So close, but never felt so far....

[Rigadon]

I don’t think it’d take much more than Emery ending up at somewhere like Man Utd next season for me to lose enough enthusiasm that I’d probably be less inclined to watch so many games.  We’ve qualified for Europe 3 (maybe 4) times in a row and not much has really changed.  In past years, with this coach, we’d be genuinely title contenders and winning cups, of that I’ve no doubt.  But we won’t be able to do that and that’s the killer.

The fact we have to pay so much money to watch this makes it an even bigger piss take. 

[Villan82]

OK I was flippant last night but I stick to my guns.

The last three years have demonstrated, clearly, that the right manager can take a club far. There was an established top six and we have smashed right through it. Even before Emery, Smith gave us the 7-2 game and wins at Arsenal and Old Trafford. The next step is the hardest, but it always was. Newcastle and ourselves came close in the 90s to winning it and just fell short. If we hadn't the injuries that would probably be us this year coming 2nd or 3rd.

I get it that the Ci££y and Chavski stuff stinks to high heaven while Manure and Liverpool have always had the advantage of cashing in on the fact their success came with television giving them a big casual following. Spurs and the others were lucky in that they were in the right place to cash in on being good in the early 2010s when social media burst on the scene.

Which brings me to us. The clubs above played smart but until NSWE have we ever played smart? The ghosts of the past still lurk. We didn't kick on in the 90s and inexplicably Randy Lerner just gave up at precisely the worst time. When we needed eyeballs on us circa 2010-2016 we served up McLeish, Lambert, Remi Garde and the rest.  Playing devil's advocate, that's more our fault than it is anybody else's. Again, it's interesting how similar Newcastle are to us- they had a similar 2010s to us too.

To bring it back, I hate the FFP/PSR/SCR shite and the 'big six' shite. I don't gave Sky a penny of my money. I hated the price increases and the Heck stuff as is well documented. But nothing is forever and whatever shape the game is in  by 2036 the Unai Emery years have given us back some hope that our great club can compete and I hope there is 50,000 inside Villa Park to roar the team on.

[Nev]

Take the social side away and I wouldn't go. I like a drink in Town with mates before and after a game, but Sunday just isn't the same. Midweek, the public transport is appalling so I end up driving and I know the club neither wants me nor values my support whatever game I attend.

There's nowhere to congregate pre or post match, the Warehouse things sounds horrific, plastic glasses and godawful music, the Barton's and the Heart the latest to go and the most recent development in the ground, a singing section, has pushed me further to the day I jack the lot in.

[Chris Smith]

I can understand the sentiment but going to the Villa is too ingrained to consider it at the moment. I’m fortunate I suppose in that travel in straightforward for me, I go with my middle son and the other two come when circumstances allow and I also meet my brother, nephews and assorted mates for a pint before and after. I’m in the senior season ticket bracket now but as long as body and mind hold up I reckon I’ll stick with it.

[LeeB]

I'm done, I'm just not enjoying going anymore.

[Billy Walker]

Chelsea getting away with cheating their way to trophies (as per yesterday's judgement) certainly does not help.  Everything they "won" in the period they were cheating should be struck off the list. Alas the game has zero integrity or credibility when it comes to that kind of thing.

[TheToffnar]

I just couldn't. I was fairly late to fall in love with the game, but 4 generations of my family being supporters, living in Great Barr, relative with blood ties to someone very prestigious in the clubs history, all of it keeps me going and supporting and I don't think that will ever change.

As others have also said, the game is at times almost secondary to social aspect of attending, or even just the discourse that follows a game in general. I'd really struggle giving that up for many reasons.

I do get it, the deck feels stacked against us and hyperbole or not, it does feel like we're witnessing a real sliding doors moment for the club. Regardless, football gives me too much for me to give it up, good and bad.

[Drummond]

The problem I have is that the game has always been about money. So it's not just that but the fact that other clubs now aren't allowed to have money even if they have it.

That the clubs with it still exploit the system unfairly (Chelsea) have charges to suggest they did (ManC), have huge amounts of debt (ManU) means the new rules just don't stand up to scrutiny.

But you only have to look at what our neighbours are doing, to see that money still counts for something.

We're richer than most, yet we are still underdogs.

Even kids football is about the richest clubs, and it's been like that for as long as I can remember.

But I get a lot of satisfaction in just watching a hard fought game that could go either way. We can compete again and that makes a difference. When were a bit shit (as we are at the moment) we feel more despondent, but we'll come good again.

[Baldy]

Fantastic post Nil.

Before seeing your post I posted this on the FFP thread earlier today:

'In the last twenty years Man City have won the EPL 7 times (115 cases outstanding), Chelsea 5 times (proven cheats), Man Utd 5 times (nearly a billion in debt), Liverpool 2 times (well run club), Leicester once (5000/1).

With the odds stacked heavily in the favour of the so called 'big 6', Arsenal and Tottenham should be embarrased they couldn't win a league title in twenty years when there are effectively 6 teams in the league.

What a 'joke' the Premier League is.'Crime never pays'. It does in the Premier League.

Enough to make me sick.'