FA Cup draw

[eastie]

so chris please tell me how our position is all down to the current manager and mon is totally blameless in all this ? houllier is working his bollocks off to get us out of mess o neill left behind!

sure houllier has made mistakes but to blame his regime for everything is wrong .

[Blackcountry Villa]

We'd have to sell players, any we bought would be championship quality, crowds would drop, TV revenue would drop and sponsorship deals would be hit - of couse it would damage the club.

Our home crowds would drop but our away numbers would increase massively imo. We take piss poor numbers away these days for a club our size (1800 to Everton for a saturday 3pm? Rubbish), the fact is we've all done the same cities and grounds to death and theres zero chance of us doing anything noteworthy in this league, in the Championship there would be new cities and grounds (look at the tickets for Blackpool, like hotcakes because it was new) and we'd be challenging for the league.

So what, we don't make anything from away games.

I meant for the enjoyment factor, i think it would be a laugh following Villa away in the Championship and we'd take thousands with cheaper tickets and hardly any tv games, and we'd actually win away from home.

[Merv]

This thread's spinning massively out of control!

1. I'd love us to win the FA Cup in this or any other season but wouldn't take relegation as part of the deal; we might bounce straight back up like Newcastle but might not. I'm not sure 'getting to see different grounds' would compensate for seeing us forced to sell half of our squad.

2. MON left us high and dry and I believe his decision to quit when he did (off the back of a summer of zero progress) jeopardised our chances of breaking into that top four, or indeed retaining a top six place. But relegation wouldn't be down to him. Houllier's had a fully fit squad since Christmas, plus four new signings, and if we go down, he and the squad should bear the brunt of the blame.

[eastie]

This thread's spinning massively out of control!

1. I'd love us to win the FA Cup in this or any other season but wouldn't take relegation as part of the deal; we might bounce straight back up like Newcastle but might not. I'm not sure 'getting to see different grounds' would compensate for seeing us forced to sell half of our squad.

2. MON left us high and dry and I believe his decision to quit when he did (off the back of a summer of zero progress) jeopardised our chances of breaking into that top four, or indeed retaining a top six place. But relegation wouldn't be down to him. Houllier's had a fully fit squad since Christmas, plus four new signings, and if we go down, he and the squad should bear the brunt of the blame.

brunt of it maybe merv , but all of it no!  i expect a win tomorrow and top 10 finish and if we can get past city who knows what we could achieve ,there will always be a vast difference of opinion between some people regarding martin o neill and that will not change , so im happy to let sleeping dogs lie.

[Clampy]

If we were relegated it would be as much down to mr o neill as anything else and a complete set of extreme bad fortune , ie , manager walking out in the week of a new season, failure to get a replacement before the window ended, and a huge injury crisis rather than being shit as you put it, chris, although I'm sure you rather that than accept o neill would carry a lot of the blame.

I also do not think we will go down but I'm confident if we did that we would bounce straight back .

That's up there with the biggest load of bollocks I've ever read on here, strikes me as an attempt to get your excuses in early.

Seconded. Absolute tripe.

i see mons fan club are out in force today then

Yes, i was a MON fan. You're not going to send me another one of your PM's having a pop at me again are you?

[eastie]

there will always be a vast difference of opinion clampy between some people regarding martin o neill and that will not change , so im happy to let sleeping dogs lie,we are not going to change each others opinion on him, and tomorrow is a huge game and a win would be great for all of us , followed by man city on weds .

[Blackcountry Villa]

These heralded cup runs under O'Neill, we've slagged Blues off this season for getting easy cup draws but look at ours last season, the first good team we came up against in both cups we lost. Blues will lose to Arsenal in the final and i think they'll lose to Man Utd in the FA Cup final and we'll laugh at them for losing to the first good teams they played and say they only beat poor teams, we won't say 'oh but they had two great cup runs'. We beat crap teams on our way to Wembley both times and i think O'Neill's fans overrate the 'achievement'. Blues could do it this season and they're shit, and Stoke/West Ham will reach Wembley and they're shit.

[Clampy]

Whilst MON leaving when he did did'nt help, blaming him for us going down is downright ridiculous. I personally feel that the stupid injury list we had to fight our way though played the major part.

[Merv]

brunt of it maybe merv , but all of it no!  i expect a win tomorrow and top 10 finish and if we can get past city who knows what we could achieve ,there will always be a vast difference of opinion between some people regarding martin o neill and that will not change , so im happy to let sleeping dogs lie.

You don't have to let sleeping dogs lie with me, eastie - I don't think I'm either in or out of the O'Neill camp. I think his record whilst with us was very good; he spent a lot of money, some of it wastefully; he built a good squad - but then alienated some of that squad; the way he left us was very disappointing. I just think, in the disastrous event of relegation, he'd be some way down the pecking order of blame.

But you're right - enough on O'Neill. He manages to creep in to just about every thread on here!

[pauliewalnuts]

If we go down, lots of things will have contributed. The obvious ones I can think of are:

MON walking out when he did, and the ensuing carnage of losing the whole football staff.
The slowness to appoint a manager
The injury crisis
Bad luck - yes, bad luck
Houllier's ineptitude
Lack of effort from some of the players (especially earlier this season when it looked like a number of them didn't care)

If we go down, then there's no way Houllier can be absolved of blame - far from it - in the same way MON can't. To think that there will be one thing we can point at and say "that was the cause" if we go down strikes me as far too simplistic.

I don't think any of us would suggest that any of those points above haven't played a part in our season so far. What differs is what level of impact we assign to each of them.

[eastie]

lets leave it at that clampy , i said he carries a lot of blame not all of it , as does the injury crisis and some of houlliers decisions , mon is not totally blameless for our situation , i really do not wish to drawn into talking about him any longer. lets just get the win against blackburn and move onwards and beat city.

paulie your post is extremely good!

[Clampy]

  i really do not wish to drawn into talking about him any longer. 

Bearing in mind it was you that bought him up in the first place earlier on, i think that is a very very good idea.

[dave.woodhall]

We'd have to sell players, any we bought would be championship quality, crowds would drop, TV revenue would drop and sponsorship deals would be hit - of couse it would damage the club.

Our home crowds would drop but our away numbers would increase massively imo. We take piss poor numbers away these days for a club our size (1800 to Everton for a saturday 3pm? Rubbish), the fact is we've all done the same cities and grounds to death and theres zero chance of us doing anything noteworthy in this league, in the Championship there would be new cities and grounds (look at the tickets for Blackpool, like hotcakes because it was new) and we'd be challenging for the league.

If only we could all support the Villa as well as you support the Villa.

[Phil from the upper holte]

We'd have to sell players, any we bought would be championship quality, crowds would drop, TV revenue would drop and sponsorship deals would be hit - of couse it would damage the club.

Our home crowds would drop but our away numbers would increase massively imo. We take piss poor numbers away these days for a club our size (1800 to Everton for a saturday 3pm? Rubbish), the fact is we've all done the same cities and grounds to death and theres zero chance of us doing anything noteworthy in this league, in the Championship there would be new cities and grounds (look at the tickets for Blackpool, like hotcakes because it was new) and we'd be challenging for the league.

Wheh was this? Or do you mean the upcoming fixture?

[villa1]

If we go down, lots of things will have contributed. The obvious ones I can think of are:

MON walking out when he did, and the ensuing carnage of losing the whole football staff.
The slowness to appoint a manager
The injury crisis
Bad luck - yes, bad luck
Houllier's ineptitude
Lack of effort from some of the players (especially earlier this season when it looked like a number of them didn't care)

If we go down, then there's no way Houllier can be absolved of blame - far from it - in the same way MON can't. To think that there will be one thing we can point at and say "that was the cause" if we go down strikes me as far too simplistic.

I don't think any of us would suggest that any of those points above haven't played a part in our season so far. What differs is what level of impact we assign to each of them.

Spot on.