Villa Preparing for Relegation Rather than Doing Something About it?

The first rule of Twitter is not to believe anything you read on Twitter. The following quotes that were attributed to Paul Lambert popped up on Twitter from the pre-Millwall press conference. Surely they couldn’t be true?

“We don’t want to spend money on players & then see the club in financial trouble if we go down.” (*Apparently PL was talking about this in the context of other clubs doing it and going down – the journalist Ivan Gaskell twisted the words as if Lambert was talking about Villa)

“I know the hand I’ve been dealt here.I’m not confident we can do anything (in the transfer market).”we may have to go on with what we have.”

“I went to New York to see the owner a couple of weeks ago.We talked about the future. We weren’t there to talk about the weather!”

This seemed a little out of character for Lambert to be now contemplating relegation and not be talking about battling it. After checking that the journalist who was alleged to have tweeted them actually existed, which he did, it became apparent that some quotes were twisted and taken out of context. The section of the press conference is supposedly embargoed for press running their articles tomorrow (Friday) morning. Still the question remains of what the manager and board are actively doing to avoid any potential relegation?

Personally, I fully believed in Paul Lambert’s long-term plan of building a close-knit youthful team to challenge again, until I stood on the Holte End on Tuesday night against Bradford City and watched a 90 minutes, that from the managerial decisions to what happened on the pitch, suggested Villa might not have a short-term future to provide the foundations to execute this long-term plan.

There’s some Villa supporters out there who actually think relegation is a good thing…

Those who think relegation will jolt Villa back into life, are probably assuming that Villa will spring back-up to the Premiership the next season all lean and mean and possessing a winning mentality. The Championship is a different beast from the old Division Two that Villa barely escaped from in 1987. Now it’s like quicksand, with many a good club being pulled under as it tries to escape. A double-European Cup winner in Forest has long been lost to it.

Of all the years to go down, in financial terms, this season is not the time. £60 million TV money increases and all.

Lets draw a line in the sand now. If Villa go down this season, the club will be guilty of gross mismanagement from top to bottom. For a club like Villa, failure should be mid-table finishes.

Supporter’s who follow in blind faith have to realise that those who are entrusted with running our great club have more than failed, they will be guilty of a crime against Villa supporters for what they will have done to Aston Villa FC.

Follow MOMS on Twitter – @oldmansaid