Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Tom_Mc9? on January 23, 2015, 02:18:09 PM
-
Without wishing this to turn into a 'I'm a better fan than you' debate, how much do we all care about the Villa? Obviously enough to spend time on an internet forum discussing a topic that others may view as trivial, but to what degree? This follows what I said earlier about others being incandescent with rage (possible hyperbole) about Lambert's failings, whereas I cannot muster enough anger to really get much above a mild grump. A few years ago it would have been different, but I think the Lerner years have flushed that enthusiasm out of me.
-
I don't know if it's because I'm getting older but I'm completely chilled about our current dilema and perhaps give the impression that I don't care as much as I once did. I used to rant endlessly in the Ellis era, perhaps because then we always seemed one player off being a great team and Doug wouldn't go that extra bit just to take us there.
Now we are hundreds of millions away from competing at the top so it seems pointless to rant about being either 16th or 6th and still not winning anything. I still absolutely enjoy my matchdays as well regardless of the teams performance.
-
One of the main reasons my friends and I didn't renew is because we enjoyed the match day, but tended not to enjoy the actual matches.
-
Its very easy for me to love Villa more than my first born since I do not have any kids!
Far more than I should, I think, in as much as that losing ruins my weekend and causes me to avoid any mention of it in the TV and newspaper, holidays have tended to be booked so as to minimise the number of games missed, I get agitated if I can't keep up with what is happening in a Villa match I am not at etc etc.
-
This much:
*stretches out arms*
*dies*
-
I think some people tend to mellow about their team as they get older, I know I have. If we lose, then I don't dwell on it as much and I don't let it ruin my weekend. It's more mild frustration when things go wrong.
-
I still care to the extent that I’m an STH with occasional away games. While I’m there I’ll get into the game but the second I walk through the door when I get home from a game, I move on. There’s more important things than worrying about whether a football team has won or not.
I love watching the game and talking about it but I’ll never let it ruin my weekend or my Monday morning. It has got to the point where even if we won the cup, I’d enjoy the day as much as anyone but then the day after, life would return to normal.
I see people whose lives are almost defined by what happens at the match on a Saturday and it worries me. Going to an away game is great but seeing people spend the day getting drunk then arguing amongst themselves afterwards? No thanks. I’m there to watch the football.
I couldn’t let something that I have so little control of affect my life in that way.
-
It's a hobby.
-
Ha the poll looks like a penis
-
I don't know if it's because I'm getting older but I'm completely chilled about our current dilema and perhaps give the impression that I don't care as much as I once did. I used to rant endlessly in the Ellis era, perhaps because then we always seemed one player off being a great team and Doug wouldn't go that extra bit just to take us there.
Now we are hundreds of millions away from competing at the top so it seems pointless to rant about being either 16th or 6th and still not winning anything. I still absolutely enjoy my matchdays as well regardless of the teams performance.
Same here.
-
I care roughly speaking about 76.389576%. Down 5.384029 points from last year.
-
I get angry and upset when we lose. Fed up when we draw against crap teams. Also get stressed and worried about relegation every season lately. Supporting villa seems more of a negative than a positive.
-
I get angry and upset when we lose. Fed up when we draw against crap teams. Also get stressed and worried about relegation every season lately. Supporting villa seems more of a negative than a positive.
Same here, though it doesn't completely ruin my weekend like it did when I was younger.
-
I don't know if it's because I'm getting older but I'm completely chilled about our current dilema and perhaps give the impression that I don't care as much as I once did. I used to rant endlessly in the Ellis era, perhaps because then we always seemed one player off being a great team and Doug wouldn't go that extra bit just to take us there.
Now we are hundreds of millions away from competing at the top so it seems pointless to rant about being either 16th or 6th and still not winning anything. I still absolutely enjoy my matchdays as well regardless of the teams performance.
This is me apart from the last sentence. I'm battered into submission by the last few seasons into the fact we are a bit shit. Before then I'd always think we'd turn the corner but now avoiding the drop rather than Europe is the total of our ambition. That being the case I am beginning to care a little less about our results as I'm almost as immune to losing on a regular basis as not being able to score a goal. The losses still hurt for the entire walk back to the Swan and Mitre, a few pints later and I've forgotten about it. Three seasons ago any loss would ruin my weekend.
-
I don't know if it's because I'm getting older but I'm completely chilled about our current dilema and perhaps give the impression that I don't care as much as I once did. I used to rant endlessly in the Ellis era, perhaps because then we always seemed one player off being a great team and Doug wouldn't go that extra bit just to take us there.
Now we are hundreds of millions away from competing at the top so it seems pointless to rant about being either 16th or 6th and still not winning anything. I still absolutely enjoy my matchdays as well regardless of the teams performance.
Same here.
Yes, spot on for me too. Excellently put. I rant on match days with the best of them and go off on one on here, sometimes inappropriately so, but really evened out across a week, this is exactly how I feel. I rarely watch MOTD, don't tune in to talk in footie shows on the radio, sometimes don't even know scores from a lot of games. I worry endlessly that I am getting like my Dad who was a rabid Villa fan until his early 30s, went to the 57 cup final etc, and has hardly cared about football for the last 40 years. He felt in the early 60s how I feel about us now - a time when we really did fall down the pecking order very quickly (though the signs were there in mid to late 50s too apparently!)
-
In recent seasons I have taken the view point that to worry and threat about things beyond my control is surely the path to madness.
I try to take a positive look at things and I still really enjoy going to games, which is surely the point? Especially the away ones, but then I have always been like that.
I have been, for the first time in just shy of 25 years of watching us home and away, to two away games this season on my own and also a home game on my own, which is new; Palace and Leicester away and Man United at home, but I haven’t found that has dampened my appetite, which must confirm I am still enjoying it.
I don’t get as angry or worked up about it as I used to, although I found I was dropping the c-bomb multiple times as I tried to cut my way through the Birmingham roadwork’s back to my parents house after the Liverpool game and found myself telling Lambert to fuck off everytime he came on the radio, so I still get a bit narky. By the time I was on my way back to the North West, I was ok though.
I love the Villa, its not life or death or anything saft like that, but I enjoy the pageantry, the sense of belonging and camaraderie, the black/gallows Brummie humour, the boisterousness of it all and yes, even the football on occasions.
-
I think for those like me who can't afford to go, all we have is the game and the result. All the extra stuff that Ads mentions we don't really get. So when the game is painful to watch and the result is bad then I suppose we can't fall back on the good day out side of it.
The other thing is that no it doesn't matter a great deal whether we finish 7th - 17th so we might as well try to play some good attacking football. We're not going to win the league, finish top four, or anything like that but we could at least be better than we are and give ourselves a better chance. At the moment it's like we've just given up.
-
Far more than I should. Having said that, I don't let Villa ruin stuff. I'll be pissed off after a shit result but will nearly always be calmed down quickly. Life is too short to stress over a football team, so i'll have a bit of a moan about the game and then crack on.
Helps that I still look forward to going to games, there'll come a day when i'm too old, ill, or dead to go to VP again so i'll enjoy it while I can and go as often as I can. The odd win would be nicer though!
-
My other half reckons i'm a much nicer person these days, she used to be able to tell how Villa have done by my moods. Nowadays she can never tell whether we've had a shot on target or not.
-
If Villa won the FA Cup, it would sit comfortably amongst the best days of my life.
-
Far more than I should. Having said that, I don't let Villa ruin stuff. I'll be pissed off after a shit result but will nearly always be calmed down quickly. Life is too short to stress over a football team, so i'll have a bit of a moan about the game and then crack on.
Same here, maybe I've just become so used to watching us play crap football for so long it no longer surprises me. Saying that, if I recall, a Villa win completely changes my mood and everything is wonderful with the world.
-
Far more than I should. Having said that, I don't let Villa ruin stuff. I'll be pissed off after a shit result but will nearly always be calmed down quickly. Life is too short to stress over a football team, so i'll have a bit of a moan about the game and then crack on.
Helps that I still look forward to going to games, there'll come a day when i'm too old, ill, or dead to go to VP again so i'll enjoy it while I can and go as often as I can. The odd win would be nicer though!
spot on for me too PWS...
-
If Villa won the FA Cup, it would sit comfortably amongst the best days of my life.
Yes, except it even bloody annoys me that it aint what it was and how I wish we had won it in its halycon days for me, which was probably the 70s and early 80s. When the whole nation stopped to watch, the whole day was devoted to it, the atmosphere was cracking, the semis were not played at Wembley and so on. I don't think I have even really watched the last two which would have been unheard of a few years back. I can reel off every cup winner and probably all the goalscorers from the 70s, a few from the 80s, and hardly any from then on when it just seems to be a case of Arsenal, Man Utd and Chelsea taking it in turns to win it year in, year out
-
I haven't watched an FA Cup Final since you know when.
-
Without wishing this to turn into a 'I'm a better fan than you' debate, how much do we all care about the Villa? Obviously enough to spend time on an internet forum discussing a topic that others may view as trivial, but to what degree? This follows what I said earlier about others being incandescent with rage (possible hyperbole) about Lambert's failings, whereas I cannot muster enough anger to really get much above a mild grump. A few years ago it would have been different, but I think the Lerner years have flushed that enthusiasm out of me.
You grew-up Tom, travelled the world, met the woman of your life, planned kids, cars and Cotswolds holidays. Unfair to blame your indifference completely on Randolph, surely?
-
It ruins most weekends for me.
I have been trying to care less recently.
It is not working.
-
Bloke at work just asked me if I was going on Sunday, and I honestly didn't even realise that's when we were playing. I don't think that's happened before in the 40 years I've been on this planet.
-
Seriously though, I always think it's at a healthy level of being mad about them when compared to someone who doesn't care but still far away from being as obsessed as those who have H&V burnt into their eyelids at night. But then, the litmus test is always how much do I think about them when a game is on and I'm doing something else/unable to check for updates and the truth is it's always on my mind for the duration of the game. And waiting for a result having no idea what the score is still makes me more anxious than it really should do by now.
-
I still care massively. Like lots of you I was born into supporting Villa so not caring or not worrying isn't really an option. I like to think of myself as fairly sensible and level-headed, but Villa being shit still puts a big dampener on my weekend. It's pathetic really, I know, but I'm not sure that I'll ever really grow out of it. My first child is due in August and I fully intend to make them go through the same sufferings that I have had to.
-
My interest has reduced to just match days now and watching online. By and large i switch off from football during the rest of the week.
-
My love for Villa and football in general has been on the wane for a few years now, our current plight isn't helping, but it had dropped way before that, even when we we're doing well in Randy's first three years. It's probably more to do with getting older, having better things to do with my time and money, and the over hyped bullshit that is Sky and modern football in general. Seeing the Sky ad for the transfer window night makes me feel sick and represents all that is wrong with the modern game. Happy weekend folks !
-
My enthusiasm is being badly dented, but I doubt my love of the Villa will go.
-
My love for Villa and football in general has been on the wane for a few years now, our current plight isn't helping, but it had dropped way before that, even when we we're doing well in Randy's first three years. It's probably more to do with getting older, having better things to do with my time and money, and the over hyped bullshit that is Sky and modern football in general. Seeing the Sky ad for the transfer window night makes me feel sick and represents all that is wrong with the modern game. Happy weekend folks !
Pretty much this for me too -
-
Too much. Try as I might defeat still hurts.
-
Enough to feel physically ill when things are bad and to be unapproachable at times to the extent I am considering not attending as it does me no good
Enough to wake up worrying in the night (which seems to be most of the time these days)
-
Most of the time I hate football. But I love villa. If Villa win I love football again. I also love cricket, but if England lose, I still love cricket. Does any of this make any sense? it's Friday, and I've had a couple of glasses of Rioja.
-
This is my home page
-
Most of the time I hate football. But I love villa. If Villa win I love football again. I also love cricket, but if England lose, I still love cricket. Does any of this make any sense? it's Friday, and I've had a couple of glasses of Rioja.
I'm starting to love Rioja more than Villa.
-
It's an odd one for me because it's rare that I'm able to get down to see games, but I do pore over Villa related news and spend a lot of time reading news about the club. I've been on this forum since about 2005 through it's various incarnations. This is from someone who has come to detest the 'business' of football. I couldn't care less about other clubs, who is going for the title, who won what, my interest in football has boiled down solely to Villa. I'll passionately debate why I think Villa are amongst the greatest clubs with people but more and more I keep it to myself. I know we are, we know we are, sod the rest. So I think it's fair to say my love for Villa smoulders.
-
Over the years I have begun to resent the amount Villa invades my life - a lot of the time I wish I didn't care but then we win and the mental high it gives takes over. The only thing I can draw a comparison with is being the 'other' man/woman in an extra-marital affair. You know it's not going to end well but cannot end the relationship because the short-term good times outweigh the rest of time. As for football as a whole - there is just too much coverage and it is way past saturation point for club football.
-
some of the best days i've ever lived in my life have been watching Villa,
I don't go as much nowadays and the reason for that is nothing to do with football,
my Son who I used to go with all the time since he was a very small boy hit his mid twenties and upped and went to live with his family in Manchester
call me a pussy but its not the same on your own
the greatest father son times can be had at football grounds, I'm convinced of that, memories that will last a lifetime, that's why I love the Villa, its given me those
the good news is I have another lad of 6, the bad news is he's not showing much interest in football
all I know is whenever Villa are playing, no matter where I am in the world, I always know and follow the match if I can and look for the score asap if I cant
-
I care for Villa far more than Randy Lerner or Paul Lambert do. Modern football is wank to be fair but my passion would be rekindled like the flick of a switch if something positive happened at Villa.
-
I will be at the next 5 matches before going away for a week.
That pretty much sums up how sad I am.
-
A lot but it doesn't affect me mood wise - never has done really but nothing feels like walking up to VP on matchday. I moved to London when I left school and only came back to the Midlands about 5 years ago. Having Villa on my doorstep is something I've looked forward to most of my adult life and despite the last few seasons being able to get to VP easily is a luxury in my eyes. I have three sons and look forward to taking them when they're old enough. Some of my strongest early childhood memories are going to football with my Dad (albeit to Wolves....hope my lads support their old mans team!!!!!)
-
I actually love the area around the ground. It's a special place and I always get a vibe walking up to the game. It's etched in my brain from childhood , the smell of the brewery, the smell of the Hp sauce factory, the AV lights, midweek night games were magical that Uefa cup run in 78 pure magical stuff .
-
Ha the poll looks like a penis
Not yours I hope my good man, otherwise it's off to Heartlands for you
-
I wish I didn't care as much as I did. As someone said earlier, a good measure is what you do when Villa are playing and you're not at the match. For me, no matter how pissed off I am with them, I'll still be following what's going on, either on here, online or on the radio.
I sometimes wonder if we'd done a Man City and won the league and FA Cup in the space of 2 or 3 years, whether I'd then just happily "retire" from watching us as that's all we could ever dream of and it would never get any better.
I was born in 75 so don't really remember 81-82. All I've witnessed is 2 League Cup wins (I appreciate this is more than many others). Right now I'd just settle for seeing us win the FA Cup once in my lifetime.
It's the hope that kills you.
-
If Villa won the FA Cup, it would sit comfortably amongst the best days of my life.
This, with brass knobs on.
-
If Villa won the FA Cup, it would sit comfortably amongst the best days of my life.
This, with brass knobs on.
We won't.
-
If Villa won the FA Cup, it would sit comfortably amongst the best days of my life.
This, with brass knobs on.
We won't.
Keep the faith!!!
-
I can't. I've been conditioned like RP McMurphy at the end of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
-
Interesting is waning.
-
If Villa won the FA Cup, it would sit comfortably amongst the best days of my life.
This, with brass knobs on.
This.
-
If Villa won the FA Cup, it would sit comfortably amongst the best days of my life.
This, with brass knobs on.
This.
Easily.
-
If Villa won the FA Cup, it would sit comfortably amongst the best days of my life.
This, with brass knobs
on.
This.
Easily.
Without a doubt.
-
My interest has waned for quite some time. I remember it was around the middle of MON's 3rd season. Life just got in the way. The last time I saw them as an attendee was at Millwall in the f.a. cup 2 seasons back. The football was beyond dire, it was freezing ass cold and snowing, we got penned in for 2 hours after the game, I caught hypothermia and got in at 5 a.m. That's the morning I said to myself never again.
-
I don't know if it's because I'm getting older but I'm completely chilled about our current dilema and perhaps give the impression that I don't care as much as I once did. I used to rant endlessly in the Ellis era, perhaps because then we always seemed one player off being a great team and Doug wouldn't go that extra bit just to take us there.
Now we are hundreds of millions away from competing at the top so it seems pointless to rant about being either 16th or 6th and still not winning anything. I still absolutely enjoy my matchdays as well regardless of the teams performance.
Same here.
And here.
-
A little bit less each year, and I feel the same way about modern #ootball as a whole.
-
Enough to moan about them a lot but still get defensive if non Villa fans have a go at them.
-
Enough to moan about them a lot but still get defensive if non Villa fans have a go at them.
Me too, Damo. I'm almost becoming numb to the disappointment and despair, but if someone, anyone, has a pop at us, I find myself taking massive offence. That's when I realise I actually care quite a lot.
-
I don't know if it's because I'm getting older but I'm completely chilled about our current dilema and perhaps give the impression that I don't care as much as I once did. I used to rant endlessly in the Ellis era, perhaps because then we always seemed one player off being a great team and Doug wouldn't go that extra bit just to take us there.
Now we are hundreds of millions away from competing at the top so it seems pointless to rant about being either 16th or 6th and still not winning anything. I still absolutely enjoy my matchdays as well regardless of the teams performance.
This is me apart from the last sentence. I'm battered into submission by the last few seasons into the fact we are a bit shit. Before then I'd always think we'd turn the corner but now avoiding the drop rather than Europe is the total of our ambition. That being the case I am beginning to care a little less about our results as I'm almost as immune to losing on a regular basis as not being able to score a goal. Three seasons ago any loss would ruin my weekend.
Sums up pretty well how I feel. Must admit though that the recent cup exits against lower league opposition have registered a bit more, as they are the one glimmer of hope we have each season. Two years on, I still can't believe we lost a two legged tie to a League Two team.
-
Lerner needs to read these posts. His shit leadership has drained nearly all the enthusiasm out of us fans.
-
It's a big part of me. I get really fucked off when we loose. I try not to let it piss me off but I can't help it. It has to be a real emergency to miss a home game. Close friend/family wedding etc. And i don't miss many aways. I do have lots of hobbies, interests and a life outside Villa. But it's the Villa that really make me tick.
-
Lambert is taking all my enthusiasm away, particularly the home record. Its not so bad if you're winning home matches at least. That plus the lack of competitiveness of football makes it seem utterly futile. We are never going to be more than an irrelevance unless we spend huge cash amounts and on top class players.
-
I dont care about Villa
They dont care about me
All i care about is
b23
-
I'm now playing the waiting game.
No use getting all worked up about a situation we clearly can't have any influence over. Lerner owns the club and if he doesn't want to be interested then that's his right.
I'm now watching, in person, with a sense of morbid curiosity. I think the next few years are going to be arguably the worst in our history but if I don't react too emotionally then, it will be interesting.
-
My love for football is being eroded by the state of the game, fuck the premiership, give the game back to fans intead of customers, and hang that bastard Blatter and i may re-discover it.
-
I must care about Villa because I am on here way too much. However detachment from living in Birmingham has its pluses in that I don't live and die by our recent years of misery. Plus I was in Birmingham during the darkest times in my following of the club.
Now it washes over pretty quickly and doesn't consume me as it once did. I have too much other stuff going, mainly my little girls to let that happen. I still hate us losing or not playing to what I perceive to be our potential but it's not what it was. Maybe like many of us the way the club have operated in the last few years has eaten away at our anger and left us all a little comatose.
-
My love for football is being eroded by the state of the game, fuck the premiership, give the game back to fans intead of customers, and hang that bastard Blatter and i may re-discover it.
Agree with you. I say I don't care but i parted with £40 last week to go to VP. I must have a dull life but that 20 mins after Gill came on was great. You cant beat the feeling.
The FA Cup results today restore a bit of faith in the game
-
After 8 season tickets in a row, I did not renew this season. At first, it felt bad not going, but as the season has gone on, I've cared a hell of a lot less than I did about how we're getting on when I was regularly going. Of course it's frustrating seeing us in this position, but it doesn't feel anywhere near as bad as when I was watching us being shit every week.
I was planning on going to a few games though, but as of yet, I've been to the Hull match and that's it.
I've watched us on TV loads, but that's probably more a social thing as I go round to friends houses to watch it. I used to have to trawl the Internet to find a stream of us, but this season I haven't been bothered at all.
Is my love dwindling? Possibly...I need some inspiration to get me back...
-
However detachment from living in Birmingham has its pluses in that I don't live and die by our recent years of misery.[/b
See TV, I'm the opposite. Being away from home means that there is no one to discuss the Villa with. There are a few Villa supporters around here but not many and, in fairness to them I don't think they fully understand the depth of feelings that Villa can evoke. This is what makes it all so frustrating for me.
H&V helps to alleviate that frustration in some way. I may not agree with some of what is written but, that's the joy of it. A consensus of opinions that give food for thought. I wish I could detach myself like you are able to do. That is not a criticism BTW.
-
I haven't been to Villa match since Swansea home game and first game from Benteke at home. I have been supporting Villa very strongly between 1981-1984 (First Game is Crystal Palace at home) then Boarding School years then start supporting Villa from 1989 to David O'Leary era and very strongly into it and even done a massive football web site (The Villan's WWW) then lost interest as I was not earning due to being out of work and fed up with Doug Ellis and dislike David O'Leary. Then Randy Lerner came with Martin O'Neill came back to supporting Villa Watched 3 or 4 years of football then given up as we lost Milner, Young and Barry. Plus my changing hours in the job as postman make it harder for me to attend and discovering Salsa which gave me so many highs and few low and football give me too many lows and not enough high. Now I am hooked in dancing and travel all over Europe to dance. I mostly love watch midweeks European matches at Villa Park. I love watching us play the like of Barcelona, Deportivos, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Athletic Bilbao. I have no interest in watch Aston Villa V Fulham, Everton and co.
Just give me Entertaining football, exciting players and big european nights I will be back. I am not increased in watching bland stuff. Before Salsa I travelled to Spain, Holland, Scotland, and Italy to watch football on holiday. Since then I been to Lithuania, Croatia (3), Spain (3), Mallorca (2), Holland (2), Scotland (2), Poland, Malta for salsa holiday/weekend (and Venice).
In two weeks time I will finish paying for my car so I will have increased income if I want to come back to football, but I can't see any reason to do this. I don't even have Skysports at home this season. I am happy with just BT Sport and Espn, and NFL Game Pass for sport fit as I love American football.
For me Football have to compete with other entertainment for my passion.
-
I started reading the quotes at the top of te page and was going to quote, then i just kept on reading the individuals posts, and i agree with most if not all of the above.
my own quote, " i am saddened by what is happening at VP"
-
I care a lot, Villa are a major part of my DNA. I'm not going to today though, but no doubt I'll follow the game as I do away games, trying to do other stuff whilst really listening to what's happening.
I'm unhappy with what is going on and how the supporters have been beaten into a general apathetic mood.