Aston Villa vs Sheffield Utd pre-match thread - June 17th 6pm

[Three Spires Villa]

Personally I never want to be in the Championship again. Lots of things i dislike about the Premier league, but it is where we need to be.

Please win Villa, we really need to win!

[JD]

JUST FUCKING WIN VILLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Right, I'm calm again now.

[VinnieChase84]

Its a totally new season now. No one has form to carry over. Anything can happen.

Its a 10 game season. We know what we need to do. The focus will be crystal clear, we need to take our opportunities and push on.

Im still keeping the faith.

UTV

[Mister E]

VAR is not being used as far as I am aware.

Can someone explain the logic of not using VAR two-thirds of the way through 'the season'? I've not seen an explanation anywhere.

[Chico Hamilton III]

But why on earth do you feel the clubs won't do everything they can to get fans through the door and give them the best experience they can when it seems to me cluubs are keen to do exactly that?

Consideration for paying fans was taken out of the clubs' hands the day they signed up with Sky.

Monday night games, ridiculous KO times, shifting games at relatively short notice, access to televised games only for those who can afford it tells me that paying punters ( proper fans in my book) are the bottom of the list when it comes to consideration and it doesn't matter what the clubs think.

Is how I read Nev's post.

[VinnieChase84]

VAR is not being used as far as I am aware.

Can someone explain the logic of not using VAR two-thirds of the way through 'the season'? I've not seen an explanation anywhere.

It is being used. They have announced who the VAR refs are for our game

[chrisw1]

But why on earth do you feel the clubs won't do everything they can to get fans through the door and give them the best experience they can when it seems to me cluubs are keen to do exactly that?

Consideration for paying fans was taken out of the clubs' hands the day they signed up with Sky.

Monday night games, ridiculous KO times, shifting games at relatively short notice, access to televised games only for those who can afford it tells me that paying punters ( proper fans in my book) are the bottom of the list when it comes to consideration and it doesn't matter what the clubs think.

Is how I read Nev's post.

But the inference that there's some dark forces laying the groundwork for a future with games with no fans is ridiculous. 

[Nev]

But why on earth do you feel the clubs won't do everything they can to get fans through the door and give them the best experience they can when it seems to me cluubs are keen to do exactly that?

Consideration for paying fans was taken out of the clubs' hands the day they signed up with Sky.

Monday night games, ridiculous KO times, shifting games at relatively short notice, access to televised games only for those who can afford it tells me that paying punters ( proper fans in my book) are the bottom of the list when it comes to consideration and it doesn't matter what the clubs think.

Is how I read Nev's post.

But the inference that there's some dark forces laying the groundwork for a future with games with no fans is ridiculous.

I referenced the word dark with regard to the future of the game as I see it, bleak would be another word. There are no dark forces at work only the forces that run the game in plain sight.
The singular reason that fans are considered at all is the fact that the TV companies will not, in the long term at least, pay for football with no atmosphere. However, if they can replace this artificially then what do the fans become?

[Damo70]

But why on earth do you feel the clubs won't do everything they can to get fans through the door and give them the best experience they can when it seems to me cluubs are keen to do exactly that?

Consideration for paying fans was taken out of the clubs' hands the day they signed up with Sky.

Monday night games, ridiculous KO times, shifting games at relatively short notice, access to televised games only for those who can afford it tells me that paying punters ( proper fans in my book) are the bottom of the list when it comes to consideration and it doesn't matter what the clubs think.

Is how I read Nev's post.

But the inference that there's some dark forces laying the groundwork for a future with games with no fans is ridiculous.

Small Heath and Coventry seem to have been laying the groundwork for a future with games with no fans at the sty for a while.

[Lastfootstamper]

But why on earth do you feel the clubs won't do everything they can to get fans through the door and give them the best experience they can when it seems to me cluubs are keen to do exactly that?

Consideration for paying fans was taken out of the clubs' hands the day they signed up with Sky.

Monday night games, ridiculous KO times, shifting games at relatively short notice, access to televised games only for those who can afford it tells me that paying punters ( proper fans in my book) are the bottom of the list when it comes to consideration and it doesn't matter what the clubs think.

Is how I read Nev's post.

But the inference that there's some dark forces laying the groundwork for a future with games with no fans is ridiculous.

I referenced the word dark with regard to the future of the game as I see it, bleak would be another word. There are no dark forces at work only the forces that run the game in plain sight.
The singular reason that fans are considered at all is the fact that the TV companies will not, in the long term at least, pay for football with no atmosphere. However, if they can replace this artificially then what do the fans become?

Without fans in the ground, it'll die a slow and tedius death. The novelty of the last 9 of this season being condensed into 37 days with every game being televised (but none on demand, mind) might see it survive until the end of summer.

Football is theatre, actors need an audience, and no end of canned noise and cardboard cutouts will ever create an atmosphere. We'll be back.

[Lastfootstamper]

VAR is not being used as far as I am aware.

Can someone explain the logic of not using VAR two-thirds of the way through 'the season'? I've not seen an explanation anywhere.

It is being used. They have announced who the VAR refs are for our game

It struck me as a bit odd that a casualty of the restart would be VAR, I could never work out a reason why it'd be unusable. It's two people watching the telly.

[chrisw1]

There's absolutely no reason for the clubs or league to want to go down the no fans route.  You wouldn't have clubs spending hundreds of millions on stadiums if they didn't have aspirations to continue growing their match attending fan base.

[WarszaVillan]

Never, in 40 odd years of following Villa have I looked forward to a game less than this.
Yes I'll follow it and yes I still hope we win but by God this is far way from the game that I fell in love with, and dark, dark precurser to where we could be in just a few years time.

Moi aussi- except substitute 60 years for 40. Does anyone else feel, as I do, that it might just be more fun in the Championship, away from the tentacles of big money television rights?

I just long for the day when I can visit home and go to a match with my Dad and brother. I hope I get the chance to do this again. That could be in League One for all I care. I'll be watching on Wednesday with the same interest that I would watch a pre-season friendly.

[chrisw1]

Never, in 40 odd years of following Villa have I looked forward to a game less than this.
Yes I'll follow it and yes I still hope we win but by God this is far way from the game that I fell in love with, and dark, dark precurser to where we could be in just a few years time.

Moi aussi- except substitute 60 years for 40. Does anyone else feel, as I do, that it might just be more fun in the Championship, away from the tentacles of big money television rights?

I just long for the day when I can visit home and go to a match with my Dad and brother. I hope I get the chance to do this again. That could be in League One for all I care. I'll be watching on Wednesday with the same interest that I would watch a pre-season friendly.

Do you really mean this?  You're not bothered about the game or the result?  You don't care if we're relegated and lose our once in a generation player and the likes of Mings & McGinn?

I can understand why people feel disenchanted about the whole thing - I do as well.  But I can't undertsand why long terms fans seemingly aren't bothered if we win or lose, if we're relegated or not.

[Pat Mustard]

I'm really torn on this.  On the one hand I can't pretend that I haven't missed watching the Villa, even with all the terrible events that have unfolded over the last few months.  Even though the competition is compromised, we won't be able to be there in person and the fact that different rules are applying at different levels makes the idea of sporting integrity a farce, I still can't wait to watch on Wednesday.  The fact that we are going to get football at all, and some live entertainment after months of highlights of old games, documentaries etc just feels like we are waking up after a long, dark night.

On the other hand, I have no doubt that the rush to get games back on is hiding some radical changes that will disproportionately affect the lower leagues.  I have already said this elsewhere, but we are looking at 3 seasons of compromised football now.  This season finishes behind closed doors, next season probably starts over a month late, possibly behind closed doors and with a need to finish by mid-May to fit in Euro 2021, and then the following season starts on time, but with a 2 month break in the middle to hold the ridiculous World Cup in Qatar.  I don't see how a large number of lower league clubs won't go to the wall in the next 3 years.

My biggest concern is that this is opening the door for a power grab by the Premier League.  I'm certain we have seen the end of the League Cup - I don't see how it can be fitted in for the next 2 years, and once it's been away for that long there is no way the clubs regularly qualifying for Europe will want it back.  That's another revenue stream gone for the smaller clubs, and I'm not holding my breath that the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd et al will bridge the gap from their UEFA prize money.  So if we do see say 15-20 clubs go to the wall, what next?  There are enough clubs in the Championship that want a bigger slice of the pie that I can see a 2 division Premier League, 18 teams in each, and potentially the cutting adrift of everyone else.  The rush to complete this season will have consequences way into the future, and I'm not sure things will ever be the same for a large number of clubs.

Anyway, in conclusion, Villa 3 - 1 Sheffield Utd.