- Dec 20, 2004
- 23,615
- 1,462
- Staff
- #61
fucking hate villa
fucking hate villa
Let's make a deal. I'll go to that game and have a pint with you?
I'll have to wait until they get relegated a few more times as I live in rovers country!
Horfield?
I live in Horfield. I support City though, worried that they're going to go down, last night was a very poor result, needed 3 points!
What's happened at Villa probably isn't unprecedented, but I can't honestly think of a comparable case off the top of my head.
So, Chelsea and City buy Costa and Sterling. Stoke and Everton buy mid-table players. Norwich and Sunderland buy players who are good enough to take on a relegation scrap.
This process happens all the way down the leagues, in line with each club's finances, pulling power, status etc. It's an ages-old, tried-and-tested process.
And clubs are pretty consistent at getting it right: most years, Arsenal's players are good enough to push for the title, Southampton's players good enough to push for Top 6, West Brom's good enough for 40 points by March, and Norwich's good enough to at least give a damn good shot at staying in the league, even if they're unsuccessful.
Villa seem to have completely, completely botched this process. Assembling a squad that's at least good enough to stave off relegation at a club like Villa should be considered a baseline competence. But they have somehow assembled a squad that is so out of line with their finances, status and expectations that it actually makes you admire the other 91 clubs who've managed to get it approximately correct.
And that's what's (perhaps) unprecedented: Villa have managed to make a mess of a basic process that 99% of clubs get right 99% of the time.
And we all know who was in charge when that botching began in earnest....
What's happened at Villa probably isn't unprecedented, but I can't honestly think of a comparable case off the top of my head.
So, Chelsea and City buy Costa and Sterling. Stoke and Everton buy mid-table players. Norwich and Sunderland buy players who are good enough to take on a relegation scrap.
This process happens all the way down the leagues, in line with each club's finances, pulling power, status etc. It's an ages-old, tried-and-tested process.
And clubs are pretty consistent at getting it right: most years, Arsenal's players are good enough to push for the title, Southampton's players good enough to push for Top 6, West Brom's good enough for 40 points by March, and Norwich's good enough to at least give a damn good shot at staying in the league, even if they're unsuccessful.
Villa seem to have completely, completely botched this process. Assembling a squad that's at least good enough to stave off relegation at a club like Villa should be considered a baseline competence. But they have somehow assembled a squad that is so out of line with their finances, status and expectations that it actually makes you admire the other 91 clubs who've managed to get it approximately correct.
And that's what's (perhaps) unprecedented: Villa have managed to make a mess of a basic process that 99% of clubs get right 99% of the time.
Paul Lambert
Rot set in while Martin O'Neill was there, spending millions the club couldn't afford on average players. Once he left their trajectory was only going to go one way. Of course the appointments of Houllier (heart condition), McLeish (fuck's sake), Lambert (boring) and Timmy (maniac) didn't help things.Not quite the level of decline that Super Tim oversaw I don't think, but you're right the rot had begun to set in before Tim got there.
Just think their transfer approach in the Summer (whether that was to do with Tim or not) was absolutely insane.
http://www.skysports.com/football/n...de-watches-aston-villa-lose-to-clubs-u21-team
A new low - Remi Garde watches Aston Villa lose to club's U21 team
Do any of the players at Villa care ? or is it just a total loss of confidence ? Will they emulate one or two others and go for a double relegation next season and go into League 1...
Still think the McLeish hiring was the dumbest decision any football club has ever made on the managerial front. Hiring the guy who got your closest rivals relegated from the PL playing football so turgid Tony Pulis would get down on his knees and worship it.Mcleish on the radio the other day said the first task he was given when he got the job was to cut something like £35-40mill off the wage bill. Since that time the investment has basically been zero apart from the Darren Bent panic buy which itself was brought on by the sale of all the high earning players.