Aston ViLOLLOLa

[just some bloke]

How much further have they got before they hit rock bottom:

- An absolute hatful of goals conceded over the festive season; they got put to rout 8-0 at Chelsea and have continued to ship goals ever since
- Beaten over two legs by a fourth division side that has no money
- Dumped out of the FA Cup tonight against Championship opposition

It's sad to see as Aston Villa are one of England's grand old clubs with the finest of traditions. Would relegation be a good thing for them as some suggest?

[LUX]

I'm prudently saving my lolz for the end of the season. Ditto for "QPR' s overspending", Saints' "reckless change of manager " etc.

Promise I'll lol hard if appropri8.

[southbank1871]

Can LOLambert really survive much longer?

[Barry the bird boggler]

Is this a good place to point out they still managed to beat us?

[frimmers3]

are reading playing a championship club in the fa cup this afternoon? and do the "big club" have "home" advantage?

[ZacNaloen]

Sheffield United are a league 1 cup, so it's potentially an even bigger upset.

[frimmers3]

Sheffield United are a league 1 cup, so it's potentially an even bigger upset.

that was my point. anyway,good luck this afternoon.

[SPARTA]

Can LOLambert really survive much longer?

Got to hope so. He's doing a great job for us.

[Ian Royal]

Sheffield United are a league 1 cup, so it's potentially an even bigger upset.

that was my point. anyway,good luck this afternoon.

But it wouldn't be combined with going out of another cup to League 2 opposition. And Reading aren't one of the most successful sides in English football history.

[TBM]

Not really Lamberts fault tho with the team McLeish left him

They need to go down and build again IMHO

[Royal Rother]

Can't say I follow Villa's fortunes closely but not sure that was entirely McLeish's fault either.

The only signings he made whilst at Villa were Given, Hutton and N'Zogbia which one would assume means that he had a job to do with very little dosh.

After the departures of Downing and Ashley Young (and others) he inherited a pretty weak squad himself.

[TBM]

True but then you can't blame O'Neill considering he always kept them top half if not in Europe

[Royal Rother]

No indeed, but I think there are some of the dangers of making heavy investment. To maintain the position MON achieved they needed to keep on spending, and the results of not doing so are being seen in the last 2 seasons. When Lerner said "no more" MON said well I can't keep you up there without it and his tenure came to a sudden end. (Is what I vaguely recall reading subsequently.)

[Zammo]

Already 2 down at home to Newcastle.

[genome]

Everton away up next.

[reading_fan]

The second city is a very unhappy place football wise at the moment. Villa in disarray and Blues broke with an imminent fire sale. Sad to see really but like Toon did I think Villa need to drop to rebuild themselves

[Royal Rother]

What has caused Villa's demise?

[Elliott]

What has caused Villa's demise?

Losing Milner, Barry, Young, Petrov, Friedel, Martin O'neill, and of course, Nicky Shorey.

[reading_fan]

What has caused Villa's demise?

Losing Milner, Barry, Young, Petrov, Friedel, Martin O'neill, and of course, Nicky Shorey.

Randy Lerner's looking to get out, and so has sold off some of the family jewels (as mentioned above) and not given either McLeish or Lambert much to spend, hence the sheer number of kids in the team. Combine this with a number of the more experience players like Dunne being out injured, some of their signings (like Vlaar) not being quite as good as hoped, some of the supposedly bright prospects not turning out to be the stars they were expecting (Bannan is a particular example of this, everyone thought he was going to be the next big thing, now most Villa fans just want rid of him all together), plus the ongoing feud with Bent (captain at the start of the season, but barely featured due to the dispute) and some baffling decisions from Lambert (playing Agbonlahor v WBA, having a great game, resting him against Bradford and Millwall, and then not playing him against Toon - in addition to playing 3 at the back v Toon first half, hence being two down early on).

Lots and lots and lots of problems throughout the club, which is why I say they need to be relegated and start again really, but with Lerner looking to sell this may prove even more difficult.

[Alexander Litvinenko]

They're the perfect example of the fact that even the money s club gets in the PL isn't enough to compete or even survive there.

Lerner, like the Venkays and many others, was sold the idea that a PL club would be self-financing - but has discovered that it's not. It needs large sums pumped into it just to keep still - and although you can be sure that Villa fans will be screaming for "investment" it wouldn't be that, as it'd just be handing over more and more money with no possible hope of return on it.

To his credit Lerner has refused to play that game of pumping in good money after bad for no return, but this is what you get when you don't "live the dream".