Mandy Lifeboats

Just the normal, run of the mill things that I'm sure we all dream of...

A Navajo to run for US president with the main policy being the deportation of all immigrants. 

Sell By Dates to be abandoned for stilton cheese. 

Oxford and Cambridge to meet in the Semi Final of the boat race. How many years can they avoid one another right up to the final? 

Decimalisation of dice. All to become 10 sided by 2050. 

Stanley Unwin to be accused of historic sex-fiddly-o-feely-young-girls-up-jumper-front offenses. 

Nelson Mandela to be freed at last. 

Wolverhampton to stage the Olympics Steve Bull lights the Olympic Flame by throwing a discarded fag into a skip full of old settees sprayed with lighter fluid. 

7 hours ago, Cliffy Biro said:

Yea considering no silly protest or banner will work so yea it is "less easy" to get out there and organise something that works. Something that would 100% work is nobody turning up and paying these wasters but i suspect the "real fan" brigade will be all over that comment.

If your protest is not turning up - that's fine by me. 

If your protest is holding up a banner - that's also fine by me.

BOTH standpoints are equally as valid. 

But as I have said many times in this thread - it's wrong to criticise the people organising the protest. They are giving up their time and money for something they care about. 

But hey........ The club is losing millions, players are refusing to play, staff are being made redundant, directors are quitting, managers are being sacked and we're relegated. If you think making disrespectful comments against a group of fans will help sort that out - feel free to continue. But personally, I think the disrespectful tone of your post isn't called for. 

I grew up in Wolverhampton in the 70s. It was a grim existence.  Very similar to purgatory but with ample supplies of pork scratchings.    But I still vividly remember a day when I was 6 when my beloved grandmother bought me a tracksuit as a surprise present.  It was 1976 and tracksuits had yet to be adopted by as fashion items.  They were actually worn by professional sports people.  The tracksuit was without doubt the best tracksuit in the entire world.  Claret trousers with a light blue top and 3 claret stripes running along the arms.  Even better it had loops at the bottom of the legs that kept the trousers in place and zips on the side of the ankles so you could take the trousers off without removing football boots.  I can sense everyone who is reading this getting very jealous.  But just get over it.  I had the best tracksuit ever.

Grasping my tracksuit with pride I asked my granddad “Which team wear these?”  In that moment my granddad had power beyond his wildest dreams.  At that moment he was going to decide what team I would support for the rest of my life.    Would he say West Ham?  Would he say Burnley?  Knowing granddad he might have said Celtic as he wasn’t the sharpest tool.  But no.  He said it was an Aston Villa tracksuit.  That was it.  I was a Villa fan.  I didn’t know where Aston was, who played for them or which division they were in.  But I must be a Villa fan because I wore a Villa tracksuit.

At school I was the only Villa fan.  My classmates were split roughly equally between Wolves fans and glory hunting mercenaries supporting Liverpool because they were winning things.  Playground football matches were the highlight of the school day.  One day someone suggested a Wolves V Liverpool match.  With the sides roughly equal in both numbers and abilities it seemed a great idea.  But……but…….what about me?  I couldn’t play for either side as I was a Villa fan.  It might have been a school playground and a bunch of nine year olds but that didn’t matter.  I wasn’t going to pretend to support someone else.  Numerous offers of sweets, crisps, wagon wheels and tomato flavoured Snaps couldn’t convince me to sign for either side.  As the top unsigned free agent in the playground I was in huge demand and the signing-on fee offers rose to the level of a huge bag of chocolate buttons.  I turned them down with a heavy heart.  That did turn to a feeling of relief a few days later when it was discovered that someone from our school had stolen a large bag of chocolate buttons made for dogs from the local pet shop.

 My teen years coincided with the height of Wolves hooligan problems.  The “Subway Army” were the high profile firm and they walked around Wolverhampton Town Centre in their tight jeans, Pringle jumpers and Adidas trainers looking for trouble.   One Saturday I was spotted in town and identified as a known Villa fan and therefore asking for a beating.   Whilst completely surrounded I was asked who I supported.  I’d seen movies and knew what would happen next.  I would proudly proclaim my loyalty to Villa to the amazement of all.  My bravery would immediately win the respect of the mob and they’d let me leave with my head held high.  Unfortunately the mob weren’t big film fans and simply delivered a prolonged and vicious beating. I fought back but was vastly outnumbered.  I soon found myself being used as a human football. 

But what has any of this got to do with Aston Villa’s current plight?   Not much if I am honest. 

 I want players who are as proud to wear the Villa shirt as I was to wear that Villa tracksuit.

 I want players who aren’t just interested in the chocolate buttons, nitrous oxide money.  

 I want players when they are in a tight spot to fight as hard as I did when surrounded by those hooligans. 

 I want Aston Villa back. 

 I WANT LERNER OUT!

I can't understand why some people think this protest is dedetrimental to the club. I doubt the board is thinking "The protests are growing in popularity so lets not work quite as hard". These protests will motivate change.

If I was a potential buyer I would rather see protests from engaged and passionate fans. That's much better than empty terraces and/or apathy.

At a time when we are critical of players for showing no fight, no passion, no creativity and no effort, it makes no sense to criticise the Protest Group for showing those qualities in abundance.