The external view of the Holte End is for my money one of the greatest sights in British football. Majestic and imposing. The red brick make up of the stadium reminds me much of Goodison Park before the ugly, now rusting, metal cladding was introduced to cover the original brickwork (presumably to save a few bob on repointing).

How long it will be before Villa get back to the Premier League is anyone’s guess. On Tuesday, they looked more like a League One team than a Championship one.

It's a shame to see how they are now. They are proper club, I hope they get back soon.

Agree with your Funes Mori and Lennon ratings but feel you’ve been very generous with the rest.

Baines looked far from rusty to me. Not seen him look so strong and sharp for quite some time. As for Barkley. You’re dead right. His mind was elsewhere.

Robles has been watching Howard too much, he does not come for any crosses and unless he rectifies this he is not the long term answer.

[Stop it Ian... don't get bitter!!!]

Very sad to see Villa go this way. They were absolutely awful at Goodison in November and not much better on Tuesday. Sherwood and Lambert before him spent a lot of money on poor players and they look like they have thrown in the towel.

Here's a thought: going back just five or six years, the chasing pack below the old Sky Four featured among others Blackburn, Portsmouth, Bolton and Villa. Wow.

Great title by the way. It does feel like the end of an era, in terms of us visiting Villa Park.

It may be interesting to see what type of keeper we bring in, as I don't see Joel as top notch.

We have a strong side, it would look a lot stronger for a Hugo Loris style signing.

Oh an a Pocochino style manager ;-)

Ged (9) – showing my age, but the only club I ever considered to be on a par with us was Arsenal. Certainly not City, Spurs or Villa. Although perhaps my great-grandfather would have considered Villa! Times change... my old man used to view Man City as a more prestigious club than Man Utd, who he regarded as merely post-war arrivistes.

On Robles not coming out for crosses just like Howard; that suggests they are coached that way and the defence has been drilled that this is the way to treat crosses. Well at least I hope the defence has been drilled.

Generally the standard of goalkeeping in the top flight is not great. How many would we be keen to sign?

Both clubs are also managed by men who think that the purpose of a football club is to make money for the owners.

Sad that clubs like Villa, Newcastle and Sunderland as well could be in the second tier and real , traditional areas and fans will be deprived of top-tier football.

Although he did actually try a shot against Villa. Blocked of course, but do you know how rare that is? There is something not in balance with the trio Barry, McCarthy, and Barkley. No wonder Lukaku looks like giving up sometimes. We need a fit Besic and Yarmolenko out there.

Enjoy your writes, Paul!

Personally my own memories of Villa are somewhat negative... 1977... 1989 and the Cottee / Beagrie game which showed how far we had sunk in the space of a couple of seasons. Can’t blame Villa for that obviously but the mental scars of that game combined with Milli Vanilli on the official club away-game-coach on the way down will never be washed away....

Good luck to them anyway.

They have always been one of my least favourite clubs. I spent my teenage years in Dudley and endured many a hard time on a Monday morning from Villa fans at school, who all seemed to be animals.

Baggies fans, apart from a few morons, were ok. Wolves fans were generally unlikeable and not particularly intelligent but Villa fans around my age group were just horrible.

I also struggle with the memory that Villa Park was where I was when the other semi-final at Hillsborough was taking place.

The phrase, "there but for the grace ..." does come to mind, though. I wonder if Evertonians would ever reach the point of walking out on 78 minutes?

Lerners biggest mistake was entrusting that clown with the money to blow on players like Emile heskey, Marlon Harewood. He agreed to put 20 odd players on mega money contracts and Lerner didn't know any better.

I would love nothing more than to see him questioned on how he spectacularly blew a title winning budget on championship players. Everything since then has been an exercise in trying to right his wrongs - but the sppointments were wrong. Villa should have gone for Moyes as soon as he was sacked from United. I don't like Moyes but he was the right man for that job.