Takeover rumours

[mr woo]

Seeing my club sold as a marketing vehicle for the likes of Mansoor, or a vanity project at the whim of an oligarch, would probably be the end for me.

So lets say if Randy Lerner had bought Man City instead of us, and their lot had bought us, pumped us full of cash and won the league, FA Cup, qualified for the CL every year etc, you'd be unhappy about it?

Sorry mate, I have a feeling you'd be in the minority there.

[Clampy]

It's a tough one. I want us to compete and win trophies as much as anyone on here. I'd just feel a little uncomfortable if we went down the route of selling our ground name just to keep up.

[eastie]

It's a tough one. I want us to compete and win trophies as much as anyone on here. I'd just feel a little uncomfortable if we went down the route of selling our ground name just to keep up.

Not tough in the slightest - if it meant villa winning trophies and titles then they can call the ground what they like - to me it will still be villa park as it will to most others.

[Clampy]

It's a tough one. I want us to compete and win trophies as much as anyone on here. I'd just feel a little uncomfortable if we went down the route of selling our ground name just to keep up.

Not tough in the slightest - if it meant villa winning trophies and titles then they can call the ground what they like - to me it will still be villa park as it will to most others.

It may not be tough to you but others may feel uneasy about it.

[pauliewalnuts]

Given the choice, i would much rather football became more of a level playing field financially, so we could have a bit of variety in the league rather than a handful of clubs who can compete for the league, then a massive bunch who stay in the league year after year, then a clutch of yo yo clubs glad to be here.

We have a clutch of clubs - of whom we are one - who for over a century have been cornerstones of the game in this country, who have been "big", who have cultural resonance, but for whom it is no longer possible to win the league. Impossible.

That's no good, I'd love it to be all made more competitive. However, that isn't ever going to happen. In fact, with the new CL TV deal, it will almost certainly get worse.

We're not in a league where "money buys success" necessarily, because there are several clubs with huge amounts of money and they can't all win. However, we are in a league where, without huge amounts of money, you can't have success. I'm not talking about cup wins, either, I'm talking about winning the league.

Given that state of affairs, I would far rather we were the club with shed loads of money than bobbing along seeing the holy grail as finishing fourth.

I bet there were, for example, a lot of old school Man City fans who were apprehensive when their cash injection started. If I put myself in their position, I probably would have been, too. But then again, I'd now be watching players of the quality of Toure, Silva, Aguero and co week in, week out, playing in the CL and winning titles, rather than seeing 10th as a decent season.

[jeowje]

Sentiment and keeping things the same for the sake of it are not successful models for evolution though are they? Arsenal moved to the Emirates, and whilst leaving Highbury must have been hard, few can argue that it wasn't progression?

Playing Devils Advocate here, but as others have said- top level football has changed into something many of us are uneasy with- but if it's a case of move with the times, find ways to compete financially, or become obsolete, then maybe we have to be prepared to embrace change?

[amfy]

I know I'm in the minority but I'd seriously rather watch Aston Villa play in claret & blue at Villa Park in the conference, than risk changing all of those things for a shot at winning the Champions League.

I don't know if it is that I have also developed an attachment to Preston over the last 10 years that gives me a different perspective.Maybe what it gives me is knowing there is more to Football than the premiership, the top four, and even winning trophies.

There are 4 (& more) divisions where most supporters manage to follow their team without expecting any of this stuff. Coops watches plenty of non-league football, yet sees things differently to me, so maybe it isn't a PNE thing, maybe it is just me.

We are already a club and set of Suppporters weighted down by expectation that often leaves us cursing what we don't have instead of enjoying what we have. A multi million pound sponsorship deal can only add to that expectation and make 'the bloke next to me' (figuratively & literally) even more mardy & annoying than he is already.

One thing I've realised over the years is that my best Villa moments come from the unexpected not the expected.

[Rioch is King]

When I see Man city on the TV in that shiny new stadium with their exotic (brilliant) players from all over the world it just looks too weird to me - it's like a totally new, manufactured club. A kind of 'boy-band' team.  What the hell have those guys got to do with Manchester city?  I always think to myself -  thank God that didn't happen to Villa. I still think we can have success without a total sell out like like that.

[CT]

Some really good debate here, I can see arguments on both sides. - I decided to ask my boy ( who is eight and a half) - I gave him the option of Villa having loads of money to spend on better players but if we had that money, Villa Park would be called something else and maybe our club colours could change.

A bit dramatic maybe but his answer was to carry on as we are, not changing any names or colours! I'm quite happy with that.

[Dave Cooper please]

There are 4 (& more) divisions where most supporters manage to follow their team without expecting any of this stuff. Coops watches plenty of non-league football, yet sees things differently to me, so maybe it isn't a PNE thing, maybe it is just me.

It did seem a bit odd to me even as I was typing it, but I think as you go down the divisions expectations do get lower. There isn't the hype below the Championship (I think once teams are established at that level the whole "Must get into the Premier League" thing starts kicking in, hence the ludicrously hyped play-off culminating in the "Richest Game in Football" for the PO Final.).
 I don't think there's so much of a dread of relegation, you know you can always get back, and if not there's all those new grounds to visit. If Villa go down it will be a disaster, if Tamworth go down I get to go to Stalybridge again.

 There's no logic to it, and no right answer, it's just the way I feel personally.

 I enjoy watching football, but toward the end of my time regularly watching Villa it was becoming a chore.

[pauliewalnuts]

I think an expectation of achieving things and a desire to see us do so are not necessarily the same things.

We haven't, for example, won anything for approaching 18 years now, and even that was the least important of the domestic competitions we enter every season. We haven't won the league for over 30 years, and the FA Cup for .... well, we all know that one.

We cant have any expectations re anything, really. We can have a desire, an understandable one, to compete, though, given that we have so much in the past. I don't think there's anything wrong with that, it is ultimately a large part of what it is all about.

I'd love us to receive an enormous cash injection, though. I'd love to see us win the league again in my lifetime, I'd love to see some of the best players in Europe playing for us, it would be brilliant. I've probably got about 30 years left (touch wood) in my life, it'd be nice to see some of these things in that time.

That doesn't necessarily have to mean us being renamed or moved, though. It didn't mean that for Man City, after all, so I don't see why it would have to for us.

Anyway, I suspect this is all hypothetical, as it's highly unlikely to ever happen.

[curiousorange]

I've come to the conclusion that I wouldn't be too arsed as long as it led to success. I still abhor the way City have established themselves, but I still see kids walking around in City shirts with absolutely no self consciousness. All the whining in the world doesn't stop them winning trophies or signing brilliant players.

I want Villa to be successful in an organic way, but I don't think we will be, so any assistance we get I'm sure I'll live with.

[olaftab]

Seeing my club sold as a marketing vehicle for the likes of Mansoor, or a vanity project at the whim of an oligarch, would probably be the end for me.

Specially when their marketting men turn up and want to change the name to Birmingham Villa!

[Dave Cooper please]

Anyway, I suspect this is all hypothetical, as it's highly unlikely to ever happen.

I don't think it's that unlikely, after all we know there are some very rich people out there who would love the glory of owning a Premier League club. Look at the clubs available and ask yourself who would be the likely candidates with a big enough name that they are known globally and have the facilities already in place so that the new owner can pretty much chuck his cash at getting the players he wants.

Us, Newcastle, Liverpool, Sunderland maybe, Wet Spam once they are in the Olympic Stadium maybe...the list isn't endless.

It's not a given, but I reckon any billionaires looking to buy an English club will have Villa pencilled in on any list they make.

[sirlordbaltimore]

I know I'm in the minority but I'd seriously rather watch Aston Villa play in claret & blue at Villa Park in the conference, than risk changing all of those things for a shot at winning the Champions League.

I fail to see how any of those things would change simply by someone calling the ground something else in exchange for a load of dosh ?

You'd still be going to Villa Park regardless.