[boing_boing68]

I'm loving all this "i dont care if we go down" attitude because you know deep down that it is hurting them so much and they are so worried about going down.

What gives them the right to go down and just come back up and why would randy learner (which is a stupid name) sack agent Mcleish if they go down because relegation will cost them and then paying Mcleish up will cost more.

Wow imagine for one second if they go down and blues come up, villa won't even be the biggest team in Birmingham then.

boing boing sotv

[kris_boing]

Still reckon they wont go down.  Think they'll just squeak it though.
 
Nerve jangling last day at Norwich for them and relying on other results but they'll just make it.

[One of the Seals]

Going down would hurt, were hurting just being in this position, whats your point?
I don't mind going down for one season and being a big fish, it may do us some good and our fans, (see Newcastle)
Trouble is if we go down we wont go back up IMO, and getting the stick would hurt, but thats what footballs all about, ill give it, so ill take it

[westbrom87]

You wont be a big fish.  What makes you a big fish?  Coventry have a big ground, it hasn't helped them.  Forest won two, count then, TWO European Cups, it hasn't helped them.

You will have a very young inexperienced squad if you go down, who have no idea of how to win promotion.  The teams that come back up are the ones that keep a strong nucleus of senior, experienced players.

[brummyroader]

Odds slashed now from 12/1 before last night to 6 or 7/1 now 

[boing_boing68]

My point is all these seals going on "who cares if we go down, it'll get rid of mcleish", Anyone who hand on heart can say that are lying.

Would be funny if stevenage came up and villa went down and stevenage vs villa was a league match 

[DaveWBA]

You wont be a big fish.  What makes you a big fish?  Coventry have a big ground, it hasn't helped them.  Forest won two, count then, TWO European Cups, it hasn't helped them.

You will have a very young inexperienced squad if you go down, who have no idea of how to win promotion.  The teams that come back up are the ones that keep a strong nucleus of senior, experienced players.

We were the big fish in the Championship, Villa would too. But to see them squirming in Burnley on a Tuesday evening would be one of the best moments of my life.

[BB74]

My point is all these seals going on "who cares if we go down, it'll get rid of mcleish", Anyone who hand on heart can say that are lying.

Would be funny if stevenage came up and villa went down and stevenage vs villa was a league match 

Villa fans I know are saying that. I stump them with a)he is on a massive packo and b) he has experience of getting a team out the Championship. Why would he be got rid of?

[RowleyBaggie2]

Randy Lerner sounds like a sexually aroused teacher.

[BB74]

Sadly, I think they already have enough points on board and can still see them picking up at least a point along the way. I just don't see them going down but hopefully this season is a sign of things to come and next season they will be right in the thick of it.

[Rich99]

I tend to fear that they are going to be okay too.

Still, if we manage to beat them and Bolton get anything out of Sunderland away (even a draw), Villa are going to be just two points from the drop.

Then please:
QPR at home beat Stoke
Wigan beat Wolves or Blackburn
Bolton beat us or Stoke

Villa lose their remaining 3 games and they are down.

[crazedwbafan18]

I tend to fear that they are going to be okay too.

Still, if we manage to beat them and Bolton get anything out of Sunderland away (even a draw), Villa are going to be just two points from the drop.

Then please:
QPR at home beat Stoke
Wigan beat Wolves or Blackburn
Bolton beat us or Stoke

Villa lose their remaining 3 games and they are down.

this trip to the reebok is certainly going to be interesting i feel if villa get even a point on saturday though, then they have avoided the drop imo

[RowleyBaggie2]

Why is radio wm in a state of mourning?

[Greenock Baggie]

Why is radio wm in a state of mourning?

Theres a rhetorical question if ever I saw one, pmsl

[crazedwbafan18]

http://mcleishout.co.uk/
its getting serious folks 

[AlbionLegend]

Lets hope we can beat them and give their goal difference a bashing, then we will have played our part!

[AidantheBaggies]

 

Lets hope we can beat them and give their goal difference a bashing, then we will have played our part!

Would 5-1 do??   

[Hunnington Baggie]

get rid of the 1, highest goal difference in the PL for us then. 

[east-stand-nick]

A5t0n Villa...I like it.

[garry]

Villa's last 14 results:

LDLLDDWLLDDLDL

Hardly inspiring!

[lewisant]

im so psyched for this i fear we might just let it slip but on paper we should do but int heory they should be fighting tooth and nail to get a result against us. Really mirrors the wolves fixture last year when we flaked!!

i'm usually an optimist but im playing this down in my head....

[beechyboy90]

Bent Bent
Wherever You May Be, We All Laughed At yeah Transfer Fee, S**t 1st Touch, No Buildup Play, And You're Going Down At The End Of May

[LiamTheBaggie]

http://www.freeradio.co.uk/news/sport/villa-release-statement/

“Right now everyone connected with Villa is hurting badly. A win was in sight last night against Bolton after a strong start and the tenacity the team displayed, although ultimately we weren’t able to hold on for the points. We very openly acknowledge the frustrations of Villa fans and share in them completely”.
 
“What matters to us and the Board at this moment is how we, as a Club, handle adversity and the pressure it brings. Our horizon is the next three games and we continue to be in control of our own destiny”.
 
“Young players side-by-side with more senior players are fighting hard for the Club. They are now preparing for West Brom followed by Spurs and Norwich. We will continue to support and rely on our manager and the squad and therefore give them our full support”.
 
“We are totally conscious, as is everyone at the Club, that this is a very trying time for those who love Aston Villa. We know that the team will continue to fight through every minute of the remaining games and we hope Villa fans will continue to show their great support”.

[LiamTheBaggie]

Another interesting read

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2012/apr/25/aston-villa-fans-alex-mcleish

There is no point skirting the issue. Alex McLeish's position has become untenable and it is almost inconceivable to think that he will still be the Aston Villa manager at the start of next season, irrespective of what division the club are in. When "**** Off McLeish, the Villa is ours" and "Sack McLeish, my lord" rang around the stadium in the closing stages of Tuesday night's highly damaging 2-1 home defeat by Bolton Wanderers, it was the majority, not a noisy minority, singing in unison.

Villa fans never accepted McLeish in the first place and they want him out. Plain and simple. The brutal truth is that it is never going to work with McLeish in charge and anyone that still thinks otherwise is deluded. Randy Lerner, the Villa owner, and Paul Faulkner, the chief executive, must be able to see that now, even if they refused to believe that was the case when they made the extraordinary decision to appoint the Scot in the summer.

Extraordinary not because McLeish came from Villa's rivals, Birmingham City. Extraordinary because McLeish had just suffered his second relegation with Birmingham in three Premier League seasons. And extraordinary because he is synonymous with a brand of football that, to borrow the former Villa manager Graham Taylor's recent description, "looks [like] you are preparing a side not to lose".

This season has been abysmal and the statistics make for painful reading. Villa have won only seven league matches all season, the lowest in the division with the exception of already relegated Wolverhampton Wanderers. Only Wigan have scored fewer than the 19 goals Villa have managed in 18 home fixtures. McLeish's side have won only four league games at Villa Park and just one in the past five months, meaning that they are guaranteed to finish the season with the worst home record in the club's history.

Against that backdrop, it is little wonder that there is so much apathy surrounding the club. There were 10,000 empty seats inside Villa Park for the Bolton game, which has been a common theme this season. Villa's average attendance is 33,755, which is more than 6,000 down on the peak of four years ago and nine per cent down on last season, when Gérard Houllier's side flirted with relegation. Since August, only Blackburn Rovers have lost fans at a quicker rate than Villa. In fact more fans watched Villa in David O'Leary's last season, when the club finished 16th and supporters held up a banner that said: "We're not fickle, we just don't like you."

Lerner made a rare visit to Villa Park on Tuesday night and it must have been sobering and galling for the American to see first-hand evidence of just how far the club has fallen in such a short space of time. Two years ago today, Villa beat Birmingham City 1-0 to move level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur with two games of the season remaining. On Saturday, they travel to West Bromwich Albion only three points clear of the relegation zone.

All of which means that Villa have gone from the verge of the Champions League to the brink of the Championship in the blink of an eye; a journey which must be particularly hard for Lerner to come to terms with when he looks at a balance sheet that shows he has pumped upwards of £200m (including £133m invested in return for shares) into a club that is underperforming on the pitch and haemorrhaging money off it. Villa posted a £54m loss for the year to 31 May 2011.

Indeed, it is difficult to know what the endgame is for an owner who is in charge of a club with no obvious purpose at the moment, other than to avoid the ignominy of relegation for the first time in 25 years. There are, admittedly, some mitigating circumstances for a woeful run that has seen Villa pick up only one victory from their last 13 league matches, not least the long-term absence of senior and influential players, such as the top scorer Darren Bent, the captain Stilian Petrov and the central defender Richard Dunne. Yet even with those players in the team, Villa were making hard work of things, grinding out the odd victory.

All of which strikes a chord with McLeish's time at Birmingham. Even in his best league season at St Andrew's, in 2009-10, when Birmingham came ninth place – their highest top-flight finish since 1959 – it was anything but pretty to watch, with McLeish's side scoring only 38 goals in as many games. Last season Birmingham scored only 37, less than a goal a game. This season Villa have scored 36 in 35 matches. In other words, a pattern is starting to emerge and it is one where entertaining football is absent.

There are other uncomfortable parallels to be drawn with last season, when Birmingham's campaign followed a broadly similar pattern to Villa's this term, as form fell away badly at a critical stage. Indeed, this time last year, Birmingham were 15th in the table, as is the case with Villa now, but had a four- rather than three-point cushion over the bottom three with three games remaining. Birmingham lost all three matches and went down.

A repeat of that form on the run-in and the chances are that Villa will suffer the same fate, leaving McLeish with three Premier League relegations on his CV. Lerner would surely be forced to intervene should that happen, although if common sense prevails both parties will agree at the end of the season to go their separate ways whether Villa survive or not. McLeish, after all, is not going to win this battle and Lerner has an investment to protect. As for the supporters, they just want to enjoy going to Villa Park again.

[Baggies]

Villa's academy would see them return straight to the top flight next season, although the way things are going the championship could be a difficult league next season.