The Dilemma

[Drummond]

But that makes it sound like you're happy with just existing in the Premier League.

[peter w]

I didn't say I was happy with the way things are going. But I'd rather be shit in the Premier league than a good Championship outfit who are always there or thereabouts.

[john e]

What other club the size of Villa has gone down and stayed down for a decade in the premiership era ?

Leeds were in a far worse state when they went down, Bankcrupt or near on,
Sheff Wednesday would be the only one that bears any revalence to us

I don't think we'd be down for long if God forbid it ever happened

[peter w]

To be fair neither Wednesday or Leeds are comparable to us in terms of 'size'. Wednesday have got a big ground and Leeds have European history but other than that they are nowhere near us.

[Gerrin]

What other club the size of Villa has gone down and stayed down for a decade in the premiership era ?

Leeds were in a far worse state when they went down, Bankcrupt or near on,
Sheff Wednesday would be the only one that bears any revalence to us

I don't think we'd be down for long if God forbid it ever happened

You're right. We're one of the few teams that have been ever present in the Prem, wages have been reduced in the last few years, so I doubt we would be in financial turmoil that Leeds were. Leeds are the only other club I can think of that should really be in the Prem, they're a genuine big club, the rest, your Wolves, Boro's, Sheff Weds, Ipswich, Derby etc have all been yoyo clubs in the Prem era.

[dave.woodhall]

Leeds were absolutely bollocksed by doing that lease arrangement for players and gambled their future on regular Champions League qualification. Sheffield Wednesday were one of the Bradford/Leicester/Coventry type of club who took much the same gamble of spending more than their income on staying in the Premier League. The ITV Digital collapse didn't help, either.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

Absolutely win the FA Cup.

Football is about winning, not surviving.

[Gerrin]

Leeds were absolutely bollocksed by doing that lease arrangement for players and gambled their future on regular Champions League qualification. Sheffield Wednesday were one of the Bradford/Leicester/Coventry type of club who took much the same gamble of spending more than their income on staying in the Premier League. The ITV Digital collapse didn't help, either.

I can still recall the signing that Leeds made that really did it for me. Robbie Fowler. he wasn't even going to be in the starting 11. Leeds are a big club, but I think we're bigger, and we were going nowhere near the transfer prices they were spending. Ferdinand was something like £18 mill wasn't he?

[PeterWithesShin]

Leeds spunking all that money on Seth Johnson is still amusing. Then again, I remember when we were complaining about how far ahead of us Leeds were and that we wished we had Risdale. Didn't we even applaud him when he arrived at a game at VP when he was at Leeds?

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Villa have never been long out of the top flight and I wouldn't envisage a long spell in a lower league.

I watched the Villa from the age of 10 until I was 18 out of the top flight. It seemed a bloody long time to me.

[dave.woodhall]

Leeds spunking all that money on Seth Johnson is still amusing. Then again, I remember when we were complaining about how far ahead of us Leeds were and that we wished we had Risdale. Didn't we even applaud him when he arrived at a game at VP when he was at Leeds?

Did we ever.  This is a great article about what happened after that. http://www.theguardian.com/football/2004/mar/07/sport.features1

[adrenachrome]

Villa have never been long out of the top flight and I wouldn't envisage a long spell in a lower league.

I watched the Villa from the age of 10 until I was 18 out of the top flight. It seemed a bloody long time to me.

Yeah, and I well remember seeing more Wolves and WBA scarves than Villa in places like Selly Oak during that period. They were the glamour teams that you could watch every week on the TV.

[silhillvilla]

I think the Seth Johnson wage stories are a bit urban legend but Mark Viduka was on about £80k a week back then. Monstrous money for the time.

[saunders_heroes]

But that makes it sound like you're happy with just existing in the Premier League.

I'll take that over just existing in the Championship.

[Pete3206]

Prem is the place to be - if we go down we'll probably never come back.

Crazy talk