Takeover rumours

[Toronto Villa]

if it happened and they changed the name of the team would people really stop following the club? I think there would be a lot of anger and fist pounding, and some would call it quits I'm sure. But would the majority? Wouldn't it still be Aston Villa and Villa Park to those of us who have always known it that way? It's not like if it happened I'd have the option of following someone else.

I would. Stop, I mean.

A large part of the reason I follow the club at all is because it is engrained in my family right back to shortly after they moved to Aston from the country side in the mid-late 19th century.

Get it changing to a corporate themed kit, change its name to Red Bull Birmingham or whatever, and we'd be trampling over a huge slice of history - the history of the game, the league, of this city, of the sport, and of my family.

It would be the most grotesque defiling of sporting history that this country has seen.

Maybe that sounds somewhat over-emotional, but I honestly believe that.

What would be the point any more?

I was wondering how older Salzburg fans felt when Red Bull took over. It's not like their association with Red Bull has made them into a European power. I also then realized that as a club they've changed their name 3 times in their history, so maybe Red Bull only appeals to clubs that are willing to sell themselves out or don't have any kind of regard for tradition.

I don't know what I'd do. I barely watch football now except our games. Life as neutral football fan hold very little appeal to me.

[SashasGrandad]

I'm not sure about the last 2 parts of that but I agree, I've said before we're not even the most obvious choice in Birmingham let alone England.

No not

Blue Bull Shit

[paul_e]

I'm not sure about the last 2 parts of that but I agree, I've said before we're not even the most obvious choice in Birmingham let alone England.

The football League would let them do whatever they wanted.Ask any Coventry City fan.

The league might, but I'm not sure the press or fans (in general) would.  SISU had managed to fly under the radar until this year but since they took the club to Northampton they've started getting a lot more bad press and this is, supposedly, only temporary.  A permanent move would be an incredibly brave thing to do, it took MK Dons a few years to recover from the fallout when they did it and their reasons were a hell of a lot more legitimate (no ground and nothing like the money to build one where they came from) than anything red bull could offer.

[TonyD]

I'm not sure about the last 2 parts of that but I agree, I've said before we're not even the most obvious choice in Birmingham let alone England.

No not

Blue Bull Shit

Bring it on.  Like Barry Fry almost 20 years ago.  "one day we will bigger than the Villa!"

Still makes me laugh as he walked through the carpark at St Andrews.  What a TV programme that was .  Them losing to KIddie was the best after KB thought it was an easy tie.    Anybody got that programme?  Would be welcomed relief???

[bertlambshank]

I live in the Coventry area,zero chance of Cov moving back to Coventry.
They are a club that owe SISU upwards of £60 million,a merger with Nuneaton Town who are also up to necks in it looks a real possibility.

[pauliewalnuts]

if it happened and they changed the name of the team would people really stop following the club? I think there would be a lot of anger and fist pounding, and some would call it quits I'm sure. But would the majority? Wouldn't it still be Aston Villa and Villa Park to those of us who have always known it that way? It's not like if it happened I'd have the option of following someone else.

I would. Stop, I mean.

A large part of the reason I follow the club at all is because it is engrained in my family right back to shortly after they moved to Aston from the country side in the mid-late 19th century.

Get it changing to a corporate themed kit, change its name to Red Bull Birmingham or whatever, and we'd be trampling over a huge slice of history - the history of the game, the league, of this city, of the sport, and of my family.

It would be the most grotesque defiling of sporting history that this country has seen.

Maybe that sounds somewhat over-emotional, but I honestly believe that.

What would be the point any more?

I was wondering how older Salzburg fans felt when Red Bull took over. It's not like their association with Red Bull has made them into a European power. I also then realized that as a club they've changed their name 3 times in their history, so maybe Red Bull only appeals to clubs that are willing to sell themselves out or don't have any kind of regard for tradition.

I don't know what I'd do. I barely watch football now except our games. Life as neutral football fan hold very little appeal to me.

In a way, the only positive that would come out of it would be the perfect chance to totally cut the umbilical chord and forget the Premier League even exists for the rest of my life. It's a tiny positive, but that's probably what I'd do.

I think most fans of other clubs would be the same. My brother in law is a Hull fan. They've not been a successful club, but they've been around over a century and now have a spoiled, used to getting his own way millionaire insisting he'll change the name of the club, won't be told otherwise.

Their fans are distinctly unhappy, as you'd imagine.

it's the arrogance of it, really, nothing has a value to some people, they know the price of everything and the value of nothing.

[Toronto Villa]

for all the things Randy might have done better, the one situation I can never imagine us being in is what you're seeing at Cardiff, Hull and Southampton. Sometimes it is better not know the colour of the grass on the other side of the fence.

[bertlambshank]

I bet if Mike Ashley thought he could get away with it the Toon would be called Sports Direct.com United.

[paul_e]

I live in the Coventry area,zero chance of Cov moving back to Coventry.
They are a club that owe SISU upwards of £60 million,a merger with Nuneaton Town who are also up to necks in it looks a real possibility.

Hence the supposedly, I agree completely that unless something drastic happens they won't be going back to Coventry any time soon.

[Louzie0]

for all the things Randy might have done better, the one situation I can never imagine us being in is what you're seeing at Cardiff, Hull and Southampton. Sometimes it is better not know the colour of the grass on the other side of the fence.

Red.

[bertlambshank]

I live in the Coventry area,zero chance of Cov moving back to Coventry.
They are a club that owe SISU upwards of £60 million,a merger with Nuneaton Town who are also up to necks in it looks a real possibility.

Hence the supposedly, I agree completely that unless something drastic happens they won't be going back to Coventry any time soon.

Your right,no plans for a new ground and no land to put it on.

[baddowvillans]

for all the things Randy might have done better, the one situation I can never imagine us being in is what you're seeing at Cardiff, Hull and Southampton. Sometimes it is better not know the colour of the grass on the other side of the fence.

I think right now despite the turmoil I would rather be in Southampton's position than ours.  They might not know the chairmans ambitions for the clubs but they are comfortable in the PL and have a number of players who would walk into our side.

[badluckeric(gates)]

for all the things Randy might have done better, the one situation I can never imagine us being in is what you're seeing at Cardiff, Hull and Southampton. Sometimes it is better not know the colour of the grass on the other side of the fence.

I think right now despite the turmoil I would rather be in Southampton's position than ours.  They might not know the chairmans ambitions for the clubs but they are comfortable in the PL and have a number of players who would walk into our side.

Maybe, but those players may be about to walk into someone else's side.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Bring them on! Keep the name and claret and blue at home, other than that I couldn't give a fuck, We are seriously in decline, If we carry on as we are there is only one place were heading!

I watched Man City last night and I'd love players like that down Villa Park..

having said that I think it's bollocks

[dave.woodhall]

I love this idea that we're in decline and doomed when we're better off in every way than this time last year and the only way said seemingly-irreversible decline can be reversed is by clutching at the straw of a non-existent takeover.