The Aston Villa Football Club 2015/16 Season - Annual Review

[mattjpa]

Before this thread descends into another black hole of doom and gloom I think there is a good chance we may look back on the 2015/16 season as the best thing to happen to us since the 80's. Anything less than the absolute clusterfuck would have seen us bumbling along like we have for the last few years. Things being so bad will probably result in the owner leaving, the club being restructured internally, new owners in, a fresh board with a villa hero at the heart of it, a new manager and coaching team, tired, old players being shipped out, poor players being sold, a chance to rebuild the squad from the ground up, a new philosophy for buying players.
I honestly think we are at the dawn of a new era for the club which wouldnt have come about had we survived.

[DaveD]

I wish I had your optimism, but unless the club is sold it'll be more of the same - costs will continue to be cut, nobody with the slightest drive or ambition will join in the boardroom, on the coaching staff or in the squad, the piss-takers and incompetents will stick around and pick up the easy money, and anyone who wants to make something of their career will leave and be replaced by cheaper, inferior models, or chancers who spot a score to be made.

We've been circling the drain for years, we've finally been sucked down the plughole, and unless Randy goes, I fear all that awaits is another drain.

[CT Villan]

Before this thread descends into another black hole of doom and gloom I think there is a good chance we may look back on the 2015/16 season as the best thing to happen to us since the 80's. Anything less than the absolute clusterfuck would have seen us bumbling along like we have for the last few years. Things being so bad will probably result in the owner leaving, the club being restructured internally, new owners in, a fresh board with a villa hero at the heart of it, a new manager and coaching team, tired, old players being shipped out, poor players being sold, a chance to rebuild the squad from the ground up, a new philosophy for buying players.
I honestly think we are at the dawn of a new era for the club which wouldnt have come about had we survived.

I agree...relegation is the catalyst for Lerner to reduce his price expectations and hopefully get him over the line to complete a sale to a new owner with Villa's best interest at heart.

[Risso]

I very much doubt that the third goal we conceded at Sunderland will ever be surpassed in its levels of utter incompetence.  It defied belief.

That was a special monent for sure. Some crackers against Liverpool too.

[Chico Hamilton III]

Before this thread descends into another black hole of doom and gloom I think there is a good chance we may look back on the 2015/16 season as the best thing to happen to us since the 80's. Anything less than the absolute clusterfuck would have seen us bumbling along like we have for the last few years. Things being so bad will probably result in the owner leaving, the club being restructured internally, new owners in, a fresh board with a villa hero at the heart of it, a new manager and coaching team, tired, old players being shipped out, poor players being sold, a chance to rebuild the squad from the ground up, a new philosophy for buying players.
I honestly think we are at the dawn of a new era for the club which wouldnt have come about had we survived.

I agree...relegation is the catalyst for Lerner to reduce his price expectations and hopefully get him over the line to complete a sale to a new owner with Villa's best interest at heart.

Sorry to be miserable, but I'm worried about who Lerner flogs us to. And the longer it drags on, the more I worry that he'll sell to any old crook with the required cash. let's face it, he's fucked up everything else he's touched at the club so why should we have any confidence that he'll even sell us correctly. I hope I'm wrong, but I can't help feeling that we're more Portsmouth than Man City 

[PeterWithesShin]

Man City in the cup, they score from our corner without having to do anything.

[aj2k77]

Bacuna setting up Shane Long with a no look 50 yard through ball.

[CT Villan]

Sorry to be miserable, but I'm worried about who Lerner flogs us to. And the longer it drags on, the more I worry that he'll sell to any old crook with the required cash. let's face it, he's fucked up everything else he's touched at the club so why should we have any confidence that he'll even sell us correctly. I hope I'm wrong, but I can't help feeling that we're more Portsmouth than Man City 

A valid concern for sure considering Lerner has got almost every executive appointment wrong, except perhaps Hollis - who thankfully is the one advising him on the sale. At this point Lerner has lost so much money on us that I don't think a few million here or there make a difference and I hope this releases him from financial pressures and facilitates a sale to the group with Villa's best interests at heart.

[ChicagoLion]

I wish I had your optimism, but unless the club is sold it'll be more of the same - costs will continue to be cut, nobody with the slightest drive or ambition will join in the boardroom, on the coaching staff or in the squad, the piss-takers and incompetents will stick around and pick up the easy money, and anyone who wants to make something of their career will leave and be replaced by cheaper, inferior models, or chancers who spot a score to be made.

We've been circling the drain for years, we've finally been sucked down the plughole, and unless Randy goes, I fear all that awaits is another drain.

Pretty much how I see it.
But we live in hope, there is an underlying enthusiasm for this club which could be reignited.

[aj2k77]

Well weve had 5 years of almost non stop terrible football, humiliations, defeats and bullshit, we haven't lost too many supporters, give us something to get behind and I can see us roaring the team back. Can you imagine Burton facing a packed Holte fully behind new players and with hope, those sort of teams wouldn't know what's hit them.

[Steve67]

Well weve had 5 years of almost non stop terrible football, humiliations, defeats and bullshit, we haven't lost too many supporters, give us something to get behind and I can see us roaring the team back. Can you imagine Burton facing a packed Holte fully behind new players and with hope, those sort of teams wouldn't know what's hit them.

Great post, totally agree. This summer is arguably the most important in our history. Might sound dramatic but if Randy stays in charge, yeah, we might get back eventually, but we face more of the same cost cutting and not competing, leading to yo yo life between the divisions. 

[Villa in Denmark]

It's not just about not buying players as good as the ones you've sold. On paper our squad had more talent than at the very least the three promoted teams. The biggest failing was the inability of management staff to have them organised, fit and fighting for each other week in week out from the get-go

There was a 1/2 hour interview with Kasper Schmeichel last night over here.

At one point the interviewer asked him how could they have achieved what they did with the squad they'd got.

I can't remember word for word, but basically they all got on, they all respected each other, they all trusted one another and it had been impressed on them from the players who'd been there at the lowest point what it meant for the city and the fans to even have a club at all. So when you went onto the pitch, you knew that there's be 20 odd team mates and coaching staff ready to give you a right going over if you decided to play Billy Big Bollocks or give yourself the afternoon off.

That and they got the tactics pretty much spot on in every game.

Somehow I can't imagine that there's been anyone laying down those kinds of standards for anyone else since Petrov.

Even decent performers like Delph and Benteke, I can't envisage being too demanding of team mates, more being worried about their own game.

[brian green]

In actual fact VID it gave every impression that the squad was so destroyed by personal animosity the players hated each other on and off the pitch.  The big splits appeared to be along two axes, pro and anti Sherwood and pro and anti "foreigners".

[dcdavecollett]

Good to see that UKIP-style attitudes have helped to relegate us.

Never mind, eh? Wave that Union Jack!!

[DaveD]

Good to see that UKIP-style attitudes have helped to relegate us.

Never mind, eh? Wave that Union Jack!!

I think Randy decided we were better off out of Europe some years ago.