Where will we be in a decade's time?

[damon loves JT]

Tell you what, i really hope I still support the Villa in ten years' time.

[Legion]

You will.

[brian green]

I will not let you stop.

[danlanza]

I will be still wearing my Villa top with pride, and every fucker else can kiss my arse.

[Legion]

I will not let you stop.

Great parenting there.

[tomd2103]

I don't see why people are so convinced a European super league will happen. The domestic leagues now are still a big enough cash cow, particularly for those countries without collective rights. The powers that be at Man Utd etc don't want competitive fixtures week in week out. They want to spend most of their time smashing weaker and poorer opponents so we can marvel at the talents of RVP, Rooney et al with perhaps 5 or 6 genuinely competitive tussles a season on Sky super duper Sunday. Never underestimate our appeal as an also ran. Someone's got to be.

Finances could dictate it.  I can see the issue of foreign TV rights becoming a big one in England over the next few years.  Surely it's only a matter of time before the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea start to question why they receive the same amount of foreign TV money as every other club in the league (though I guess they still receive money through their own respective channels) and look at other options.  Money runs the game these days plain and simple.

[Meanwood Villa]

I don't see why people are so convinced a European super league will happen. The domestic leagues now are still a big enough cash cow, particularly for those countries without collective rights. The powers that be at Man Utd etc don't want competitive fixtures week in week out. They want to spend most of their time smashing weaker and poorer opponents so we can marvel at the talents of RVP, Rooney et al with perhaps 5 or 6 genuinely competitive tussles a season on Sky super duper Sunday. Never underestimate our appeal as an also ran. Someone's got to be.

Finances could dictate it.  I can see the issue of foreign TV rights becoming a big one in England over the next few years.  Surely it's only a matter of time before the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea start to question why they receive the same amount of foreign TV money as every other club in the league (though I guess they still receive money through their own respective channels) and look at other options.  Money runs the game these days plain and simple.

Personally I think in that scenario the rest of the prem, us included, will bend over and accept anything they suggest for fear if them quitting rather than them actually doing it.

[SoccerHQ]

I don't think I'll be bothered, I'll have a nine year old who will probably be a Sheffield United fan and I'll have lost the will to live following Villa for all those years.

We will probably have been relegated and won our first piece of silverware (the Championship title or Play-Off Final), we'll have a season where we dare to dream and then fall off and finish 9th. Then a season where we thought we'd be relegated and finish, 9th. Then a season where we think we'll finish 9th and finish 9th. And we'll all be arguing the same old shit on here for days, weeks and months on end.

Plus we'll remember the 40th anniversary of having won the European Cup, which will have returned as a splinter tournament run by the teams that haven't defected from their own countries to form the Blatter Trophy sponsored by Ford/Amstel/Continental.

Yeah it'll be the same as it's every been in my liftetime following the villa. I'd imagine they'd be a couple of flirtations with relegation (although I do actually think we'll go down at some point) and a couple of flirations with the top 4/6 before we finish 6th-9th like we usually do when we have a decent team.

One thing's for certain we're not going to win the league (and probably not the FA cup...).

10 years ago we were about to lose at home to SHA on 03/3/03 and were in a relegation battle. Dunno if things are worse now or then which is pretty poor given we actually had the long awaited takeover.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Ten years from now ?
We will be debating about getting rid of Lambert. Despite winning the treble in 2020, we haven't won a major trophy for the previous two seasons. A poll is opened on H & V about who should be brought in - Stiliyan Petrov is the run away favourite having carved out such a great managerial career with both Celtic and the Bulgarian national team.

[olaftab]

Regular Champions Leaguers!

[martin o`who??]

I honestly fear for us if RL stays for much longer, i do believe he has the clubs interests at heart, but, as weve seen, he just makes dodgy decisions, Championship mid table jobbie i reckon, however, if he were to sell to someone with a bit of ambition, which he has plainly lost, it could be Premiership also-rans, but i cant see us being a serious threat anytime soon - Very depressing.

[ktvillan]

Back on topic, I think there is now such a lack of genuine competition in the Spanish league, where it's a two horse race plus cannon fodder,  and the English league where it's at best a 3 horse race plus cannon fodder,  that unless the mega rich branch off into their own euro league, interest will seriously start to wane.   Personally I'd love to see Manyew, citeh and oligarch fc feck orff into the sunset with Franco FC and Barca, and then we can have a proper competitive league again where any of a reasonable number of clubs could, if well run and managed, realistically challenge for the title.   I think that's where it's heading, and I'll be happy when it does, as long as what's left is run in such a way as to keep the playing field fairly level.

I think you've highlighted the reason why there won't be a Euro-League. Apart from Real Madrid, Catalan Albion & one, maybe two italian clubs, the rest of Europe doesn't offer anything to our top three in the way of increased revenue that the Premier League doesn't already give them.

Thinking about it a bit more, you're and a few others above are probably right.   I suppose the impetus for a super league is unlikely to come from the bigger clubs as they are no doubt  content with being perennially at the top of the food chain, making mega bucks and only having 2 or 3 clubs to beat domestically, and about 6 or 7 across Europe, for regular trophy wins.   Any impetus for a super league should come from the cannon fodder, fed up at just making up the numbers and having little or no chance of competing at the top level.  In a sane world they should demand equal TV income and prize money or withdraw their participation.  However the recent vote on the spending cap indicates that the cannon fodder are content to be just that indefinitely, as long as they can partake of the riches of the Premier League.   Sad that clubs are more interested in generating cash than being competitive, especially when very few of them even manage to make a profit in the process.

[PaulWinch again]

I think the key fact is whether Lerner is still in charge, I can't really see any hope of improvement if he is.

[tomd2103]

I honestly fear for us if RL stays for much longer, i do believe he has the clubs interests at heart, but, as weve seen, he just makes dodgy decisions, Championship mid table jobbie i reckon, however, if he were to sell to someone with a bit of ambition, which he has plainly lost, it could be Premiership also-rans, but i cant see us being a serious threat anytime soon - Very depressing.

Or if he brought someone who actually knew how to run a football club then we might be OK.  I mean look what Swansea have achieved in ten years. 

[Ads]

In ten years time, I wager Swansea will be a "remember when they were in the top flight?" club.