It's not Sherwood!

[pauliewalnuts]

As a football supporter, you're supposed to be mildly pissed off that there are no games this weekend due to an international break.

As a Villa fan, for several years now, it has been the opposite. It comes as a relief. It does to me, anyway.

What is depressing is that it is already coming as a relief just eight league games into the season.

[Jimbo]

Indeed, this year I was all for having a season off - a gap year, if you like - not just for me, but for the whole club.

It's really sad, but the worst thing about Aston Villa, by far, is the football.

[pauliewalnuts]

It doesn't just put me off the Villa, it puts me off football.

I find I can't read the sports sections of the papers, I don't want to watch Match of the Day, all because our "contributions" to these are so incredibly depressing, week after week.

I binned my season ticket after the McLeish season, and decided to pick and choose matches. It wasn't entirely about the football, my work situation had started to look a bit iffy so money was much tighter, but it was also because it had been so depressing that season that I'd found myself subconsciously looking for excuses not to go, despite having already paid.

I'll be totally honest and say that after opting to pick and choose, I've been a handful of times the last few years.

Part of me says that's me being fickle or half-arsed, but really, I've put in years and years of it, and it has just not been very entertaining for so long now.

Ideally, the club should find supporters like me look back and regret not keeping their season ticket. I don't, though. Not even slightly. We keep having fixtures where I have a good idea of what is going to happen, in terms of results and 'entertainment', and then it pans out that I was absolutely right in my suspicions.

Not being able to get a cup final ticket at the time seemed briefly like it might be the end of the world, but even then, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I had been lucky to get a semi final ticket and it was the most enjoyable football experience I've had in years.

Other than that, though, I have absolutely no regrets about massively reducing the number of games I've been to. I feel like I've missed nothing.

I feel like the club just aren't trying. There is a mindset where continued mediocrity is acceptable so long as we stay in the top flight. It is written all over the place, from the mutterings of managers about how they just need to keep us up, to the little things like the OS talking about matches against "big clubs" or the desparation of that kit launch "we are a big club" campaign.

The place stinks of small time acceptance of crap. We're slowly becoming West Ham with a better history.

[cdbearsfan]

As a football supporter, you're supposed to be mildly pissed off that there are no games this weekend due to an international break.

As a Villa fan, for several years now, it has been the opposite. It comes as a relief.

Not if you're a fucking Scotland fan, it doesn't. :-(

[Toronto Villa]

I have missed so much other football because Villa have been shit. I haven't wanted to read about it, listen to it or watch it. Even highlights. Thankfully I have other sports I can follow because if Villa was the only team I watched I wouldn't watch much or even any sports. It's been so depressing.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Nothing much to add but Paulie articulated how I feel. I still watch the occasional Championship game when it comes on and I will start recording the A-League again. Both are semi competitive leagues with genuinely exciting football at times.

[brian green]

I suppose I am luckier than most and less crushed by the post MON era because I made it through the 40s, the 50s, the 60s and the 70s when for almost entirely the whole time we were like we are now.  Apart from the miracle out of the blue that was the winning of the FA cup it was hard and painful to be a Villa fan.

If it is of any help to those deeply depressed by what is happening at Villa Park, I have found from experience that it is easier to endure if you force yourself to watch the games and to attend them if you can afford it. It is a basic catharsis.

With no offence intended to anybody at all on these pages, I find that we feed on each other's gloom and it is exacerbated by a small minority who deliberately set out to generate antipathy.

I suppose I know personally to a varying degree about 30 or 40 H and V posters and it does not take long to work out the probable drift of individual posts once you see the name, my own included.  Where we have our season tickets there are friends around us of about the same number. The attitudes of those 30 or 40 Villa fans are just as vehement and critical of what we are  enduring on the pitch but we are all getting it off our chests and getting on with the misery of being a Villa fan.  In short, if I did not have the camaraderie of the terraces I would have given up on the Villa donkey's years ago.

[Steve67]

We truly are a bag of depressing shit aren't we? Cheers Randy. No doubts the club will either whilst we sink further. Then appoint Nigel Personality Pearson when it's far too late.

[JD]

As a football supporter, you're supposed to be mildly pissed off that there are no games this weekend due to an international break.

As a Villa fan, for several years now, it has been the opposite. It comes as a relief. It does to me, anyway.

What is depressing is that it is already coming as a relief just eight league games into the season.

That's exactly how I feel as well. Instead of worrying about who Villa will lose to this weekend I am relaxed and looking forward to a nice weekend.

[Walmley_Villa]

I can count on one hand the number of times I have watched MOTD on a Saturday night over the past 4-5 years. I just can't face it when Villa have demoralised me yet again.

[maigrait]

I can count on one hand the number of times I have watch MOTD on a Saturday night over the past 4-5 years. I just can't face it when Villa have demoralised me yet again.

Yes i am exactly the same. My father in law whos a man united supporter can't understand it. When villa lose again its hard to give a toss about other teams.

[Dave Cooper please]

Tim, it's October. You've been at the club since February. You shouldn't still be looking around for a single miracle formation. You should know who your best players are. You definitely shouldn't be picking your tactics with some pieces of paper and a dartboard. It's time to go, and leave the job for someone who actually knows what they're doing. Maybe a balloon with a smiley face drawn on it, or something.

No way do I want David Platt taking over.

[IAmTheOneIanOlney]

The attitudes of those 30 or 40 Villa fans are just as vehement and critical of what we are  enduring on the pitch but we are all getting it off our chests and getting on with the misery of being a Villa fan.  In short, if I did not have the camaraderie of the terraces I would have given up on the Villa donkey's years ago.

I think this is completely right. I've been to far more away games than home games in recent years and have always found the defeats easier to stomach if I've been there and been able to scream and shout and take in all the views of the Villa fans around me. Seeing the game as it happens obviously gives you a better perspective than watching Final Score or Soccer Saturday, when you hear snippets every now and then and feel more and more desperate as it gets closer to 4:50pm.  I'm always much more down after those days than if I've been at the game.

[PaulWinch again]

It doesn't just put me off the Villa, it puts me off football.

I find I can't read the sports sections of the papers, I don't want to watch Match of the Day, all because our "contributions" to these are so incredibly depressing, week after week.

I binned my season ticket after the McLeish season, and decided to pick and choose matches. It wasn't entirely about the football, my work situation had started to look a bit iffy so money was much tighter, but it was also because it had been so depressing that season that I'd found myself subconsciously looking for excuses not to go, despite having already paid.

I'll be totally honest and say that after opting to pick and choose, I've been a handful of times the last few years.

Part of me says that's me being fickle or half-arsed, but really, I've put in years and years of it, and it has just not been very entertaining for so long now.

Ideally, the club should find supporters like me look back and regret not keeping their season ticket. I don't, though. Not even slightly. We keep having fixtures where I have a good idea of what is going to happen, in terms of results and 'entertainment', and then it pans out that I was absolutely right in my suspicions.

Not being able to get a cup final ticket at the time seemed briefly like it might be the end of the world, but even then, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I had been lucky to get a semi final ticket and it was the most enjoyable football experience I've had in years.

Other than that, though, I have absolutely no regrets about massively reducing the number of games I've been to. I feel like I've missed nothing.

I feel like the club just aren't trying. There is a mindset where continued mediocrity is acceptable so long as we stay in the top flight. It is written all over the place, from the mutterings of managers about how they just need to keep us up, to the little things like the OS talking about matches against "big clubs" or the desparation of that kit launch "we are a big club" campaign.

The place stinks of small time acceptance of crap. We're slowly becoming West Ham with a better history.

I completely agree. There is absolutely no joy about watching Villa, none. Also, this may only be a perception thing, it seems like other clubs who have struggled for the same period as us have had peaks and troughs, whereas we have just been in one massive trough. I suppose getting to the cup final was a highlight, but even then we got battered. I appreciate we haven't been relegated, but from a quality point of view I'm not sure how. We have been utter dross for years and years and we just don't look like we're ever coming out of it.

[Malandro]

Tim, it's October. You've been at the club since February. You shouldn't still be looking around for a single miracle formation. You should know who your best players are. You definitely shouldn't be picking your tactics with some pieces of paper and a dartboard. It's time to go, and leave the job for someone who actually knows what they're doing. Maybe a balloon with a smiley face drawn on it, or something.

No way do I want David Platt taking over.

My wife just asked me why I'm laughing. Yep she thinks I'm stupid now.