AGM - Protest

[Villa in Denmark]

Fox said something about why he thought our new players hadn't had much of an impact (understatement of the year), and blamed it on them not being integrated well enough at Bodymoor. Nothing to do with them not being good enough then, Tom?
Honestly this lot must think we were all born yesterday.

So who have been the brighter spots this season?

There's been no bright spots this season. Absolutely none.
You sure you've been watching Aston Villa this season?

First I said brightER, not bright spots, but don't let that stop your determination to see black everywhere.

So the form that Ayew has shown as he's settled down hasn't been a brighter spot?

Veretout looking like a PROPER PREMIER LEAGUE FOOTBALLER © saunders_heroes isn't a brighter spot?

Okore settling down and starting to show why he was actually viewed as one of the most promising young centre backs in Europe a few years ago after coming back from 2 serious knee operations isn't a positive?

I'll hazard a guess that you're all time favourite songs are either a Metallica track from Ride The Lightning or a Rolling Stones track that was never originally an album track.

[amfy]

Of course we are not already relegated, but there is no-one who can't admit that the situation RIGHT NOW is that it it more than likely that we will be. We could sign Messi and he probably couldn't save us.

Spending the kind of money it will take to get anyone who might improve us to come right now, would be suicidal, and far more likely to end up with a Bolton situation. It is not 'throwing in the towel' to say that whether we end up in The Championship, or survive, we become a more attractive destination for the type of players we will need in the summer than we are now.

[saunders_heroes]

You're deluding yourself. We're rock bottom of the league and they're have been no bright spots (or 'brighter' spots or whatever you want to call it).
I think I should be calling that nurse for you again.

[Ormy Droid]

Fox said something about why he thought our new players hadn't had much of an impact (understatement of the year), and blamed it on them not being integrated well enough at Bodymoor. Nothing to do with them not being good enough then, Tom?
Honestly this lot must think we were all born yesterday.

But some of them are good enough (Ayew, Veretout, Amavi, Gana, Traore), though so far only Ayew has shown this consistently. The problem is they were dumped into a dysfunctional squad with a dysfunctional manager and coaching staff, who hung them out to dry in their first few months at the club. This is what Fox meant by a 'failure to integrate', clearly.

[Dave]

You're deluding yourself

Or, just able to tell the difference between different shades of grey.

[SheffieldVillain]

You're deluding yourself. We're rock bottom of the league and they're have been no bright spots (or 'brighter' spots or whatever you want to call it).
I think I should be calling that nurse for you again.

Ah, here we go again. You disagree with saunders_heroes, therefore you're deluded.

[Chico Hamilton III]

So the club have conceded that we'll be relegated and won't be trying to sign big money, short term players in the transfer window. Makes sense to me, But why aren't we identifying championship-quality players who we think will do a job for us next season and giving them a 5 month head start to get used to playing as a team. Isn't this a perfect opportunity for Garde to get his championship side sorted out so that we can ( apologies for the wanky phrase) "hit the ground running" in August?

Buying nobody at all and suggesting it's pointless hardly convinces me that we have a clear strategy for next year. Unless I'm missing something here?

[saunders_heroes]

Of course we are not already relegated, but there is no-one who can't admit that the situation RIGHT NOW is that it it more than likely that we will be. We could sign Messi and he probably couldn't save us.

Spending the kind of money it will take to get anyone who might improve us to come right now, would be suicidal, and far more likely to end up with a Bolton situation. It is not 'throwing in the towel' to say that whether we end up in The Championship, or survive, we become a more attractive destination for the type of players we will need in the summer than we are now.

Do we have the baliffs knocking on the door looking to take away the furniture or something?
The reason we're not spending isn't because of the reasons the sly Fox comes out with, it's because the owner has washed his hands of the club. They're not protecting is for next season at all in my opinion and I don't trust them to invest sufficiently to get us back up next year either (if we go down).
What makes you so confident they're trying to secure our future?

[saunders_heroes]

Fox said something about why he thought our new players hadn't had much of an impact (understatement of the year), and blamed it on them not being integrated well enough at Bodymoor. Nothing to do with them not being good enough then, Tom?
Honestly this lot must think we were all born yesterday.

But some of them are good enough (Ayew, Veretout, Amavi, Gana, Traore), though so far only Ayew has shown this consistently. The problem is they were dumped into a dysfunctional squad with a dysfunctional manager and coaching staff, who hung them out to dry in their first few months at the club. This is what Fox meant by a 'failure to integrate', clearly.

I disagree, we might have the occasional above average performance from these players but mainly they've been poor. Ayew is hit and miss even though he seems to be one of the better ones. I can't accept they haven't been intergrated well. They're just not good enough, and I'm not gonna fall for Fox's bullshit.

[NeilH]

I don’t think there is a single person who will say that we’ve been well ran for the past five years, but this notion of us being some sort of brand with a right to the big time is part of the reason why no-one will give a crap once we go down.
Every fan of every mismanaged club has a right to question and complain about the way they are run, but the moment you bring in the notion ‘We won the European Cup’ or ‘We’re the biggest club in the Midlands’ you start to lose the sympathy. As regards being the biggest club in the second city, to most outside Brum it’s not the second city, it’s third or perhaps even fourth.

The only thing that matters is that this relegation, combined with the years of mismanagement, is the shock that those running the club need to substantially restructure it. It’s hard to judge that yet and certainly difficult to do so with a man a couple of weeks in a job, who’s made a few SoundBits.

[saunders_heroes]

So the club have conceded that we'll be relegated and won't be trying to sign big money, short term players in the transfer window. Makes sense to me, But why aren't we identifying championship-quality players who we think will do a job for us next season and giving them a 5 month head start to get used to playing as a team. Isn't this a perfect opportunity for Garde to get his championship side sorted out so that we can ( apologies for the wanky phrase) "hit the ground running" in August?

Buying nobody at all and suggesting it's pointless hardly convinces me that we have a clear strategy for next year. Unless I'm missing something here?

Because they're bullshitting us.

[Villa in Denmark]

You're deluding yourself. We're rock bottom of the league and they're have been no bright spots (or 'brighter' spots or whatever you want to call it).
I think I should be calling that nurse for you again.

You really are a child of the digital age.  On or Off and nothing in between.

Of course it's shit being where we are, but it's you that's deluded if you can't see any brighter spots at all.

I'm guessing that your solution would be to just bin the entire clubs worth of players and start from scratch, preferably not paying less than £20M per player and dishing out £100K per week contracts, just ensure we get Proper Premier League Players on Proper Premier League Wages.

As a matter of interest, who handles the domestic finances in your household?  Because I'd love to know if you treat your own money the way you'd like to treat someone else's.

[dicedlam]

Who exactly thinks that because we won the European cup once, 30 years ago we expect something right now?

We are the biggest club in the second city, we average and have averaged amongst the top 10 in attendance for the past god knows how long, we have a turnover amongst the 25 biggest in the world. That's the hear and nows of it, no history involved. Somehow it's become acceptable to be buying from Crewe, Chesterfield, French second division players and replacing our stars with no bodies and championship players.

We are only a tired brand because no ones gave a flying fuck about the club for the past 5 years and have left it to drift along like a random sock in a dirty river. I know who's fault that is and it certainly isn't the fans. They have had the stuffing knocked out of them, with the constant defeats, humiliations and piss takings and generally being the butt of the footballing jokes. I can forgive any fan for wanting to see a bit of hope and fighting spirit, I can't forgive an owner who has ran away from his duties and done too little too late. Fuck him.

I cannot disagree with any of that,  the buck stops with Lerner.

I despise the man for what he's done to our once proud club. I honest believe we will be shuffling around in the wilderness for many years to come.

[Dave]

Ayew is hit and miss even though he seems to be one of the better ones.

Oh, so it is possible after all to say that some things are better than others?

[brian green]

What you also have to do is consider whether the ransom prices that you pay for players to "save" us actually will deliver improvement.
Bringing in players for the sake of it is no substitute for cool headed good judgement. As another poster put it very pithily, it could be like buying an expensive steak then boiling it and putting it into a trifle.