Fans Worried Over Villa Future

[Simon Barron]

More quotes on football365

Aston Villa fans' groups are warning the club will be contemplating life in the Championship rather than Europe unless there is major investment sooner rather than later.

Villa Fans Combined (VFC) are sceptical about the strength of a possible takeover bid that under-fire chairman Doug Ellis and the board of directors are considering. Ellis said at Friday's annual general meeting that he hoped to let shareholders know within a month whether initial interest from a group of potential investors will have sufficient substance to be considered viable.

VFC spokesman Jonathan Fear said: "Everyone was pleased to win the derby against Birmingham on Sunday but overall the club is going to keep on going backwards unless it receives some big investment in the near future."

Villa have already rejected a £47million takeover bid from a consortium including former Manchester City player Ray Ranson in July.

Fear added: "You can't keep flirting with relegation forever and, for the chairman to say we are going for Europe without any investment, is an insult to the fans.

"At the AGM I did question Mr Ellis on whether he had confused the Champions League with the Championship. He didn't answer - but, if we continue down the road we are on at present, that quip could just become reality."

Fear added: "I truly hope that AGM was the last pro-active action anyone involved with VFC and the Aston Villa Shareholders' Association have to take and that the board of AVFC are honestly considering a takeover proposal.

"However, it has to be said, that the timing is more than a little convenient. The same happened before last year's AGM and the same excuses for not answering our questions were given.

"They suggested virtually no questions could be answered because of the rules of the City. Two years in a row, two years of losses, two years of poor on-the-field performances and two years where they couldn't answer questions.

"If people don't come forward and genuinely bid, and at the moment there is no official bid but just an approach and enquiry, then the club, both on the field and on the accountants' sheets, will continue to stagnate or fall behind our competitors."

[Chris Smith]

What is there to disagree with in the statement?  If we don't get investment, we WILL keep going backwards.  Most of the comments on this thread are just criticising for the pure sake of it.

And I really can't see how the journalist's spin on it can be obtained from what Jon actually said.  How do you get to

Villa Fans Combined (VFC) are sceptical about the strength of a possible takeover bid

from

Everyone was pleased to win the derby against Birmingham on Sunday but overall the club is going to keep on going backwards unless it receives some big investment in the near future

Where does he say he's sceptical about anything.  he just says we need investment, which we do.

I trust he will be doing something about his views being falsely reported then.

The problem I have with VFC is that they are always represented in the media as being an Umbrella organisation for fans groups when they are no such thing. If they were reported that way once then I'd give them the benefit of the doubt but when it happens repeatedly with no apparent effort made to correct this misrepresentation then they lose credibility in my eyes because it does appear as though they are claiming to speak on behalf of the wider fanbase. Whether that is there intrention or not is neither here nor there if they don't do anything to counter it.

[Big Daddy p 23]

How can they moan about investment when this summer we spent a fair bit of cash building a squad DOL wants.

It's not just about spending money, look at everton last year and bolton and charlton they don't spend shit loads but they are doing well.

And unless jon fear has a huge amount of money that he himself can invest in aston villa then i'd wish he would shut the fuck up. he is the exact reason villa fans have a repuation for being a bunch of moaning bastards.

[Oscar Goldman]

"You can't keep flirting with relegation forever and, for the chairman to say we are going for Europe without any investment, is an insult to the fans.

Plonker!

"At the AGM I did question Mr Ellis on whether he had confused the Champions League with the Championship. He didn't answer..."

It’s called treating a question with the contempt it deserves.

[Laughing Gravity]

Jon Fear flaps his wings and a thunderstorm happens in H&V land.

Predictable.

21 pages at least.

[Risso]

He must have done something to rattle Doug, as he got a fair bit of discussion on SSN on Saturday.  If he's helped Doug decide to get out a bit sooner by even 1%, it's all been worthwhile in my eyes.

And spending a fair amount of money this summer hasn't yet made up for the under investment in the previous 2-3 years.

[Oscar Goldman]

Jon Fear flaps his wings and a thunderstorm happens in H&V land.

Predictable.

21 pages at least.

Perhaps it’s because while it is quite amusing to see Fear make a complete plonker of himself, people aren’t so keen for him to drag the rest of Villadom through the mud.    

By the way, the only truly predictable thing here is that VFC should try to hijack a good Villa story and make their perpetually dark cloud eclipse a silver lining.

[Mac]

Jon Fear flaps his wings and a thunderstorm happens in H&V land.

Predictable.

Shouldn't that be, stomps his foot and screams and screams until he's sick?

[Risso]

Shouldn't that be, stomps his foot and holds

What does that mean exactly?

[Oscar Goldman]

Jon Fear flaps his wings and a thunderstorm happens in H&V land.

Predictable.

Shouldn't that be, stomps his foot and holds and screams and screams until he's sick?

Perhaps you missed the point, Mac.

It may be that he wanted everybody to join in with a big musical number:

“Clap hands

Stamp your feet.

Bang it on a big bass drum.

What a travesty

What a travesty

Rum tiddley um pum pum pum pum

Stick it in yer AGM album.”

[Risso]

Well at least it looks like it got Disco posting again, so it's not all bad.

[Oscar Goldman]

Well at least it looks like it got Disco posting again, so it's not all bad.

Is there anything these VFC jokers won’t erroneously attempt to take credit for?

[Karl Bridges]

Jon Fear flaps his wings and a thunderstorm happens in H&V land.

Predictable.

21 pages at least.

Do you see him as some sort of angel then?

[Oscar Goldman]

Would any VFC types care to explain how a club that’s only twice finished outside the top flight’s top ten in the last fourteen years is “flirting with relegation forever”?

By the way, it seems that members of the fundamentalist wing of the Fear Groupies are getting quite upset.

I predict a riot.

[Oscar Goldman]

Jon Fear flaps his wings and a thunderstorm happens in H&V land.

Predictable.

21 pages at least.

Do you see him as some sort of angel then?

Fear’s about as effective as Angel – constantly offside and always fires well wide of the target.