Aston Villa v Olympiacos - UECL Semi Final First Leg Pre Match

[Risso]

All the European competitions are devalued these days compared to what they once were, for me at least. I still really want to win them though and will love it if we win the Conference this season.

You could argue the same about the domestic cup competitions as well, and I want to win those too.

[PeterWithesShin]

The irony is that some that try and devalue the Conference would be all for being in the CL. Even though you could have a scenario one season where there's 7 English clubs in it.

[Nev]

I went to the last Cup Winners Cup Final at Villa Park, I thought at the time "I'd love a bit of this". I still would.

[Richard E]

We haven’t won a trophy this century. Let’s put that right first and then we can be sniffy about how highly we rate the next ten that we win under Unai.

[AV82EC]

I’ve said it on here before, if these trophies are so undervalued why does every club include them in their honours list. There’s about 6 English clubs who’ve won the old ECWC and all of them treat it as a major trophy so they can dick swing when it comes to trophies won, we shouldn’t be any different.

[Brazilian Villain]

Yes but for sides who finished lower on the league and principally as a competition to qualify for UEFA Cup,

The cup winners cup actually used to take precedence over UEFA Cup if sides qualified for both.

I’m not being a party pooper just being realistic, if we win it great but then what have we won? West Ham have experienced this.

Is this deliberate nihilism?

I think it's Jacob Ramsey posting here under an assumed name.

[Richard E]

This club hasn’t played like it really believes it can win trophies, even in cup finals, for way too long now. Getting that first trophy in the cabinet is essential to breaking that mentality.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I went to the last Cup Winners Cup Final at Villa Park, I thought at the time "I'd love a bit of this". I still would.

I was at the 1992 European Cup Winners' Cup Final between Werner Bremen and Arsène Wenger's Monaco at Benfica's old Luz (I could have sworn it was at Sporting). I almost outnumbered the Monaco fans. I thought at the time "They don't deserve this" but we do.

[RamboandBruno]

I'm not talking down anything. Maybe it's an age thing, I've seen us win stuff over many years so I am not as hungry for this newish competition as say fans 20 or 30 years younger who are starved of a trophy and I get that.  If we were two or three places lower in the league then yes, it would be of the utmost importance. We're not, we've already qualified for the Europa next season, guaranteed 4th or at worst 5th in the league. Winning this trophy would be the cherry on top of the icing already on the cake and I hope I am lucky enough to get a ticket for the final should we get there.

We’re not that much difference age wise Bren, but have to disagree. This feels massive to me, i have that weird mix of excitement and nervous energy already. A semi final of European competition, huge

[Drummond]

This club hasn’t played like it really believes it can win trophies, even in cup finals, for way too long now. Getting that first trophy in the cabinet is essential to breaking that mentality.

I think that goes for pretty much everyone, including supporters. That's why the new ownership and management team have made such a difference.

[Olneythelonely]

It’s one below the old UEFA Cup which used to be the Intertoto.

Interesting matches and travel experiences but that’s what it is !

Utterly bizarre.

[Brend'Watkins]

I'm not talking down anything. Maybe it's an age thing, I've seen us win stuff over many years so I am not as hungry for this newish competition as say fans 20 or 30 years younger who are starved of a trophy and I get that.  If we were two or three places lower in the league then yes, it would be of the utmost importance. We're not, we've already qualified for the Europa next season, guaranteed 4th or at worst 5th in the league. Winning this trophy would be the cherry on top of the icing already on the cake and I hope I am lucky enough to get a ticket for the final should we get there.

We’re not that much difference age wise Bren, but have to disagree. This feels massive to me, i have that weird mix of excitement and nervous energy already. A semi final of European competition, huge

Thanks Andy, I take your comparison in years as a compliment, I was responding to rob_Bridge's initial comment that it's 'our first big game in many, many years'. We've had loads that were far more important or bigger for varying reasons in recent years, play offs, relegation clashes etc which trump it.  Even Bradford in the League Cup semi final seemed/seems bigger to me. it's importance or bigness further diminished because of what we've achieved even with 3 remaining games left in the league as I said earlier. If our current league position wasn't as high I'd see it's bigness much higher. Furthermore, it isn't a major European trophy ( someone mentioned it as one), there's only one of those, the other two are less in value.  We can dress it up to be one but that doesn't make it one. Anyway, I'll be cheering the team on to win Thursday night and hope the 2nd leg is a formality and we go on to win the thing to end our trophy hoodoo and bring some happiness into the lives of the 30 somethings and younger.

[Brend'Watkins]

We haven’t won a trophy this century. Let’s put that right first and then we can be sniffy about how highly we rate the next ten that we win under Unai.

That's a good point. If/when that transpires I think this one will barely get a mention and will in all likelihood be absorbed into the Europa in a new format.

[tomd2103]

I'd take winning anything.  This is a step up in terms of prestige from the League Cup, it will raise our profile across Europe and the wider region.  Let's go to a final and have some fun.  Greece is great to visit.

Me too.  The final will be a big occasion if we get there and it would be great to win it.  I remember reading a book about Brian Clough and he used to put a lot of value in Forest initially winning the Anglo-Scottish Cup when he first took over because he said it gave players a taste of winning things.  Wouldn't mind us doing what they did after that! 

[eamonn]

I went to the last Cup Winners Cup Final at Villa Park, I thought at the time "I'd love a bit of this". I still would.

I was at the 1992 European Cup Winners' Cup Final between Werner Bremen and Arsène Wenger's Monaco at Benfica's old Luz (I could have sworn it was at Sporting). I almost outnumbered the Monaco fans. I thought at the time "They don't deserve this" but we do.

How did it go?