I suppose this might seem like odd timing, but I was planning on compiling and publishing this right before the West Ham game and then Martin O’Neill went and put the kybosh on things. I thought I’d leave the survey open for a little while longer to see whether any of the data trickling in after MON’s departure would take any kind of dip, but I really didn’t see that.

That’s a good thing since I was looking for expectations, not predictions. I wanted to know the sort of progress in each competition it would take to leave you with a satisfied feeling in 10 months time and though I labelled it “MON’s 5th season”, it will still be season 5 of the rebuilding following Randy Lerner buying the club.

After dithering for a while, I decided to pull this together once we had successfully qualified for the Europa League since I had a good idea that was high on fans’ priorities. After Thursday’s terrible result, I once again considered not publishing this for fear of it appearing motivated through sour grapes. That can’t be helped though, the longer I leave it, the less relevant it becomes.

So, I asked you to tell me the priorities you held each of the four competitions we are playing in and the minimum progression you expect. Here are the results…

Premier League

Of course, the league is the number one priority for the overwhelming majority, but I was surprised that only 77% rated it as such. I may not have worded the question as well as I could.

Speaking of wording, I wanted to try to get a feel for how important European qualification is without specifically asking, so I implied it based on league finish, indicating that a top 7 finish also meant a Europa League place at least. 81% of you felt Villa should finish 7th or better, with 11% of you expecting a top 4 finish and Champions League qualification.

Europa League

52% of you, like myself, felt that the Europa League should be priority number two this season.

Of the 93% of you who expressed any interest in how far Villa should progress in Europe, all but 3% expected the group stage to be successfully negotiated and the knockout phases reached. 37% thought that Villa should at least make the quarter-finals.

There are an awful lot of disappointed Villa fans right now. Unacceptable, Stan? Yes, yes it is.

FA Cup

44% thought the FA Cup should be the third priority, while 36% thought it should be second priority. I suppose they’re all in the second priority camp now.

I don’t know whether the lack of European distractions mean that fans will expect more from the FA Cup, but 48% expect a quarter-final appearance and 23% said they want another semi-final trip to Wembley. 9% said they expect Villa to make the final and were split evenly about whether that was enough, or they wanted to see the trophy with claret and blue ribbons tied around the handles.

League Cup

Did this competition just get a whole lot more important to Villa fans? Maybe, but 58% said this should be 4th on the list of priorities.

20% said they didn’t care what Villa did in the League Cup, while 17% felt we should go one better than last season. Most respondents, 28%, felt that the quarter-finals would be just fine, although they might now expect a little more.

My Expectations

Outside of the constraints of a survey, I can be a little more expansive. We’ve had four seasons of improved league performances and I expect that to continue. If we could turn a couple of draws into wins and a couple of loses into draws, that’s an extra six points and, depending who those points are taken from, that will almost certainly lead to an improved position.

Probably not quite Champions League, I can see at least four teams practically guaranteed to finish above us, but maybe 5th. The important thing for me was a 4th straight season of qualifying for Europe, so I suppose I would have to be happy with a top 7 finish, especially at the moment.

My European aspirations have clearly already been smashed to pieces, but I was really optimistic about getting out of the group stage and then perhaps going at least one stage further than Moscow a couple of years ago.

Do I now transfer that expectation to the domestic cups? Right now, given the state of flux, I don’t. As far as the League Cup goes, as great as it was making it to the first cup final in a decade last season, I’m with the 20% of you that don’t care. I really don’t, play the reserves for all I care.

It’s hard to feel the same about the FA Cup though. Although it’s one of the most recognised and watched domestic cup competitions in the world, if progress were to come at the cost of a single point in the league, it’s not worth it in my opinion. Not at the moment, but my view may change once we appoint a manager and the transfer window closes.

So I suppose the biggest question is whether fans are now lowering the bar of their own expectations because we’re currently managerless. If we end up 8th place in May with a couple of early exists from the two cups, will it be shrugged off because MON abandoned ship so late? Will that even be regarded as an achievement under the circumstances?

Or, as I’m leaning toward, do we not have every right to expect the team that did so well last year to do at least as well this year regardless of who is in charge?

I’m sure we’ll all change our views as the season progresses and that was really the point of this exercise. My feeling in the last couple of years is that we’ve got close to the top four during the season, but fallen back to a final position most fans would have been delighted with if offered it before a ball have been kicked.

Thank you to everyone who took the time to complete the survey, it’s been extremely interesting to learn the general aspirations. I very much hope to be able to link back to this post at the end of the season and remind you all that we did better that most fans hoped.

Apart from Europe. Obviously.