The end is nigh.

[sfx412]

I must admit Brian, all those years of standing or sitting, home and away and listening and sometimes joining in with the boos during some atrocious games and performances, especially on the way down to Div 3 I find it amazing I'm at fault for offering negative views on present day Villa via the odd web offering.

I'm sure its more to do with the slugs eating my lettuce or those butterflies as they wing their way home to the Patagonian jungle :)

Mind you perhaps RL keeps reading the views of the likes of Chris or Mazrim and that's why O'Neill still has a job.

[dave.woodhall]

...

You don't seem to have much of an opinion of your fellow supporters if you think they can be influenced by a handful of comments on the internet.

If it were only a handful of comments I don't think it would have an effect.

I have a very high opinion of my fellow supporters thanks but I'm also sure some of them see fanzine websites as useful and authoritative sources of information about the club. As Risso says, most of them won't be spending time working out our home stats for the last ten years (nor me, I just use statto.com), they'll read opinions and sometimes form their own opinions on the basis of what they read.

You have a high opinion of them, you just think they're  gullible. Charming.

[Villa'Zawg]

...

You don't seem to have much of an opinion of your fellow supporters if you think they can be influenced by a handful of comments on the internet.

If it were only a handful of comments I don't think it would have an effect.

I have a very high opinion of my fellow supporters thanks but I'm also sure some of them see fanzine websites as useful and authoritative sources of information about the club. As Risso says, most of them won't be spending time working out our home stats for the last ten years (nor me, I just use statto.com), they'll read opinions and sometimes form their own opinions on the basis of what they read.

You have a high opinion of them, you just think they're  gullible. Charming.

Most people don't have the time or inclination to study the comings and goings at VP to any great extent.

Are you saying that you think these websites have no relevance and only gullible people rely on you and the other mods to provide an impartial reference site for what is happening at the Villa?

Would that apply to people who buy printed fanzines or is it just the internet ones?

Edited:

[peter w]

A home game against against Wigan just after the the season previous that had promised so much and ended so disappontingly. get the season under way with 3 points and banish the memories of a slump which really got a lo of people down.

0-2 and outplayed. The booing was a kneejerk reaction.

On a wider perspective, do you think we as a club have recovered from Moscow? Not just the playing side but the feel good factor around the place. If we had lost thta game and got to the final of the League Cup and semi of the FA Cup I think last season would have still had a ringing endorsement of, 'Proud History...'. It sounds overly dramatic but MON killed something that day that we have never been able to recapture.

[Monty]

Less Moscow, and more Stoke that followed it. I really haven't felt the same about the club since.

[peter w]

Less Moscow, and more Stoke that followed it. I really haven't felt the same about the club since.

Yeah, but Stoke was a football thing whereas Moscow seemed to detract from the aura of Villa being the bright new upstarts that were a match for anyone. Then we threw in the towel.

[Monty]

See, that's what I thought Stoke did. We threw away Moscow for fourth spot, fine, but then we buggered up at home to Stoke and looked primely like choking. From then onwards it seemed a formality.

[eastie]

I agree, Moscow turned a lot of fans against o neill, having fought so hard to get that far , to then throw in the towel was appalling management- I notice he always played his best team in Europe at Celtic!

That was the turning point for me , and nothing he's done since has convinced me he's the man to get us into the top 4!

[Clampy]

We can't keep bringing up Moscow. Rightly or wrongly,  it's gone, it's happened, it's in the past. It's about time fans got over it.

[Olneythelonely]

I agree, Moscow turned a lot of fans against o neill, having fought so hard to get that far , to then throw in the towel was appalling management- I notice he always played his best team in Europe at Celtic!

That was the turning point for me , and nothing he's done since has convinced me he's the man to get us into the top 4!

I completely agreed wit his decision as did a lot of people I know. If the Stoke  game had turned out differently I don't think we'd hear about Moscow anywhere near as much.

[Leighton]

A great indicator of how much of the euphoria and excitement we have lost from a few seasons ago was evident at last nights Valencia game. The attendance, the feel good factor, the optimism, none of it was there.

Trace your mind back a few seasons ago and the friendly we had against Inter Milan and judge for yourself the massive contrasts in opinions of the season ahead.

100% support for Mon. It has disappeared. Last night just proves it.

[Villa'Zawg]

Less Moscow, and more Stoke that followed it. I really haven't felt the same about the club since.

Yeah, but Stoke was a football thing whereas Moscow seemed to detract from the aura of Villa being the bright new upstarts that were a match for anyone. Then we threw in the towel.

I thought it was an appalling decision but it didn't have a big impact on how I feel about the club. I thought by holding the dinner they had acknowledged that it was a mistake.

[Mazrim]

I am: "the mean height for UK adult males of 5'10" and yes, John Carew is taller than me.

You're very quick to defend your vertical aspirations, Maz but I'd like some proof. A photo of you next to, say, a pencil or a grasshoppers knee.

I'm 35 and my vertical aspirations have sadly ended.

[LeeB]

A great indicator of how much of the euphoria and excitement we have lost from a few seasons ago was evident at last nights Valencia game. The attendance, the feel good factor, the optimism, none of it was there.

Trace your mind back a few seasons ago and the friendly we had against Inter Milan and judge for yourself the massive contrasts in opinions of the season ahead.

100% support for Mon. It has disappeared. Last night just proves it.

20,000 for a friendly, with no new signings, and live on national free-to-air-tv?

That just proves we've still got bloody good support in my book.

[Percy McCarthy]

A great indicator of how much of the euphoria and excitement we have lost from a few seasons ago was evident at last nights Valencia game. The attendance, the feel good factor, the optimism, none of it was there.

Trace your mind back a few seasons ago and the friendly we had against Inter Milan and judge for yourself the massive contrasts in opinions of the season ahead.

100% support for Mon. It has disappeared. Last night just proves it.

20,000 for a friendly, with no new signings, and live on national free-to-air-tv?

That just proves we've still got bloody good support in my book.

Be interesting to see how many are at the Ninth Level of Hell today. £5 in, £2 to season ticket holders, compared to £15 and a fiver for kids at our ground last night. And they've got new signings, and it's not on telly.