Leaderboard

I'm just off to bed but I'll share this thought with you. I've been supporting Villa actively since 1957 and even though we won the European Cup in 1982 I have never been so excited by Villa as I am tonight. In 1982 I was ecstatic, but the realist in me knew that we hadn't got a hope of backing it up. Tonight I'm going to bed secure in the knowledge that we're in good hands, Sleep well and enjoy the season guys and girls.

Our record signing as well, with a 5 year contract, "Undisclosed Fee" is the official version from the club, according to the press £5.8 million rising to £7 million with add ons, he should be ready for you in about 12-18 months time for at least £60 Million!!!!

I’m not in the know and never profess to be!! However for anybody that can be bothered to look back at the Dean Smith thread, you’ll see I called his appointment before anybody else. Same source has told me Benrahma is done. The exciting striker is Belotti of Torino - he’s in advanced talks but it could go down to deadline day. Make of it what you will.

We regard you like Blackadder does Baldrick. There's a level of affection, but it's hidden under layers and layers of anger, pity and multiple Wednesday's worth of frustration.

The irony is that the people who think they're being called KKK Grand Wizards for being asked to maybe not sing a chant with racist undertones are way more sensitive than the people they're telling to "stop being offended". You can't even say the word racism without people getting in their feelings.

So we are only considering a bid? We haven't yet prepared a bid, tested their resolve, or slapped in a bid? Pathetic, I bet Leipzig arent even braced yet. What the hell are we playing at?

Who do you think you are, me?

Kodjia always gets overly criticised. Mainly cos he's a bit different. I'm not referring to race albeit the lazy stereotype may have some link. He's just a bit out there sometimes. People fear what they don't know. He's not lazy at all. He works bloody hard for the team and especially at holding the ball up. His biggest issue is and continues to be decision making. I'm convinced if he played up top last season for us for as many games as Tammy did he would have got 20 plus goals.

I’ll wait till the ink is dry before getting excited.

I’m somebody who hears tit bits from time to time and passes them on to you lot to rip apart before generally being proven right!

Its no wonder Villa fans turn on their players so quick, hype them up to be amazing and turn on them if they cant quite get to those levels. There is no way a single one of them is as good as Young was for us when we used to finish 6th every year. I'd be delighted if one of them could replicate what Young did for us, let alone 3/4 of them! Young had the 2nd highest number of assists in the entire premier league over the length of time he was with us (only behind Fabregas) Either you didn't rate Young that highly or you are massively overrating these 4

They make better calamari like that.

So there is a chance.....

Yes

He's a Newcastle United problem now so let's not listen to him any more.

Need to ring the bell dude. @rjw63 @LancsVillan @Milfner @StefanAVFC @Tubby @Xela @abdomlahor @zak @rhyscartwright_avfc @kkr @sexbelowsound @Beastmix @maqroll @Brumerican If you want to keep the RB scoring the same then use the happy emoticon on this post. If you want to remove points per carry for RB's then use the sad emoticon on this post.

Dont really believe we wanted Maupay, if did we would have signed him ages ago

No. More like the clubs we want to buy players from need to line up replacements.

I this short article on Under A Gas Lit Lamp gives a good overview of why the chant is problematic. Ezri Konsa’s Leipzig Chant Should Not Grace the Premier League

UK magazine/weekly newspaper, published for years:

yeah was going to put that in and then thought about creating a games not gone thread following your other comment his wife has breast cancer, she's from Sardinia so inter have sent him to Cagliari on loan so she can get treated surrounded by her family

It’s not about being “PC” either, I always hate that phrase as that’s too easy to dismiss things and is used as a byword for people being over sensitive. I think fundamentally it’s about being nice to people and thinking ‘perhaps saying things about people that reinforce stereotypes isn’t a nice thing to do’. I’m a white male in my 30s though... I’ve had an amazingly privileged life by comparison to many, I doubt I will ever fully understand exactly how it feels to be marginalised.

p232 of the new manager speculation thread: He's not wrong you know! edit - the wednesday referred above would be the 10th October... spooky

Look how far off claret the skip is. Doesn't match the branding at all. Sack the board.

This thread is priceless, a few unproven wingers are better than Ashley Young was or us Young was banging abut 10/15 assists a season plus a good few goals

I've never been a fan of cricket but watched the last 2 hours or so of the world cup and really got into it so I thought I'll give the Ashes a try and although I don't fully understand all the rules and that I am obsessed with it now! Watched a good 10 hours or so of it

Let's get this rolling again

I said it in a different thread, but mocking people who point out that something could be racist is a really strange way of reacting to the situation.

‘Tidbits’ is an Americanism of an English word ‘Titbits’. So on VT it should be ‘Titbits’. Hearing or reading ‘Tidbits’ grinds my gears.

Darn it... we should have got in there first and saved ourselves £15m quid this time next year...

This chant is extremely offensive to people with micro penises. I'm absolutely livid.

See pages added to Benrahma thread, get excited. Open thread, see tons of posts about Ashley young and Dwight yorke. Leave disappointed.

I prefer not to speak. If I speak I am in big trouble.

I've seen this mentioned in a couple of places, and I just thought I'd highlight the definition being used that leads to this number, which is any shooting with a minimum of 4 fatalities. It excludes a shooting in Brooklyn last month in which 12 people were shot but only one died, for example, which seems absurd. Using the definition of 4 of more people shot, not necessarily killed, they're up to 295 mass shootings in 2019 alone.

Or, you know, stick to chants that don't have racist undertones.

Bogle?

Belotti!? Surely not, if we sign him, we'll truly have had the best transfer window of any club since the beginning of transfers.

Good thing about having squad depth and quality is no more putting out joke teams for cup games. Might actually get ourselves a decent cup run.

I second the above posts. Ashley Young was superb for Aston Villa. One of the best signings in our history I would add.

Young is probably our best ever PL player apart from Yorke

John Douglas or Jack Douglas? He was Marvelous?

Yes, it might. There are so many, and if everyone waited for a picture to be validated, it would be an interesting disruption to discourse. Might create a few jobs though. If the picture is a fake, it would unhelpfully distract from the simple fact that there's a racist, white supremacist, murderous current of thought among what seems to be a worryingly large segment of the US population, which Trump reflects, amplifies, validates, and strengthens. In that sense, the picture portrays a truth, whether this guy used it or not. So whether or not the picture is genuine, the existence and growth of this segment is the point. I'm sure attention will be focussed on the question of the picture, rather than the core issue. But on the image itself, I expect there will be some people right now trying to arrange their weapons into a similar message, brows knitted with concentration, wishing they had done more jigsaws as a child.

Yes definitely I agree with that. However I don't have any issues with us going with Wesley, Kodjia and Davis as our options up front if we brought in Benrahma for example to bolster the wide forward positions. I think it's pretty clear we are setting up this year to score our goals from all across the front 5. McGinn is getting forwards at every opportunity, Jack gets up there as well and the wide forwards are clearly designed to be a major goalscoring threat simply based on the players we have recruited - gone are the days of last season with Elmo and Adomah smashing in 50 crosses a game to Tammy's forehead. I think if we brought in a CF focused on goals, our overall play could break down (unless they were a top tier link up man as well, in which case we are paying top $$ which seems unlikely at this stage of the window). I'm certainly not saying we couldn't improve with a signing like that, but I'd be happy to go ahead with what we have and give Kodjia opportunities, or even Davis. While the latter doesn't have much of an eye for goal his link play is superb and we could function well as a unit with him in there.

Gets far, far more stick than he warrants given what he's actually done for us when he's not been sidelined. Especially given that some of the criticism is just weird. His decision making is a bit suspect at times but if he had that covered, coupled with his ability he would've been far too good for us to have ever signed in the Championship, so you have to take the rough with the smooth. As it stands I think he'll be capable back up in the PL because it's not a question of talent like it is with the likes of Hogan, though I'd still like us to get another striker in to go alongside Kodj and Wes (Hogan sold and Davis to get a decent loan move ideally).