Out the door on 74

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

https://www.spreadshirt.co.uk/affiliate/1246955/-C59/product/138084413/view/1/sb/1457968794_Tab_O_O_LS

[Dave]

The Fiver's take:

VILLAN OF THE PIECE

In May 2014, the Aston Villa owner Randy Lerner nailed a large “For Sale” sign to the Holte End, saying he owed it to the grand old club to “move on and look for fresh, invigorated leadership if in my heart I feel I can no longer do the job”. He was, in effect, daubing a metaphorical bed sheet with foot-high letters (that squish up a bit as you get near the end because these things are always trickier than they look) spelling out the words L-E-R-N-E-R and O-U-T.

Oddly, however, the Aston Villa stewards were less keen on the club’s supporters backing Lerner’s corporate message in the stands on Sunday. While Villa did their bit against Tottenham Hotspur to hasten their relegation, a handful of downtrodden fans unveiled a Lerner Out bed sheet in the North Stand, prompting stewards to wade in and tell them to take it down. Whereupon the fans did and the stewards wandered off. So the fans took the sheet out again – revealing another message on its back to the effect that the chief suit Tom Fox could do a sharpish one too – and the stewards waded in again. The whole routine repeated itself several times over, providing supporters with the most entertainment they’ve had at Villa Park so far this season. Let’s face it, if you’ve a choice between watching Rudy Gestede clump shots into the crossbar from six yards out or playing cat-and-mouse with a hired goon in a hi-vis tabard, then that’s really no choice at all.

Eventually, this dignified little skit ended with one balding enforcer indulging in a spot of tug-of-war with a fan, ripping the sheet from his hands, then nearly heading down the stand’s steps on his front teeth while various fans questioned his parents’ marital status. And all because the supporters were simply reminding potential buyers that the owner wants out and Villa Park and associated assets are available for a reasonable fee, no onward chain. It was left to hapless manager Rémi Garde to offer a response. Of sorts. “I prefer to live in a world where everybody can say with respect – which is very important and what everybody has to do – but on this occasion I would say as well that nobody has to forget what happened in the past and what has been done in the past by everybody involved in this football club,” he parped, adding: “If you know what I mean.” To which the correct response was: no, no one knows what you mean because the words that have just come out of your mouth are gibberish.

Lerner pointed out in 2014, a whole year before handing Tactics Tim a contract, that “fates are fickle in the business of English football and I feel that I have pushed mine well past the limit”. Now that club security guards are preventing fans from telling Lerner to do something he actually quite wants to do, it’s probably about time for fate to deliver the Villa owner his long overdue hoof up the hole.

[Comrade Blitz]

Won't the gate stewards just be told to search everyone for folded-up banners?

[frank black]

Unless they take your trousers down I can't see them locating banners.

[Witton Warrior]

Won't the gate stewards just be told to search everyone for folded-up banners?

That would create chaos adding to the vitriol there is going to be so let them do it if they are stupid enough
Flags don't have to be huge - a plain white cloth about 3' square wrapped around my ample middle should do it - I am going to try and make it look like a pair of Y-fronts ;-)

[oswald funkletrumpet]

Unless they take your trousers down I can't see them locating banners.

that happened to me

he said he was a steward but on second thoughts it was 2am. must have been a night game

[cheltenhamlion]

That statement is a bit 'up their own arse' but I fully agree with the general sentiment.

Yesterday really pissed me off with the way the club acted. We've won 3 of our last 32 league games and they think it's acceptable to go in mob handed and physically drag a banner off fans that has no obscenities etc on it. Smacks of a 'pay up, sit down and shut the fuck up' attitude which doesn't sit at well with me. Way I feel right now, that could be it for me this season. They want to treat us as c***s then i'll spend my money elsewhere.

Indeed. Whilst they have taken a panning at times of late, I see the Trust have had their two penneth on it as well:
http://villatrust.org.uk/?p=1648

[four fornicholl]

From reading this and the banners thread, it seems to me the vast majority of us are behind the planned latest show of displeasure.
How about h&v throwing their backing behind the said protest, im sure one or two on here could help publicise the banner protest, it can only help the bigger picture.Me and the boy will be there, flags suitably concealed.

[ez]

That statement is a bit 'up their own arse' but I fully agree with the general sentiment.

Yesterday really pissed me off with the way the club acted. We've won 3 of our last 32 league games and they think it's acceptable to go in mob handed and physically drag a banner off fans that has no obscenities etc on it. Smacks of a 'pay up, sit down and shut the fuck up' attitude which doesn't sit at well with me. Way I feel right now, that could be it for me this season. They want to treat us as c***s then i'll spend my money elsewhere.

More fool them. They bought more attention to the banner than there would have been.

[Holte L2]

I'll be purchasing a Lerner Out scarf from the guy outside the Holte Pub next home game, that's for sure.

[Clampy]

I haven't got a problem with the banner protest itself. It's on the telly, it should be effective and if it's what people want to do then fine. I didn't even notice the banner yesterday until my mate pointed it out and like it's already been said, the club have made a bigger issues of it than it should have been. However, the 'we are working hard for you' type comments that the protest group are coming out with just smacks of self importance.

[McGraths Dry Cleaning]

I'm all for it and don't care how they've articulated the proposal. The club have united the fans by trying to stop something tiny (even the clubs ability to stifle a protest is as effective as their attempts to win football matches). Classic stamp on a single flame that actually spreads fire instead of putting it out.

[London Villan]

The searches at turnstiles have already descended into barely a glance, and while a screw cap on small bottle of water is a major security risk, a 2kg thermos flask is fine!

I hope the belligerence goes up a notch Vs Chelsea.

[Dave]

The searches at turnstiles have already descended into barely a glance, and while a screw cap on small bottle of water is a major security risk, a 2kg thermos flask is fine!

Presumably they've decided that you're probably likely to want to keep your 2kg thermos and take it home with you, but the bottle cap is the difference between a full, half-kilo missile that you're unlikely to mind losing and a light, virtually harmless missile that you don't mind losing.

Not that there is anything stopping you from taking your own bottle cap in your pocket if you really wanted to launch a full bottle at the target of your ire.

[DaveD]

That statement is a bit 'up their own arse' but I fully agree with the general sentiment.

Yesterday really pissed me off with the way the club acted. We've won 3 of our last 32 league games and they think it's acceptable to go in mob handed and physically drag a banner off fans that has no obscenities etc on it. Smacks of a 'pay up, sit down and shut the fuck up' attitude which doesn't sit at well with me. Way I feel right now, that could be it for me this season. They want to treat us as c***s then i'll spend my money elsewhere.

More fool them. They bought more attention to the banner than there would have been.

Ahh. The Streisand Effect.