffer.

Manager does crap - here is a lottery win for your trouble and on your way, mind how you go.

Owner does crap - here is hundreds of millions for your custodial reign and in return the new one can rename the ground, change the colour of the strip and sign away the heritage.

Players carry on being crap - lets plan a move away for millions in signing on fees and screw this place.

After Watford we are resigned to the inevitable. I only looked at who we have on saturday, not to look forward to the match but see how many we may lose by on this occasion, visualising Richardson being bypassed, Clark like a statue and Guzan flapping before the roar goes up. I love my club but watching this week on week is soul destroying.

When we're relegated we wont go straight back up, so Im getting more and more used to the championship.

[Dave]

Let's not get too excited about the Championship, things have moved on

I would expect Lerner to pair down to the bone to reduce costs. For one thing the squad will be unrecognisable and we have no idea how Garde will fair.

Will it? Everyone will be on a contract that reduces their wages to a sustainable level if we go down. Pretty much all contracts stipulate that now, since Newcastle were burned by it a few years ago. Even Arsenal put relegation clauses in new contracts.

And it's not like there is going to a big queue for many of our players from teams better than us. I expect the bulk of the squad would likely stay as it is.

We may end up flirting with relegation all over again.

A Derby team with Scott Carson in goal, Stephen Warnock in defence and Andi Weimann leading the line is currently the form team in the Championship, two points from first. Bobby Zamora is scoring the goals to keep Brighton top 

Would you replace any of the current team with them? If not, why wouldn't we be doing as well as they are? It's a league in which Cameron Jerome and Rudy Gestede are considered 20+ goal strikers.

[brian green]

If it helps, being in the third tier is even more fun than the second. It is the only time in a long spell of me being a Villa fan when you could look at the fixtures and say who are we going to smash this week?

[cannock villa]

I suppose the point of the thread is that it may be what we need, to go down, take stock and start over again.

[NeilH]

Both of my kids have no intention to go down this season. I have offered to take them when I am over at Xmas, but even with the 20quid deal I could not persuade either of them to go. Both of them are fans, both ask me every weekend about the result and both wear their shirts proudly; but both are utterly sick to death of hearing the line ‘yeah we lost again.’ To them the Championship represents an opportunity to see their team win and to enjoy themselves at Villa Park once more, cos every occasion I have taken them down over the last 5 years has ended in misery and disappointment for them.
I am, of course, more than aware of the pitfalls of us going down and recall vividly some of the god awful games from the last time we were there. However, I have long since passed into the acceptance part of my grief process to our demise and the optimist in me sees a chance to totally reset the dial, bring much needed positivity back to the club and from a personal perspective to let my kids see us win.

[CT]

So many seem to assume we'll go down and suddenly learn the art of winning games again.

I remember 87/88 very fondly too, but as said before, it's a totally different game now. Teams have rolled up to VP and taken the piss for years now and the way we're being run I don't see that changing just because we're in a different division.

[brian green]

I don't (respectfully) see how we are being run as a problem. How we have been run caused the damage.

[Dave]

So many seem to assume we'll go down and suddenly learn the art of winning games again.

I remember 87/88 very fondly too, but as said before, it's a totally different game now. Teams have rolled up to VP and taken the piss for years now and the way we're being run I don't see that changing just because we're in a different division.

Well... Ciaran Clark might find it easier to defend properly against Daryl Murphy than against Romelu Lukaku.

And Rudy Gestede might find it easier to score against Jonathan Spector than Vincent Kompany.

[Ads]

I think we'd walk the Championship as Newcastle did.

The squad wouldn't be vulnerable to being stripped down, as I think only Richards would be drawn away and we'd be able to keep hold of the rest given the lengths on their contracts.

We'd need a centre half, goalkeeper and maybe another midfielder and forward depending on depth, but otherwise the bulk of the squad would be good enough. They should be good enough to stay up as it stands. We'd be the biggest and richest club down there, with the greater draw of any of them in respect of transfer targets.

Ayew and Gestede would score bucket loads. Grealish, Gil, Sinclair and Traroe would be far and away the most creative midfield elements going, while we'd have a manager capable of playing the type of football beyond most in the league.

We may get the opportunity to re-build our home form as it would be 20 odd sides coming to park the bus at the big ground, only this time we have a manager whose attacking nous extends beyond the "get it wide and get it in" mentality.

It would be horrendously embarrassing and a complete humiliation and I for one would only permit myself to crack a smile on two occasion after we smash up the Noses, who to echo Dave's point about the crap Derby being top, the Noses are flying high despite being one dimensional, functional shite.

It’s a league chock full of dross, where the likes of Bournemouth who can kick a ball with relative tempo to a team mate look like their playing a different sport because of it.

[conman]

it wouldnt be too bad going down if it wasnt the mega money TV deal for prem clubs next season ,,
the trouble with villa ,,, for years its been set up to look after the corporate / hospitality / executive lounges and boxes  side  rather than joe public the working class villa fan in the stands,,,,we will be saddled with debt
theres going to have to be a big clear out of the hangers on doing pointless matchday jobs
i can take going down,,,,,,what pisses me off is the constant comments from  blue noses and  from people who dont really support anyone or have never been to a football match in their life