brummie

Every football forum in the world has at least one "it's just not the same any more / I don't care so much these days / I've lost the love" thread, and every one of them is posted in mostly by people who are agreeing, whilst they continue to dedicate hundreds of hours of their lives watching, thinking about, talking about and writing about football.

That's the thing, it is so open. I thought the likes of Southampton, Fulham, and you too were safe ages ago, now looking at the table, it is much more open.

Win at QPR next week and there is no way on earth you're going down. It is a must win match, and if you're going to have a fixture which fits that category, then away at QPR is not a bad one to have by any stretch.

It is the worst thing in football. It is nigh on impossible to build anything with any permanence.

Was the injuries that stopped him imo. Wasn't when he was with us. Didn't really settle.

What a day today has been, shows just how horribly close it all is at the bottom.

The whole day is going to be horrible for anyone supporting a club at the arse end of the table. It's just horrible, horrible, horrible.

IT's ON THE SCREEN

Shut the FUCK UP Townsend, FFS

This was in the Holte End last night, apparently. I was wincing a bit at the spelling of granddad rather than grandad, but a quick google reveals both are acceptable.

That's the thing. Why do so many people think that a dreadful side, characterised by high wage mercenaries who quite clearly have not given the first shit all season (and whose chairman has said as much on Twitter this evening) are suddenly going to start giving a shit now they're mathematically relegated, and turn it on against you?

Conceded six, had a key player sent off for a daft tackle and firmly back in the relegation shite. Sounds pretty familiar. i think that'll probably be the most significant outcome of last night for them.

Nah, will it heck as like. The Albion fans in the ground aren't going to be thinking any more about Villa than normal (which, obviously, as they're utterly fucking obsessed with us, is actually all the time). The atmosphere at the Hawthorns will be like it is every other week, moaning, whingey, grumbling and with everyone sporting a gigantic chip on their shoulder. It's not going to turn into the Maracana because of a tenuous link to our troubles. Maybe it'd be more likely had we lost yesterday, but we didn't.

Look at the table and fixture list, and the enormous FAC final distraction, and the five games in fifteen days ..... I really do think they're done for this time.

They just really hate Villa. Same as us (sorry Brummie) I think thats the main motivation. They are safe, nothing to worry about would be happy with Villa going down. Fair enough I guess You're making the mistake of confusing the fans with the players. The fans might hate us (and, they do), but the players won't give a flying fuck about us. They're on for their highest points total for decades, there's no way they're going to let someone beat them just because it might (and it's only a might) make things awkward for us.

Probably.

Anyway, he's gone now, so I am going to stop ranting about him.

That's the sort of thing MON would have done, mostly because he didn't ever have one when he was with us, and I don't imagine he changed significantly up there. His spending record there was abysmal. I would imagine that for the 12-13m he paid for Fletcher, for the same price we got Benteke, Westwood, and Lowton, with a few quid to spare. That's the thing above all that left me with a bitter taste about O'Neill. Under him, it'd be most obvious, zero scouting, no effort signing, every time. The Crewe manager said that when we signed Westwood, they didn't even know how interested we'd been, but it turned out Lambert's scouts had put together a thick document analysing him over 30 games. That would have been unthinkable under MON Sunderland's problem is that they're carrying the dross of Bruce AND the unimaginative two or three signings O'Neill made. We are still suffering the effect of some of his big money, big wage, unproductive signings. I don't think Sunderland will shake that problem off in a hurry.

Didn't Di Canio say something disrespectful about you when he was Swindon manager? Came on the pitch after our game there in the league cup, started gesturing at our fans to suggest we were going to get relegated.

A win at West Ham and there's no way whatsoever you'll be going down.

One thing I will say, I wish it was MON still in charge of them when we gave them that spanking last night.

Here is some more for you, then. It has been horrific for you of late, and the GD situation changing like that over the last three days must be gutting to take, but you've got 37 points on the board, and one of your remaining games is against an already relegated club, whose players haven't looked like they give too much of a shit all season. I know it looks grim this morning, and I know it's annoying when someone who hasn't watched all of your recent games weighs in, but if anyone needs to be worried today, it isn't Newcastle, it is Wigan. As I keep saying, they've five games in fifteen days, they've an energy sapping FA Cup final in the middle of it (thought Gary Neville was spot on when he mentioned the effect of that last night), and have some tricky league games to play.

They're down because their players haven't given a shit all season. They're not going to start now.

One thing I will say for Lambert is he must have balls of steel if he's really never been worried about us going down this season, because I and every other Villa fan have been shitting my pants for months now. I still think we've chucked too many kids in at once, and that is the main thing which has led to an awful season, but I've got to say, some - not all, some - of his lower league buys have been very good. Benteke, obviously, but also Lowton and Westwood have been very good indeed. Apparently Sylla did well tonight, too. It's a gigantic risk, and it is truly fucking horrifying watching us flaunt with destruction, but it's very watchable. If only we could learn to defend. I genuinely can not recall the last time we kept a clean sheet - it can't be in the last three or four months. We are still in the mire, but we at least have a tad of momentum. Looking bad for you lot tonight, but you've got three points largely guaranteed at QPR, and it'll be Wigan who drop, no worries at all.

Yes. Genuinely. How many Wigan fans would swap places with you? All of them.