Fans Worried Over Villa Future

[pauliewalnuts]

If I were a fickle fan I would not be in my seventh decade as a Holte Ender and into my second housand Villa games attended.

The only way I have survived the worst horrors of those years and still come back for more is by being totally truthful with myself about the club I love.

The Stoke game was not four minutes of instant judgement, it was the fulcrum upon which my overall assessment of the Villa management turned.

After the Stoke game I was forced to ask myself the question how much has Martin O'Neill done personally to improve the team?   Or, expressed another way, with Randy Lerner and a new broom sweeping away all the old regime, how much worse would any other manager called in to replace O'Leary have done?

I have very high regard for Martin O'Neill but the admission that I do not have the total confidence in him which I had a year ago is not fickleness, it is plain honesty.

My faith in Randy Lerner remains undiminished because in my opinion he has delivered on all our expectations off the playing pitch.   It is my view that with an owner like Randy Lerner behind him any competent manager would have improved on O'Leary.

I honestly couldn't agree more.

I had a feeling after the Stoke game that the result would prove pivotal for us, and go far beyond dropping two points. Hard to explain, but it was just a "feeling".

[Hillbilly]

It's custom where I work to wear your club's tie to the office on a Monday morning if they win. I got a new Villa tie for Christmas. It's sat in the wardrobe for nearly three months now. I don't think it's in danger of fading from exposure to the light. Which is a worry.

[ROBBO]

Iv'e read posters saying this will be the most important summer for MON
and signings, trouble is they seem to be the same posters who said the same thing last year.
MON needs to sign at least three quality players for me to be a believer again and i don't think on past record it's going to happen.

[Hillbilly]

Robbo - you'll understand this reference... Terry Wallace had a five year plan to take Richmond back to their early '80s glory. Here we are in Year 5 and the Tigers have taken a great leap backwards. Any optimism from the summer has evaporated. The parallels are very worrying.

[OzVilla]

Robbo - you'll understand this reference... Terry Wallace had a five year plan to take Richmond back to their early '80s glory. Here we are in Year 5 and the Tigers have taken a great leap backwards. Any optimism from the summer has evaporated. The parallels are very worrying.

Worse still, didn't he start talking about a 7 year plan in a press conference last week while in year 5 of the 5 year plan.

It's not as bad as that though down at B6 though.  We've had a bad run of late but let's not overreact, Richmond are like the Albion FFS!

[ROBBO]

But surely we're not saying that being the best in Brum is good enough comparing our fortunes against those of other Midland sides is counter productive.
We are not just on a bad run to me the very basis of MONs coaching is under question, just the fact he doesn't usually see the players until a day before the game is a worry.
In fact everything is crap at the moment the Hawks have won only one in four is crap the recession is hitting my business, revenue down crap again, I lost a drink bet with a spam supporter, double crap.The Hawks knocked me out of the footy tipping i could go on and on and on.

[OzVilla]

But surely we're not saying that being the best in Brum is good enough comparing our fortunes against those of other Midland sides is counter productive.

No i'm not comparing us to Albion, i'm comparing Richmond to Albion. I think  they'd get walloped by anyone at the moment.

I agree that MON's tactics should come in for criticism right now. I think it was a major blunder to not put on a defensive midfielder ahead of the Fonz on Saturday. However, we have still come along way over the last 3 years and although we aren't there yet bit by bit I think we'll keep improving given the chance. I don't think the events of the last few weeks disguise a bigger more deep seated problem, I really don't.

Check out the first 40 or so pages of this thread to see what a Club heading in the wrond direction really looked like.

[ROBBO]

No need to i was there in the early days.

[peter w]

The worry is that we may have missed the boat this season and the momentum has been stopped. As you say Robbo every summer thus far has been called the most important for MON. but for differing reasons. this one is the most important because get this wrong and we go backwards, then his job is on the line.

the longest honeymoon period for any manager ever is seemingly over with more people identifying MON as the reason for the prolonged slump and poor decisions taken all for the pursuit of 4th place.

Which, with Arsenal currently in the semi-finals of the Champions League, may have seen us with our basket full of eggs in 4th spot still only being good enough for the Europa league anyway.

But the 'Worry' now is that once again Villa may have missed the boat. But luckily this time it seems that the fault isn't going to be located in the boardroom, but on the pitch. That is easier to fix.

[garyfouroaks]

Maybe other managers would have done as good a job as MON when Randy came in, but it is hard to believe that someone else would have done better.

Critisism of MONs tactics is off the mark, two top seven (at least) finishes in the past two years out of a professional league of 92 with the top 4 way ahead is success in anyone's estimation.

MONs transfer record  is  one open to debate.I believe he has bought players to strengthen a mid table finish, who have outperformed their status. Would a defence with Ridgewell and Cahill in it have been much worse than Knight/Davies/ Cuellar? Is petrov better at going forward than Steven Davis, or better at tackling then Gavin McCann? Is Freidel better than Carson, we conceded 42 goals with Scott in goal last season, and have conceded 43 this season with five game to go? Would Shay Given not have been a stronger long term replacement?

Of course there have been successes too.

I approach the summer riven by doubt. Are we a couple of players off aChamps leage spot? - as the first three quaters of the season suggested.
Or are we in for a relegation struggle? - as our last quarter of the season form suggests. it happened to Everton after their top four finish.

[VillaVA]

I am worried, worried, worried.

[ROBBO]

Can anyone offer an explanation as to why mon refuses to revert to the set up that was so successful with one up front, at his press conference he was talking about entertaining football well i would sacrifice a bit of entertainment for a scrappy win.

[Pants]

If I were a fickle fan I would not be in my seventh decade as a Holte Ender and into my second housand Villa games attended.

The only way I have survived the worst horrors of those years and still come back for more is by being totally truthful with myself about the club I love.

The Stoke game was not four minutes of instant judgement, it was the fulcrum upon which my overall assessment of the Villa management turned.

After the Stoke game I was forced to ask myself the question how much has Martin O'Neill done personally to improve the team?   Or, expressed another way, with Randy Lerner and a new broom sweeping away all the old regime, how much worse would any other manager called in to replace O'Leary have done?

I have very high regard for Martin O'Neill but the admission that I do not have the total confidence in him which I had a year ago is not fickleness, it is plain honesty.

My faith in Randy Lerner remains undiminished because in my opinion he has delivered on all our expectations off the playing pitch.   It is my view that with an owner like Randy Lerner behind him any competent manager would have improved on O'Leary.

I honestly couldn't agree more.

I had a feeling after the Stoke game that the result would prove pivotal for us, and go far beyond dropping two points. Hard to explain, but it was just a "feeling".

Me too, I 'knew' within those 4 minutes we had fucked it up and wouldn't recover for the rest of the season, coming hot on the heels of the UEFA Cup 'withdrawal' this was the week that turned what was looking like a great season into yet another season of disappointment.

[Olneythelonely]

I am chuffed to bits with being a Villa fan at the moment. Not as chuffed as I was a couple of months ago, but chuffed nonetheless.

[villa in the gulf]

Well it is not a case of I have supported them longer. somewhere in the region of 40 years, so that makes me a better fan, but I am in fact pissed off, we have never and in my opinion will never have a better chance of breaking the sky wankfest, about 8 weeks ago I was talking to a Leeds fan and he was astounded to hear me say, that MON was in fact not the dogs bollocks in my opinion that alot of Villa fans were making him out to be and also those same fans that have been easily led by the media, because the one thing MON does excel at is telling them a line that then goes on to make a good story and in turn release the pressure on him, not the players, was in fact the man to take us upwards and onwards. Tactically we have all seen this season he is lacking. Stubbornly he is a pain in the arse, playing players out of position, not playing players for whatever reason, or one we are not told about.
I have not got a clue who if anyone should take over from him, but I would give him till the end of next season and if Champions league football has not been got, say thanks but on your way. Harshe maybe, but I am not a blue nose who is used to setling for second best, once Ellis went them days should have been over.