Aston Villa Boo-Boys

krinpit

Just read on the BBC Site http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aston_villa/4303981.stm that Villa Fans booed the team off the pitch after their 1-3 defeat at the hands of Everton.

It's absolutely ridiculous that the team can be treated in this fashion, when you consider that resources that the management and coaching staff have at their disposal.

We have Ridgewell in for Martin Laursen, Luke Moore in for Vassell, who's just back from a serious injury and the newly added Djemba-Djemba in for Gavin McCann. I've just read that Carlton Cole is now out for 6 weeks.

We have nobody in midfield who can tackle. Lee Hendrie and Tomas Hitzlsperger are light weight players who rarely throw in a tackle, but who can we replace them with? More youth teamers? It's not fair on them and it's not fair on the management when they're booed because they're not used to the standards of Premiership football.

We have very few quality players in the squad and only one world class player in Olaf Mellberg who's personal form seems to be suffering due to inadequecies of some of his younger team mates.

Jeering the team will not help the situation.

A Dub in Glasgo

May not help the team but maybe the guys who forked out their cash and time to be there felt it was their only way, at that time, to highlight their displeasure.

krinpit

I can understand the reasons for their displeasure. It just seems to me that the displeasure was expressed to the wrong set of people in the worst possible fashion.

eirebhoy

O'Leary said it was their worst performance under him and I'm sure he was a lot harsher to them after the game than the fans were.

sikes

i think that people are dead right to boo when the team puts in a bad performance. they are the ones shelling out fortunes to go see the matches. in the same way that a team will be cheered when they score.

it might not help the team in anyway but i think you cant compain about fans showing their feelings.

DoctorEdgeWild

Personally, I could never boo my own team. I'm very guilty of over reactions like 'Gary Neville should be shot in the face' etc. but to actually boo your own team as they walk off the pitch seems crazy to me. Stay silent, don't go to the next match, diss them on internet foums or just mope around for the week.

I think it is disrespectful to do it unless maybe the whole team were just sitting in the centre circle as the opposition tried out a few tricks as they looked on.

Football fans seem so fickle these days - there is very little loyalty to players (argument could be made that this is as a result of the lack of loyalty to clubs by players) but as long as a player wears your shirt, he is a member of your team. Keep quiet when he scores if you like, or give him a verbal kick in the arse when he screws up but booing as they leave the pitch seems too much for me. Imo.

Villain

After that performance I think ths players needed to be given a wake up call. I was a little surprised that O'Leary didn't start Laursen He won't get match fit without playing games.

galwaydude

seems to me david o leary is caught between a barrel and a hard rock as doug ellis wont budge in giving him any extra money.Last season aston villa were great to watch better than my own team liverpool but this season ye just cant cope when ye get injuries as like like liverpools the squad is too small.I wonder how long will o leary stay if this stays the same way.

Ardent

I'm a Liverpool fan - if I was there I'd have booed them too. Can't believe they lost at home to Everton - bastids!

Töpher

They deserved it, were absolutely appauling for 90 minutes. I watched the whole thing live and actually found myself physically yelling at my pc. Everton were unlucky to not win 7 or 8-0. Boro will be a real test now, we played well against them away but lost 3-0, I can see them walking all over us the way Everton did.

I can understand the reasons for their displeasure. It just seems to me that the displeasure was expressed to the wrong set of people in the worst possible fashion.

There's no point expressing displeasure at the old man, he just seems to laugh it off and doesn't realise he's actually bad for the club (well, imo). He's 82 or so now, with any luck he'll drop soon. (Sounds horrible to say, but if he won't step down its the only way he'll leave).

I still blame most of the clubs current problems on that John Gregory muppet. He spent insane amounts of money on players (iirc) with incredible wage packets, who turned into nothing. E.g: Balban cost £6m, never started a game, and was released, costing the club another £1m to let him go! And he was on insane wages while he was there, so basically all he did was give away Villas money. Can't blame Ellis too much for being reluctant to hand over wads of cash now!

O'Leary is managing as best he can with a small, weak, and injured squad. Sometimes I think he can be too harsh on them to the press, but perhaps they need it. He made the point before this season that last year will behard to emulate and not to expect them to, its not like we were promised Europe or high finishes, we will finish 10/11th this year, which is a realistic goal for a club in a situation like Villa at the moment.

If we can make a few acquisitions over the summer and manage to not kill some of our players, we should be stronger next year.

Maybe next season eh?

Ardent

Einst&#252 wrote: »

I still blame most of the clubs current problems on that John Gregory muppet. He spent insane amounts of money on players (iirc) with incredible wage packets, who turned into nothing.

I hear ya but you have to remember that back in Gregory's time in charge the transfer market was much more inflated than it is now.

BolBill

If O'Leary was the manager of the team I supported I'd give up supporting them. He's the most over rated manager of all time. Remember he spent over 100 million at Leeds on mostly crap players and won nothing(you don't get anything for losing a Champions League Semi you see)

Villain

I think O'Leary proved he's a good manager last season, a lot of Leeds problems were related to the chairman.

Johnny_the_fox

galwaydude wrote:

seems to me david o leary is caught between a barrel and a hard rock as doug ellis wont budge in giving him any extra money.Last season aston villa were great to watch better than my own team liverpool but this season ye just cant cope when ye get injuries as like like liverpools the squad is too small.I wonder how long will o leary stay if this stays the same way.

you have to see it from doug ellis point of view.. he doesnt want villa turning into another leeds utd..

below shows what they have spent in the last couple of years..
2000/01 - £15.15m
2001/02 - £19.5m
2002/03 - £2.25m
2003/04 - £9m

and they didnt have any success during that time..

BolBill

Johnny_the_fox wrote:

you have to see it from doug ellis point of view.. he doesnt want villa turning into another leeds utd..

below shows what they have spent in the last couple of years..
2000/01 - £15.15m
2001/02 - £19.5m
2002/03 - £2.25m
2003/04 - £9m

and they didnt have any success during that time..

Have they ever had success ??? well apart from 2 League Cup they've won knack all since 1981 !!!!!!!

krinpit

BolBill wrote:

Have they ever had success ??? well apart from 2 League Cup they've won knack all since 1981 !!!!!!!

We live in hope. One day it will all be worth it