Villa Shmilla

There hasn’t been a Power To The Palace article for a while and we can only apologise- the last two league games dulled any inspirational high that the Villa game injected and thus, no word flurry has come to pass until now- and even this has taken longer than it should. It seems like a month ago that we nearly stole the FA Cup headlines with another “we’re proud of you” performance. In reality, it’s only just been a week.
Two poor losses since Valentines Day, still no real takeover speculation and now QPR’s ‘throw enough balls at enough targets’ method of manger selection, has inevitably chosen Warnock as it’s next temp.

All in all, the sad reality is, I couldn't give a toss about the Villa game anymore... win, lose or draw (after 90 minutes)

Don’t get me wrong- the 1st 'leg' was a fantastic occasion all round- a great display from the players, management team and fans alike. It will go down in my memory as one of the best days at Selhurst for a fair while.
However, the moment it went to a replay, we were all saying things like: "oh well, we were unlucky, but at least it's more TV money!" Well, once again, the little fish are being lightly simmered, whilst the bigger ones are being fried- ITV1 are understandably showing Chelsea’s Champions League match, but can’t find room on their 3 other useless channels to show our replay... it’s not like we need the money or anything, so a live stream on the FA’s website will have to do- which I’m sure will run really smoothly…. It is the website of the FA after all.

Should we defy the odds, and beat a team that just smashed Burnley 5-2, what can we expect as subsequent reward in the 6th round?
An away game at either one of the best championship sides, or one of the current form teams who are on a bit of a roll, including a 3-1 win at our place.
It’s highly unlikely to be shown on television, but very likely to sap more energy out of an already, tired, small squad. Even worse, it could go to a replay and give us another mid-week fixture. Yeeeees, i know that may get televised and give us more gate receipts yadda yadda, but the fact is this: we are knackered and playing too many fixtures. Championship survival is priority #1, not fairytale cup stories. It hurts to say it, but it’s true.
What with snow, FA cup exploits and a demoralizing 10-point deduction, our fixture list has become the exact thing that a team in a relegation battle doesn’t need. And believe me, the loss to Coventry does mean we are in a relegation battle.
Swansea, Reading and Coventry all at home and 0 points out of 9 is not good enough. But what makes it frustrating is that there’s nobody to point the finger at! I wouldn’t dare start to criticize playing/management staff because they are busting a gut, twice weekly! Sadly, you can’t boo, jeer or sack circumstances- they just exist.

Warnock is clearly feeling the squeeze, and the players are clearly shagged, and the only takeover talk, is paper talk.

The week ahead is going to be massive.

PTTP