Who Do You Blame/Who Are You Angry With?

[N'ZMAV]

The whole lot has been one complete cock up since the summer of 2010. Fuck all has gone right. It's time for decision makers to stand up and be counted. If they aren't willing to accept the blame, then they need to get on with resolving this shower of shite before it turns into relegation and all the bullshit, and possible administration that follows. Rant over.

[Villafirst]

HDE appointed MON. Pity he didn't appoint a top-class foreign coach at the time

[N'ZMAV]

At the time MON was the perfect appointment.  Can't see that being the start of all this.

[eastie]

HDE appointed MON. Pity he didn't appoint a top-class foreign coach at the time

I think most were delighted to attract mon at the time and certainly I don't see that as a bad decision.

[Ian.]

It's been a right fine mess for so many years. So I agree with Summers and have gone other.

I think back and I'm sure most of the players bought during MON reign would have taken less of a wage in the first place? The same squad assembled during MON's time would not have looked so expensive if the contracts were not so ridiculous. So that must be the fault of MON and upstairs.

I believe Randy fell into the same myth that MON was some managerial genius and gave far too much trust in him.

The GH appointment didn't work with the team MON left behind. In hindsight it would not have been popular but Sam Allardyce probably would have got that squad of players working and we would be in a far better position all round now. At the time I remember many people suggesting him. Myself and most people were against him. I don't think we would have had the in-house fighting and the players would have adapted to his style more than GH continental approach.

Appointing TSM was just a complete cock up for so many reasons. We really needed to pull together as a club and appointing him created so much attention with the media with the Birmingham connection. The fact that he is not the best manager out there was completely ignored in the media and our board.  Absolutely bonkers.

If Lambert could have bought in some experience during the summer he has made a massive mistake and will hopefully put it right. He obviously had a small budget and was very shrewd in the market. I think Karim has not adjusted as well as he hoped. Some of the injuries have not helped. He gave Bent the captains armband so I don't believe in all  this bollocks that he wont play him due to appearance bonuses. I just feel that after working with him something has happened either on the training pitch or just the simple reason he feels Bent can not do the job expected of him.

Hopefully 2013 will be a better year, by Jesus 2012 has not bee fun.

[Dave Clark Five]

I spoke to Mr.Ellis at Hannover and thanked him for getting O'Neill to join us.

I also got O'Neill's autograph on three programmes for that game, having called him 'David'. On the third David, he said 'who the fuck's David?' I said 'you are'. It was a combination of a bier festival in the town and the O' bit in the name that he shared with David O'Leary.

How I regret the moment that I thanked Mr.Ellis for that appointment, although he was only doing what we all thought was right at the time.

[Matt Collins]

Villa's losses could make Lerner cut his

At what stage does Randy Lerner decide that he has had enough of life as Aston Villa's owner? The American made a rare visit to Villa Park on Saturday and must have departed wishing he had stayed away. Villa are heading for a relegation battle for the third successive season, which must be particularly galling when Lerner looks at a balance sheet that shows he has pumped upwards of £200m into the club since he took over in 2006. The club's net spend over the last five years is just under £70m, which is the fourth highest in the Premier League. Tottenham's net spend over that period is just over £3m. Everton's figures show a profit. Yet while those two clubs are pursuing Champions League qualification, Villa are trying to avoid slipping into the Championship, which means Lerner may have to dip into his pocket once more. There must come a point when he becomes fed up with running up huge losses and seeing little reward on the pitch and decides it is time to sell up and get out. Stuart James

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/dec/31/premier-league-10-talking-points

[eastie]

I spoke to Mr.Ellis at Hannover and thanked him for getting O'Neill to join us.

I also got O'Neill's autograph on three programmes for that game, having called him 'David'. On the third David, he said 'who the fuck's David?' I said 'you are'. It was a combination of a bier festival in the town and the O' bit in the name that he shared with David O'Leary.

How I regret the moment that I thanked Mr.Ellis for that appointment, although he was only doing what we all thought was right at the time.

Bloody hell dc5 , that's worrying mixing up dol and mon, are you sure you were actually watching villa and not west ham?

[onje_villa]

The Poll is tough to answer as it all ultimately lies with Randy however...

We started with MON running the finances and football philosophy of the club - this ended how it ended... long story short, overpayed ageing squad with no resale value after millions of pounds of investment....

Here you can blame MON for his strategy or Lerner for not policing / setting out the goals...

Then Lerner / Faulkner went on to appoint Houllier, I didnt think and still dont think it was a bad move, He tried to change the philosophy too quickly, but it was starting to come together and towards the end of the season we were all getting happy... due to health reasons, He was let go, although he claims the doctors didn't request he give up work...  had we stuck with him and completed the transition we would be in a much better space in my opinion, so board to blame for this one is it faulkner or Randy or both?

Then we come to TSM reign... After a summer of managerial links, including our protests, Randy & Faulkner reached the end of their tethers and appointed McClueless.  This was the worst of all actions / appointments, McLeish did not have the ability or know how to ensure this club matches the fans expectations, the players he bought in were awful and not how the fans wanted to go... Holman, Hutton etc so he was on a loosing battle and ultimately left,   The McLeish season was neer going to be great, no matter who was in charge as again it was a transitional season of the back of a transitional season that had started to work... the problem was his direction

Now we are into the 3rd Season with PL, this is a transitional season after a transitional season after another transitional season... so the philosophy of football within the club is shot to pieces all the saleable players that could be sold have been, as whats the point in keeping an asset if you dont know how you will use it etc.  To me lambert is making all the right choices in general to make us into a decent team again, even against wigan you can see flashes where we are there and clicking its just not consistant or working at the minute...

what is the point in all this?

Well Lerner has put his money where his mouth is, he isn't a Russian Billionaire or Sheik, yet on the ranking he has probably put more into villa than many other chairmen in the Premier League.

Lerner doesnt use the club for limelight etc, he has always said he doesnt get involved in the day to day running etc...

So in that sense he is a good chairman

Where it goes wrong is the football direction and stratergy... Paul Faulkner is not the man to steer the club from a football perspective, he may be doing great at commercials but football is failing... Easy to blame him but it is ultimately Lerners call...

We are in this position due to a long list of poor footballing decisions from leaving MON with free reign through to sending a private jet to pick up Solsjkaer...

We need a football man on the board asap who owns the philosophy and direction, transfer strategies, management recruitment etc

cant help but feel that Houiller should of moved to a board post after his season... either way from the off and even more so know we need a football man on the board to steer us.. that is down to Faulkner to suggest and Lerner to honour...

Pretty much. I like Lerner, think he's done a lot of good things and seems a more than decent bloke but the buck has to stop with him.

[eastie]

Villa's losses could make Lerner cut his

At what stage does Randy Lerner decide that he has had enough of life as Aston Villa's owner? The American made a rare visit to Villa Park on Saturday and must have departed wishing he had stayed away. Villa are heading for a relegation battle for the third successive season, which must be particularly galling when Lerner looks at a balance sheet that shows he has pumped upwards of £200m into the club since he took over in 2006. The club's net spend over the last five years is just under £70m, which is the fourth highest in the Premier League. Tottenham's net spend over that period is just over £3m. Everton's figures show a profit. Yet while those two clubs are pursuing Champions League qualification, Villa are trying to avoid slipping into the Championship, which means Lerner may have to dip into his pocket once more. There must come a point when he becomes fed up with running up huge losses and seeing little reward on the pitch and decides it is time to sell up and get out. Stuart James

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/dec/31/premier-league-10-talking-points

When you look at the league table and money spent it just proves how shockingly bad things have been run to spend such vast amounts and have a squad as poor as ours is compared to others who have far better squads having spent far far less.

[JUAN PABLO]

I spoke to Mr.Ellis at Hannover and thanked him for getting O'Neill to join us.

I also got O'Neill's autograph on three programmes for that game, having called him 'David'. On the third David, he said 'who the fuck's David?' I said 'you are'. It was a combination of a bier festival in the town and the O' bit in the name that he shared with David O'Leary.

How I regret the moment that I thanked Mr.Ellis for that appointment, although he was only doing what we all thought was right at the time.

I was over the moon when we got MON . how naive I was , a bit like Randy

[Rancid custard]

It might be a bit of a cop out, but I blame the injuries. If we had Vlaar or Dunne or maybe even both bossing the back line our defense might be tighter. I know it's not technically an injury, but if we had Stan's experience in the middle he'd direct the kids and be the calm pro captain.

That said a lot of my vitriol is aimed towards the anonymous players who should be performing like Zog and Ireland.

[eastie]

It might be a bit of a cop out, but I blame the injuries. If we had Vlaar or Dunne or maybe even both bossing the back line our defense might be tighter. I know it's not technically an injury, but if we had Stan's experience in the middle he'd direct the kids and be the calm pro captain.

That said a lot of my vitriol is aimed towards the anonymous players who should be performing like Zog and Ireland.

That said when Vlaar got injured we were down there struggling anyway, I think Vlaar would have been better in a 3 man defence though than herd.

[N'ZMAV]

I wasn't convinced by Vlaar earlier in the season. But, we're missing his presence. Herd and Clark aren't very physical. Herd thinks he's a big hard bastard. But he's clearly not.

[eastie]

I wasn't convinced by Vlaar earlier in the season. But, we're missing his presence. Herd and Clark aren't very physical. Herd thinks he's a big hard bastard. But he's clearly not.

Vlaars leadership is being missed, Clark is a poor captain and leader and too often we are too disorganised, I would like to have seen Vlaar alongside Clark and baker as it may have been much more solid than Vlaar and Clark in a flat back 4.

If we did revert to a back 4 I would go with Vlaar and baker and push Clark into a defensive midfield role alongside Westwood with bannan more advanced.