MOMS Aston Villa Supporters Survey Results
Part 1 – Supporters’ General Feeling
We’ve seen from the recent Villa Park attendances (28,000 vs Hull and 17,000 vs Leyton Orient) that Aston Villa fans have voted with their feet in the opening games of the season about what they thought of the past few seasons. After 19 home defeats within the space of two seasons (a record), who can blame them for being skeptical about the season ahead after a long-term period of suffering.
So far this season, thankfully there have been some signs of improvement on the pitch with Paul Lambert boasting the strongest Villa squad he’s had at his disposal (or that he’s actually decided to use, when you consider his attitude to the bomb squad).
In the MOMS survey that started before the season kicked out, one of the areas we asked your opinion on was your current happiness with life at Villa Park and what your expectations were for the club on the pitch.
How happy are you on the whole as an Aston Villa Fan at the moment?
When asked to give a score out of 10, the average response was 4.2 with 70% of supporters scoring their Villa happiness between 3 and 6.
This Season
The view though hasn’t led to total pessimism, although fans are far from optimistic, expecting a similar journey to the last few seasons when asked about their expectations for this season.
How optimistic are you this season for Aston Villa?
We’re doomed – 3%
It’ll be another relegation battle – 44%
Lower mid-table obscurity – 34%
Mid-table – 15%
Top half – 1%
It’s a depressive state of affairs when only 1% of Villa fans think their team will finish in the top-half. Normally, shouldn’t that percentage be at least 50-60%?
The thing about the Premier League is outside the top eight or so teams, the rest ain’t that great, so any team that gets their act together through the catalyst of good management, tactics and player effort should be able to realistically finish mid-table/top-half without much trouble.
Villa certainly have a squad strong enough to do that now, especially with the recent midfield reinforcements and the retained presense of Vlaar and Benteke.
Where Villa Should Be
It terms of expectations and ambition, it’s good to see that Villa supporters according to the survey haven’t accepted Villa’s recent plight as the norm and there is a resolute understanding of where Aston Villa stand in the scheme of English football.
71% of fans answering the question relating to where Villa should be, stated the club should be sniffing around the European places through either the league or cups. The UEFA Cup would be the level in years gone by, but it’s new format, the largely pointless Europa League, unfortunately isn’t much to strive for. You get the picture though – Villa should be a top 6-8 club minimum.
The results breakdown on the subject also show an optimistic 8% of fans and a worrying and shameful 1% that need to find a new club!
Where should Aston Villa sit in the scheme of things?
Top 4 and regulars in the Champion’s League – 8%
With a look-in at the European places and a threat in the cups – 71%
A top-half team – 15%
A mid-table team, capable beating anyone on their day – 4%
Lower-half Premier League – 1%
Part 2 – Villa Supporter Views on the Villa management team
* – The survey results are from the opinions of approximately 500 Villa supporters, so far.
If you haven’t already done the MOMS survey, there’s still a few days left to get your views across – click here
If I get the time, I might add fancy pie charts…but time is a luxury!