PS Mr Lerner

[DBTW]

Mr Lerner / General Krulak

The previous manager's decision to give up on the UEFA Cup when we were still in it was the most disgraceful management decision ever taken at our football club in my 40 odd years as a supporter. I cannot believe that when his successor was appointed one of his first instructions was never ever to subject Villa supporters to such a disrespectful act again.

Our manager's team selection tonight was a disgrace to Aston Villa and to a competition that has a history as proud as ours. The fans who went to Manchester full of expectation after Saturday deserve at the very least an official apology – although I would say a full refund would be a more appropriate gesture by the club (deducted from the manager's wages).

The word PROUD was banded about freely by our marketing people a few years ago. There's no pride in throwing in the towell.
A big wedge was driven between the club and supporters tonight, and it will take more than a win at Bolton on Saturday to repair it.

John Gregory "lost" a lot of fans by his negative tactics at the 2000 cup final, Martin O'Neill "lost" the support of a many fans after Moscow, and Gerard Houllier has possibly scored his own goal tonight.

I wouldn't blame any player with a hunger for winning things in the game wanting to leave Villa after tonight. Good luck to Gareth Barry and James Milner for the rest of the competition, good luck to Ashley Young wherever he goes next season.

Excellent post

And just how many of you "proud" fans would be at the away game v Brighton next season?

[JUAN PABLO]

Dekuip, your post is the best post I've ever read on this website- excellent post!

Its good , we should all email it to Randy ..  I cried with tears in 2000 , I just want the chance to cry with joy and see Villa win the FA Cup in my lifetime.

[TonyD]

Mr Lerner / General Krulak

The previous manager's decision to give up on the UEFA Cup when we were still in it was the most disgraceful management decision ever taken at our football club in my 40 odd years as a supporter. I cannot believe that when his successor was appointed one of his first instructions was never ever to subject Villa supporters to such a disrespectful act again.

Our manager's team selection tonight was a disgrace to Aston Villa and to a competition that has a history as proud as ours. The fans who went to Manchester full of expectation after Saturday deserve at the very least an official apology – although I would say a full refund would be a more appropriate gesture by the club (deducted from the manager's wages).

The word PROUD was banded about freely by our marketing people a few years ago. There's no pride in throwing in the towell.
A big wedge was driven between the club and supporters tonight, and it will take more than a win at Bolton on Saturday to repair it.

John Gregory "lost" a lot of fans by his negative tactics at the 2000 cup final, Martin O'Neill "lost" the support of a many fans after Moscow, and Gerard Houllier has possibly scored his own goal tonight.

I wouldn't blame any player with a hunger for winning things in the game wanting to leave Villa after tonight. Good luck to Gareth Barry and James Milner for the rest of the competition, good luck to Ashley Young wherever he goes next season.

Excellent post

And just how many of you "proud" fans would be at the away game v Brighton next season?

3,000 to 6,000 I guess.

[myf]

Im absolutely shocked by this reaction! We are in a seriously dangerous position in the Premiership. The majority of our run in is against teams in the same situation, that most of you think are gimmes.  If we lose 6 of these, we then have to beat Arsenal away and Liverpool on the last day. If we lose 6 of these we will go down. We have a squad of players who our manager can select a starting XI from. Villa fans as a whole bemoaned the previous manager for burnout in March, and being so rigid in selection and formation. Our current manager is confident enought to change things every game. The game last night was lost in the first 4 minutes after an unfortunate mistake by Clark, not by the managers selection of International players. I think we played ok as a whole, we didnt create many chances granted, but City are a class act.
To react the way most of you are today, shows that you are fickle and can't really see whats staring you in the face, which is relegation.
Get ten points on the boards and things will look better, last night just came at the wrong time.

But why assume we will lose 6 premiership games by playing a stronger side in a cup competition?

The game was not lost last night by Clarkes fault at all.  It was lost as soon as Houllier decided to play a weakened team in an unbalanced formation.  Its one thing changing the side but to play two strikers as wingers is frankly absurd.  Man City didn't break into a sweat.

TBH I think our chances of staying up have actually been harmed by last nights performance.  Morale will be low and GH deflecting the blame to "internationals" is likely to have pissed them off.

[LeeB]

Mr Lerner / General Krulak

The previous manager's decision to give up on the UEFA Cup when we were still in it was the most disgraceful management decision ever taken at our football club in my 40 odd years as a supporter. I cannot believe that when his successor was appointed one of his first instructions was never ever to subject Villa supporters to such a disrespectful act again.

Our manager's team selection tonight was a disgrace to Aston Villa and to a competition that has a history as proud as ours. The fans who went to Manchester full of expectation after Saturday deserve at the very least an official apology – although I would say a full refund would be a more appropriate gesture by the club (deducted from the manager's wages).

The word PROUD was banded about freely by our marketing people a few years ago. There's no pride in throwing in the towell.
A big wedge was driven between the club and supporters tonight, and it will take more than a win at Bolton on Saturday to repair it.

John Gregory "lost" a lot of fans by his negative tactics at the 2000 cup final, Martin O'Neill "lost" the support of a many fans after Moscow, and Gerard Houllier has possibly scored his own goal tonight.

I wouldn't blame any player with a hunger for winning things in the game wanting to leave Villa after tonight. Good luck to Gareth Barry and James Milner for the rest of the competition, good luck to Ashley Young wherever he goes next season.

Excellent post

And just how many of you "proud" fans would be at the away game v Brighton next season?

I agree with you Dave, but an away trip to Brighton is almost an incentive to get relegated for me.

[cdbearsfan]

We would take a load to Brighton... new stadium, big away end, by the seaside.

[jonzy85]

Im absolutely shocked by this reaction! We are in a seriously dangerous position in the Premiership. The majority of our run in is against teams in the same situation, that most of you think are gimmes.  If we lose 6 of these, we then have to beat Arsenal away and Liverpool on the last day. If we lose 6 of these we will go down. We have a squad of players who our manager can select a starting XI from. Villa fans as a whole bemoaned the previous manager for burnout in March, and being so rigid in selection and formation. Our current manager is confident enought to change things every game. The game last night was lost in the first 4 minutes after an unfortunate mistake by Clark, not by the managers selection of International players. I think we played ok as a whole, we didnt create many chances granted, but City are a class act.
To react the way most of you are today, shows that you are fickle and can't really see whats staring you in the face, which is relegation.
Get ten points on the boards and things will look better, last night just came at the wrong time.

We may not be in an ideal position in the League, but it is no way bad enough to be just giving up on a very winnable FA Cup.

Burn out this March?? Sure we only have 2 more games for the rest of the month now and we didnt play last weekend!!!

Last manager wasn't so "confident to change things every game" but he did get us to the FA Cup Semi, League Cup final and 6th in the league....this one has us losing to Blues in the quarters of LC, giving up against City in 5th of FA Cup and 12th in the League. Ok, you cant blame him entirely for the league position because of the circumstances he arrived into (still shouldnt be as bad as it is). However, our exit in both Cups are down to his management.

Mistake by Clark?? Goal was down to the players looking like they didnt know what way they were supposed to be defeneding the corner, which was brought about by 8 changes and the team/squad not prepared enough for such changes.

I'm not being fickle here, never wanted Houllier from the start wanted his head on a plate around xmas, that was tempered a touch by the signings and I've had a wait-and-see attitude until last night. Just like the Liverpool debacle, he showed his true colours of what he thinks of "little old mid-table Villa".

Get 10 points on the board....meh. Things wont look better. 10th as opposed to 12th? Who cares?

I'd gladly give up 2 places in the PL if it meant us just having a go at the Cup.

In case you didnt notice, I have a few issues with your post

[TimTheVillain]

Agree Jonzy, last night showed (to me) that GH is not going to take Villa forward.

Inspector Clueless.

[cdbearsfan]

DBTW, you seem to think giving up on last night and accepting a heavy defeat offers us a better chance of staying up.

I disagree, had we put in a decent performance yesterday we could've carried the form on which woul have minimised the risk of relegation.

[cumgetus]

away trip to Brighton
remenber going when i think it was the gouldstone gd
be a good weeekend so count me in
o just remenbered i said i after this season not wastein anymore money on the villa
so thats 3 season tickets you lost gh

[jonzy85]

DBTW, you seem to think giving up on last night and accepting a heavy defeat offers us a better chance of staying up.

I disagree, had we put in a decent performance yesterday we could've carried the form on which woul have minimised the risk of relegation.

100% agree...roll out the cliches, winning becomes a habit etc.

This decent form we were in (and it was only decent) needed to be solidified by building up the confidence of the players...severe damage would have been done to the confidence last night.

Also, I cant help but imagine how p***ed off Ashley Young was last night. He hasnt had many "big games" this season to showcase his talent and when one comes along he is on the bench. He must have been sitting there thinking, that's it I'm off in the summer.

[DBTW]

I doubt it, why can't we sell out every away game in the premiership then?

I'm a proud fan, I love my club and I give a hell of a lot of my time and money in doing what I can.

I find some of the comments this morning nothing short of pathetic. I've seen it from the inside, and we are not far off being able to challenge for honours again. Next season, we will seee a new Aston Villa, an Aston Villa that will see all this bickering stop and every fan unite.

Last night came at the wrong time for us, and in the long run we will not miss the cup this season.

[Dave Cooper please]

DBTW, do you really think our best players are not capable of three games in eight days after a two week break followed by another two week break?
Okay so their might have been injuries last night, I reckon there's even more chance of injuries against those purveyors of the beautiful game in Horwich myself.

We aren't going down, we never were.

[cdward]

The cups just arent considered important financially compared with the holy grail of being in the premier league....not by the managers, not by the directors/owners, not by Sky and the worldwide TV audiences who are now the paymasters.

But what about the fans ? I mean the ones who go every week and pay their money at the turnstile.

How many fans celebrated on the pitch when we finished 6th in 2007/08 ? Approximately zero.
How many fans celebrated on the pitch when we finished 6th in 2008/09 ? Approximately zero.
How many fans celebrated on the pitch when we finished 6th in 2009/10 ? Approximately zero.

And when we got to a cup final ?


Perhaps one day all of football will go bust and start again, Sky and the rest of the world goes away and the real fans can become the paymasters again.

Thats the real reason so many of us are so angry about what happened in Manchester last night.

Spot on mate.

[jonzy85]

I doubt it, why can't we sell out every away game in the premiership then?

I'm a proud fan, I love my club and I give a hell of a lot of my time and money in doing what I can.

I find some of the comments this morning nothing short of pathetic. I've seen it from the inside, and we are not far off being able to challenge for honours again. Next season, we will seee a new Aston Villa, an Aston Villa that will see all this bickering stop and every fan unite.

Last night came at the wrong time for us, and in the long run we will not miss the cup this season.

Not far off from challenging for honours??? Why dont you tell the manager that?