MON Wonders What Fans Expect

Message for MON if he's reading this: The majority of sane villa fans are behind you and the team all the way... we can see that overall, there is progress and it's good progress. P.S - Please buy Bent in the summer. P.P.S - Please sell Heskey. P.P.P.S - Please also sell Sidwell!

Wise words Thorpyuk. Did anyone else think that Doyle gave as good a display as any opposition centre forward against us this season.Would be very interesting to see him paired with Gabby

think that is the point thorpyuk, most of us don't boo so think that needs to be communicated so other fans don't think we are all boo boys. One thing running this network, after reading comments like that, other eds will often comment and then I find myself defending us as if we are all booers which we aren't. Interesting 'expectations' thread in the forum with a post from Randy.Stand talking about the booing, maybe it sounded more in the Holte End, I thought the few rumbles were very muted myself but I'm down on the front row of the trinity, then again I usually hear them and am on 10 foot away from MON so must here the same volume as him! lol

To be honest, I can't imagine Liverpool fans giving their players a nice half time send off if they were losing at home to Everton...and the gulf between us and Wolves is much bigger. I don't agree with booing but I'm sure he knows that in derby games pressure from the fans is so much greater.

Yes, Doyle looked decent yesterday, not sure that we'd not be able to go a bit higher in the pecking order though? DaveM was with me yesterday, he lives in Dingle land and his mates say most goals seem to go through Doyle though.

'right behind the manager'........ with daggers? LOL... sorry ! :o) He should realise but then he shouldn't really need that much positive affirmation should he? He gets a load of praise from fans, press, he is in a good position with the owner and has been given good funding etc. Certainly worse jobs out there!

MON can't bring on a player if the fans are chanting his name. Maybe he would have otherwise. Would have probably taken off Carew though anyway!! HESKEY OUT ....

Aston Villa: The nearly men who always blow it when glory is in their reach. The boos are a result of 28 years of frustration.

Maybe we should start singing we all love Heskey and don't want him dropped forever, that could be the way to get best results from MON, then come up with a song about how Cuellar is the best right back in the world, will finish his right back career for good

I sit in the holte upper and some of the the fans up there need to chill a bit. To say this is the anti downing fan club is an understatement at least where i sit. He seems to be taking more flak than heskey which is saying something. Don't get me wrong it's baffling some of the decisions and favouritism martin shows and the team is crying out for luke, delph,fonz but at the end of the day this is a good season and he's doing a great job. I think as fans we need to channel this frustration better and blasting the manager and players during the game has never and never will do us any favours. Unfortunately the gate yesterday shows exactly where we're at. Until villa park is full every week there is no way we'll have many more seasons like this one in the years to come. We'll be moaning then!

amazing to turn on Downing, ffs. (Also Randy.stand in the forum says some were shouting about Albrighton... give me a break ... seriously?!) Downing will be better next season after a full summer pre-season with the team anyway.

Agree sidgodsid, if fans have to boo, do it at the end of the game, during the game do all you can to cheer etc. Trouble is one starts moaning and others follow. The other trouble is the game is about passion and sometimes that does overspill into bad tempers etc. Difficult to be sane at football isn't it?!

also, suppose it is fair enough if we say we sometimes get over heated or over emotional, that the manager and players might also do so. MON is never sane during a game or for a while after anyway, he goes hell for leather at times (half time and/or full time) to refs etc. Footie is just a madness, maybe he'd be more measured if interviewed the day after. Warnock admitted after his cup defeat to us that he went ott after the game but also said that is football. Tend to agree.

Tottenham still gotta play ARSENAL / MANUTD / CHELSEA and all 3 of them are gonna wonna WIN! We are 5Points behind with a game in hand. So could be 2points Wednesday, The sad thing is we have Chelsea away next week lol But everythinks lookin up, We still ent lost and were only 2points behind, We could be 7Points infront this time next month :) We have played the hardist games so far compared to Tottenham so =D I still think we must be favs to finish above them, ManCity luck favs to get 4th

All i expect is a right back to play at RIGHT BACK. Why have two right backs on the bench and insist on playing anybody or everybody there other than the 2 speciaists . MON has lost it.

At half time against Reading the other weekend, at half time the discussion was what we could do to change things around after such a woeful forst half. The conclusion we came up with was to take off Carew and Downing and bring on Delfouneso and Albrighton. I think it showed me why I was sitting in the stand and Martin is sitting on the touchline.

I think we were all frustrated yesterday, everyone i speak to say the same. Heskey is not good enough, carlos is no right back, and his distribution is dire, and petrov does not deserve his place. We can all see the problems, why can't MON. Play luke young, delph for petrov, and the fonz for the lightweight heskey.

'MON has lost it'? Are you insane HolteEnder43? Do you think before you open your mouth? If that isn't up there with the most ridiculous football related comments that I've ever heard or read in my Villa supporting life, then I'm a Birmingham City season ticket holder. So the manager selects players that we dont like/rate, and plays certain of them in positions that we dont consider to be their best or their preferred option. So what? Every single manager that I've ever known down the years has played individuals that I dont 'fancy', often in positions where I dont consider them to be at their best. It happens, it happens all the time, get over it. Clearly in your warped mind MON is doing his utmost to sabotage the cause, this despite his being responsible for turning this club around following years of stagnation and decline, reshaping them into currently one of the best teams in the premier league. We've been to Wembley to contest one domestic trophy, we're still very much in the hunt to return to the very same stadium in May to contest the end of season F.A. Cup Final, and we're still very much in the battle to achieve that much sought after fourth place finish. Yet our manager has 'lost the plot'. You haven't had it so good my friend, unless you were around in 80-81 when another quality manager to grace Villa Park carefully shaped and built a championship winning team that went on to claim europe's ultimate top club prize, before we allowed it all to collapse around us by seeing the manager walk away. I'm not stating that MON will lead us to the premier league title, or to one of the domestic cups, but hell, we're closer to that goal than we have been in years, at a time when the game has never been so controlled and dominated by the big-money men and their clubs. We're not the richest of clubs, so MON's achievements shouldn't be underestimated. He's done and tremendous job here at Brummagem B6, and hopefully, unless he decides to hit the door, will continue to do so. If he should decide to walk away before his time, rest assured that this manager who has 'lost the plot', wont be unemployed for long. If we were in decline, struggling to survive, gracing the mid-table area even with little sign of progress, then yes, I might almost understand this booing and jeering, this slagging off of the manager and his players, but we're not. We're up their battling at top end of the league, widely accepted again as one of the top clubs in the land, yet still some aren't satisfied. The 'on-demand' crowd want it now, success yesterday, they cant sit back, take five, and appreciate the progress and development that is going on in front of their very eyes. Thank God some of you weren't around in the truly bad years, or when Ron Saunders was slowly putting together his Championship winning outfit.

OK Martin I guess you will be reading this as you want to know what the fans want.  First of all we are hugely grateful for (a) a new team to be so proud of (b) a club that makes us proud again (c) a bright future (d) getting to Wembley twice (so far) this season. Now what we are not so keen on: (a) slipping up against local rivals (b) failing to push on for 4th (see Spurs and Citeh for example this weekend (c) playing 3 central defenders and leaving an England quality rightback on the bench (d) choosing to play Carew and Heskey rather than giving a young and very promising England player a chance (e) never ever deigning to explain these things to us ignorant computer-game-playing morons who dare to critise (f) always being first to slate Villa fans for booing hence ensuring negative press for weeks (f) disregarding the 90% of fans who turn up every week to cheer not boo no matter what (for me including a 3 hour drive each way) (g) never ever deignng to explain any of these curious decisions.  I look forward to hearing from you, Martin if you have time left after slagging me off to the press. 

Booing is, by and large, counter-productive (though if it leads directly to O'Neill's resignation I will happily change my opinion). Chants of 'You don't know what you're doing' would be much better, because the message is then unmistakable.

Glensider, spot on. Albarnista, you're a joke mate. Who would be your replacement? Don't bother answering, as you'll probably come out with the same rubbish as Avillian136.

In all fairness badger he has lost it we used to see him as a tacticak genius now all his decisions are just daft i do agree he does a lot of things right but substitutions (obviously) and tactics arnt always whats needed and also who he chooses to olay is based on his favourites, dont deny me of my opininion we wouldnt be having this coversation if half the fans didnt agree with me although i have neva once booed them in my life and one thing i do like that mon does is although alot of u will disagree with me is his picking of transfers like milner, young, downing dunne and all the other gr8 buys but then i do think he constantly misse out on what we desperately need and atm tht is a striker and attacking mid, but i also think we already have them its just mon wont give them a chance,

Oh yeah badger i dont want to get rid of mon at all im just saying if a world class manger came along like that then i would love to get rid of mon for them but my point was to alot of the people calling for his hed that we will never get that sort of manager avaliable or its very unlikely so if we got rid of him we would soon be at the wrong end of the table

I'm sorry but i read this forum daily and just cant way up some of the fans, I did not boo yesterday but felt like doing so. At 1-0 we we're coasting the game and i thought right big win today boys. instead at 2-1 down i thought here we go again. I can only assume that something happened at the peace cup before LY family member died as i can't see why carlos is playing there. We all know that LY is one of the best RB in the country it wasnt that long ago that Fabio agreed and wanted luke in his plans. Martin spends millions on 2 RB and plays a CB there instead, is it me or is this sounding familular first Olef then Reo now carlos. That is the reason i wanted to boo. I think martin is doing a great job but sometimes his team selection is frustrating. Sidwell is a shocking sub when we're chasing the game, we are all crying out for fonz to be given the chance but it never happens. We blew it yesterday and anything other than a win on wednesday and its good night vienna. I think i might start putting my two pence in more often,

I couldn't care less if other fans think all villa fans are moaners/boo boys. i couldn't care less if people think we're a boring, long ball side. I haven't looked forward to the end of a season as much as this one for an awful long time! the anticipation of how it's gonna turn out is all i'm caring about. MON said the week leading up to the cup final was the biggest in the clubs recent history, well, he was right, however, every week since has been bigger and will only keep getting bigger. i'm pretty sure he lets his players know this. why don't we stop moaning about how people are giving us a bad name, focusing on all these tiny negative issues. Big picture is, we're in great shape, we're playing better at the moment than we have done for a lot of this season. we've got a huge amount of character as displayed in recent games at palace, v burnley, at reading, v wolves. we never know when we're beaten and this, in my opinion is why we've got every chance of this season ending better than many of us would have dreamt of back in august. this is me getting off my soap box an GETTING BEHIND MON AND THE VILLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! COME ON YOU VILLA BOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Avillian136, I wouldn't dream of you not having your say mate. I just think you were wrong in the way you came across in your first post, that's all. llienonhoj, please explain where the lack of a RB has cost us a single game this season. You may have a point in the going forward side of things, but the defence speaks for itself, imo. Totally agree with Sidwell being a shocking sub and wanting Fonz on though.

I wouldnt trade MON for NO1! Were was we before he came to Villa Park? END OFF!

Badger I think you'll find much of Wolves attacking threat came down Carlos's side on Saturday - the amount of times they got in behind us was making me cringe. Did we really need Carlos on there to combat some additional aerial threat as was perhaps a justification for having him on against Stoke - no, I don't think so. I'm with VillaTrinityA2 on this - am loving the season so far, but just feel that it could be so much better. We should have beaten Wolves at home - no excuse for it whatsoever, and I do feel that the RB position caused us a lot of problems in that game. Maybe there's something behind Luke Young's absence, but if so - why even have him on the bench?

The only person in the ground that cant see the obvious problems within the Villa team is Martin .. Having said that i wouldn't boo him or Heskey or any Villa player (GarryBarry isnt Villa anymore) I think the list of Martins detractors are growing week by week because of his stubborn ways .

You should get behind the team and not boo,but i think most of the frustrations isn`t with individual players but MON and his team selections,followed then by his slowness in changing things during games that seem on the face of it seem to be pretty obvious.

Well said Glensider, nearly had a puch up with the muppets sitting behind me in the holte, they were booing and shouting for martin to be sacked, these people have no brains, martin its been a great season which i have really enjoyed, keep up the good work!!!!!!!!

O'Neill in 'blame the fans not me' story shocker!! Keep it coming Martin, keep blaming us for your failure to win important matches, Managers V Fans, only ever one winner matey - ask DOL.

I don't understand the negativity on here ?? It is quite simply unjustified !! MON has pushed us on year on year, we've contested one domestic cup final already, we have a real chance of contesting another, we still have a decent chance to break the coveted top four, and we are having the best season Villa has seen in a long time. Do me a favour !! Booing's not what's needed or deserved here, 'SUPPORT' 'SUPPORT' 'SUPPORT' that's what MON and this team are due, and that's what we ALL should be giving them .... UTV !

Well said AV-Damo i agree 100%

Juddy has it totally right. How can MON still keep Heskey on the pitch after that display? Same with Cuellar who was awful on Sat'd. I'd never boo personally but I do understand peoples frustrations. If MON cannot see that Heskey is a complete joke then we do have problems. I'd rather stick a CB up front than him.

oh Not not another I love MON but this, but that, but the other . FFS stop making excuses for him !!!!!!

I actually didn't think the booing was that bad at half time on Saturday. Nothing like it has been. One thing that seems to get missed is that to be vocal is fans only way to be heard. Though it's not like MON pays any attention to fans views and at times even goes out of his way to do the exact opposite. That is what causes the frustration and on Saturday, thats all it was. I was quite surprised how quickly how quickly some of the "fans" were on the players backs. This might be a way of trying to protect his players. A few seemed to lose confidence to do anything, especially Downing.

Whereas i wouldnt change MON for the world i also do not think it is right to so publicly slate the fans, who is it ever going to help? I also find his lack of rotation infuriating but if we keep progressing i would never question him.

agree AV-Damo, during a game, it has to be support and nothing else - I think Wigan was an exception, I didn't boo but it was such a shock I could understand the reaction just purely out of shock from all the hopefully fans on that day!

Must admit I'm with you AMS78, I didn't hear more than a few rumbles and expected more at full time as that seems to be the way football is going - always has been probably. But it obviously affected some as it has been a heated debate including MON mentioning it!

Crying out loud, O'neil,has done fine, he is building, success is not instantaneous, no one has broken up the sky 4 with the exception of Everton once. This club has had a cycle of managers coming in, improving things, having a blip and being sacked, then in comes the next.....Chelsea with all their millions are suffering from changes at the top (not saying they are rubbish by the way). There is no coincidence that both Utd and Arsenal have the longest serving managers and Everton have a couple of decent seasons then a real bad one but have stuck with Moyes and again they are flying up on the rails. In lots of ways I feel we are similar to Everton, past glories yes, we may have a better financial situation, but they still pay big money (Fellaini), but I would think at all the clubs I have mentioned certain fans have certain gripes about players that should or should not be in their team, or play in what postion etc.... but to boo.... not for me . Not saying our current manager is the best out there but he was the best available and in my view is doing a fine job

Best season we've had for years and years and the fickle fans still can't be made happy. Idiotic. MON is the best manager we've had in my lifetime but he may well be forced out by ungrateful stupid pathetic fans (a minority I know) - how embarassing would it be to lose one of the best managers in the league to a rival team in this day and age when its normally the boards losing patience. ABSOUTELY PATHETIC.

Well said Mikey. I blame the youth of today who want everything now and are very quick to swear at refs (without getting booked!!) dive and cheat and are now booing a whole team including young Albrighton?!?!?!. Broken Britain

The only other 2 managers I'd like at the Villa right now are Wenger or Mourinho. There are SO many people saying we should get rid of him but offering absolutely no ideas as to who the replacement should be...Mark Hughes is the only big (very loose term) name manager out there and he is a mid-table Manager at best. Give us a clue WHO we should approach and your comments will be more sound

I'd not be the best for knowing which manager should come, never have been, not my job! Think the one we have is here for a while longer so don't over stress my little brain with such things. The likes of Mourinho and Hiddink spring to mind, Hughes, no thanks. Moyes is a top manager and younger but Everton fans have their own gripes at times wtih him. He has taken Everton as far as he can and with what appears to an outsider as limited (or more limited) funds. I think MON should have a 5 year term here and then see where we are at anyway. That means next season also. Then we can really asses. With the addition of a striker or two this summer, the whole complexion of the team could be very different. We are buidling, I understand the frustrations, if he left I'd not care, only because that counts for all managers, what will be will be and no one is bigger than this club. Think if I read up in this thread, I've said the same before... either that or in another similar thread... !

I think MON himself has stated the obvious thing which a number of people just don't get - "what do you expect ?" There are better managers than MON sure, none of whom are going to come to Villa because we're just not in the same league Man U, Arsenal, Inter, Real, etc. Given that, who would we replace him with ? What do you expect right now ? Incase you need reminding, O'Leary left us in 16th place and that season was bloody nerve-wracking. MON took us to 11th in his first season, 6th in his second. His third - last season - 6th place again, which considering the investment City and Spurs made, is progress ! And here we are, still in with a shout of 4th, been to Wembley once already, an FA Cup Final one more visit away, and all this without investing gazillions we don't have on mercenaries who would only look at the pay packet. What do you reckon a Bolton fan would say to that ? Or Wigan ? Or even Everton ? Face it - we've had some disappointing results, but we're not going to win every game, and we have had some great results this season proving (I think) that we're getting better. I'm sure some of us might see different starting line ups and be baffled by MONs lack of rotation and his substitutions, but then he spends a lot more time with the team than any of us ! He sees what's working on the training ground as well as in games and makes his decisions, for better or worse. I've never been happier to be a Villa fan in over 20 years. Get behind the manager and behind the team !

ExpatVillaShirt - well said

ExpatVillaShirt - couldnt have put it better myself, my only gripe is that i want o neil to realise that he has the support of most villa fans.

This post has actually caused me to get off my backside and create an account. First off i sit in the trinity road upper along the half way line so i have a fair view of any game i watch and can in my opinion see any what i would call "weakness" in the way we play quite easily. But over the last few games i am in the constant train of thought of "Why cant MON see what i can see". Many people who have posted have already taken the words right out of my mouth, Right back = Frustrating. Before every recent match i feel a little bit of heart burn, is it from too much pie and beer, NO. Is it from seeing central defender x3 on team sheet, YES. I have nothing against Carlos, i think he is a quality player despite the way he flails his arms about looking a little funny, but a right back he ain't. Someone said earlier on, when has playing Carlos at RB been negative to our game. I would argue back that i haven't seen too much positive from it. That is my number 1 main gripe at the moment, if there is a reason behind it then that's fine but MON wont give us one. I have seen only one occasion (when i have been at the match) where Mon has done a double substitution before 50 mins time elapsed, and that was when we were losing against Newcastle 2 years ago where Mellberg was being played at right back along with i believe it was petrov on right wing, his decision to take these 2 players off and putting on craig gardner and another player turned the game for us and we ended up winning. Where have the awesome tactical decisions like this gone. I am not a boo boy i just want 'some' justification for decisions rather than none at all

sonic, yes we are able to wonder why and disagree with mon decisions, but what some of the fans are doing doesnt help the team, we all want the same thing, however booing and jeering doesnt help anyone, we have to accept martin makes the decisions, he is the boss and thats it. I f he doesnt perform Randy will act, in my opinion he is doing a excellent job, agreed he makes sum weird decisions, but we are getting there changing manager would be a masive mistake. LETS KEEP THE FAITH BACK THE MANAGERAND PLAYERS FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON AND WHO KNOWS WHAT WE MAY ACHIEVE, WE NEED TO PLAY OUR PART 2!!!!!!!

I thought the fans were great considering performance?

We`ve won 3 games in 10,and also it`s 3 in 3 months so 1 a month. With what`s happened pretty much every year with how we drop off after having the chance for investment in January i think the fans who vent their frustration are maybe fully justified ( although i don`t agree with booing ) if every fan just turned up and accepted crap results/performances then it`d be a pretty sad state of affairs. Martin has been very clever to start the hoodwinking early this year,strange that he`s won 1 game in 4 years in March but the fans that want subs/varied team selections seem to be the bad guys? I`ve been a Villa follower for nearly 30 years and seen some very good teams,this is a decent one and yet he`s spent a fortune so he needs to accept occasional criticism without resorting to his dummy throwing.

I can't remember ever booing my team. I don't think i ever would, however i felt, it's just not a very nice thing to do. When DoL was our manager I tried very hard to always give him the benefit of the doubt. After all, he has more information to hand than I do. Right now with MoN we have one of the best managers in the history of the world. Likewise i give him the benefit of the doubt where team selection, tactics and substitutions are concerned. He has more information at his finger tips than I do, he better able to make these decisions than I do. He doesn't need to explain himself publicly, to do so could be damaging to the club and himself. I fully sympathise with him when he talks about the Internet forums and the nature of the criticism he and the players receive. Wouldn't it be nice if The Pandora of the Internet could be put back in it's box.

As a footnote...would I want anybody else other than MON in charge at Villa? Despite my 'moaning'....not on your life.

top points Juddy and VERY true, running the network I have to keep an eye on other sites article comments etc and even the top clubs fans criticise, it is exactly what you say, football. That doesn't mean you are asking for the manager to leave, just that you have an opinion on formations/players/subs etc. That is part of the joy and part of the reason why sites like this are such good fun. It is one massive pub table where we all talk football and what we'd do. Most of us know that only one persons opinion ultimately matters, the man whose job is on the line to make the decisions!

People that boo villa are idiots. We havent had it this good for years. Far to many people have short, short memories.

The only time i have ever booed this football club was at Charlton away under Taylor in 2003, no fight, no effort and a 3-0 comprehnesive defeat that summed up Taylors second spell in charge. Fast forward to the current regime, and there is no comparrison. Finished the season 3 points above relegation