Relegation?

[Concrete John]

Top 6 spender over the last 5 years. Not sure what the ranking has been over the last two years but I'm sure it doesn't reflect our position.

Relative to the massive squad rebuilding job we needed, and how many top earners have contributed the square root of fuck all, I'd say it probably does.   

[Dave]

As for the Europa League-I do not know why clubs enter it at all, it is certainly not for the fans sake.

I'd love to see us back in the Europa league. In order to be there we'll either have needed to finished in the top six or so or have reached a cup final.

That would be the only good thing about it.  It's a curse of a competition.

It depends how you do.

I reckon if you asked the average Fulham fan what their let's say, five best moments from the last five years have been I reckon nearly all of them will have come from their Europa League campaign.

It's still games against teams who are likely to be bigger and better than we are and still a trophy to win. And at the moment we're not even good enough to be entered into a second rate competition. Until we are then I don't think we can really be too sneering at something that we're not good enough for.

[olaftab]

Europa League qualification through league position should be our target next season.

[bobdylan]

Europa League qualification through league position should be our target next season.

Do you really think so?  That means finishing 5th or possibly 6th depending on who wins the cups, meaning finishing above at least 2 if not 3 of Man U, Man City, Liverpool, Everton, Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea, plus Southampton, Newcastle etc and all the rest.  That would be a monumental task even if we spent heavily this summer, and I don't see that happening.  8-10th would be a more realistic target I would say.

[Dave]

Europa League qualification through league position should be our target next season.

Do you really think so?  That means finishing 5th or possibly 6th depending on who wins the cups, meaning finishing above at least 2 if not 3 of Man U, Man City, Liverpool, Everton, Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea, plus Southampton, Newcastle etc and all the rest.  That would be a monumental task even if we spent heavily this summer, and I don't see that happening.  8-10th would be a more realistic target I would say.

Assuming we hold on our better players and we add the required three/four first team players than I don't see why we shouldn't be aiming at a similar level to the likes of Everton next season.

If we end up finishing behind them and end up say, eighth or ninth then it shouldn't be considered a catastrophe or a reason to sack the manager, but I see no harm in aiming for that.

[brian green]

See what I mean about the downgrading of expectations at our club? and I am not being critical of anybody whose expectations have been lowered.

[Richard E]

Europa League qualification through league position should be our target next season.

Do you really think so?  That means finishing 5th or possibly 6th depending on who wins the cups, meaning finishing above at least 2 if not 3 of Man U, Man City, Liverpool, Everton, Spurs, Arsenal and Chelsea, plus Southampton, Newcastle etc and all the rest.  That would be a monumental task even if we spent heavily this summer, and I don't see that happening.  8-10th would be a more realistic target I would say.

It should be the target. That is not to say we will achieve it - it will be very difficult. But it is what we should be aiming for.

[PeterWithesShin]

See what I mean about the downgrading of expectations at our club? and I am not being critical of anybody whose expectations have been lowered.

Most of my nearly 40 years (*cries at being old*) supporting us have had the aim of most Villa fans being top 8 or better. As it's what I want us to aim for next season I don't see how it's a downgrade.

[BoskoDjembaSalifou]

As for the Europa League-I do not know why clubs enter it at all, it is certainly not for the fans sake.

I'd love to see us back in the Europa league. In order to be there we'll either have needed to finished in the top six or so or have reached a cup final.

Me too. Winning a cup should be our aim, we're not gonna finish sixth at the moment.

[eastie]

A club of villa's size and stature should always be in or around the top 8 at the least .
The fact we have had 4 years outside that zone is very disappointing considering the money spent in the last 6 years.

[PeterWithesShin]

A club of villa's size and stature should always be in or around the top 8 at the least .
The fact we have had 4 years outside that zone is very disappointing considering the money spent in the last 6 years.

9th is in or around the top 8. So it's 3 seasons.

[Drummond]

You're right Brian.

That can only sit in one place and that is with Lerner. We can't blame a manager who's working under an extremely tight budget and had to replace virtually the whole squad. It's crap and you'd think and expect that we were at the very least competing with Everton and Spurs. The others all have massive amounts of money, either because they have huge sponsorship opportunities or billionaire benefactors.

[eastie]

You're right Brian.

That can only sit in one place and that is with Lerner. We can't blame a manager who's working under an extremely tight budget and had to replace virtually the whole squad. It's crap and you'd think and expect that we were at the very least competing with Everton and Spurs. The others all have massive amounts of money, either because they have huge sponsorship opportunities or billionaire benefactors.

Lambert hasn't had an extremely tight budget - he's spent over £40m on players .
Granted some have spent more but it's not an extremely tight budget and he hasn't spent all his budget either .

[Concrete John]

You're right Brian.

That can only sit in one place and that is with Lerner. We can't blame a manager who's working under an extremely tight budget and had to replace virtually the whole squad. It's crap and you'd think and expect that we were at the very least competing with Everton and Spurs. The others all have massive amounts of money, either because they have huge sponsorship opportunities or billionaire benefactors.

Lambert hasn't had an extremely tight budget - he's spent over £40m on players .
Granted some have spent more but it's not an extremely tight budget and he hasn't spent all his budget either .

£40m on how many players, exactly?

That's why it's a tight budget.

If we came in now with £40m to spend on the squad as it stands, we could rightly expect a lot more.

[eastie]

You're right Brian.

That can only sit in one place and that is with Lerner. We can't blame a manager who's working under an extremely tight budget and had to replace virtually the whole squad. It's crap and you'd think and expect that we were at the very least competing with Everton and Spurs. The others all have massive amounts of money, either because they have huge sponsorship opportunities or billionaire benefactors.

Lambert hasn't had an extremely tight budget - he's spent over £40m on players .
Granted some have spent more but it's not an extremely tight budget and he hasn't spent all his budget either .

£40m on how many players, exactly?

That's why it's a tight budget.

By his choice - he chose to ostracise Ireland, bent,bannan  given , Hutton , etc .