dukes

I find it hard to believe there isn't another suitable plot of land in that general area, and surely having a HS2 station, an Airport and main railway stations as well as access to the M40, M42, M6 and M5 close by make the area ideal ?

It doesn't have to be the NEC, although i'd say the infrastructure there can handle it better than most. Theres plenty of space for additional parking, theres a large train station and plenty of buses that already head in that direction, theres hotels and an airport for those that have need. Absolutely nothing that these owners have done up until now has been anything other than first class, to think that they are just here to sit back and count the money from here on in seems frankly crazy.

Honestly the problems at Villa Park are very different to Anfield, I drive to games from Staffordshire (it takes me about 75 minutes), and i think that compared to teams like Liverpool we have a very high proportion of fans that drive to games due on the whole to terrible public transport in the area. This isn't something that Villa can fix, but everything relies on fans having easy and safe access to the ground. Parking in and around Villa park is an absolute joke, and it's unmanageable with the capacity as it is. In order to securely park my car i need to leave the house at least 2 1/2 hours before kick off. We supposedly have a season ticket waiting list in excess of 25,000 people, that means we could easily sell out 60,000 at home games, but our location makes that an impossible dream. If we had some sustained success, it's not unreasonable to therefore think we could fill 70,000 seats, thats 20,000 over the planned capacity. 20,000 tickets at £50 per ticket is £1M per game in ticket income alone, add in a few pies and pints and you easily get into £1.3M per game. Add also the cost of building stands while keeping the ground open, and i do wonder if the redevelopment of the ground might be having a total re-think. I can see us moving to a new ground near to the NEC (as Doug Ellis once wanted), or being held back more and more by our desire to stay at our spiritual home (none of which is even the same as when i was a kid, and hence nothing to be nostalgic about)..

I travelled to and from the game with a Man Utd supporting friend and his son, they thought the atmosphere in the second half was amazing (his son said it was the best he'd heard), and they said that facilities were on a par with what they get at Old Trafford. I was very surprised to learn that they also struggle to get a drink and food at half time and have similar issues with the lack of space (they were in with the away fans and so comparing the Doug Ellis with their ground)

It’s the 7th January, not the 31st

Name one thing that this board have done that indicates they don't have the money to finance things ? The North Stand needs redeveloping, but they get one chance to get it right, and maybe they think securing champions league football changes the needs ? As far as i can see there is absolutely no risk from FFP, and everybody seems to be basing this on a false declaration of losses for the 20-21 season, which was cleared up somewhere a couple of days ago in this thread.

so you think it's true then ?

The fact that we haven't really missed Mings is testament to just how good Pau has been. A shaky start was to be expected, especially with the high line that we play, but he's adapted to the speed and power of the League really well.

This is so true. I've seen snails move quicker than the queues in the Upper Doug Ellis. it's also criminal that they still run out of pies. How difficult can it be to calculate how many pies are needed we sell out for every premier league game so it's not like the number of people turning up can be a surprise.

Thats a little bit unfair, because that is an old article from 2018 and refers to the Luke kits. There is absolutely nothing that i can find to link Fanatics to the manufacture of Castore or Kappa kits, and if they were then surely the club and Castore would both have beef with fanatics ? Which means it would be odd for the club to take up the kit design/material with Castore, as they'd have little to do with it. I did find the following quote from when the deal was signed " Tom Beahon, co-founder of Castore said of the partnership, “Castore are beyond excited to be partnering with Aston Villa. They are such a prestigious club, with a passionate, global fanbase and we’re thrilled that the Claret an Blue will be wearing Castore’s bespoke Aston Villa kits" which to me suggests they have total responsibility for the kit. I do wonder though what's different about the villa kits, because i haven't seen Wolves, Newcastle or Rangers complaining in the same way

He's good going forward, but he was also lazy in the second half and didn't provide sufficient defensive cover in my opinion. I really think he needs competition as currently he's a shoe in on the right hand side of defence or as a wing back, and there's nobody else (except Martinez) as comfortable in their place.

Well I know he’s scored two goals, but IMO Cash is one of the weak spots of our team. He’s not doing enough on his defensive duties and that’s leaving us exposed. also, when Olsen is playing surely we shouldn’t be putting ourselves under pressure by playing the ball back to his feet, he’s just not good enough to play the way Martinez does and you’d think we would adapt our game as necessary (or sign a more suitable backup keeper)..

Well i think he did a good job, and i wish him all the best. The progress we’ve made during his tenure has been magnificent. I’ll forgive him for Gerrard as he got it right with Smith, I’ll forgive him for Coutinho as he got it right with Kamara. Overall I’d give him 7/10 as there were more positives than negatives and he provided stability to the club at a time when it was seriously needed.

I think Emery is a realist, he knew our position when he came here, he knew what kind of proposition we were, and he was prepared to commit. Now he has to work with the club to make sure that players are as convinced to join us as he was. With the exception of his time at PSG has dealt with this exact situation throughout his career. Arsenal were not in great shape when he went there and had no money.

I agree with this, but i wonder if we might look for a more defensive minded right back to counter the attack mindedness of Moreno on the left. Is it possible for example we could see Konsa play there to allow Carlos or a new centre back to play with Mings ?