Relegated

[KevinGage]

The number of obstructed view seats was massively reduced when the old Trinity went.

Yes, but the old stand didn't have to be completely gutted to achieve that. 

Rangers were able to add a new roof and a new tier to their not dissimilar Bill Struth Main Stand, keeping the red brick facade and much of the character of the old stand.

That wouldn't have been without its problems -it might have even cost more than the final bill for the current carbuncle. But some things require a bit more effort and consideration.

[clash city rocker]

I love villa park just the way it is warts and all...imagine loving the sty..!!! Imagine loving that pisspot of a ground in Smethwick. ..ground wise we are one of the luckiest set of fans there are. I love villa park I'm just not so keen on the shit we put on the pitch.

[Phil from the upper holte]

I've watched a lot of Championship football this season and while it is a very competitive league, the quality is poor. Blues are crap and have very few goals in their team but have been flirting with the play offs all season, Derby had a bad run again but never dropped out of the play offs, Wolves have been terrible but are still in no danger of relegation. I watched Hull v Wolves on Friday, very poor from both teams yet Hull are challenging for automatic promotion. I'm not saying we're going to walk the league but if we get the right manager in and the right group of players who have a bit of quality, and more importantly fight, we should do alright. Ashley Westwood is scared of his own shadow, we need someone in there who can put their foot in and be nasty when needed.

Agree with this I watched hull and it was desperate

[myf]

How are we being left behind exactly? Leicester are currently winning the league in a 32k ground. The only team who can realistically catch them are playing in front of a full house of 36k.

Well spurs will be 60k soon, Liverpool too. Man city is now 50+. West ham 60k. Aren't Leicester expanding too?

VP  is being left behind as one of the traditional big grounds and our average attendance is about tenth in the prem.

Even when we've been doing well, we've very rarely sold out Villa Park, so what good would expanding to 50,000+ do?

Where did I say it would? I just said it is no longer one of the top 5 English grounds any more which is a statement of fact

[luke95]

Something I'd add that I think gets looked over is style.

Spurs and Man City have both signed players with a bit of skill, put bums on seats, entertainers, they're generally thought of as attractive sides, not just now but for a while.

We're seen as dour. We sign hard working English players like Milner or your Heskey. There's very few times I can think of when we've signed what are universally considered attractive players who people want to watch. How many new fans do we pick up when we are doing well? Very few I'd say, maybe something to do with the players we sign and the football we've played?

I think our crowds suffer from 2-3 things
Birmingham as a city/region gets dismissed left right & centre by the national media
We've not had a sustained period of success for generations
& we're stuck slap bang in the middle of the country , which makes it easy to go along to the big clubs of London & the North West

[tomd2103]

I've watched a lot of Championship football this season and while it is a very competitive league, the quality is poor. Blues are crap and have very few goals in their team but have been flirting with the play offs all season, Derby had a bad run again but never dropped out of the play offs, Wolves have been terrible but are still in no danger of relegation. I watched Hull v Wolves on Friday, very poor from both teams yet Hull are challenging for automatic promotion. I'm not saying we're going to walk the league but if we get the right manager in and the right group of players who have a bit of quality, and more importantly fight, we should do alright. Ashley Westwood is scared of his own shadow, we need someone in there who can put their foot in and be nasty when needed.

Agree with this I watched hull and it was desperate

Just caught some of the goals from the weekend and saw Nathan Baker giving a penalty away with a stupid challenge.  Some things never change.

[aj2k77]

One thing I worry about is we're talking about Baker, Gardner and Steer coming back to the club and doing a job. They currently play for the 16th, 17th and 19th best teams in the division. Bristol City in particular appear to be terrible at the back.

[McGraths Dry Cleaning]

I do think Villa are poor at marketing along with everything else. Since I moved back to the Midlands about 7 years ago I've been regular (couple of seasons missing literally one or two games) but have reduced a lot as I have a young family. I have gone to far fewer games but have bought adult/child packages (taken my oldest boy but he's still just under 5 so a bit young to really get into it). I rarely get contacted by the club about anything useful like ticket packages and so on but would have gone more if I'd realised earlier in the season what a bargain some of the games have been. I work in marketing and have grown our business by over 50% in the last couple of years and I contact everyone on our database at least once a week.

Mrs MDC works for one of the Premier League's sponsors so we've had a few tickets to various grounds over the last few years and they're all rammed with tourists. We can complain about this all we like and how rubbish modern football is but a lot of clubs get their attendances up because they are good at getting people to come to games. Lots of folk round by me (Solihull outskirts) go to Wasps as its under £20 a ticket and kids are free.

Having said all that I expect to go a lot more next season because either my lad will get into it (I'm already thinking half season tickets at Xmas) or I'll be able to go to more evening games when the kids are in bed.

[TonyD]

New single tier Holte of 22k please. 

[Stirchley Villain]

New single tier Holte of 22k please.

Whoah Nellie!!!

[D.boy]

Villa Park hasn't held us back. The muppets on the pitch and in the ivory towers are the ones who have caused our plummet into the championship.

[SoccerHQ]

Pat Murphy's had his say, and while it's mostly sensible he does say that the players he'd keep include Clark, who he'd make captain, Rudy Gestede, and Ashley fucking Westwood. He wouldn't keep Veretout or Adama Traore, it seems. I'm expecting more of this kind of nativism, the idea that our failure is down to soft-wristed foreigners and that we need more British Blokes.

Ray Houghton said the same on Talksport this morning, said Westwood would be a good player in the championship and he also said positive things about Clark although he does generally perform well for Ireland.

At a push I would keep players like Clark, Gestede, Hutton and Baker as back up, it is 46 games after all but we won't be getting automatic promotion if those are week in week out starters for us.

[dave.woodhall]

The number of obstructed view seats was massively reduced when the old Trinity went.

Yes, but the old stand didn't have to be completely gutted to achieve that. 

Rangers were able to add a new roof and a new tier to their not dissimilar Bill Struth Main Stand, keeping the red brick facade and much of the character of the old stand.

That wouldn't have been without its problems -it might have even cost more than the final bill for the current carbuncle. But some things require a bit more effort and consideration.

It was basically falling down, and a fire hazard to boot.

[KevinGage]

After Bradford, the Taylor report and everything else, I doubt very much any stand in the top flight could have survived until 2000 were that actually the case.

[seanthevillan]

Pat Murphy's had his say, and while it's mostly sensible he does say that the players he'd keep include Clark, who he'd make captain, Rudy Gestede, and Ashley fucking Westwood. He wouldn't keep Veretout or Adama Traore, it seems. I'm expecting more of this kind of nativism, the idea that our failure is down to soft-wristed foreigners and that we need more British Blokes.

Ray Houghton said the same on Talksport this morning, said Westwood would be a good player in the championship and he also said positive things about Clark although he does generally perform well for Ireland.

At a push I would keep players like Clark, Gestede, Hutton and Baker as back up, it is 46 games after all but we won't be getting automatic promotion if those are week in week out starters for us.

I think Clark might get away with more of his mistakes in the Championship, and I think he'll score quite a few as well.