Fans Worried Over Villa Future

[D.boy]

I'm going to sit back and soak up the sun whilst waiting to see who Randy appoints as the new manager. I am doing my best to avoid the speculation/hysteria/blind panic shown by some on here until the vacancy is filled. If it's Mclaren then I will fully sign up to the panic brigade though.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Is it that bad ?

I didn't wanna see this thread again!!

[Ian.]

Blimey. It's come to this has it? Now I'm very worried indeed.

[not3bad]

I'm worried that the worrying is affecting the weather.  Rain forecast all week long!

[Villa'Zawg]

I'd be more worried if we weren't in the process of changing manager.

[Comrade Blitz]

I expect that whichever manager we end up with (if we don't get Ancelotti) will face a less than enthusiastic reaction...

Boooooo. Booooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Piss off ya bum - we wanted Ancelotti.

[just practicising]

[holtepaul]

As one of the ones going doolalee at the thought of CA as manager.

If he turns us down, I'll be OK with it.

My beef would be if we didn't even approach him, and then went for someone like McLaren - thus showing a total lack of desire to achieve anything.

If he turns us down, at least the club have tried to get the very very best, and it hadnt worked out - if we then end up with Rafa or similar, I'll still be chuffed to bits.

Put it this way, as a F1 fan - to me it is like Force India trying to sign Sebastian Vettel - he turning them down, but successfully getting Hamilton instead !.

However, if it ends up with Steve McLaren - its like Ferrari giving the drive to a BSM driving instructor !

[Outcast2006]

However, if it ends up with Steve McLaren - its like Ferrari giving the drive to a BSM driving instructor !

Not entirely sure the word instructor should be used in the same sentence as Schteve to be honest

[Mr Diggles]

If ever there was a time for this thread in the last 4 years ...

[Legion]

I'm not worried. I'm terrified. I hope he screws his interview up.

[Mr Diggles]

I hope they ask him to do his pterodactyl impression, and then mock him for being so ridiculous.

[N'ZMAV]

I hope his car breaks down on the way to the interview, then he completley fucks it up.

[Phil from the upper holte]

I think Randy has given it up, he no longer wants us to challenge he wants mid table mediocrity. Well he's going to get it, I hope i'm wrong but I doubt it

[Ads]

Some people may remember the thread of the above title, or a variety of the same, from a few seasons ago. I think now is the appropriate time to bring it back.

To add a caveat, people should know that when it comes to optimism I am from the Chris Smith end of the spectrum, so this isn't the ramblings of some merchant of doom, but I think the club, at this present time is rotten from top to bottom.

I woke up this morning and had to rub my eyes twice to make sure I had not woken up in 2005, as I am unable to tell the difference between the club in its present state and leadership and where we were under O'Leary and Ellis.

Its something of a disgrace that after a few years of spending there is no bedrock at the club to build on. This side is as inept as that which contained Zinadiné McCann. Emile Heskey is to our midfield what Eric Bakke was.

We have found ourselves in the unenviable position to have incompetence spread evenly throughout the club, from the board to the back four.

Lerner's stunning naivety is matched only by his inability to pick a manager. While the financial restraints of today are down to O'Neill and the vast quantities of garbage that was purchased at the wrong age, on the obscene wages, its a two way street; Lerner or his CEO was underwriting all of it. They did not pick up the accounts in 2009 with surprise.

And so now we're with out a proverbial pot. In the past twelve months we've sold quality in Milner, Young and Downing for a combined and approximate figure of £50 million, double what our outlay has been on transfers. Yet so perilous is our financial position, we have nothing to invest in January in a small, weak and poor squad.

Its clear that the Champions League is off the agenda, but then the reality that competing with the top 7 or so is no longer something we can fund, is pretty soul destroying.

If there is no money left, or rather that Lerner is no longer able to finance the club with even modest investment, then that does not necessarily mean we have to give up the ghost. Everton are equally penniless yet still offer their supporters some entertainment, some comfort that they'll at least give it a bash, which boils down to Kenwright getting the crucial job right with managerial selection spot on, something Lerner has failed the test on two occasions now. He's not helped by the detached bumbling leadership of our CEO.

Which bring's us to the manager.

McLeish is a decent bloke, so full comparisons with O'Leary cannot be made with any fairness. However, he does share his ineptitude and lack of popularity.

I am confused about what he is trying to achieve. We knew how we went about our business under O'Neill and even under the disastrous Houllier. You may not have agreed with they style of play, but at least there was a style. How do we do things now? You cannot honestly sit there and say "it's long ball", because its not. The thoroughly useless Collins does, on a regular basis, smack it to Bent only for him to be out jumped by some lump of a centre half, but other than that, we lack any sense of fluidity, movement or direction in our play.

The side is clearly suffering from the abundance of talent that has recently gone elsewhere. Poor Bent has had one chance, this being in the first two minutes at White Heart Lane, created for him in three games. What a spectacularly ridiculous decision to by a poacher, pay him huge wages and a huge fee for him, only to pay for this, probably, with the sale of two wingers who supplied more than most. The manager has clearly been let down by N'Zogbia, but how can he ever have been expected to fill both Young and Downing's shoes?

Its not just the players who lack any sort of planning or joined up thinking.

But none of that can excuse the appalling lack of a plan. We do not have a single clue. And in fairness, there is some players at the club who can do things. God bless Gabby for a start. While the back four may be more reminiscent of your local boozers defence and the midfield pedestrian, there are still a clutch of players who can offer you something- for however long we can retain their services while our ambitions plummet. I think I would cry if we sold Gabby.

Its not just the score of forgettable performances so far this season, but its the cowardly approach to them. We have gone into games against the better sides without an iota of belief, stood off and rolled over, without laying a glove on them. The defeatist attitude comes from one man and the condition spreads. We were afraid to have ago at side as ready for the plucking as anybody at Swansea for 60 minutes of the game. You do not need billions to have a side that can press the ball or pass the ball. The fear is that this sort of attitude that appears to have become commonplace, spreads into a terminal condition. We'll see it across a few more fixtures this festive period, yet how do the players turn it off for the likes of Bolton or Stoke?

Its a desperate state of affairs. We are no further along than we were in 2005/6.

So what do we do?

Lerner isn't going anywhere; there are no petro trillions coming our way. Our future consists of rubbing two pennies together in the transfer market. So you have to look at the manager. There are better options out there than McLeish. We can find a manager who can at least offer a glimpse of hope to try and swat away the apathy the has seeped into the support. It says something when Young, who got a mixture of boos and applause, received better support than any single Villa player. I was shocked that we had 40,000 on the gate. Even me, the ever optimist that thought during the week we may, just may, do them 2-1, walked down to he the ground thinking "what's the bloody point?".

But McLeish isn't going anywhere and neither are we.  There is far more dross in this league than us, with Wigan, Blackburn, Bolton and the promoted sides. Yet finishing 14th, simply existing is not good enough for Aston Villa. We're in complete decline to a position of pointless obscurity.

Depressing. 

[greenwichvilla]

900 pages.