Aston Villa News 24/7Writer: Class of 82 
Date:Tuesday February 24 2009
Time: 11:23AM
UK time is: 07:12:39
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Time For Villa Fans To Start Prioritising?
Class of 82 has started an interesting thread in our forum (warning, adult language) Time for Villa fans to 'prioritise'?
He says:
As I have indicated on a separate post, due to the present economic climate and the financial effects it has had on me personally, I feel I am unable to justify the cost of a new season ticket (and all the other costs that come with it) for the 2009/10 season.
Before I came to this conclusion I had already decided that I would stop attending any cup matches. This was partly for financial reasons, but not solely. I feel that the club has made it easier for me to make this decision, due to its constant negative attitude to anything other than finishing 4th in the PL.
The latest 'squad' of no hopers and reserves, announced for the Uefa Cup, has cemented my attitude towards 'prioritising' my emotional and monetary outlay towards Aston Villa.
Going forward I have decided the following:-
If Villa are chasing a 'Top 4' spot (or, God forbid, facing relegation), then;
No attendance at Uefa Cup (Europa Cup?) matches
No attendance at FA Cup matches
No attendance at League Cup matches
These competitions will not be taken seriously by the club during a 'Top 4' push (or relegation battle), so they will not be taken seriously by me.
If Villa are 'safe' in mid table then;
No attendance at Home league matches (as we are 'safe' we should play kids/stiffs and prioritise the Cups)
No attendance at Away league matches (ditto above)
Full attendance at all Cup matches (which will now be taken seriously by the club)
I have worked out that this prioritising does a couple of things for me;
1. It saves me many hundreds, if not thousands, of pounds.
2. It ensures I see, if not a victorious side, then our best available side that takes the games (and my money) seriously.
Does anyone else think that it is time for fans to 'prioritise', along with MON?
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Your Comments
harsh, but fair. maybe the club should have prioritised more in the transfer window to avoid this heavy patch of fixtures. they knew it was coming.
Stig
As a "profesional" suporter i shall be resting myself for the Man City and Liverpool games to focus on the home games against Stoke and Spurs. I feel let down about the lack of respect for the UEFA cup. i am glad that work commitments prevented me from booking for Moscow . How do those fans who are going to Moscow feel ?
3rd / 4th spot does NOT guarrantee Champions League football, just a qualification game. What if we lose that ????? No UEFA cup fall out then. Tough bold decisions made by MON & the AVFC board that i hope work out for the good of the club. If we fail to beat Stoke, or miss out on the CL then i feel the heat of the fans wrath will be felt.
HolteEnder43
Pathetic. If you want to spend your Saturday afternoons at B & Q you carry on. If you want to be the sort of 'supporter' that ManUre have ('I don't actually go to any matches, I just watch them on the telly') you carry on. If you want to be the sort of 'supporter' who gets his kicks from whingeing, you carry on. For the rest of us we're just going to enjoy MON's roller coaster ride while we can. Maybe we'll come crashing down to earth. So be it. At least we had a go. Remember, opportunity knocks. It doesn't say, 'Give me a ring when you're ready' You just soldier on with your whingeing. Enjoy it. It's all you have.
chocolate teapot
what a load of tripe
YatesyVillain
No chocolate that's the whole point we haven't "had a go" because he's giving up on various competitions.
nottinghamvillain
I have to agree with the chocolate teapot, were not even out the competition yet and people are already complaining!! Probably the supporters that were absent from the early rounds with the exception of the Ajax game and also booed the team after a performance against Wigan that had we scored a single goal people would be saying how well we played...
Perhaps MON has the opinion that the fans aren't that bothered anyway as sub 30k crowds turn up to the Uefa cup games.
Just remember where we came from people I for one would not swap the way were going for anything in the world!!!
AVNath
I'd rather a CL spot than to finish 6th or 7th from burn out. We need to be in CL to attract the right sort of players. MON's building the foundations for something great, CL would be a big big step in that direction!
Mutley73
chocolate teapot (aptly named if I might say)
nottinghamvillain has hit the nail on the head. If you read my post properly I am complaining because we have not "had a go" at anything apart from the Holy Grail 'top 4' - and even that more by luck than judgement.
If we set our standards low we will surely reach them. What is wrong with going all out in every game we play? If we fail, we do so trying our best. What is the consolation if we finish 5th this season? We would have failed in everything, and with a whimper, not the roar of a Lion!
If we do finish 5th next season, which some of you fail to see as a major possibility, Randy and co will have a hard time selling tickets for the ‘Europa Cup’, a competition they obviously don’t care about. A free £1.99 flag might get a few through the gate, but surely only complete idiots would be fooled into forking out to watch sub standard players giving sub standard performances? I take it you will be going?
Let’s aim high and if we fail, we do so in glory!
Class of 82
The plan was always to finish 4th to keep Gerrads boyfriend happy
medzy
I agree with medzy, words of wizdem!
Blitz
I've just checked out our fixtures from now until the end of the season and there is no reason at all for burnout...even with our wee squad!! ;0) The only time we will play Sat/Sun-Midweek is this week (Stoke and Man Sh1ty) After that (especially as we will be out of the Uefa Cup) there is a weeks rest (if not longer for alot of games) before the next game. There can be no excuses now and also we "should" have every single player fit, what with Laursen, Reo and Bouma on their way back. If burnout is even mentioned by any player or management, I will scream!!!!!!
In MON we trust!
Boring gents. If we qualify for the Champions League, I don't think that there will be too many complaining about not going through to the last 16 (or further)of the UEFA cup to possibly lose.
Also, the temperature in Moscow today is minus 11 and snow is forecast for the next few days. Gutted for you if you spent monies on going to Russia but would rather have this (or a more glamorous tie) to go to every other week in the Champions League than a one off trying to win a cup that Rangers almost won then got knocked out of Europe and lost the title after being 8 points clear due to fixture congestion.
Villan444
Im not been funny lads but im getting more and more *****ed off with moaning villa fans MON has tacken us from religation candidates to a top 4 challenging side, do you moaning fans not realise this....
were having the best season in ages and your still moaning i come on this site and i read your shout in the birmingham mail daily and all there is is so called fans winging and moaning about nothin,
ok were taking a poor squard to russia and there is a possibility we might go out but we got man city stoke man u liverpool all coming up in the next week or so..!! if you watched the side weekly in stead of moaning you will have proberble have noticed that in the last 3 games (witch we have lost) the lads have looked tied and a rest is proberble just what we need with out this we could go on to finish below everton or worse. think of the drop in moral we will get if we fail to get that top 4 spot after we have been there all this time and how fans can say that we havent gave compertitions a good go when we got further that we have for ages in the fa cup were STILL in the uefa cup and were 4 in the best leauge in the world i will never know...!! coming to signings that MON has made most of them bar Shorey (who is slowley getting his act together) and salifou they have all done fantastic + werent the majority of capellos england squard full of or boys (some of MON so called poor signings) so instead of moaning can we not get behind the players the board randy and without dout MON who are doing a fantastic job resturing this great club.....!!!!
Mikeyvilla85
Well played MON. Tough tough decision to make but thats what your paid to do. 4th is the be all and end all now, and we now need to go for it full throttle. We still have the players in that squad capable of scoring us a goal or 2 in Moscow. Keep the faith lads.
DeanoVilla
I totally disagree with your logic, Class of 82. By the same reasoning perhaps you should be paying out MORE to go and watch 'your' team because of their achievements so far this year. If you were happy watching our boom/bust (mostly bust!) club during the Ellis centuries (seemed like centuries anyway), you should be damned-well over the moon now and acclaiming the whole crew, from chairman down to lowest oik - not moaning that you've been let down! Maybe that was DOLs only accurate call - fans ARE fickle!
BobTheBuilder
^^^^^^ Told ya ^^^^^^^
DO'L
I understand the need to priorotise the league,but this just proves that not enough is being done in the transfer windows.If I was paying to go to the game in Russia I would be furious.The whingers will have a field day if we dont get the points on Sunday.
Pking
* Im sure plenty of into effort is being put into the transfer market,some of the signings have been masterstrokes.The kids have looked very impressive everytime they've been needed.I can't criticise the work thats been done.
Pking
So So difficult. Perhaps the 38000 should have been tipped off before last weeks match that we were not taking the cup seriously. Could have saved me exactly £37.50 (ticket, bus and burger). Would I have gone if they had said it was not important? I'm unsure because I went with the thoought that it would be the last chance to see AV in europe this season should we lose. BUT NOT BECAUSE WE DID NOT TRY. Question for you lot to ponder - next season (after we have qualified fo Champs League) does mon decide it is not worth competing in for the sake of the PL? Are Villa gonna buy a second competitive squad in the summer (unlikley). Even so, I;m gonna buy my season ticket next year, what else is there to do????? UTV
RiF
I don't know how anyone can question the logic and principle of Classof82. You may disagree, but for some people however brilliant we have done this year, there is an overriding priciple that you do your best to win every game, every cup, in the same way that you should go to work and give of your best in whatever you do day in day out. MON is doing his best too, but this is clearly one where those who prioritise coming 4th or "in MON we trust" will have a different view to those who live by the principle of give your all every time and see where it takes you. Be very clear, it is quite possible we could have taken our best team to Moscow, won through to the next round, and galvanised by theperformance gone on to beat Stoke easily on Sunday. It is also quite posible that our rested team could still fail to beat Stoke anyway - just like we have failed to beat Boro, Fulham, Portsmouth and Wigan. It is much harder, but I admit also possible, that our second team could even win in Moscow. It is about luck, mentality, being on a roll , and togetherness as well as freshness and obviously ability. But there are so many sariables you cannot choose which to prioritise and think it will work out that way. The best you can do is simply go for the lot, do your best and see what happens. This doesn't mean no one should ever be rested, but you need to go with a strong team in all the competitions. I therefore 100% support Classof82.
stennyvilla
If we had a bench as deep as Man.U or Chelski I would agree with this article. But we don't. We simply are not strong enough to take it all on. Prudence, patience.
gwyllum18
if we finish 5th that will be an improvement on last season, i'm not sure we're ready for champions league football, well not with the squad we have now.
eltoro
Thanks for NOT reading my article properly BobTheBuilder, and using yet another thread to bang on about Doug Ellis! Let it go mate and respond to my question rather than dragging up a tired old argument! Here's a clear, unambiguous question just for you; If Villa finish 5th this season, will you be paying money to go and watch Europa Cup matches next season, or will you 'prioritise'? (And please try not to mention Doug Ellis in your reply!)
Class of 82
Doug Ellis.... DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Fear
One thing is, some fans don't have the choice but to prioritise as money only stretches so far anyway.
The Fear
I'm not sure I didn't read your article properly, Class of 82. I was simply questioning your implication that 'because we weren't going for everything', you might not be prepared to spend so much on supporting the team. I didn't bring HDE/DOL into it simply to have a dig at them, but because that regime was immediately before this one, and is the one we must compare with. My question was simply this: if you are saying that you will only support 'according to our results or what competitions we are in', then you should surely be prepared to be paying out MORE in the past three seasons, since results have been that much better. And don't forget, we have been in more European matches this season than for quite some time - isn't that a bonus?
BobTheBuilder
And to answer your question, I will continue to go to matches as long as I can afford to. It doesn't matter whether it's Prem, CL or Intertwobob. For me, it isn't a question of demanding that RL and MON fall in with my strategies before I support the team. If we make the CL, which I hope we do, then great. If not, I'll be satisfied as long as I think the club is TRYING to make it possible by the use of whatever short, long or medium term strategies it needs to. Failing to make it into the CL this year will not alter my view that MON has made the correct decision, knowing what he knows at this point in time. I think he's right: simple as that.
BobTheBuilder
I'm not going to bang on about this (much), but my whole article surrounds the 'prioritising' by the club. I don't decide which matches to attend based on the competition (in all senses f the word), and I don't believe I suggested any such thing. The club has decided this match (and possibly others), are not worth fighting for. Is it so alien to believe that some people might say "well the club obviously aren't arsed about this game, so why should I pay good money to be arsed? Or have we all become 'drones' without brains spouting, "I must attend. I have no option. Villa is in my blood init". Surely there must be a limit to what 'loyal' supporters have to put up with before we shout "STOP!"?
Class of 82
Of course you can shout STOP, Class. It's your money and you must decide. But be assured I'm no drone, and if I don't agree with something that the club does or that another fan posts, I will say so. I just don't happen to agree with you on THIS occasion. And if you don't agree with my argument, that's cool - I'm sure we can agree to differ as gentlemen of the terraces :o)
BobTheBuilder
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