PS Mr Lerner

[dave.woodhall]

The people on here that are trying to justify our managers decision just dont get it, he killed a lot of supporters rationale for supporting the club, there is absoloutely no justification for Aston Villa to act in this cowardly and disrespectful way. You should read again what VCTM said, why on earth should any one comit to a club that is not commited to the majority of it supporters. Yesterday was one of the darkest days in our history and what is so sad about it was the fact that it was self inflicted.

No, no over-reaction here either.

I agree it's not an over reaction. The reason that it was one of the darkest days in our history is that not did we only let our own supporters down, we let every neutral football supporter in the country down particularly those who can't afford Sky who  want to watch a decent game on terrestrial TV. Beyond that we let down the FA, the sponsor,and ITV.

In essence we let the entire game down and it was an absolute disgrace.

And we're the only club who ever put out a weakened side?

We are Aston Villa and I was brought up to believe that we were a force for good in football.

So was I. Then came the Premier League.

[usav]

We are Aston Villa and I was brought up to believe that we were a force for good in football.

Given the result, nobody liked the decision the other night, however, to act like this concept of weakened teams and more emphasis on the league has crept up on you and smacked you in the face is a little incredulous.   Where have you been the last 15-20 years?

[Toronto Villa]

I know people are upet about yesterday. But calling for the manager's head. Really? I was hoping for much better last night, and while I'd liked for him to have played a stronger team, he decided against it. I understand why even if I don't entirely agree. A manager needs to be able make those decisions and not be subject to having people called for him to be fired just because we don't see it that way. You'd honestly think by the reaction of some that we'd been relegated last night. Be upset, but let's not go so overboard as to make ourselves out to be so emotional as to lose all sense of rationality.

I know our hated rivals won a cup on Sunday, and on the back of that the circumstances of this game couldn't have come at a worse time. But we're still a great club with great traditions, fans and history. And contrary to current feelings we also still have a very good manager, coaching staff and players. We need to see this season out now, get rid of the some of the crap that cannot fill in when needed, and get in hungrier and more talented players.

He should never have been given the job, should then have been sacked ages ago, and should definitely not be in charge for next season.  Houllier is a walking disaster. There's a reason he was in semi- retirement doing a desk job for the French FA and that's because he's past it.  A truly hopeless excuse for a manager.

Risso, if Villa managers were appointed and dismissed based on your criteria the job would be a revolving door down there. Nobody would want it. A manager should have the right to make certain decisions, even if as fans we don't always go along with it. I'm not happy about how things transpired on Wednesday but frankly some reactions about it have been borderline Stephen Ireland level crazy.

[barrysleftfoot]

    Similar age group to yourself dave,and similar opinions.Can't get that upsetby it, just think its a by-product of modern day football.

  Since the "Prem Lge" was founded, in 1993, only 4 teams have won it, and how many times has the double been done in that time, in comparison to the previous 100 years.

 
 

[supertommykN'iba]

It may well be a sad state of affairs that we 'threw away' a chance to get through to the next round, but all this abuse Houllier is getting and people saying they aren't going again, is in my opinion, ridiculous. O'Neill threw away 3 cups to try and get 4th place, which some people actually backed. If this counts as 'throwing away' as well, then it's to try and keep us in the league. Surely our league status is more important in this transitional season. If we went down and won the cup, it still wouldn't be the same for a long time. The mass exodus of players and huge fall in revenue could put us in a horrendous financial position, not worth thinking about. Unfortunately, money does run Football these days, but we need to keep with this to be successful.

When it was reported that Gary Gardner was in the squad, there were Villa fans all over Twitter and Villa Talk (not sure about here) ranting and raving about him, saying he should start etc. He's never even sat on the bench before let alone played for us. Then Herd, Delph, Bannan, Bradley come in, we lose, and Houllier lost the game on purpose, didn't want it. I personally think the 3 young lads there could play a massive part in our future, and can start to make an impact now. It went wrong, now let's move on.

GH is turning this club around, we played fantastically to beat Blackburn 4-1 less than a week ago, yes, not a huge team, but a great performance and great result. It's taken him a while to get us playing well, but we are getting there. There are 3,000 going to Bolton tomorrow, including myself, and it will be extremely disappointing if we get on his back early on, as we do need to back the team. We need to try and get at least a point up there and kick on again.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not happy about what he did, but it was a gamble, not throwing away a trophy. The gamble didn't pay off and we have to wait another year.

I genuinely cannot believe some of the things I'm reading on here... This is still the Aston Villa you follow, and always have. It's always been a rollercoaster ride, always will be.

'We did not choose - We were chosen.'

[olaftab]

The people on here that are trying to justify our managers decision just dont get it, he killed a lot of supporters rationale for supporting the club, there is absoloutely no justification for Aston Villa to act in this cowardly and disrespectful way. You should read again what VCTM said, why on earth should any one comit to a club that is not commited to the majority of it supporters. Yesterday was one of the darkest days in our history and what is so sad about it was the fact that it was self inflicted.

No, no over-reaction here either.

Dave over reaction by the paying customers...now what's wrong with that?
Hawkeye and VCTM  have it bang on.
My support for the club started with the relegation from the second division  and  was cemented during 1970/71 season and in particular the semi final and final of the League Cup. I know that our top priority was to get out of the Third division however the daunting task of 46  league game did not mean giving up the League cup. All I and many other fans ask is that we compete and when we don't I reserve the right to over react.

[KevinGage]

My two penneth - The FA Cup is the one trophy I want us to win more than any other - don't give a stuff about the prize money, it's the prestige and experience that i'd love and how it would make me feel that makes it the No 1 in my eyes.  It's the one game i'd happily fly 12,000 miles to watch us play in.

Randy's been here for long enough now and should understand how we feel about the FA Cup.  I can't believe he'd need telling.

However, Randy doesn't pick the team and if the instruction to GH on his appointment was ''Gerard, whatever you do keep us in the Premier league'' then resting players is a no brainer for him.

So was Gerards instruction on appointment ''Please keep us in the Premier League'' or ''Please win us some silverware''.

Depressingly, I think we now all know the answer to that question. 
 


 

The problem with that would be is that it tends to highlight that either GH or the board didn't think he was capable of delivering both.

Inheriting a team in 8th position -who were top 6th last year- and the target was just to stay in the division. Really?  He was by no means my first choice, but even I had him down as a bit more competent than that.

[dave.woodhall]

The people on here that are trying to justify our managers decision just dont get it, he killed a lot of supporters rationale for supporting the club, there is absoloutely no justification for Aston Villa to act in this cowardly and disrespectful way. You should read again what VCTM said, why on earth should any one comit to a club that is not commited to the majority of it supporters. Yesterday was one of the darkest days in our history and what is so sad about it was the fact that it was self inflicted.

No, no over-reaction here either.

Dave over reaction by the paying customers...now what's wrong with that?
Hawkeye and VCTM  have it bang on.
My support for the club started with the relegation from the second division  and  was cemented during 1970/71 season and in particular the semi final and final of the League Cup. I know that our top priority was to get out of the Third division however the daunting task of 46  league game did not mean giving up the League cup. All I and many other fans ask is that we compete and when we don't I reserve the right to over react.

It isn't 1971 anymore. Talking about darkest days in history and never watching the team again is ridiculous. There isn't a team in the league, and possibly any league, that take league positions less seriously than cups.

[KevinGage]

The most recent trauma always seems to be more painful than the rest though, by dint of the fact that is far easier to recall.  Apart from the nadir of Billy McBingo and relegation in 1987, just 5 years after Rotterdam - that will stand alone for a while yet.

I'm not sure where in the league table of shame Wednesday night's episode comes (is it better or worse than Doncaster, 03/03/03 or -for older fans- the calendar year of 1968?) I couldn't possibly say. But it is pretty grim. Not just the result, but the affirmation that we're seemingly not even bothered about chasing trophies anymore.

Who genuinely thought almost five years into the RL era we'd be doing a Bolton or Wolves, and effectively chucking cup ties to remain in the division? Rumours of a five year plan vary in authenticity depending on how we're doing, when we were 3rd back in 2008/09 we were well on course and it was all part of the plan. When it was obvious we wouldn't be cracking the glass ceiling of going beyond 6th anytime soon, there was definitely never any 5 year plan. I'll take the General and the rest at their word.

I'm pretty certain that for the amount of money RL invested he was looking for more than just staying in the division though, and Wednesday night was equally (probably more) painful for him.

[5ft811st2 Durham]

We are Aston Villa and I was brought up to believe that we were a force for good in football.

Given the result, nobody liked the decision the other night, however, to act like this concept of weakened teams and more emphasis on the league has crept up on you and smacked you in the face is a little incredulous.   Where have you been the last 15-20 years?

I'm furious not incredulous and I'm furious because we have an arrogant and patronising manager who selected a side to get us deliberately knocked out of the FA Cup  and  expects us idiots who pay his wages to believe him when he claims that he didn't put out a weakened side..

[usav]

I'm furious not incredulous and I'm furious because we have an arrogant and patronising manager who selected a side to get us deliberately knocked out of the FA Cup  and  expects us idiots who pay his wages to believe him when he claims that he didn't put out a weakened side..

Are you saying that with a straight face?

[kippaxvilla2]

I just cannot believe Dave Woodhall's comments on this.  At one stage you used to go on so much about us winning silverware, I assumed you had changed your middle name to Trophy by deedpoll and I agreed with you 100%.  But to say we are over reacting beggars belief.  The side that was played the other night was entirely (except for forced changes) without justification or understanding at this stage of the competition with the potential rewards ahead.  Barring an absolutely shambolic collapse in the last 10 games we are not going down, with games at home to Wigan, Wolves and other assorted average sides to come. 

Therefore the strongest possible side should have been played.  I actually believe he went there not having a care whether we went out of the cup or not as was evidenced by Liverplopesque body language.

It was a ridiculous decision, and made even worse by trying to defend those that did play by saying they are all internationals.  What absolute codswallop.  Arrogant, obstinate, any other amount of adjectives don't cover it. 

Don't worry though it's just 54 years now, what's another year as that Irish bloke sung.

[Risso]

I know people are upet about yesterday. But calling for the manager's head. Really? I was hoping for much better last night, and while I'd liked for him to have played a stronger team, he decided against it. I understand why even if I don't entirely agree. A manager needs to be able make those decisions and not be subject to having people called for him to be fired just because we don't see it that way. You'd honestly think by the reaction of some that we'd been relegated last night. Be upset, but let's not go so overboard as to make ourselves out to be so emotional as to lose all sense of rationality.

I know our hated rivals won a cup on Sunday, and on the back of that the circumstances of this game couldn't have come at a worse time. But we're still a great club with great traditions, fans and history. And contrary to current feelings we also still have a very good manager, coaching staff and players. We need to see this season out now, get rid of the some of the crap that cannot fill in when needed, and get in hungrier and more talented players.

He should never have been given the job, should then have been sacked ages ago, and should definitely not be in charge for next season.  Houllier is a walking disaster. There's a reason he was in semi- retirement doing a desk job for the French FA and that's because he's past it.  A truly hopeless excuse for a manager.

Risso, if Villa managers were appointed and dismissed based on your criteria the job would be a revolving door down there. Nobody would want it. A manager should have the right to make certain decisions, even if as fans we don't always go along with it. I'm not happy about how things transpired on Wednesday but frankly some reactions about it have been borderline Stephen Ireland level crazy.

The most mental thing of all is Lerner pissing his investment up the wall by retaining and backing Houllier.  Still, he can always flog off another bit of land to pay for it when it goes tits up.  The stadium must be worth a fair bit.

[pestria]

We are Aston Villa and I was brought up to believe that we were a force for good in football.

Given the result, nobody liked the decision the other night, however, to act like this concept of weakened teams and more emphasis on the league has crept up on you and smacked you in the face is a little incredulous.   Where have you been the last 15-20 years?

Living in the hope or belief that we would see us lift the cup?

[WikiVilla]

What land of ours has RL flogged to date ?