brummie

"We're Aston Villa, we score when we want" - the Holte End. Football gallows humour is ace.

The worst thing about the game these days is that someone like Clough - who I genuinely think is the greatest British manager ever - would not be able to achieve anything like as much. Aye, even doing what Keegan did with us is pretty much unthinkable these days unless you've got some serious money behind you. Someone sent me a link the other day, it was a clip on youtube of an entire episode of the local news here in Birmingham from june 1981. I sat down and spent half an hour watching it, purely out of nostalgia, not even thinking about football. At the end, it was the sports news, and the main story was "Ron Saunders is understood to have turned down the vacant manager's job at Manchester United. Saunders said he was not intending to leave champions Aston Villa". All of a sudden, the half hour spent looking at the outdated fashions of the presenters, the awful graphics, the ancient looking presentation was totally trumped by a little snippet like that that made it feel more like 100 years ago.

In fact, Clough in the modern era would be like seeing Lennon and McCartney rock up on the X Factor, trying to convince Louis Walsh they're worth a spin.

The worst thing about the game these days is that someone like Clough - who I genuinely think is the greatest British manager ever - would not be able to achieve anything like as much.

The thing is - and I hate myself for saying this - if you were Randy Lerner or Ellis Short or Mike Ashley, and you were looking at the Premier League as it is now, and thinking "well, I can sit on my arse, not invest myself emotionally, not spend too much money, leave the club ticking over, finish somewhere between 6th and 17th, fluctuating a bit season on season, or I can spend £250m and make a concerted effort at CL football, which might actually turn out to end after two games" what would you do? The horrific thing is that I too would probably settle for ticking over. And that's the problem There's no point you, or me, or leffe, or Neil, or that Man U fan who comes on here* even thinking about things like winning the league any more, because we can't, it can't happen unless we get someone in as chairman who is a multi billionaire (remember when you used to just need a multi millionaire, or a billionaire?) with some sort of mental malfunction that makes him want to do this sort of thing. That is the depressing thing. When I was a kid in the 1970s, I remember Leeds then Derby, then Forest coming from pretty much nowhere (I honestly remember thinking I'd never actually heard of Forest before the first time they won the league) and winning shit. I even remember my own team winning pretty much everything except the FA Cup. All that now can not happen, it is just impossible. I haven't been to a single match this season, and I am not going to until something changes. I went to my first match in 1973, I've had a season ticket most years since then, I went almost a decade missing one or two matches home and away at most a season, my family have supported this club since it started. And do you know what? If i go tomorrow or don't go, it doesn't fucking matter to them, because, even after 20 years of fans mattering not one fucking iota, it is getting worse, attendances matter less and less. They don't really give a shit if 30,000 people are there tomorrow or 40,000. Why should they? The people who watch on telly in Asia are way, way more important, and it will get more like that. Very good point about Everton and Spurs, incidentally. I've noticed that among our fans recently. In recent years, we'd lost to the top four and people would say "well, they're the top four". Now we get effortlessly brushed aside by Everton and it's "well, they finished in the top five". It'll only be a matter of time until we're beaten easily by the likes of West Ham, and people will be saying "well, they're in London" (or some other nonsensical excuse), we can't possibly hope to compete. Meh. It really is a load of utter nonsense when it comes down to it. * obviously, the Man United thing was a joke

Don't think for a nanosecond I don't get your argument, because I absolutely do, and I have been mentally driving myself nuts thinking about it. However, Lambert doesn't deserve my support. I don't support Paul Lambert, I support Aston Villa. Right now, I firmly believe the worst thing for Aston Villa is the continued management of Paul Lambert, a man who has broken every single record for shitness this club has ever had. This is the man who won fewer home games in a season than any other manager in our 139 year history. That includes the early days of the league when we'd only play about 10 home games, too. Then the next season, he broke his own record again. Those who remember my ramblings at the end of his first season will recall that I, and most other Villa fans, was totally behind him even after his first train wreck of a season. Since then I've seen ineptitude of the absolutely highest order. I've seen a manager who reminds me hugely of Billy McNeill - a manager who quite clearly was not only incompetent, he didn't care. A man who relegated two teams in one season, and Lambert looks worse. We are going nowhere under this man but down. What the lads and the club needs is to be rid of him. I entirely get your point (although, the SUPPORTer thing is a bit sledgehammer, mind), it is a very difficult thing to get your head around, as I said, I hate finding myself thinking like this, but I just do. I do not support Paul Lambert or Randy Lerner, I support Aston Villa, and I want the best for the club, which has been demonstrated very clearly to mean moving this manager on. Oh, and you know what the most depressing thing is? The bloke is bulletproof. Absolutely fucking bulletproof.

That Ronaldo stat is absolute bollocks. It is actually 21.

*wine through nostrils* Very good. Particularly like the fact you've given it enough thought to decide on a specific form of destructive farm machinery for him to fall under.

That's the thing. Raging vs four wins on the bounce. That's why I am thinking whether I'd like us to win or draw versus lose by 5 tomorrow in terms of the bigger picture. Wanting the team I've supported for 40 years, and which is in trouble, to lose heavily. f***ing hell. yeah, some SUPPORTer you are I know it isn't an easy think to come to terms with, I've spent enough time thinking about it myself, but: Lost 5 games in a row, fail to score in any of them Beat Spurs That sequence then sets us up for another 5 game losing streak being acceptable because we got one good result. One match in the wider scheme of things means nothing. i don't want the utter, utter mediocrity our chairman and manager think are OK to go on any more. What kind of supporter is our chairman if he thinks failing to score for nine hours is acceptable? I wouldn't want to have one of my fingers cut off, either, but if I thought it'd stop disease from spreading to the rest of my body, I'd lop the fucker off myself. I absolutely guarantee you, if we keep this manager, we will finish 15th or below AGAIN this season. And he'll still be our manager next season, even if we get relegated. Who the fuck would want that?

Our incarnation of the last four years is one of biding time until we go down. Not because the owner is a cunt - he isn't, he has spent a lot of money. The problem is that the owner is two things, uninterested and utterly, utterly incompetent. What is shocking, too, is seeing the gradual wearing down of expectations of the fans. "Maybe we can nick a point at West Ham", that sort of thing. FFS. Honestly, I think I hate almost all our supporters. Passive fucking sheep. In fact, that probably counts for most football supporters full stop these days. I think you'll find it's the best league in the world, so good that 12 teams are battling to stay up and nothing else. Fucking pathetic - getting to the point when I look forward to the bubble bursting. When the money just for being in it is so big, and when the gap between those who compete for the CL and those who don't is so big, it just becomes a great mass of clubs who are happy not to get booted off the easy money roundabout of the PL. That's one reason why we have this sort of football management equivalent of eating at Yo Sushi. There's a belt going round and round with utterly fucking mediocre managers on it, the likes of Pardew, Lambert, Bruce, Harry Fucking Redknapp, these people who are basically fucking frauds. They get taken off the belt, do an OK job somewhere for a few years (i.e. not get relegated) then get sacked, get back on the belt, start going round and round again, get taken off again by some other total mug of a chairman. From one million pound a year job to another, and most of them have never even won anything. I don't care about top players and managers getting top money in this league. It isn't the likes of Rooney and Yaya Toure getting 200k a week that worries me, and it isn't the thought of people like Mourinho getting paid obscene amounts of money, it is the huge numbers of truly mediocre players on 40k a week, and managers who are basically just media figureheads without the first idea of coaching or actual management, picking up 20 or 30k a week on long contracts, getting sacked, then getting their contracts paid up. So many utterly shit "professionals" just on a never ending easy ride.

Our incarnation of the last four years is one of biding time until we go down. Not because the owner is a cunt - he isn't, he has spent a lot of money. The problem is that the owner is two things, uninterested and utterly, utterly incompetent. What is shocking, too, is seeing the gradual wearing down of expectations of the fans. "Maybe we can nick a point at West Ham", that sort of thing. FFS. Honestly, I think I hate almost all our supporters. Passive fucking sheep. In fact, that probably counts for most football supporters full stop these days.

That's the thing. Raging vs four wins on the bounce. That's why I am thinking whether I'd like us to win or draw versus lose by 5 tomorrow in terms of the bigger picture. Wanting the team I've supported for 40 years, and which is in trouble, to lose heavily. Fucking hell.

The problem you have is you've had this little good run now - four games or whatever it is - yet the rest of the football world (including your chairman, I suspect) will see that as incontrovertible evidence that Pardew is doing a great job. I noticed some comments today already - "hurr hurr, those Pardew Out signs will be disappearing", which has an undertone of "you were all fucking nuts to want him out in the first place, look how good he is" It is not at all unlike our first four matches of the season, in which the exact same things were said about Lambert, and it bought him time, too. Then we go on a five match, 15-0 losing run, but nobody outside the club thinks about that, they're all thinking about that decent four game run we had (whilst ignoring the fact that we managed four shots on goal in that same run, and got knocked out of the Capital One Cup at home to Orient). Sadly, almost the entirety of the football world is made up of utter fucking idiots who just want to read things which fit the "script" they have in their head. I'm both happy for you that you've had some good results, yet sad, as I know what the flip side of it all is, and how infuriating it'll be for you.

Since the last time Villa scored a goal, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 21 goals. Little factoid for you there.

That's the last time anyone smiled at Villa Park. Fact.

Four decent games in a row is all it took for our man to get one. Going on that, a decent game at the weekend and you need to start worrying!

No. He wouldn't have been given the cash to invest, just won't happen. I just want him to go. Between therm they are strangling the club, all the fun has gone. Apparently Lowton (turboshit last night) was arguing with one of our fans at the end. Just great. The media seem totally unable to criticise what is going on. It's like the manager is an untouchable with them. It is genuinely like we are in some sort of persistent vegetative state, desperately trying to tell them what is wrong but they're never going to hear it. I've just spent a while reading the relevant threads on the two major villa forums and there are so many people not just saying he has to go but cogently, logically and calmly pointing out the problems. If so many fans can spot this, why can't the media?

Fuck this, I'm going to bed, I am just making myself more angry.

Lambert's record. League record - W 23 D 20 L 42 Home League Record - W 12 D 9 L 21 Away League Record - W 11 D 11 L 21 Just staggering. He's had an immense amount of patience, too. The first season, we practically gave him, despite the awful statistics, we stuck by him. Last season was much worse and this season is horrendous. It is clearly not working. He has shattered record after record for shitness. Fewer home league wins in a season than ANY season since we were founded 140 years ago, and that includes seasons with a dozen teams in the league. Now we have five games without a goal, and zero points. But he got a new four year contract this time last month. The way we are run is horrendous, truly horrendous. He's under zero pressure for his job, because our glorious leader just wants the bare minmum - survival. We are run pathetically badly. I know people always say this, but this is honestly true, I know so many people who have been going to the games for years and who have stopped. I've done the same myself. Not been this season. In the last two years, we have lost 10,000 season ticket holders. That's how bad it has got. I genuinely am not going this season until something changes. f*** it. First match 40 years ago, the club in my blood going back generations, but this is the least belief i have ever had in us. Lambert would have been sacked five times over at any other club (except, sadly, you, probably). Nine hours without a f***ing goal. Handed our arses at home to Leyton Orient in the one competition we can even dream of winning. Check this out: The worst thing isn't the stats, it isn't the constant pathetic failure, it is the fact that it is considered acceptable. f*** it, I've had enough, I am through with these people. But Lambert's a good coach, deluded brummies should know their place, what do they expect? Champions League football? He needs time to gel these players together. Yadayadayada. Amazing how nobody else can see how bad our respective teams are! What's more, that "shots on target" stat - six of them were tonight, and four of them were against Hull, leaving just 8 across all the other matches.

I would against us. I wouldn't back us to beat anyone at the moment. And I mean anyone. I wouldn't back us to beat Blues, and they've just lost 8-0 at home to Bournemouth. We haven't scored for nudging nine hours. Since the last time we scored a goal, Watford and Leeds have had five managers between them.

They're not taking it lying down. They've stopped going. I certainly have. Fuck them, I have had enough, I am not wasting any more time or money on this shit any longer. If they can't be fucking bothered, then neither can I. The problem we have is, we can't do anything about it. We're fucking stuck. It doesn't make any difference if they lose 10,000 season ticket holders. They don't care. The owner wants out and will wait as long as he has to so long as we don't get relegated. There is as much chance of Lerner cutting Lambert lose - and let's not forget, he is statistically our worst manager ever, I remember the Graham Turner and Billy McNeill eras, and this is much worse - as there is of waking up tomorrow to hear that Cameron has decided to sack George Osbourne and give Ed Balls the job. That's the thing. We have a football version of that horrible locked-in syndrome. We have got all our wits about us, but we can't get the message across, that we're fucking awful, we can't make people understand. I've now found myself half thinking - and pulling myself back from the edge each time - that I almost hope Spurs put 5 past us this weekend, just because it would have the chance of edging change a little closer. To put in perspective how shit we are: you came to our place, had 60% possession, and we had ZERO shots on target.

Lambert's record. League record - W 23 D 20 L 42 Home League Record - W 12 D 9 L 21 Away League Record - W 11 D 11 L 21 Just staggering. He's had an immense amount of patience, too. The first season, we practically gave him, despite the awful statistics, we stuck by him. Last season was much worse and this season is horrendous. It is clearly not working. He has shattered record after record for shitness. Fewer home league wins in a season than ANY season since we were founded 140 years ago, and that includes seasons with a dozen teams in the league. Now we have five games without a goal, and zero points. But he got a new four year contract this time last month. The way we are run is horrendous, truly horrendous. He's under zero pressure for his job, because our glorious leader just wants the bare minmum - survival. We are run pathetically badly. I know people always say this, but this is honestly true, I know so many people who have been going to the games for years and who have stopped. I've done the same myself. Not been this season. In the last two years, we have lost 10,000 season ticket holders. That's how bad it has got. I genuinely am not going this season until something changes. Fuck it. First match 40 years ago, the club in my blood going back generations, but this is the least belief i have ever had in us. Lambert would have been sacked five times over at any other club (except, sadly, you, probably). Nine hours without a fucking goal. Handed our arses at home to Leyton Orient in the one competition we can even dream of winning. Check this out: The worst thing isn't the stats, it isn't the constant pathetic failure, it is the fact that it is considered acceptable. Fuck it, I've had enough, I am through with these people.

I think this is something that gets more and more noticeable with Manchester City. Players who are only there for the money, and they're not all like it, but a lot of them are. Toure, for example, is an absolutely world class player, but only when he can be arsed. When he's not particularly bothered, he puts in some truly pathetic showings.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/n/newcastle_united/7615655.stm What an absolute fanny Ashley is, in that case, then. Hated figures like Ellis, Swales, Bates were always at games in the 80s, despite being loathed by their fans, and despite this being at a time when the football attending demographic was very, very different indeed. Last time I saw Mike Ashley - outside the corporate entrance at Villa Park prior to a match - he had two blokes each the size of a small country with him. Billionaires tend to understand the concept of personal safety far more than the average punter, and take good measures to protect themselves. Chairmen do themselves no favours whatsoever when they trot out utter shite like that. If they have lost interest, they should just come out and say it, rather than inventing shit like that, which has the effect of making the fans look like twats, for no actual reason.

The worst thing is the total disconnect between people paid to talk about or write about football, and people who pay to watch it. I've heard plenty of the former talking about Pardew and being full of sympathy for him, and hardly anyone taking the point of views of the paying punter. As a supporter, that is the sort of utter frustration that others in the game (pundits, managers, players) can't possibly feel. I used to hear people frequently say what a good job McLeish was doing for us, for example, and it used to make me so fucking angry, I'd just stop watching or listening to stuff about football. They'll never, ever understand.