Relegated

[brian green]

The true problem is that nothing has changed.

We have new board members and we have been lulled into thinking that means things will change for the better.  In real terms nothing has changed.  We continue to lose games and we continue to outrage the supporters.  Improvement may come but there has been nothing  different for the last three months than for the last five years.

Houllier came and we said great, things will get better.  Houllier left and we said we will get a healthy replacement and things will get better.  His replacement was sacked and we said great, things will get better.  Lambert got sacked and we said great, things will get better.  Sherwood was sacked and we said great, things will get better.  Garde was sacked, Fox was sacked, Almstadt was sacked and we all said great, things will get better.  Bernstein, King, Bevington and Brian Little came in andcwe said great, things will get better.

But things have not got better.  They have got worse.

Now we are saying the games will be much easier next season, great things will get better.

Nothing other than a slap on the wrist for Gabby has happened to correct our decline.  We have just been relegated and the only words directed towards the bedrock of the club, the fans, are insults from Lescott and banal rent-a-caretaker platitudes from Eric Black.

I see no positive sign whatsoever that anything has changed or is in the process if being changed with any degree of urgency.

[croatian]

This needs to be treated as an opportunity.  I really don't understand what everybody is getting in a hooley about.  We now have an opportunity to compete in a league with a realistic possibility of actually winning something be that the championship or promotion back to the Premier League.  The only downside is if we do go back up next season it will be to just join the gravy train without ever really being able to win it.  The Premier League is shit, uncompetitive and boring, I find it astonishing that so many supporters on here want to carry on playing in that league. Keep your nerve we will have far more excitement next season in The Championship.

Hmm.

Just think of the jolly fun to be had in the third division.

[kippaxvilla2]

I honestly cannot see us coming back up anytime soon.  The rot is so deeply ingrained that it could take another five years of rebuilding.

[Ads]

I'm sure they said the same about Sunderland.

[mr-villa]

This needs to be treated as an opportunity.  I really don't understand what everybody is getting in a hooley about.  We now have an opportunity to compete in a league with a realistic possibility of actually winning something be that the championship or promotion back to the Premier League.  The only downside is if we do go back up next season it will be to just join the gravy train without ever really being able to win it.  The Premier League is shit, uncompetitive and boring, I find it astonishing that so many supporters on here want to carry on playing in that league. Keep your nerve we will have far more excitement next season in The Championship.

Tell that to Leicester City.

Wondered how long it would take for somebody to jump on that.  First time in the entire 24 year history of the Premier League that it might be won by a cinderella team.  Study the stats it will likely show the top four places filled by the same teams year in year out therefore not competitive.  The sooner they disappear up their own arses into the European Super league the better.  The Sky money really has ruined our national sport and the national team has reaped the reward of utter failure over the same 24 year period, the two things are most definitely not mutually exclusive.

[SoccerHQ]

This needs to be treated as an opportunity.  I really don't understand what everybody is getting in a hooley about.  We now have an opportunity to compete in a league with a realistic possibility of actually winning something be that the championship or promotion back to the Premier League.  The only downside is if we do go back up next season it will be to just join the gravy train without ever really being able to win it.  The Premier League is shit, uncompetitive and boring, I find it astonishing that so many supporters on here want to carry on playing in that league. Keep your nerve we will have far more excitement next season in The Championship.

Hmm.

Maybe but the vast majority of our existance has been in the top division and for many of those season competiting in the top 6-8.

That's the annoyance for me, that it's been drummed in from the clubs actions last 5 years that we're not good enough for the premier league and so should be grateful to be going down to the championship where we can win some games.

We've been winning games comfortably enough for most seasons I've followed us up to 2010. As uncompetitive as the premier league usually is (apart from this season) you can't say 2008-10 were boring seasons. We won pretty much 50% of our league games over a 3 season period.

[Allan C]

The true problem is that nothing has changed.

We have new board members and we have been lulled into thinking that means things will change for the better.  In real terms nothing has changed.  We continue to lose games and we continue to outrage the supporters.  Improvement may come but there has been nothing  different for the last three months than for the last five years.

Houllier came and we said great, things will get better.  Houllier left and we said we will get a healthy replacement and things will get better.  His replacement was sacked and we said great, things will get better.  Lambert got sacked and we said great, things will get better.  Sherwood was sacked and we said great, things will get better.  Garde was sacked, Fox was sacked, Almstadt was sacked and we all said great, things will get better.  Bernstein, King, Bevington and Brian Little came in andcwe said great, things will get better.

But things have not got better.  They have got worse.

Now we are saying the games will be much easier next season, great things will get better.

Nothing other than a slap on the wrist for Gabby has happened to correct our decline.  We have just been relegated and the only words directed towards the bedrock of the club, the fans, are insults from Lescott and banal rent-a-caretaker platitudes from Eric Black.

I see no positive sign whatsoever that anything has changed or is in the process if being changed with any degree of urgency.

Nothing will change until we replace the vast majority of the squad. This is the worst Villa team I've ever seen. Absolutely awful

[SheffieldVillain]

The true problem is that nothing has changed.

We have new board members and we have been lulled into thinking that means things will change for the better.  In real terms nothing has changed.  We continue to lose games and we continue to outrage the supporters.  Improvement may come but there has been nothing  different for the last three months than for the last five years.

Houllier came and we said great, things will get better.  Houllier left and we said we will get a healthy replacement and things will get better.  His replacement was sacked and we said great, things will get better.  Lambert got sacked and we said great, things will get better.  Sherwood was sacked and we said great, things will get better.  Garde was sacked, Fox was sacked, Almstadt was sacked and we all said great, things will get better.  Bernstein, King, Bevington and Brian Little came in andcwe said great, things will get better.

But things have not got better.  They have got worse.

Now we are saying the games will be much easier next season, great things will get better.

Nothing other than a slap on the wrist for Gabby has happened to correct our decline.  We have just been relegated and the only words directed towards the bedrock of the club, the fans, are insults from Lescott and banal rent-a-caretaker platitudes from Eric Black.

I see no positive sign whatsoever that anything has changed or is in the process if being changed with any degree of urgency.

All very true Brian, but in terms of the new board members most of the things you've mentioned have happened in the last month or two.

The one thing that absolutely has to happen before there is any prospect of improvement on the pitch is for the 'core' of our squad to leave. That process hasn't been able to start yet (although I think they may have started to try to persuade Gabby his time is up).

Until the squad has been purged of at the very least Gabby, Lescott, Richards, N'Zogbia, Richardson, Hutton - our so called 'senior pros', nothing is going to improve regardless of who is manager or chairman. That needs to start the minute the final ball has been kicked. It's only then that we will see any change.

[Nunkin1965]

To all the die-hards who went home-and-away every game this season I absolutely tip my hat to you all, you deserve better than this shit, hold your heads up high tonight - respect.

Hear hear.
I've been trying to find the words but you sum it up completely

I thought the line up today was an insult to the travelling fans.

If Eric Black is still in charge next week, are we supposed to accept the same teamsheet?

Unacceptable with nothing left to play for league wise.

[Ads]

It's a strange feeling. It's more the absence of any anger that's odd, but then this day has been coming for years so it's kind of like putting down your 19 year old one eyed, deaf cat whose teeth have all fallen out.

Even the glory hunting day trippers didn't seem as irritating today as normal.

It's what we deserve and it's how we respond. One day we will wake up and remember that we are a massive club again and start acting like it. I'm hoping that's a day coming soon.

[in exile]

To all the die-hards who went home-and-away every game this season I absolutely tip my hat to you all, you deserve better than this shit, hold your heads up high tonight - respect.

Hear hear.
I've been trying to find the words but you sum it up completely

I thought the line up today was an insult to the travelling fans.

If Eric Black is still in charge next week, are we supposed to accept the same teamsheet?

Unacceptable with nothing left to play for league wise.

Again, I agree.
Something wrong with me this evening!

[mr-villa]

This needs to be treated as an opportunity.  I really don't understand what everybody is getting in a hooley about.  We now have an opportunity to compete in a league with a realistic possibility of actually winning something be that the championship or promotion back to the Premier League.  The only downside is if we do go back up next season it will be to just join the gravy train without ever really being able to win it.  The Premier League is shit, uncompetitive and boring, I find it astonishing that so many supporters on here want to carry on playing in that league. Keep your nerve we will have far more excitement next season in The Championship.

Hmm.

Maybe but the vast majority of our existance has been in the top division and for many of those season competiting in the top 6-8.

That's the annoyance for me, that it's been drummed in from the clubs actions last 5 years that we're not good enough for the premier league and so should be grateful to be going down to the championship where we can win some games.

We've been winning games comfortably enough for most seasons I've followed us up to 2010. As uncompetitive as the premier league usually is (apart from this season) you can't say 2008-10 were boring seasons. We won pretty much 50% of our league games over a 3 season period.

Don't disagree but Richard Scudamore who controls the premier league really needs to take it in a different direction.  I believe we need to move towards a similar model to the NFL where there is at least an attempt to keep a level playing field amongst the teams through the draft to maintain competitiveness.  You just don't see the same dominance of sport over there by one or two teams.

[GarTomas]

The true problem is that nothing has changed.

We have new board members and we have been lulled into thinking that means things will change for the better.  In real terms nothing has changed.  We continue to lose games and we continue to outrage the supporters.  Improvement may come but there has been nothing  different for the last three months than for the last five years.

Houllier came and we said great, things will get better.  Houllier left and we said we will get a healthy replacement and things will get better.  His replacement was sacked and we said great, things will get better.  Lambert got sacked and we said great, things will get better.  Sherwood was sacked and we said great, things will get better.  Garde was sacked, Fox was sacked, Almstadt was sacked and we all said great, things will get better.  Bernstein, King, Bevington and Brian Little came in andcwe said great, things will get better.

But things have not got better.  They have got worse.

Now we are saying the games will be much easier next season, great things will get better.

Nothing other than a slap on the wrist for Gabby has happened to correct our decline.  We have just been relegated and the only words directed towards the bedrock of the club, the fans, are insults from Lescott and banal rent-a-caretaker platitudes from Eric Black.

I see no positive sign whatsoever that anything has changed or is in the process if being changed with any degree of urgency.

I think the past few months have been putting in place the 'right' people at the board level to make the decisions.
The next few months will dictate whether they are the 'right' people.

[kippaxvilla2]

Compare Darren Bents reaction to that utter tear Lescott's.

Sad to see my former club villa go down today. Painful for everyone associated with the club. Hopefully they will be back very soon. #avfc
6:28pm - 16 Apr 16

[dave shelley]

Nice touch.