The Toughest Question The Board Must Ask Themselves Before We’re Relegated

I think most Villa fans are resigned to the fact that there is a 99% chance that we’re going to go down into the Championship, a hard thing to take in, I know. It was after the Everton match last week that I made up my mind that we were destined to go down, and I went through a couple of very hard days having to come to terms with this thought.

I’ve read and heard Villa fans saying things like, “Even though we’re going down, we’ll always be a big club,” and “Pretty tough being a Villan just now, We’re still a great club though” and so on. People are still coming to terms and dealing with it the best way they can.

But the sooner we get over our grief you could say, the quicker we can move on and start to deal with life in the Championship and how we are going to get out of it, this mainly goes to the people who run our football club! Whether we like it or not, we are all going to have to come to terms with it quickly, and the board, they’re going to have to come up with a grand plan to get us back into the Premiership, which frankly, I don’t think they can do.

Getting out of the Championship is one of the hardest things for any football club to do, so the board need to asked themselves some very tough questions, and the toughest thing they should ask themselves firstly, Is Remi Garde the right man to get us promoted? This doesn’t mean I want him sacked now, but the question quite frankly needs to be asked, and if it was any other businessman worth their salt, I’m sure it would be brought up for debate.

Footballers always want to play at the top-level of football and the players of Aston Villa are no different, I can think of at least four or maybe five players who might want to leave us. For the last five years Lerner and the board have succeeded in building a mid table Championship side here at the Villa, and with four or five wanting to leave, then the right kind of player has to be brought in to get us out of that tough league. Don’t forget, most sides that might be in the Championship next season will play above themselves when Aston Villa strolls into town, we’ll be a scalp to them.

The club then are going to have to deal with reduced season ticket sales, merchandising and hospitality. Whether the board like it or not, I’ll be amazed if we get the same average attendance next season, and The Châteauneuf-du-Pape, well it isn’t going to taste as nice when we’re playing the MK Dons on a wet weekday night.

These are just a few things that the club are going to have to get their heads around when it finally sinks in that we’re really going to have to spend some time in the Championship. I have serious misgivings that they’ve got the footballing nous to do this very hard task, after all, look at where we are.

I know this is going to be impossible for some people out there to ask themselves these very hard questions, especially when there are still plenty of points to play for this season. But you have to ask yourself in your heart of hearts, can I see Aston Villa in the Premiership next season? And if you can, and if maybe just maybe Mr Fox is reading this, then I’m telling you, give yourself a slap around the face and wake up now and start planning!!! Because things can actually get worse than relegation, just ask Leeds United.