Out the door on 74

[ROBBO]

How many will leave if we are winning?

[Richard E]

How many will leave if we are winning?

I guess we'll never know what the answer to that question might have been...

[Chico Hamilton III]

How many will leave if we are winning?

ha ha

[CJ]

Covered in the Meaning Evil yesterday. Apparently being organised by Mike McKenna (whoever he is) and we're walking out on 74 in the next 3 home games! News to me, but he's got a Mission Statement and everything so it must be happening. It'll all be a bit half-cocked and as I said somewhere else people won't get the significance of it and just think people are leaving a bit early

[Jimbo]

Chris, you don't need a tangible aim / outcome. This isn't the workplace, it's football. It's not some performance appraisal, where you have to come away with a set of achievable goals and targets that you can tick off as you go. It's a bunch of football fans who've been paying through the nose to watch unmitigated crap for five years. They have every right to say "stop wrecking our club."

You don't cheer a goal because it has a tangible aim / outcome. It's an expression of how you feel about something. When Spanish fans wave white hankies, they don't do it because they have a list of achievable aims / outcomes to tick off. They do it because they're pissed off at something and want to show it. That's enough.

I disagree.  A protest is usually designed to achieve something.  This can't and won't.  Making your feelings known is one thing and perfectly natural.  An organised protest is just pointless.  Everyone knows how shit we are including the owner, Board & players.  We'll just get even more bad press and it will be labelled a poor mans Liverpool protest.  Frankly, in my opinion, it will all be a bit embarrassing.

This is football. People have been venting their emotions at matches for over a century. I know modern football clubs want to corporatise the customer experience, but don't let them squeeze every last vestige of life out of us, for Christ's sake. You are paying fans, you have every right to express your displeasure. More power to you if you have the intelligence and unity to be organised.
   
To reiterate, I think a walkout is a bad idea for the reasons given above. But there's every need for the right show of disapproval, and organisation is sometimes necessary to make the required impact. The Leeds fans got it right, because it didn't require large numbers of people to change their routine or do anything. What was their achievable aim / outcome again?

[chrisw1]

A few people walk out.  Everyone goes, "oh look a few Villa fans have walked out because they are shit.  Liverpool did it better though."  Randy and the board go "the fans think we're shit, but relegation kind of already told us that"

And life goes on.

Call me a traditionalist, but if you want to vent emotions then boo at the end.  'Protest because we're shit' just doesn't work.

[chrisw1]

The Leeds fans got it right, because it didn't require large numbers of people to change their routine or do anything. What was their achievable aim / outcome again?

Their aim was to put pressure on their owner to sell & to tell him the ticket price rise wasn't acceptable.  Ours owner already wants to sell.  See the difference?

[Chico Hamilton III]

I reckon there'll be a few more spontaneous acts of disquiet at The Emirates for the final game. Hope so, anyway. Strange that our "journey" under Lerner and his henchmen started so positively at The Emirates all those years ago and will end in disaster at the same place. Would be a fitting venue for some noisy protests. I'll be doing my bit to let them know what I think.

[Jimbo]

A few people walk out.  Everyone goes, "oh look a few Villa fans have walked out because they are shit.  Liverpool did it better though."  Randy and the board go "the fans think we're shit, but relegation kind of already told us that"

And life goes on.

Call me a traditionalist, but if you want to vent emotions then boo at the end.  'Protest because we're shit' just doesn't work.

If you think this is just because "we're shit" you haven't been paying attention for the last five years. We've been shit on and off throughout my entire Villa supporting life. Not quite as shit as we are now, though, and certainly not as dysfunctional as a club. The former is a symptom of the latter.

And, as I said, a walkout is a bad idea, so we agree on that point. But what really shows us up is not having the nous to organise ourselves and act as one, and that may be the only reason any protest is doomed to fail.

[Jimbo]

The Leeds fans got it right, because it didn't require large numbers of people to change their routine or do anything. What was their achievable aim / outcome again?

Their aim was to put pressure on their owner to sell & to tell him the ticket price rise wasn't acceptable.  Ours owner already wants to sell.  See the difference?

There's no difference. We're in exactly the same position, or did you miss Fox's "Randy's not a motivated seller right now" comment? Why should we believe anything has changed?

[Witton Warrior]

When I was a lad you had a "sit in" and refused to shift - be fun when they turn the lights out...

[chrisw1]

The Leeds fans got it right, because it didn't require large numbers of people to change their routine or do anything. What was their achievable aim / outcome again?

Their aim was to put pressure on their owner to sell & to tell him the ticket price rise wasn't acceptable.  Ours owner already wants to sell.  See the difference?

There's no difference. We're in exactly the same position, or did you miss Fox's "Randy's not a motivated seller right now" comment? Why should we believe anything has changed?

Randy has been actively looking for a seller.  As far as I'm aware their owner hasn't.  And whilst Randy has presided over a very poor period in our club, I don't think he is actively trying to bait fans.  Their owner claimed to have put up prices to 'punish' fans.  Randy has not been successful, but I think there's a world of difference here.

[itbrvilla]

As hard as things are surely we should be backing the 11 guys in the shirt on the pitch? Any walk out or protest during a game will affect them & their already fragile confidence.

Most of the ****** don't give a fuck anyway.  There is no way we will stay up and to be honest, I couldn't give a fuck if any of them were here next season anyway.  Fuck them.

[Lucky Eddie]

Is there a relevance to 74 that I'm missing? It wouldn't surprise me.

Cheers

[eamonn]

While we still have the faintest glimmer of staying-up, all this stuff isn't going to help the players at all so I hope it doesn't gather momentum. If/when our faith is sealed, fill your boots.