Enough is enough. After a thoroughly enjoyable time with O’Neill at the helm, Aston Villa supporters have endured two seasons of mediocrity and disillusion. Our decline is such that relegation is a real possibility next season unless things change.

Aston Villa – Underachieving Can’t Ever Be Treated As Acceptable

There is no excuse for a club of our size to be involved in a relegation battle. To suggest that we should not be doing better than Swansea, Norwich and Stoke is an insult to any Villa supporter. We should be up there competing with the likes of Liverpool, Newcastle and Everton. The foundations that O’Neill laid down were not built upon. They have been gradually dismantled and replaced with mediocrity and dross.

We seem to be aimless on the football pitch and completely lacking in any sort of identity. Some may criticise O’Neill’s style of play but at least there was a definite identity of counter attacking football that excited our fans.

O’Neill could certainly have spent the money a lot wiser; especially in terms of wages. There has been an irrefutable need to control the wage bill. However, even with drastic pruning, we should be doing so much better. The pruning has not been done well and the selections of our new managers since O’Neill have been nothing short of ghastly.

Aston Villa are currently in a situation where the board have alienated their customer base – the fans. Not only do they sell our best players but they bring in a Bluenose failure of a manager. Even those fans like myself that were prepared to give him the opportunity to prove us wrong are now really hacked off. I imagine that season ticket sales for next season are going to be vastly down unless something changes.

So the board need a plan to get the fans back on side. The fans are the life blood of any club. Yes, TV money is where most of the revenue comes from but the input of fans should never be underestimated. TV money is huge but the revenue generated from the fans is not to be sniffed at either. Alienating your customer base in any business is the road to ruin.

The role of supporters is also wider than the fiscal element. Fans being with their team can influence and swing matches. We saw it so often under O’Neill that even when we were a goal down, there was a belief in the stadium that we could get it back, and there were times when we roared our team to victory in such circumstances. The atmosphere in our stadium this season is not a recipe for success – it’s a recipe for disaster.

Obviously the way to get the fans back on side would be for Lerner to sell the club to a Qatari consortium with limitless dough. Let’s treat that possibility as pie in the sky. Let’s presume that this simply isn’t going to happen and that Lerner is here for the long haul. Let’s be realists.

If Change Is To Come, How Is It Initiated?h3>

So how can Aston Villa turn around this juggernaut of mediocrity and under achievement under the current board of directors?

First of all, I would recommend that we hang onto McLeish until we are sure that we are absolutely safe from relegation. As soon as we are safe, I think he should be sacked. I don’t think anyone will disagree with me in that he simply isn’t good enough. MacDonald can then have a remit of caretaker manager until the end of the season with an emphasis on giving our most promising young players as much experience as possible. I’m not proposing from 1 to 11 because that would be farcical, ultimately they would be bullied by experienced Premiership players, and it would end up doing them harm rather than good.

I propose that Gardner, Herd, Clark, Johnson, Weimann, Albrighton and Bannan are given every opportunity. Supplement them with our experienced pros and they will be fine. Ronnie Irani was at our game against Manchester United’s reserves and tweeted that he couldn’t believe that Johnson can’t get into our ordinary 1st team. Let’s give him a go.

Sacking McLeish at the earliest opportunity would give the board time to find the right man, although I have absolutely zero confidence in them being able to perform this task adequately. The appointments of Houllier and then McLeish demonstrate how little our board of directors understand about the game.

Next season has to be interesting and appealing to our supporters. The board need to make a statement about our footballing philosophy. We currently have the most brilliant playing surface in the country, but our manager sees fit to dish up turgid, negative tripe. We knew he would and, to be honest, I didn’t care as long as it was successful. It hasn’t been. Not only is it awful to watch, the results have been dire. It’s a waste of a terrific playing surface.

If Smaller Clubs Can Do It, Why Can’t We?

I would like our club to use Swansea as its blueprint for improvement. I was mightily impressed by their visit to Villa Park earlier in the season. I can’t recall any balls that were hoofed by them. It was all short passing along the ground. None of their players were anything special but their defenders could all pass and therefore keep hold of the ball, minimising any kind of threat that we could muster.

Before this season, I was sceptical that players of mediocre ability could successfully play a passing game in the Premiership. If someone had suggested the Swansea blueprint to me as a way for Villa to improve, I would have dismissed it as naivety and wishful thinking.  However Swansea have proven that their way can be successful in The Premiership. I believe Swansea are owned by a supporters trust who have imposed this passing game upon Brendan Rodgers and Roberto Martinez before him. Whoever the managers of Swansea are, they have to buy into the Swansea philosophy of attractive, possession football.

Our board have reasonably demanded that the wage bill be drastically cut. Now they have to demand a new identity for the Aston Villa team. An identity in keeping with our traditions as a successful club. An identity based on the recently proven formula of Swansea, whereby possession football performed by players on moderate wages has over achieved. This new identity would be a winner with the fans. When things go badly under such a model, the fans will be more patient and understanding than when they are having to endure hoofing.

It is criminal that our wonderful playing surface is only used to its full potential by the top four and Swansea. I understand the need for wage bill cuts because the finances have spun out of control. What I cannot tolerate as a fan is underachieving dross on the pitch.

Along with our new identity we need a manager that can implement this philosophy. A man that can bring to the club players from 1 to 11 that can pass the ball. Rodgers would be ideal but has recently signed a new contract but that’s not to say he is unattainable. Paul Lambert has also done brilliantly and I would be delighted if he came to our club. There are better options than McLeish out there and we need one to shape a new identity for our club. The dour, turgid, attritional rubbish from the likes of McLeish may suit a small club like Birmingham City but not us.

Well, those are my thoughts on what SHOULD happen but here is what I think will happen. McLeish will keep his job, further reduce the wage bill and bring in the odd Bosman. He might be sanctioned an N’Zogbia type signing to generate some season ticket sales. Next season will be more of the same turgidness and under achievement. We will have to pray that there are just as many desperately poor teams in the Premiership next season as there have been this season. It’s our best hope of avoiding relegation.

It’s time our board did something right for a change. I hope they do but I am not holding my breath.

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