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He can be in the band but he’s still irrelevant. If Guns were due to go on tour and he got injured or something, they’d just carry on without him. 

He's relevant because he's in the band. That's the top and bottom of it. Other bands have a touring member on keys and percussion, GN'R chose to make theirs a full member. People don't need to like him, but at the end of the day he's entirely in the band

None of that equates to the band's downfall though. It was still huge despite the loss of Steven. You're describing something entirely different. The downfall wasn't due to the band's sound, it was due to personalities that remained in the band way after Steven left.

but when Steven went.... a big chunk of the Gn'R sound left the building., it's a good thing they found Matt which is also a great drummer but not that original big chunk. they were great enough so it still was cool, but it wasn't the same and Izzy said as much. Izzy is rarely wrong. a neat thing I've noticed. (when he does talk which is also rare)

The only way would probably be if Axl would  let somebody else make at least some decisions.