From the Daily Heil ..It would be a travesty if Villa go down

[john e]

I don't know why people think the objective of TS is to get people to phone in,

 when they do they are hardly on for more than a few seconds, not listned to much, and they seem to be quite happy to talk amongst themselves inbetween ringing a football friend or ex footballer for there pearls of wisdom
I bet in every hour of a 'phone in show' you only get 3 or 4 callers that they actually put through

[Concrete John]

On the Guardian podcast they were discussing relegation candidates, and as James Richardson mentioned us Phillipe Auclair jumped in and said 'no Villa will be absolutely fine,' and reasoned, among reasons, that we play football and are in good form, unlike the two late-season Campari-coloured plummeters Stoke and Sunderland. We are being talked up in most quarters of football journalism at the moment, and while probably premature it does make a nice change from the TSM days of the "yeah, wouldn't be sorry to see them go" consensus.

This period feels so similar to the post-Liverpool game that its making me nervous. We were getting plenty of plaudits then.

It's by no means impossible that we could lose against Fulham. Though their injuries are a help, their front two are dangerous.

And then we could easily get spanked by Man U. Really spanked.

Things are looking good form-wise. But we're still only two points above the relegation zone.

I think it's right to be cautious, but Fulham at home is quite different to Chelsea away.

[Concrete John]

I don't know why people think the objective of TS is to get people to phone in,

 when they do they are hardly on for more than a few seconds, not listned to much, and they seem to be quite happy to talk amongst themselves inbetween ringing a football friend or ex footballer for there pearls of wisdom
I bet in every hour of a 'phone in show' you only get 3 or 4 callers that they actually put through

It's all the people on hold at £1.50 per minute trying to get on that they make their money on.

[paul_e]

Everton are there and there abouts consistently.  I'd be looking to get to their level.  Once we do we may well hit a 'glass ceiling', but I'll worry about it then!

I think Arsenal will turn out to be the more realistic comparison.  Bring through our own players and buy the odd one here and there to fill the squad out, sell the better players if we get crazy money offered, sell the average/not good enough for as much as possible.

Everton's success has largely been based on picking up guys who are doing well but not quite enough to have the top sides chasing them. 

Arsenal get £2m per match in gate revenue. I can't see how we can seek to emulate their model

Erm... ok

Fill the youth team with youngsters playing the way you want the first team to play.
Bring them through as needed, allowing many to go on loan to sides who are trying to share your values.
Keep a very strict wage structure that all players are well aware of.
If you get offered silly money for a player let them go but make a show of fighting as much as possible.
For youngsters who don't make the grade still give them a bit of time in the first team to drive their value up and make as much cash as possible from them.

Their gate receipts might move some of the numbers behind that about but in real terms the underlying concept is the same.  Arsenal don't even get the players in particularly young, a lot of their 'kids' join them at 16-17.

[villan from luton]

Durham is a WUM, but shite at it. Remember him going on about Parker, but he did have a point to be fair, why would he have been coming to us? There again, last night he was saying he, along with all the other Spuds, were shite.

I think we are a stronger team now than when we won at Liverpool and then nosedived massively. There will be talent on the bench to change things and I think we are far more confident and bit more mature tbh. Fulham are a decent team, but we need to beat them to keep things going. As for PL, he has taken lots of stick and have to say the Bradford defeat brought me into it, but he has made good signings and hopefully will be given a bit more should we stay up. The young lads should continue to improve as well, I think they have over this season

[garyshawsknee]

Durham will argue black is blue to get callers to call in in. On the Saturday show he's pretty good.

[villan from luton]

As for it being a travesy if we go down, if we finish in the bottom three, we will have deserved it. Baggies 2-0 and Everton 3-1 currently peeing me off, total control of those games.

[ozzjim]

Baggies we lost Delph and it changed the game totally.

Everton just hit us with the Fellani monster, but was poor marking for their goals

 

[Marlon From Bearwood]

I don't know why people think the objective of TS is to get people to phone in,

 when they do they are hardly on for more than a few seconds, not listned to much, and they seem to be quite happy to talk amongst themselves inbetween ringing a football friend or ex footballer for there pearls of wisdom
I bet in every hour of a 'phone in show' you only get 3 or 4 callers that they actually put through

It's all the people on hold at £1.50 per minute trying to get on that they make their money on.

And the ones so wound up by something said on air that they text the radio station at 50p a text.

[villan from luton]

Baggies we lost Delph and it changed the game totally.

Everton just hit us with the Fellani monster, but was poor marking for their goals

 

I think we are stronger now and that is why I am more hopeful, but they were big points lost. That said, my lads (he is nearly 21) game had finished on Saturday and we were in away clubhouse for last 25 mins of Villa game. Swearing ensued when they equalised and then when I heard champagne charlies screech goal, I shouted the f word as knew we would lose. Imagine my delight and even more so when it was a quicker link and Benteke had made my 3-1 scoreline, at 26/1, come in.

[Steve R]

As for it being a travesy if we go down, if we finish in the bottom three, we will have deserved it. Baggies 2-0 and Everton 3-1 currently peeing me off, total control of those games.

I'm not so sure that's fair. I'm sure you could look down the results of other teams and see defeats snatched from unlikely positions or opposition.

We have tried to play football, we have steered clear of fascists, we've given the manager the chance to finish what he started, we haven't thrown money at the problem and we definitely don't have a gobshite for a chairman.

We will have deserved to stay up regardless of whether we do or not.

[not3bad]

Paul Lambert says there is no chance of Aston Villa resting on their laurels as they continue the fight to avoid relegation from the Premier League.

Villa have hit form in recent weeks, winning three of their last four games, but they are still only two points outside the bottom three heading into the final six matches of the season.

They host Fulham on Saturday, but Lambert has warned his players to take nothing for granted despite their improvement in form.

He said: "I don't sense any feeling that they feel the job's done and they know the hard work's still there, but they also know that they're playing really well at the moment.

"The more that we can keep winning the more it'll happen and they'll get used

to that feeling.

"If we do get that winning feeling and we're at it then we're a really good side that's for sure.

"If you keep that collective thing and that spirit then that's half the battle. It's a team thing. If you look at the most successful teams then everyone's pulling the same way and this isn't any different."

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11661/8633734

[Fernando Partridge]

Quite rite would be a disaster for Villa and premier league as we are one of the leading clubs. How can villa who are the club with next gen champions youth not have their first team playing in premier league. The popularity we have compared to likes of wigan and norwich and even stoke means premier league is what we are. The history puts us in top 5 not bottom 5. Our stadium and facilities out shine wigan so its frustrating we are competing with them. I respect they do as well as they can but the villa fan base is far wider and reaches to more. Maybe  we ll be getting some decisions our way to keep us in the league as the premier league would nt want to lose Villa 

[martin o`who??]

The top deck of the Holte wouldnt be to pleased about it either.

[levico]

Quite rite would be a disaster for Villa and premier league as we are one of the leading clubs. How can villa who are the club with next gen champions youth not have their first team playing in premier league. The popularity we have compared to likes of wigan and norwich and even stoke means premier league is what we are. The history puts us in top 5 not bottom 5. Our stadium and facilities out shine wigan so its frustrating we are competing with them. I respect they do as well as they can but the villa fan base is far wider and reaches to more. Maybe  we ll be getting some decisions our way to keep us in the league as the premier league would nt want to lose Villa 

Well after today's results the Premier League, the Daily Heil and many Villa fans better come to terms with the prospect.