Saturdays Pre Match Entertainment. ( The McLeish Out Demo).

[MarkM]

I think we have experienced the football merry go round over the years.

I see a couple futures for the present management

1. Things go completely to rat shit and we get relegated (manager sacked)
2. We survive just and start next season just as poorly (manager get sacked after a short period and we go into panic mode and another season of 'Transition')
3. AM starts to improve things and we become established ad a mid to top mid table club (manager continues in post until either he resigns or get sacked after an undetermined period)
4. Villa have a massive recovery and suddenly become the best in the land win the league and live happily ever after... (AM has a statue alongside Mr M outside the Trinity Road Stand

Which way will we go?

[saunders_heroes]

If the debt offers no real cause for concern just what the hell is Lerner playing at? He's risking our Premier League status with his antics over the last 18 months. We've gone from perennial top 6 contenders to relegation battlers in less than 2 years, and it seems that Lerner has no plans to stop he slump. In fact it looks like he's gonna continue his disinvestment of his money.
Is it any wonder why so many fans have turned on him when he looks so disinterested in the club these days? Dave, we realise you speak to people who are closer to things than we'll ever be, but why don't you seem as worried as the rest of us? To me the club looks like a car crash at the moment.

Debt is a concern because RL basically owes himself £150 odd million quid, and he ain't going home until he gets it back. Thisis our real worry,and s why we aren't spending more than less than the gate money on players.

I worry that he's been listening to people who claim our youth team are the saviours of the club, are superstars in the making, and we can achieve the same kind of relative success as we had under O'Neill at a fraction of the cost.

[Jimmy Smash]

HDE summed the Villa conundrum up perfectly. I paraphrase...  " I can spend 5M on Villa and come 6th, or I can suspend £50M on Villa and still come 6th." The old bastard had a point.

[dave.woodhall]

If the debt offers no real cause for concern just what the hell is Lerner playing at? He's risking our Premier League status with his antics over the last 18 months. We've gone from perennial top 6 contenders to relegation battlers in less than 2 years, and it seems that Lerner has no plans to stop he slump. In fact it looks like he's gonna continue his disinvestment of his money.
Is it any wonder why so many fans have turned on him when he looks so disinterested in the club these days? Dave, we realise you speak to people who are closer to things than we'll ever be, but why don't you seem as worried as the rest of us? To me the club looks like a car crash at the moment.

Debt is a concern because RL basically owes himself £150 odd million quid, and he ain't going home until he gets it back. This is our real worry, and is why we aren't spending more than less than the gate money on players.

I don't think Randy is going anywhere in the short-medium term (although as someone said, everything is for sale at the right price) and I also think a  few clubs in a similar position to us are looking to see what happens, particularly with regards to wages. I'm not worried because there's slightly less than nothing I can do about it. 

[saunders_heroes]

If the debt offers no real cause for concern just what the hell is Lerner playing at? He's risking our Premier League status with his antics over the last 18 months. We've gone from perennial top 6 contenders to relegation battlers in less than 2 years, and it seems that Lerner has no plans to stop he slump. In fact it looks like he's gonna continue his disinvestment of his money.
Is it any wonder why so many fans have turned on him when he looks so disinterested in the club these days? Dave, we realise you speak to people who are closer to things than we'll ever be, but why don't you seem as worried as the rest of us? To me the club looks like a car crash at the moment.

Debt is a concern because RL basically owes himself £150 odd million quid, and he ain't going home until he gets it back. This is our real worry, and is why we aren't spending more than less than the gate money on players.

I don't think Randy is going anywhere in the short-medium term (although as someone said, everything is for sale at the right price) and I also think a  few clubs in a similar position to us are looking to see what happens, particularly with regards to wages. I'm not worried because there's slightly less than nothing I can do about it. 

Oh come on Dave, we worry about the Villa. That's what football fans do.

[dave.woodhall]

If the debt offers no real cause for concern just what the hell is Lerner playing at? He's risking our Premier League status with his antics over the last 18 months. We've gone from perennial top 6 contenders to relegation battlers in less than 2 years, and it seems that Lerner has no plans to stop he slump. In fact it looks like he's gonna continue his disinvestment of his money.
Is it any wonder why so many fans have turned on him when he looks so disinterested in the club these days? Dave, we realise you speak to people who are closer to things than we'll ever be, but why don't you seem as worried as the rest of us? To me the club looks like a car crash at the moment.

Debt is a concern because RL basically owes himself £150 odd million quid, and he ain't going home until he gets it back. This is our real worry, and is why we aren't spending more than less than the gate money on players.

I don't think Randy is going anywhere in the short-medium term (although as someone said, everything is for sale at the right price) and I also think a  few clubs in a similar position to us are looking to see what happens, particularly with regards to wages. I'm not worried because there's slightly less than nothing I can do about it. 

Oh come on Dave, we worry about the Villa. That's what football fans do.

I must be getting old. Or as with many things, extremes have been pushed to such limits now that what used to be worry is now perceived as mild concern.

[Jimmy Smash]

If the debt offers no real cause for concern just what the hell is Lerner playing at? He's risking our Premier League status with his antics over the last 18 months. We've gone from perennial top 6 contenders to relegation battlers in less than 2 years, and it seems that Lerner has no plans to stop he slump. In fact it looks like he's gonna continue his disinvestment of his money.
Is it any wonder why so many fans have turned on him when he looks so disinterested in the club these days? Dave, we realise you speak to people who are closer to things than we'll ever be, but why don't you seem as worried as the rest of us? To me the club looks like a car crash at the moment.

Debt is a concern because RL basically owes himself £150 odd million quid, and he ain't going home until he gets it back. This is our real worry, and is why we aren't spending more than less than the gate money on players.

I don't think Randy is going anywhere in the short-medium term (although as someone said, everything is for sale at the right price) and I also think a  few clubs in a similar position to us are looking to see what happens, particularly with regards to wages. I'm not worried because there's slightly less than nothing I can do about it.

The thing that most struck me about RL when he first came was that he said he was only a custodian of the club, and that he was only holding it for others to follow (or words to that effect). I firmly believe that he feels he's taken us as far as he can, and that he's waiting to pass us on to another custodian.

[saunders_heroes]

If the debt offers no real cause for concern just what the hell is Lerner playing at? He's risking our Premier League status with his antics over the last 18 months. We've gone from perennial top 6 contenders to relegation battlers in less than 2 years, and it seems that Lerner has no plans to stop he slump. In fact it looks like he's gonna continue his disinvestment of his money.
Is it any wonder why so many fans have turned on him when he looks so disinterested in the club these days? Dave, we realise you speak to people who are closer to things than we'll ever be, but why don't you seem as worried as the rest of us? To me the club looks like a car crash at the moment.

Debt is a concern because RL basically owes himself £150 odd million quid, and he ain't going home until he gets it back. This is our real worry, and is why we aren't spending more than less than the gate money on players.

I don't think Randy is going anywhere in the short-medium term (although as someone said, everything is for sale at the right price) and I also think a  few clubs in a similar position to us are looking to see what happens, particularly with regards to wages. I'm not worried because there's slightly less than nothing I can do about it. 

Oh come on Dave, we worry about the Villa. That's what football fans do.

I must be getting old. Or as with many things, extremes have been pushed to such limits now that what used to be worry is now perceived as mild concern.

Surely you're "mildly concerned" about our predicament at the moment then? I only ask because we do seem to be in the shit yet you don't seem to be quite as worried as the rest of us.

[dave.woodhall]

I don't know what's going to happen but I don't think we're in the shit. We're mid-table and that's where we'll probably stay.

[Jimmy Smash]

I don't know what's going to happen but I don't think we're in the shit. We're mid-table and that's where we'll probably stay.

We'll find out in May.

[Sheldon_Villa]

I don't know what's going to happen but I don't think we're in the shit. We're mid-table and that's where we'll probably stay.

Are you happy with that?

[Dave]

Surely you're "mildly concerned" about our predicament at the moment then? I only ask because we do seem to be in the shit yet you don't seem to be quite as worried as the rest of us.

I'm quite happy to say that I'm not even 'mildly concerned' about our predicament.

I don't really see us as being in a predicament. Or 'in the shit'.

We're muddling along, winning some games and feeling good. Losing some others and feeling a bit irritated. Then getting over it. Likes we have been doing pretty much ever since I starting supporting the club.

When we were third this time a couple of years back I didn't expect us to really do any better than we eventually did and I don't really expect us to do much this year. Or next year. Whether it happens to be McLeish managing and Randy in charge or two other people.

'Twas ever thus.

[dave.woodhall]

I don't know what's going to happen but I don't think we're in the shit. We're mid-table and that's where we'll probably stay.

Are you happy with that?

Long-term no. For this season, yes.

[gervilla]

I was more worried last season under Houllier to be honest.
Give it another few weeks and I could be back in the pits of despair and predicting certain relegation....but not just yet.

[pauliewalnuts]

If the debt offers no real cause for concern just what the hell is Lerner playing at? He's risking our Premier League status with his antics over the last 18 months. We've gone from perennial top 6 contenders to relegation battlers in less than 2 years, and it seems that Lerner has no plans to stop he slump. In fact it looks like he's gonna continue his disinvestment of his money.
Is it any wonder why so many fans have turned on him when he looks so disinterested in the club these days? Dave, we realise you speak to people who are closer to things than we'll ever be, but why don't you seem as worried as the rest of us? To me the club looks like a car crash at the moment.

I have to say, I agree with you.

More than anything, he's really pissing away what he's built with his investment over the first four years of his tenure. The frightening thing is that I think he is totally unaware of this, and thinks things are going really well.

The whole McLeish thing has been done to death, but regardless of the rights or wrongs of the appointment, I struggle to think of anything he could have done in the summer which would have deflated the club more.

He should have built on the progress made at the end by Houllier, and treated last year as a blip. Instead he made the most divisive appointment he could have, and then went on an economy drive.

Oh, and this was coupled with selling our better players and not replacing them, and not bothering to come to matches any more. No wonder people feel disheartened