The Five Stages of Grieving as a Villa Fan

I can’t talk about the X’s and O’s of Villa’s defensive frailties anymore.  Just like I can’t talk about all the money wasted by the club.  Both themes have been beaten to death by myself and others.

I looked up the Five Stages of Grief to determine where exactly I was as an Aston Villa supporter.

1. Denial and Isolation:  I’d say I hit this stage after the Chelsea or Tottenham matches.  The club had just played fairly well in November and had just beat Liverpool at Anfield. Surely this was just a bad day or two at the office.  It was admirable that the team kept attacking even as the goals conceded mounted.  We were also missing several key players.  Once we got Vlaar, Gabby, and N’Zogbia back things had to get better.
2. Anger:  I’ve entitled two of my recent columns: “Plenty of Angst To Go Around At Villa Park” and “Nobody to Blame but Themselves,” so yeah I was angry. I was angry at everybody. I was angry at the players for failing to perform and earn their wages for three different managers. I was angry at the manager who inherited a team with 37 points, was given £25m to spend in the summer and somehow made the team worse. Certainly I was angry with the board for letting things get to this point.  Letting Martin O’Neill piss away so much money as he did. They appointed Alex McLeish. Most damningly, the gave the current manager pennies to spend to try and save the club in January.
3. Bargaining:  If only the club can manage to stay up, things will be better next year. Dunne, Petrov and Warnock will all be off the books. We will sell Bent, and probably Shay Given and Steven Ireland freeing up more wages and raising some transfer funds. That along with the wage cuts already made will give the manager a nice kitty for the summer. The signings he has already made will have a year of Premier League football under their belts and will only improve.  Dear God, help the Villa stay up!
4. Depression:  How have we fallen so far, so fast? When we get relegated, will I be able to watch any of the games? Will I have to listen to Jack Woodward on AVTV? Will Jack still have a job or will he be one of the many club employees? Will I be on my phone following all the matches on twitter? Who will buy Christian Benteke? Hopefully not Sunderland. Will the board back Lambert and subsidize a team on Premier League wages in The Championship? Will Lambert buy proven, Championship players who can at least take us up?  I need a drink.
5. Acceptance: I was either here or trying to get here when I said relegation was not the end of the world. The club has been relegated before. I am sure there are readers who are old enough to remember Villa playing in the old Third Division. Even if we go down, it won’t be forever. When we do come back up, there is no reason we can’t be competitive right away like West Ham and Newcastle.

Honestly I think recently I have gone back and forth between depression and acceptance. Maybe I am just trying to accept the club’s fate before I am ready. Perhaps it’s because unlike a person who can typically only die once, Villa plays every weekend causing me to go through the motions all over again.  If we win against West Ham for the first time in six weeks I might be right back at Step One.