Vote With Your Feet

The title of this article has already been put into practice by some, but has anyone ever contemplated how everyone associated with the club would react if the majority of supporters stopped attending on match days?

It may be stating the obvious and with attendances falling year upon year it could be argued that this is already being done. But look at it from a different angle; if performances and results are at an all-time low with a 30,000+ home crowd, what difference will it make if supporters stopped attending Villa Park? Is this really as bad as it can get, or can it get worse?

At present I only see positives from non-attendance; those who pay for match day tickets would save money, season ticket holders would save money depending on what is purchased at the ground (let`s face it, at present you`ve already lost enough money!) and everyone gets to spare themselves the misery and depression of watching this incarnation of Aston Villa attempt to play football and pick up results in the bottom half of the table.

No doubt there will be several people reading this who will say “he doesn`t know what he`s talking about”, “Villa`s in my blood”, “I`ve been going since I was 6 years old and I won`t stop now”, “you can`t be a real supporter if you talk like that”, etc etc. This is an amazing quality held by the most die-hard Villa fans who refuse to see the bad side, and it should be commended more than it is. But this is how the club manages to keep its stranglehold over the fans, by relying on old rhetoric and ideas which prevent supporters from making an alternative decision to go and watch Aston Villa play football badly. You feel obligated to attend because you`ve bought your season ticket, yet all that is happening is you`re being slapped round the face every other weekend for believing in people who don`t believe in you, and still pick up several times more money than you each year for doing something they supposedly “love”. We are the cash cows with our teats hooked up to the corporate machine, being milked to the point of exhaustion by an entity which reciprocates none of the passion and affection shown by the thousands of claret and blue throng every week. Why keep giving money to an organization which does nothing but give you apathy and despair?

There are talks of frequent protests and demonstrations regarding Lambert`s tenure and the running of the club, but I believe as long as fans continue to attend Villa Park these protests will fall on deaf ears. The only way the club will ever take notice of what is happening is if supporters stay away from Villa Park altogether. Once the income from matchdays drops severely, maybe someone at the top will wake up from underneath his own pile of dirty money and see what`s going on. Paul Lambert may the problem, Randy Lerner may be the problem, the players may be the problem, but as long as the fans continue to tolerate it by showing their support there will be no positive changes at Aston Villa.

There is an old paradox called The Ship of Theseus, in which the question is asked as to whether a ship is still the same ship after all the original parts except for the name have been replaced. The same question could be applied to Aston Villa. This is not the 1982 European Cup-winning Aston Villa. It`s not even the 1996 Coca Cola Cup-winning Aston Villa. This is the Aston Villa which currently has no direction, no quality, no philosophy and no pride. This is the Aston Villa which has a clueless chairman, an increasingly baffling and clueless manager and consistently baffling players. The only consistency this club has had since the O`Neill rot began to set in, and even way before, is the defiant admiration and support from honest hardworking people. I am sure no-one is under the illusion that Aston Villa is the footballing giant we were once considered to be; we have a fantastic history and heritage, but that`s all it is. We have won nothing for years and we haven`t competed consistently for years. It is the history and heritage which feeds the last glimmer of hope in our hearts regarding the club`s fortunes on the pitch. Like Bane`s treatment of Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight Rises, the club feeds us hope to poison our souls, letting us believe that we can survive while it watches us arguing amongst ourselves to put the club to rights. There is no respect for tradition or style except for in the away shirt (available for £45), and that`s not good enough for people who put this club at the centre of their hearts after a busy working week. Supporters deserve more than they presently get from this Aston Villa.

With regards to the football, it is unfathomable that so many players are unwilling to try and improve themselves. It`s argued that a player like Bacuna will never have the quality of Cristiano Ronaldo, but the difference is in the mentality. Cristiano is just a human being, like the rest of us, but he practices to master his craft. All the great players do. Bergkamp did, Beckham did. Does nobody at Aston Villa want to become a great player for a great club? Gabriel Agbonlahor is yet another example from the production line who has disappointed for a number of years. Sure, he`s scored a few goals, but he`s a far cry from prolific. When you think of players who have served their clubs admirably and consistently (Gerrard, Bergkamp, Shearer, Lampard, Giggs, Scholes, Raul, Totti), Gabby is nowhere near making that list. Weimann is hit and miss, Clark is hit and miss, Baker is hit and miss. Charles N`Zogbia is capable of so much more than he offers. Joe Cole is on his last legs. The captain is injured again. Benteke is probably regretting signing a new deal. Just a handful of examples, and this is not a deflection of criticism from the manager; with the players we have, we should be winning so much more than we are. With some of the players we have, and more essentially with the ones we`ve let go, we could`ve been a consistent creative attacking force long ago. Whether this comes and we go on a ten-game winning run remains to be seen, but a vision is currently being unrealized by the ineptitude of yet another stubborn Scottish manager.

All in all, this article was written to try and show you that while I recognise what an invincible and loyal following this club has, supporting this version of Aston Villa has become a lost cause. While not being a regular attender myself I have followed and supported Villa since my childhood, and it has not been pleasant to write this piece but I believe it is something which must be considered by all rational-minded men and women. Either the current state of affairs isn`t as bad as the comments and news pieces convey, or every supporter is at breaking point. My argument is that if we`re truly doing as poorly as the comments and articles lead us to believe, then the team no longer requires physical attendance by the fans to influence matches. In which case, vote with your feet, save yourself the heartbreak of attending and do something which will make you truly happy. No-one would blame you. If this isn`t the truth, well, you would hope that Aston Villa would repay the faith of its loyal supporters by giving them what they want. The customer is always right, after all.