Villa blogger Dave Bytheway has urged the divided fan base to unite as one then get behind the team and manager Martin O’Neill at Wembley on Saturday.

The last month or so since the Carling Cup final defeat to Manchester United have been pretty hard for us Villa fans, and it was well and truly summed up by the 7- 1 hammering away at Chelsea.

Maybe not by a Premier League record scoreline for us but the defeat was always coming, and maybe it can be looked back on now the calm has returned as a bit of a blessing in disguise.

There have been unbelivable claims for the manager to depart from his post following that defeat and, in history, the serving time of our managers over recent times maybe reflects that. Three years is the normal duration of time to prove yourself as a Villa boss, and anything less than the best wont be settled for.

But we lose heavily in one daft away game and the manager has to go? That, for me and yes Mr David O’Leary, shows how fickle our fans are quickly becoming.

Boss Martin O’Neill has taken this club so far since taking over that to claim for his head because of another bad March is disgraceful.

I accept that it is only a minority of our fans and, in my opinion, it’s those who have either recently joined, or rejoined, the bandwagon following our recent success on the pitch.

They see a quick fix, an easy way to ‘support’ a club who looks on the up and, when a defeat comes along as it always will do, they are far from happy.

I have followed Villa all of my life, and not once have I ever booed MY team from the field. To jeer a player wearing your club shirt for me is beyond belief.

Some say you they have paid their money so they can do as the please, but if you’re not happy don’t come again!

There are plenty of us who have supported Villa in much worse times than these. My first memories as a fan were far from the top flight, and we certainly didn’t have all these hangers on in those days!

We made a few amends on Saturday against Bolton, and head into Saturday’s semi-final rematch against Chelsea at Wembley with nothing to lose. We are massive underdogs following that mauling at Stamford Bridge, and that is when we normally step up and try and prove otherwise.

I’m looking forward to the game and, in my opinion, maybe we should go for the 4-5-1 system again, with tthree midfielders of Stiliyan Petrov, James Milner and Fabian Delph, allowing Gabby Agbonlahor a free role up top which he seems to favour over playing as a second striker.

But, whatever system Martin decides to adopt, it’s going to be one hell of a battle.

To all the fans travelling down, have a great day. We are making another Wembley weekend of it, and plan to enjoy every second.

Have a great weekend. Up the Villa!