I know I should be happy but…

[VillaTim]

Would you accept being in the Conference League next season if that meant we won it?

each to their own but for me that isn't a trophy we should be competing for. It's designed for the smaller nations clubs, not Prem elite.

[AV82EC]

Would you accept being in the Conference League next season if that meant we won it?

Yes but I fear I won’t discover the true meaning of life until we have two successive seasons of winning both the Community Shield and UEFA Super Cup.

This made me laugh, a lot.

[SoccerHQ]

I really hope in the future we're not looking back on these times and saying, how come we didn't win anything?

It's funny with Spurs. Finally won a trophy but that side under Poch was far far higher quality.

Finished 2nd in 2017 with 87 points I think. Then reached the CL final two years later.

It is expected you win a trophy if you keep getting to the business end of competitions and are top 5/6 regulars in the prem. Less so if you're just seen as a making up the numbers bottom half side as we've been for most of the last 15 years so this is where we need to step up in the next few years.

[SoccerHQ]

I’m happy to be disappointed. 2016 we were in dire straits, relegated and getting schooled in the championship as a big scalp. 2018 we almost never existed as a club. I can cope with being disappointed if we are a top six club getting into Europe. We do need some silverware but be happy it’s the top 5 not bottom we are looking at. But it is nice to be disappointed for positive reasons

We can't keep saying look where we were 5/7/10 years ago. It's infuriating that the worst Manchester United team for fifty years are on course for another trophy while we, yet again, have got nothing. Several managers have commented in the past about our defeatist mentality; I still say that this is the biggest problem we face.

Me too unfortunately. We have a better squad and manager than Crystal Palace. We are at least as good as Newcastle. The difference is those clubs stepped up against one of the top sides and siezed the opportunity to win something, while we're looking like 'we shouldn't really be here'.

The difference with Villa now compared to the 90s is we seem happy to be there or thereabouts rather than grabbing it by the scruff of the neck and taking the prize home.

I hope that Emery can crack that

Villa in the nineties were the absolute epitome of being happy to be in the top six and generally act like we didn't belong instead of constantly striving to improve.

1996 Cup final wasn't really like that, Leeds were still a decent team in those days. Completely wiped the floor with them.

I think the 1990s gets a bad rap for underachievement as we did win stuff and finishing outside the top 6 was seen as complete failure.

The way we lost the 2000 final was a sliding doors moment. The manner of it and then Chelsea really sped past us with the Abramovich takeover three years later.

Ellis should've sold up there and then as in the coming seasons we did just settle to becoming an 8th place team who didn't want to take risks.

[SoccerHQ]

Would you accept being in the Conference League next season if that meant we won it?

Yes as I think we know have the squad to have a decent go at the league cup if we're in that.

It would be six group games up to December and then nothing until March so I'd be hugely disappointed if we're just chucking away ties as we did in the other Palace cup final defeat.

Different if we're in the other two competitions of course.