Off Topic Aston Villa: Now What?

One of the Premier League ever-present clubs is on the way out and have been for some time.
This has come as a surprise to nobody.

Investment in the club has been dramatically slashed since the days of Martin O'Neill.
Their brightest and best all moved on and they gambled on unproven players to replace them.
This was supplemented by bringing in failed or similarly unproven managers.
No money, no players and poor coaches = relegation. Who knew?

Once their place in the Championship is guaranteed, where do they go?
Who's likely to take the helm while the increasingly unpopular Randy Lerner is still owner?
Do you think that they'll come back up, tread water in the second tier or drop even further down?

Nigel Pearson, Steve Bruce, Mick McCarthy and David Moyes currently lead the odds to be their next manager.
Who would you want if you were a Villa fan and who would you be staunchly opposed to?

Finally, will anyone really miss them and has this been a fixture that you've looked out for?

 

Got to be Moyes. I'd be surprised if he wanted it though.

 

I'd go for Pearson, as I've said on the PL board.

Ranieri is deservedly getting a lot of credit for Leicester's season, but Pearson laid the foundations. I also think Pearson would kick several arses, which is what they need or its league one next stop!

 

They start life in the Championship with a huge advantage - PL money, big gates etc and they will be attractive to the best of the players at that level. And I don't think they are saddled with huge debts like some of the other big name clubs relegated in fairly recent times. I see them bouncing back straightaway.And If they start well, get into the winning habit and score a few goals, they'll get big crowds and the feel good factor will return in no time.

Pearson would be a good shout as manager - although he has been twiddling his thumbs for some time, but I'll throw Colin's name into the ring. He knows that division inside out and look what an impact he has made at Rotherham. And he could sign Clint Hill.

 

1. Get Pearson in.
2. Get rid of the deadwood (almost the entire club).
3. Invest in facilities.
4. Invest in young, hungry players.
5. Get promoted, eventually.
6. Act like you're not interested for 3 quarters of the season.
7. Great escape.
8. Champions.

Easy.

 

You forgot bankruptcy and failure to repay debts, as well as racism scandals.

 

You see, there's that word invest. Lerner doesn't seem to like that word!...

 

Bankruptcy and the failure to repay debts? Nah.

Racism scandals? Is that like the whole "Yid" thing?

 

Er, yeah: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2349397.stm

No, like one of your players racially abusing prostitutes and getting your manager sacked.
That or Jamie Vardy doing it to an Asian bloke and trying to fight him while getting paid by another one.

 

In 2002?

One of our youth players who had never played for us called a prostitute "slit-eye" and Jamie Vardy said "Jog on Jap" to a man of Asian descent who was looking at his cards at a casino.

I wouldn't particularly call them "racism scandals", no more than the thousands of Spurs fans singing about "yids". But yeah, whatever fills the headlines I suppose.

 

Sorry, what was the time limit?
A club's unlikely to do all of that stuff in one season.

They clearly were racism scandals. Your manager got sacked because of one of them.

 

The main difference is that one's racist abuse and viewed as such, the other's Spurs fans calling themselves Yids, which is not racist, as established in court.

 

Surely it's obvious that i'm joking with that list? It's literally exactly what it's happened in with us. There were no bankruptcy issues during his tenure.

As for "racism scandals". The first scandal is the appalling behaviour of a few youth players when given the trust of our owners when on a tour of the owners' homeland. One person calling someone slit-eye (Tom Hopper) does not make it a racism scandal.

You can't call Vardy a racist and then pretend "yid" isn't a racial slur. They're on a par.

 

I can't be bothered to teach you the extent to which you're incorrect. If those of us Spurs fans who are Jewish had a problem with it (I am part Jewish and I don't), it would end tomorrow. Leave the topic alone unless you want to increase the impression of racism in Leicester.

 

This season has made me wonder a few times about what state of mind the old 606 poster called holtslegend is in.
Funniest anorak poster ever...and he wasn't intentionally funny

 

Ah the old "it's not racist because i'm a *insert race or religion here* and it doesn't bother me" line.

Classic.

The words of one poster on one forum on not606 is going to increase the impression of racism? Is there even one? It's probably the most multi-cultural City in England and we all get on just fine. Regardless. I'm condemning racism, I thought that that was pretty obvious.

 

You're comparing our fans showing their support for an abused minority of the fanbase with the blatant racism of your players.
It's ludicrous.

 

I shall repeat for the hard of understanding:

The term has been the subject of a court ruling and IT'S NOT RACIST. Further, I've told you that irrespective of the legal status of the term, it would stop tomorrow if there was a desire on the part of people in the stadium wanting the term tono longer be used.

I don't know if you can't understand that or by ignoring it you get to pursue some personal agenda. Pretending it isn't the case doesn't make you right. It just makes you look more ridiculous. Let it go.

 

So you support Jews by regularly referring to them with a derogatory word? Gotcha. Although i'm surprised to see that you can't see i'm playing devil's advocate.

As for "blatant racism", I personally think it's Vardy's ignorance as did the "victim" as he was more than happy to accept the apology.

Is it any different to calling a Scottish person a "Scot" or a British person a "Brit"?
I personally wouldn't have thought so beforehand, that's ignorance on my part. I've learnt that it's a derogatory term in Japan and I won't use it. I suspect if the same thing were to happen again then Vardy would bite his tongue.

 

No one will really miss them, they've been one of those "oh Villa are on the TV... Let's turn off the TV" teams in recent times.

I can't think of many Prem sides that have gone down that have been worse than this Villa side. I'd lose my **** if I witnessed Spurs players give up playing for us, which is exactly what this Villa bunch have done since January.

Lerner needs to be ****ing shot, he's ruined what was once a very competitive Prem side.

As for the new manager, sod going there. It'd have to be a manager with a really **** reputation who's just desperate for work, a Neil Warnock sort.

Can see them spiralling down the Football League while Lerner remains at the helm.