The AVFC Road To Nowhere?

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VitalFootballAdmin

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JPA on where Villa are and where they are heading...


<br><br><a href ="http://www.vitalfootball.co.uk/router.asp?7522977">Click here to read the article</a><br><br>
 
Summed up very well for me.

I to have lost that connection. I am not ancient, I am only 46 but the game is unrecognisable.

I am sick and tired of seeing multi millionaires (both Villa and non Villa) go down as if they have been shot if someone has tapped their ankle. I just cant understand how Anthony Joshua can take a punch from Klitchko but a footballer cant stay on his feet if he is "brushed".

As you, football is just as much a social meet up (albeit an expensive one) than hoping of glory nowadays.

In truth, i would take get back to PL , finish top 10 and have the odd trip to Wembley.

Awful but that would do me now.
 
It's not that bad, JPA! Villa have been a very mixed bag since WWII. We now have (it seems) the best owner over all that period. We may never get to make the top 6 club a top 7 club, but the potential is there to be at least an interesting, entertaining PL club. I'd take what Leicester have done with both hands; don't be fooled by this year, they're better than their position, and a hang-over from last season was to be expected. And their fans had a good European run out.

That's a long way away to go to get there. Me, I'm not disenchanted with today's football. There was an awful lot wrong with football in the past. Football has changed, and in some ways for the better.
 
I'm one of those for whom football is as much a social occasion as anything else. Going back to the 70s, we'd meet for a game of snooker at the Ward End Social before heading to the Hare and Hounds on Marsh Hill for a couple of pints. Now it's the Aston Social for the pre match bevy and post match inquest while the traffic dies down.
I'd love for Villa to be challenging at the top of the Premier Division and experience the sheer joy of winning trophies and competing with the best. I know it isn't going to happen soon so I'll settle for good, attacking, entertaining football and that feeling we all got at the end of the Blues game.
I can't identify with the players like I did with Sammy Morgan , Andy Lockhead or Brian Little, Andy Gray, Dennis Mortimer etc. but if they bust a gut for the cause, win more than they lose and look like they give a monkey's then I'll keep turning up.
 
I have fallen out of love with modern football I think. Don't like the money, the hype of the top few etc.

Still love Villa though. I think I'd take the FA Cup over pretty much anything now.
 
The Fear - 15/5/2017 16:55

I have fallen out of love with modern football I think. Don't like the money, the hype of the top few etc.

Still love Villa though. I think I'd take the FA Cup over pretty much anything now.
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I so want an Aston Villa captain to lift the FA Cup it happened the year before I was born and not happened since. The last FA Cup final we were in we lost 1-0 to Cheleski I suffered this loss badly and for months the total non-performance from the Villa players haunted me.

I want Villa back in the Premiership where they belong and from there survival .........
Swop places with West Bromich Talibhan any day.

:94: :94: :94: :94: :94: :94: :94: :94: :94: :94: :94: :94: :94: :94: :94: :94:
 
I just want to see an end to the dire football, I want to see a midfield, the shackles taken off, some say it won't get us out of this league, I don't agree. Villa should be considerably less than 16pts off 7th place in the PL.
 
I so want an Aston Villa captain to lift the FA Cup it happened the year before I was born and not happened since. The last FA Cup final we were in we lost 1-0 to Cheleski I suffered this loss badly and for months the total non-performance from the Villa players haunted me.

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I am glad you have managed to forget the Arsenal debacle then Col8.
 
Ha !

I was one when Villa last won the FA Cup, I can't remember that obviously and I don't want to remember the last two this century, total no shows. Another Wembley appearance I can't remember too much about was the 77 League Cup Final, partly due to the case of beers in the car on the way down [I was a passenger] and then there was the football or not. Never ever forget Hillsborough or Old Trafford though :4:
 
Hanging around the Championship is definitely not a path to success. The only thing we can do at the moment is to get ourselves back into being 'The best of the rest' (Everton) and see what happens.

At the moment, there are 6 clubs competing for 4 spots. That won't last forever. One or two of them will bust out.

In the meantime, we should be looking towards the models of other successful clubs in Europe. Hoffenheim, Monaco and Ajax compete with clubs on much bigger budgets than them.
 
Hoffenheim have money behind them and came from nowhere, same as RB Leipzig who probably have even more money and a good academy. Ajax, well everyone knows about their academy. Monaco can attract players who don't have to pay tax on their wages and also have good players coming through to go with the money. There's a general theme there seems to be the academy, we have to improve ours and the players that come out of it, none of them seem to set the world alight or excite.
 
VillaTomB38 - 16/5/2017 14:54

Hoffenheim have money behind them and came from nowhere, same as RB Leipzig who probably have even more money and a good academy. Ajax, well everyone knows about their academy. Monaco can attract players who don't have to pay tax on their wages and also have good players coming through to go with the money. There's a general theme there seems to be the academy, we have to improve ours and the players that come out of it, none of them seem to set the world alight or excite.
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I think it's an area which we could exploit since the big clubs seem to have abandoned their youth teams in favour of buying foreign players.

It would be a long-term project but by developing a youth focus, we would get a reputation for bringing through young players and so talented young players would want to join our club. It would create a virtuous cycle.
 
An example of the other side of the academy coin would be Ajax, produce good players all the while who end up being sold. They're the second best team in their league this season but are a massive club in their own country and around the world and they still can't hold onto their players. We are a mid table championship club currently so as soon as one of ours looks half decent he'd certainly be on his way!
 
I've started supplementing (and occasionally opting) to blend my trips to B6 with trips to Solihull moors . It's been very much a therapeutic process and has reminded me to an extent of what the game is all about. Definitely recommend it.
 
Many examples exist of clubs who engage and are part of the fans who watch them. Dortmond are an easy example of what should be done. Yes football has changed massively but I think a gap exists for something real . Thousands of fans flocking away from home to watch and be part of something that is celebrating its worst league finish for 45 years , what a great point to start from.
 
Dortmund have a 26,000 capacity standing terrace/some rail 'seating', fans get in early and get their spot, sing songs while their team is warming up. I've been twice and both times it was equally as good, I can't say that for every villa home game I go to. I imagine it was like Dortmund years ago at English grounds before thatcher got her wish for seated stadiums, now it's just big games with a good atmosphere. Dortmund and other German clubs have the 50+1 rule which means fans are majority owners, the people that run the club absolutely have to keep them on side and engage (Especially a 26,000 standing terrace!). Some owners in this country don't care if they piss off the fans as long as they get what they want (Think Hull).
 
Brian Clough once said 'it only takes a second to score a goal' .....well on average it took Villa nearly 148 minutes for each of the 14 away goals this season - that's over 8,770 seconds per goal.
 
Silhillvilla - 16/5/2017 19:49

I've started supplementing (and occasionally opting) to blend my trips to B6 with trips to Solihull moors . It's been very much a therapeutic process and has reminded me to an extent of what the game is all about. Definitely recommend it.
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There were times this season that the prospect of there being just 1 league between Aston Villa and Solihull Moors was very real. Think about it.
 
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