Pressing the pice

[dave.woodhall]

Recycling the headlines.

http://thebirminghampress.com/2016/02/the-long-goodbye-2/

[brian green]

Well put, insightful as ever.  To add a post script to your Jim Bowen metaphor, what Randy Lerner will actually get is the legendary Terry Wogan's Blankerty Blank cheque book and pen.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

So we're 100 plus miles from the sea and the arrival of Remi Garde was equivalent to us winning the speedboat.

[Ron Manager]

Not much you can say really.Nothing to look forward to or be positive about.The only ray of sunshine is that N'Zogbia's contract is up this summer.Nothing else though.

[fbriai]

That first paragraph, in a few short lines, sums it all up better than anything else I've read. Next time anyone asks me what's gone wrong at Villa, I'm just going to quote it.

[Fin Feds Dad]

Spot on Dave - again.

I live in Stafford - most of my mates are Stoke - and yesterday I had 'you're the worst side we have seen in the Brit all season'.

My reply was - 'we use to say that about you - and that says far more about how much we have fallen , than how much you have progressed'.

Not as well put as your first paragraph though , I admit !

[trevor fisher]

impossible to argue with this piece, its not just a question of Stoke, look at the Albion. The fact is that they keep doing enough to stay up. The owner has the nous to make the right decisions, but when he makes mistakes,corrects them. Villa keep making more and more mistakes. The lack of any sense in what is happening is frightening/

Trevor Fisher

[tomd2103]

We are the football equivalent of the condemned prisoner who has now reached the point of wanting their date with the gallows to be over and done with. 

[mrfuse]

I doff my hat to you sir, for once again managing to write another article on our plight without just repeating the last one.

[frankmosswasmyuncle]

Another article that captures the mood very well Mr Woodhall!
And agree with fbriai...that first paragraph sums us up perfectly.

How low we have fallen....................etc.

[joe_c]

So we're 100 plus miles from the sea and the arrival of Remi Garde was equivalent to us winning the speedboat.

The mental image of Bully striding across the foot of the screen flicking through a dictionary while the word SHUNAMMITE is revealed behind him has cheered me up a tiny bit.

A thing from the game itself I think is worth mentioning is that even after we pulled a goal back, there was little belief or encouragement emanating from the away end that we would get anything out of it and it only triggered sarcastic "We've scored a goal" chants. This isn't a criticism of the support at all, just further evidence of the low expectations the team in their current state generate.

[ChicagoLion]

Lovely smashing great.

[rougegorge]

I think the analogy with Houllier's time is very apt.

We won't be back at Stoke for a while, although I'd much prefer to go there (easy to get to and not expensive) than some of the prospective grounds next season.

The only thing I would challenge is a uniform praise of the supporters. Whilst many did come out of it with credit, quite a few round me did not, either arguing among themselves (well, maybe that is going down with a fight I guess ), or needlessly running down to the front to hurl the vilest unwarranted vitriol, particularly at Butland. Bluenose or not, nobody should be subjected to that kind of abuse. 

[darren woolley]

Good read Dave.

[MadKev]

Fantastic read that. I guess all we can do now is reminisce about the good times.