MikeMcKenna

You are hilarious. You seem to specialise in "criticising fans". You wanted to prompt a reaction and got one, then laughably "dont feel the need to reply" or debate. I am always open to changing my mind through debate, evidence and reason but you are a dogmatist who knows he is right - because you say so! Jog on...

That is incredibly sad. RIP Jody

"Simple our fans keep going on about some god given right for us to CHALLENGE for things" Show me where anyone has expressed "some god given right". As fans and paying customers however we do have the right to express an opinion if we dont agree with the way the club is being run. However some fans like you think blind allegiance without criticism is the lot of fans. "Sport is about earning it on merit and if you want to do it the same way the others have done it recently then go and support them and be happy." Gobbledygook and insults in one sentence! The definition of "merit" is to be "particularly good or worthy". We may be worthy but we are not particularly good, nor showing any prospect of becoming "particularly good" and that is a direct result of the current owners "rush of blood" when he took over and incompetent business management since. However I am sure you will "support them (the board) and be happy" come hell or high water as you seem so certain we "will move forward slowly" despite there being little evidence to back up your claim. I and many others would be happy with a well run and professional club that shows signs of progressing but you are imo deluded if you think we are. Being critical of Lerners Business model doesnt mean everyone wants some Arab or Russian take over the club. Southampton, Swansea are hardly awash with cash but they seem to be on the up or at least more contented than AVFC. Everton have been cashed strap for years and are regularly in the top 6-8. "Randy has made mistakes but the moves being made now are correcting them." Really? His plan is to slash costs, cap wages at Championship levels and hope for the best that Lambert can pull off a miracle. At best such a plan will mean we are struggling for years and at worst that we will be relegated within the next couple. I am sure Randy Lerner is a nice guy but imo the constraints he has placed on Lambert are unreasonable and that the only challenging we will be doing in the next few years is in the Championship,

I agree to a great extent. Clearly he is under massive constraints but if the quality of the squad is as poor as many of us believe he may not be able to turn the pigs ear into a silk purse with any amount of crap cutting. If he comes out and complains about lack of funds it will be seen by the media and fans as a challenge to Lerner. While many may sympathise many others will see it as a desperate plea for support under intolerable circumstances almost akin to when Gregory had a go at Ellis. I think he is on a wing and a prayer now!

Quite honestly I don't know what to believe anymore. Whichever you look at it we are in shit street. We have a manager who is struggling to make things click and an owner who appears not to give a flying **** as long as we are run on a shoestring. I am and have been critical of lambert, he took on the job knowing the constraints and acquiesced to Lerner wishes to make huge cuts, work with little investment and a unreasonable cap on wages However I also accept he has been unlucky with injuries to key defenders, Benteke's loss of form and wanted to bring in key players who were blocked etc But having read a little snippet in the Independent I now also believe PL took on a job that few others would I.e. neither Martinez and OGS** would accept so to a degree i suppose he deserves some credit for accepting the poisoned chalice. **maybe it was common knowledge but according to an article in the Independent today concerning the Cardiff situation, OGS may be in the frame but previously "was persuaded by Ferguson to reject Aston Villa's approaches after the dismissal of Alex McLeish" - if this is true it would suggest that Ferguson knew Lerner was in a mess, about to make cuts etc and that OGS's career could be damaged if he took on the VIlla job. Whatever we think about Ferguson, we know that Lerner definitely consulted him at times in the past. The fundamental cause of our problems is Lerner but we can do absolutely nothing about it and I am as guilty as many others in attacking lambert, albeit justifiably at times IMHO. I am still very unsure about PL, but I have absolutely no doubt that it is our invisible owner who has totally ****** AVFC and that whoever took on the job was bound to fail. I have come to conclusion that we may have to be relegated to make Lerner realise that it is impossible to compete in the Premiership using the business model he has demanded.

I think you make some good points here. Especially the one about "experienced players". Now I am not advocating the return of any of our bomb squad, but if ever a team needed experience and leadership at his heart we are one. To be dependent on Vlaar was always going to be suspect given his past injury record. My hope is that we either buy or loan some experience in January. Our youngsters and inexperienced new signings have potential but need some old heads around to allow them to develop.

If this wasn't so pathetic it would be hilarious. You are obviously connected to PL in some way and seem to be suggesting that the club is in a mess from top to bottom but no mention of the coaching staff who IMO are clueless. I can't be arsed to go through all your other points, but it strikes me that PL and his team have lost the plot and are looking to blame everyone and everything else but themselves.

He does not have the funding to build a good side quickly Risso. Other than £43m of course. Look at where we signed the players from Risso? It is time to accept reality my friend, I have. I have long accepted the reality that we have a useless manager, who does not appear to have the first clue as to coaching or tactics. The game(s) against Bradford last season should have shown you that. I don't get these types of comments. Whether or not Lambert is the right manager for Villa is obviously debatable but to call him "useless" and state that he doesn't know anything about coaching or tactics is just completely wrong. Where is the proof that he knows "anything about coaching or tactics"? I would suggest that his ability to buy players, coaching and tactics are more suspect than not. We have just been turned over by an absolutely shite Stoke, lost to a struggling Fulham and couldn't beat a shite bottom of the league sunderland. That you think Lambert is an able coach with tactical nous is frankly amazing.

"we go again" He is out of of his depth. He accepted the poisoned chalice, thought he could revolutionise Villa with a bunch of kids and lower league players and has turned us into a joke. As fans we have to suffer year in year out because of a shit owner, shit managers and shit players!

Don't recall anyone ever slating our away fans. They're top-notch and always have been. And yet with excellent support we were poor and beaten. Blaming home fans or away fans it utter shit. Yes I can see that thanks. I don't think it's the main factor (or even in the top 3) but if our home support was anything like our away support maybe we wouldn't quite be so poor at home? Our home support is not going to make technically poor players better. Spending more money on players and better coaching will have much more of an effect on the way we play than fans. I think you should read my post again. I never said it would make "technically poor" players better and I never said spending more money and better coaching wouldn't have more of an effect. As anyone can see from this thread, you really do write a lot of drivel!

What a ridiculous statement. Surely the dominance of United, Chelsea and latterly Man city represents more of "a dark day for all other clubs fans"? Or is it simply that those who have a irrational hate for liverpool will suffer "a dark day"? The fans and the media would be unbearable. So you would prefer Man U, man city, Chelsea's fans to be unbearable? Ridiculous argument. On the contrary I believe, having Liverpool (and Arsenal) vying for the no.1 spot gives clubs such as Villa a very slight hope of challenging one day. Liverpool are still IMHO a proper club despite the fact that some fans of other clubs have an irrational hate for their fans - "hate" is a particular specialism of some fans.

What a ridiculous statement. Surely the dominance of United, Chelsea and latterly Man city represents more of "a dark day for all other clubs fans"? Or is it simply that those who have a irrational hate for liverpool will suffer "a dark day"?

This comment is a reminder that some of our fans are clueless tossers

"I am the dogs bollox" I played for Dusselbollox and then managed Norwichbollox so I was ready for a bigbollox club. Up the Villa bollox!

Why do you have a problem with a fan's view forming the basis of a news story? The club spews out loads of repetitive nonsense every week which is printed in the Mail and we are expected to accept the drivel. Whether a fans opinion on our dire performances are shared by all they are as valid as the spin we get from the club. Maybe if the Randy Lerner was more forthcoming about the long term ambitions and plans instead of leaving Paul Lambert to carry the can, the fans wouldn't feel such a need to express their heartfelt concerns publicly. Obviously our "guardian" has forgotten the importance of the fans that he allowed Krulak to babble on about.

But the performances aren't good. Lambert out. The performances are dire, and for the millionth time, not being as bad as last year is not saying an awful lot. If you're happy to watch the drivel being served up by Lambert, I pity you. Okay, so what do you want? We're doing better than last year but that isn't good enough, so I would love to know what your expectations are for us? Obviously your "expectations" are fairly low if the only thing that counts is our relative position. We are playing some of the worst football in years, have a woeful squad and show little sign of improving.

BJ, Ive agreed with a lot of your posts recently. Surely you must understand that Lambert took the approach he has precisely because funds went not available?? He wanted Sissoko - too expensive, He wanted Kiyotake - too expensive, Apparently he wanted Lukaku and Barry - too expensive His only option was to sign younger players and be forced to play a style that although not esthetically pleasing is effective enough to retain our premiership status whilst the books are balanced. The fact he has no money is bullshit but he is trying to make the best of the situation, expecting that in the medium term pursestrings will be loosened This is a problem of Lerner's making - let him carry the can not Lambert who his doing everything he knows to put things right Agree, lerner is 100% to blame in my opinion. I actually think Lambert would be dangerous with a decent bit of money to spend Where does this faith in lambert come from? I agree that theroot of our problem is under investment by Lerner but where is the evidence that lambert has the potential to be a great manager IF he had the money to spend?

"And look more confident on the ball. We looked much better in possession than we have been lately..." Simply not true, watch the lead up play to two of their goals again. Baker was under no pressure but gave the ball away through an appalling forward pass. Likewise Luna played a stupid pass that lead to another. In both cases it was illustrated just how poor we are when in possession. As for our midfield, they are far from confident on the ball or capable of a decent forward pass. Time and time again they gave possession away very cheaply.

What a ridiculous argument. As paying fans we can say what we like and if neccessary complain about the ability and suitability of the manager. When the fans turned totally against McLeish they didn't have to say who should replace them before he was given the boot. Lambert took over a poor to mediocre squad that was going nowhere and now we have a poor to mediocre squad that is going nowhere. In my opinion he has no chance of taking us further. All that said I no longer trust the idiots who run our club to pick the right man or give them the investment to take us forward. They might as well close their eyes and pick one out of a hat!

Why would it be "ridiculous"? What do you see that many don't? Are we getting better? NO. Are the players he bought getting better? NO. Are his tactics improving? NO. So we get rid of him and rebuild YET again? What has he built but a house of straw! Despite some believing that this squad has future potential, the reverse is more likely. There are no leaders, the midfield is weak beyond belief, our defence is woeful and our strike force have forgotten how to score. This is the house that Lambert build and the big bad wolves can blow the **** down at will!

Why would it be "ridiculous"? What do you see that many don't? Are we getting better? NO. Are the players he bought getting better? NO. Are his tactics improving? NO.

we were poor / shot for a lot of last season. We have been poor / shit a lot this season . Trend? Apart from 2/3 months we have been very poor for most of Lambert's time as manager. He is just lucky that he followed the disaster that was McLeish. At another time the fans would have been calling for his head.

Just back from the game after another ******* horrendous performance. After another depressing 7 hour round trip it is becoming increasingly difficult to justify on any level these trips to VP. Lambert is clueless and many of the players he has bought are equally clueless and simply not good enough. His strategy of buying cheap lower league and foreign players has not worked. We are not going to be relegated but Lambert and his team of clowns masquerading as coaching staff have neither the nous or skill to turn this bunch of misfits into anything worthwhile.

I do not think the absence of Vlaar was the issue today.

I seriously question Lambert's tactical nous. He got away with it at West Brom and Southampton but was found out today by a better tactician with a bunch of journeymen for a squad. I am tired of the excuses, Lambert is serving up some of the worst football in years (excluding the AM disaster). Irrespective of his lack of funds he chose to bring in a bunch of lightweight midfielders who were given a lesson today by Sidwell (FFS!) and Parker. He plays ****** Bacuna at the back despite the fact that he Is a ******* liability! OTT reaction? I don't think so - My doubts about lambert have been growing for ages!