I have accepted Villa are getting relegated, and I kind of want it to happen.

[PorkChop]

The club's prospects are much brighter if we go down. Let's look at the two scenarios:

We stay in the league:

Lerner once again does the bare minimum in the hope for another transitional season. He'd barely invest (he wouldn't cough up £1.5 million for Scott Sinclair last month), he wouldn't attend games, wouldn't listen to fans - he'd basically continue what he's been doing for the last five years. Vlaar, Benteke, Delph, and several others leave and Sherwood isn't given any money to replace them. The club would continue to be a cauldron of misery and despair, unattractive to a potential buyer, and fans would be forced to endure another heartbreaking season with relegation looming.

We get relegated:

Two scenarios:

One) Lerner takes a massive loss on the club and finally fucks off. This is somewhat unlikely though, as he wants between £100 - 150 million for the club. It's very unlikely that anyone would offer upwards of £30 million, and Lerner probably wouldn't accept a sum that low.

Two) A buyer doesn't come in so Lerner stays and is forced to invest in order to get his money back. Big name players who aren't performing such as Vlaar, Delph and Benteke leave and are replaced by players who want to play and don't already have an exit strategy in the back of their minds. Villa would most likely keep Given, Clark, Baker, Westwood, Agbonlahor, and a few others which would provide a good spine for a Championship team. Fans actually see the club win some games and probably play some half-decent football as well.

I know which I'd prefer. If Lerner stays or goes, the Championship is a much brighter option than anything else. It's kind of sad that I feel that way.

[Daz]

The Championship is probably a lot more fun competition wise. I mean look at the table. There's 7-8 teams who can legitimately challenge for the title. Makes things a lot more exciting. As long as you bring QPR down with you, I think getting relegated will be for the best.

[AkydefGoldberg]

The Championship is a tough division to get up from, even as a relegated PL side. Championship is more competitive and I'd say more difficult to call

I agree with your premise of what could happen if they went down, a reliance on the British based players to go back up but I'd say staying in the PL could work OK.

Sherwood, if he can have a win record similiar to what he had at Spurs, bringing in decent players, working with the players he has, could conjure up a decent season for Villa and it's only results on the pitch that would even help with getting interest of a takeover.