Newkie

It's interesting to hear a Villa fan say not winning something 19 years or whatever is too long without a trophy for a club the size of Villa. That makes me feel weird because I'd still rather survival than F.A cup and relegation- and it's been a lot longer for us! Going down with a Trophy would soften the blow and yes it does give something to the cabinet, but at the same time I'm not sure how much solace that is when you're travelling to Preston or any of the other glamorous destinations week in week out. And you're only really playing for the cup as the European adventure is over before it starts if you're relegated. Hard enough getting it whilst in the prem, given that the Champions League drop outs get another bite at the cherry (which I hate)

The real worry of course is the downward spiral. When we were relegated plenty of pundits and those in the media were predicting us to "do a leeds" as it were, and while most of us thought we would recover eventually winning the championship with ease was definitely not expected, despite how easy it looks in hindsight. The damage it can do to a squad and morale as it get's torn apart for it's "good" players is worrying, and if your owners don't fancy taking on the debt it can be even worse. Generally I like the idea of staying in the Premiership and building a side that can eventually compete with the "big boys" and pushing on when possible - like Everton and Spurs. But again, how sustainable that method is is debatable and it's certainly no guarantee of long term success, as we showed from 94-04.

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