Such is the fall from stability that has befallen Aston Villa FC in the past few years, it might be the case that looking back on the 2015/16 premier league season, it will be referred to as the race for first to be safe from relegation. Trouble is, only those in the top 14 as of writing apparently got the memo, and with a quite thrilling title race brewing, and a surprising couple of pushes for Europe, usually at some point, stragglers fall off the cliff with no hope of survival, and unfortunately for me, and may fans, Aston Villa are that club. There are worse tales out there, such as the fall of Leeds United, and maybe Bolton too, perhaps Blackpool or Portsmouth also make that cut, but none of them as inept as the club of my desires, Aston Villa. While the underlying theme is similar, in that all clubs have had issues with their owners, only Villa's has been so unforgiving that they just couldn't remain competitive, or at least in a fair fight, such is the way that TV Money is dominating the game.
While Leeds and Portsmouth were at one point challenging for honours, they just couldn't recoup the large fees paid on wages, players etc and Portsmouth almost went out of business not so long ago, [story here]. While Leeds' plight can be read about in various places, an excellent summing up can be found here.
While the bottom club in league two [Dagenham and Redbridge] has 5 Wins [9 draws] , they've scored 33 and conceded 58 goals for a goal difference of -25 for 24 points, leaving them 7 points off safety, and 2 behind the next team with 7 games to go.
The bottom club in league one [Colchester] has six wins, nine draws, scored 42 goals and conceded 81 with a goal difference of -39, leaving them 10 points off safety, three behind the next placed team with 7 games to go.
The bottom club in the Championship [Bolton Wanderers] has four wins 13 draws, scoring 33 goals, conceding 58 for a goal difference of -25 gaining 25 points so far, 10 from safety with seven games to go.
And the bottom club of the Premiership [Aston Villa] has three wins seven draws scoring 22 goals [somehow] while conceding 55 for a goal difference of -33 and earning 16 points leaving them nine points from safety, and 8 points off the next placed team. This leaves them as pretty much the worst team in the country, possibly the world in professional league football.
Villa, out of their last six defeats, scored three goals while conceding 20, with a 6-0 HOME defeat to Liverpool along the way doing some of the damage.
The writing has been pretty much on the wall for a number of years, and with a structure of management that is broken, rotten and wrong from the top down, this club, and it pains to write, could be on a free-fall through the league system, unless things change.
A word about the man in a suit on the sidelines, I'm still of the opinion, that although things might not have been any better with Sherwood still at the helm,[though they probably would have been, there was progress each week despite the lack of points] I'm convinced they wouldn't be losing heavily every other week and so would still have a lot to play for. This article here, seems to agree Now, all thats left is to try to go down with dignity, and with home games to come against Tottenham,Chelsea,Bournemouth,Southampton and Newcastle, and with road trips to come against Swansea,Manchester United, Watford and Arsenal to end the season there could be points to be found from at least four of the games, which could be enough to squeeze to safety, but that alone isn't enough, it depends on the teams above also losing, but with Swansea and Newcastle in relegation battles themselves, to win both of those games would at least put them with a fighting chance of survival, but with defeats already in the books against Swansea earlier in the season, and a draw against Newcastle, its still hard to be optimistic, given the situation the club is in, but stranger things have happened.
While Leeds and Portsmouth were at one point challenging for honours, they just couldn't recoup the large fees paid on wages, players etc and Portsmouth almost went out of business not so long ago, [story here]. While Leeds' plight can be read about in various places, an excellent summing up can be found here.
While the bottom club in league two [Dagenham and Redbridge] has 5 Wins [9 draws] , they've scored 33 and conceded 58 goals for a goal difference of -25 for 24 points, leaving them 7 points off safety, and 2 behind the next team with 7 games to go.
The bottom club in league one [Colchester] has six wins, nine draws, scored 42 goals and conceded 81 with a goal difference of -39, leaving them 10 points off safety, three behind the next placed team with 7 games to go.
The bottom club in the Championship [Bolton Wanderers] has four wins 13 draws, scoring 33 goals, conceding 58 for a goal difference of -25 gaining 25 points so far, 10 from safety with seven games to go.
And the bottom club of the Premiership [Aston Villa] has three wins seven draws scoring 22 goals [somehow] while conceding 55 for a goal difference of -33 and earning 16 points leaving them nine points from safety, and 8 points off the next placed team. This leaves them as pretty much the worst team in the country, possibly the world in professional league football.
Villa, out of their last six defeats, scored three goals while conceding 20, with a 6-0 HOME defeat to Liverpool along the way doing some of the damage.
The writing has been pretty much on the wall for a number of years, and with a structure of management that is broken, rotten and wrong from the top down, this club, and it pains to write, could be on a free-fall through the league system, unless things change.
A word about the man in a suit on the sidelines, I'm still of the opinion, that although things might not have been any better with Sherwood still at the helm,[though they probably would have been, there was progress each week despite the lack of points] I'm convinced they wouldn't be losing heavily every other week and so would still have a lot to play for. This article here, seems to agree Now, all thats left is to try to go down with dignity, and with home games to come against Tottenham,Chelsea,Bournemouth,Southampton and Newcastle, and with road trips to come against Swansea,Manchester United, Watford and Arsenal to end the season there could be points to be found from at least four of the games, which could be enough to squeeze to safety, but that alone isn't enough, it depends on the teams above also losing, but with Swansea and Newcastle in relegation battles themselves, to win both of those games would at least put them with a fighting chance of survival, but with defeats already in the books against Swansea earlier in the season, and a draw against Newcastle, its still hard to be optimistic, given the situation the club is in, but stranger things have happened.
