limpid

It's a little scary!

Good write up in the Times today from a female player. There will be an associated podcast on Wednesday.

They are giving away the game +14 days play for free on Saturday. Tell your friends.

I have some breathing pots in the bank I think - ask if you still need them on Friday.

I'm not a fire mage - I'm arcane/frost and will probably go deep arcane when I ding.

Yes, by miles.

You want to get a golf cart.

Well I actually did an instance tonight and enjoyed it. Even if Sam appears to have moved his toilet to another town and we only got one boss down.

:-)

Why not invite everyone to our guild?

What guild is this? I feel left out

Heal Noctus!

Why not invite everyone to our guild?

And Limpid, when you hit 68/69 you will find people are willing to do the instances you can do too. You can take things like Shattered Halls, Shadow Labs, Black Morass (have you done Old Hillsbrad by the way?) and Steam Vaults.

I've done 4 instances since TBC opened. I am l68. I'm really bored.

There's no-one else to instance with, they're all back into their gear hunt now. Might go back to levelling the hunter until I get my laptop's system disk upgraded for Vanguard.

I can't play in the week.

And after the excitement of no social interaction all day on Sunday, it might take me a while.

I was watching the Fêar video the other day. His wedding dress is made by Frostbaal...

by OutByEaster?

There has been a fair amount of talk lately about the North Stand and its future. With Randy Lerner describing it as his "least favourite stand". I don't know of anybody that seems to hold a lot of love for it and it seems that change at the very least is imminent for this part of Villa Park.

Earlier this week an American Villatalk member asked why stadia in the UK were such a hotchpotch of buildings compared to the swanky super-stadia of the US. In explaining our strange footballing Arenas, a number of people found themselves resorting to a language of emotion, not architecture.

For an English football ground, the fact that each stand is different means that each stand takes on its own character, we impart upon them a soul and they mean something to all of us.

Villa Park is certainly no different; the obvious example is the famous Holte End. Can any of us say that we don't feel a frisson of excitement as we approach those imposing stairways? The Holte can lift a game, make a career, it has wit, it has scorn, and it has a roar that can raise the hairs on your neck. It's a living-breathing thing.

The Trinity Road Stand too is an emotional subject for Villa fans, for the first few years of its life it's been nothing more than the symbol of commerce overtaking beauty. Its own values ignored in favour of our scorn at what might have been. The old Trinity Road stand was Aston Villa. The new one is only just being forgiven but given time I'm sure it will gain its own character.

As for the Doug Ellis stand, well the stand itself is reasonably non-descript, but the name; mention it, and the reaction you'll get tells you everything you'll ever need to know about how we feel about Villa Park, and what these building mean to us.

Then there's the North Stand, sat at one end of the ground, its cargo a strange mixture of kids and opposition fans. It's not an attractive building, and despite the fact it is still quite young it is now the oldest part of Villa Park. When I look at it, it doesn't particularly inspire any reaction, I don't have great memories of the North Stand, nor has it ever seemed to me to be the part of the ground that inspired or lifted or created. It's just sort of 'there'.

The North Stand was born on January 19th 1977, and opened on August 27th of the same year for a game against Everton that we lost 2-1. Elvis had just died, inflation was at a dangerously high level and denim flares were much more popular than should ever be considered decent.

The offices and suites at the rear of Villa Park didn't open for another three years, and when they opened, they were considered to be at the cutting edge of stadium hospitality design. Two layers of boxes and a lavish interior that rivalled anything football had seen, it is difficult to look at it now and think that it was once considered to be one of the finest most futuristic stands in Britain.

So, the early Eighties, a time to revel in the glories of England's finest team playing in front of England's finest stand? Well, almost.

In the Eighties, the North Stand was to have an impact on Villa Park that was to help shape the clubs history for the next 20 years.

The Chairman at the time the stand was built was William Dugdale, but he'd departed almost as soon as it had been completed to be replaced by Harry Kartz, and then by Ron Bendall, the man who alongside his son Don would preside over some of the greatest years of our history.

A glorious time, but the memories were soured by the influence of the North Stand. It was Ron who oversaw the completion of the suite of offices in the North Stand with stadium manager Terry Rutter overseeing the works.

It seemed there was plenty of work to be done, and no expense was spared as costs spiralled and the club dropped into debt. The stand had cost a million pounds to build; these fittings and alterations came to £1.3 million. An internal audit found that half of this money couldn't be accounted for, and whilst this figure was later found to be incorrect, it soon became clear that all was not well with the running of the football club.

The police became involved, and the Bendall family ended its connection with Aston Villa Football Club as it became clear that Ron Bendall had conspired with members of his own staff to obtain money by deception from the Football trust. Terry Rutter was jailed, a fate that Ron escaped. He died in 1983.

So, from the best team in England playing in front of the best stand, we quickly became a debt ridden company, playing in the shadow of the building that had come to represent our own complicity in our downfall. The true cost of the North Stand it would seem was the collapse of the team and board that had taken us to our greatest successes.

There are many older and wiser than I who can explain more clearly the events of this whirlwind period in our history, my apologies if I've misrepresented any of the players, or if my facts are inaccurate. I was only ten at the time.

What now for the club and the North Stand? Well, both were in new ownership, and the Bentley outside could only mean one thing. Herbert Douglas Ellis was in town.

In the twenty-five years that Doug owned the North Stand, Villa Park undertook enormous changes, with every other stand being rebuilt. The North stand also saw changes, the cavity at its rear was filled in for more suites, the lower tier had seats added following the Taylor report and a hospitality section was added in the centre of the upper tier.

Over that time, and with fresh new siblings now all around it, the North Stand began to appear progressively more grubby, its seventies styling looking out of place, and its size increasingly becoming an issue.

Doug responded by getting planning permission for a grand new stand, although whether he ever intended to complete this project we'll never know, and in many ways the only stand that stayed with him for the whole of his second tenure at Villa Park is a much more fitting monument to his stewardship than the one he named after himself. Once ground breaking and innovative, it had become a fading anachronism, which now looked out of place in the modern football world.

Time for change.

Step forward then Randy Lerner, the latest owner of the club and its least favourite stand, this week Randy spoke about his desire to update the stadium, and to change a number of areas. Of the North Stand he said:

"When we get to the North Stand we may look at something more progressive architecturally - going from the deeply historical to the current."

I guess that means he has in mind something a lot more modern in its design than some of the other aspects of Villa Park. I'm not sure if this means a new stand or an update of the current one.

Let's see what he's got to work with:

[*:552790b17a]The North Stand holds 7,360 supporters including its boxes. That's less than the 7,750 that can be housed in the lower Holte End.

[*:552790b17a]Structurally its 'goalpost' style roof support means that it's very difficult to extend the stand around to fill in the corners. These supports will always be in the way, so in order to update what is already there, you'd need to first completely remove the roof and add in an alternative method of support for the new roofs structure.

[*:552790b17a]The Stand houses many of the clubs offices and a good amount of hospitality facilities.

[*:552790b17a]Behind the stand is the only real area of space at Villa Park; it allows room for designs to match the loftiest of ambitions.

General Krulak says:

"Redevelopment of the North Stand. The long-range plan (or our current vision) would have a major piece of work done... to include a major restructuring of both inside and out... expanding capacity and functionality. It would be nice to eventually have a brand new store in the stand... a mega-store capability."

Interesting that this suggests a re-structure rather than a re-build, especially difficult if the club plans to house a mega-store within the structure.

From a personal standpoint, I think that Villa Park is a ground with its history in brick, and I'd hope that any new North Stand would take advantage of the space to its rear to reflect the style of the old Trinity Road Stand. I'd like to think that the architectural keys in the Holte Hotel, echoed in the rear of the Holte end, and to a lesser degree at the rear of the Doug Ellis Stand will become the signature of our stadium. It's this that makes us special; I'm not a big fan of glass and steel, and I've never been a fan of brushed concrete, even if it has just been cleaned. I wonder to what extent season ticket sales this summer will influence the changes made to the North Stand, and I'm hoping that the rumoured Olympic games grant will also be able to make a positive impact.

Whatever Mr Lerner decides to do with the North Stand, he's shown a desire to things the right way so I'm sure it will be something we can all look forward to and hopefully something that quickly takes on its own character, something with a soul.

As we approach its final years, I would hope that the North Stand will be remembered, its days are numbered but it has seen good times and bad, seen off two Chairmen, numerous managers and been visited by almost every team in the league. It won't be eulogised for its beauty like the old Trinity Road Stand, nor for the memories of all our childhoods like the old Holte End, but I for one am hoping it will be remembered fondly.

It lived in interesting times.

Most boring night ever. Nothing social, just playing against the computer.

in your face, mages!

meh, my CoC hits for nearly that and I'm still a lowbie with magically vanishing gear.

It's 50 years since we last won the FA Cup, and on the 16th February of that year - 50 years almost to the day - Villa went to old Second Division Boro and won 3-2 to enter the third round proper.

That was a match in which we had gone in at half-time 1-2 down (due to Brian Clough) and yet we came back strongly in the second half - with Johnny Dixon wrapping it up. It was, I think, about then that hopes of a good run in the Cup gained momentum, especially when we learnt that we were to be drawn against another Second Division side - Bristol City - in the third round. The remarkable thing in those days, however, was that Second Division teams Boro (Brian Clough) and Bristol City (John Atyeo) both played centre-forwards that were selected for England, so these games were no push-overs.

In 56/57, I went to nearly all the Cup games... those at home plus the match at Burnley in the days when that other claret-and-blue team of Jimmy McIlroy and Jimmy Adamson were a real force. I missed the home replay, though, and also the semi-final replay after Villa's battling draw at Molineaux with the 'Baggies' - old rivals West Bromwich Albion, who were also a very good team. Villa had been re-built under the stewardship of manager (and former Villa star) Eric Houghton. His major signings were Nigel Sims (goal) from the Wolves, and Jimmy Dugdale (centre-half) from West Brom, both of whom were pillars of the defence for the next 3 or 4 seasons. An additional and very useful signing was Jackie Sewell, a scoring inside-forward from Sheff. Wednesday, who only 3 or 4 years before had been the most expensive player in England.

That scheming maestro, Jimmy McIlroy of Burnley, wrote the following account of their 1957 sixth round encounter:

"Against the Villa, we took an early lead, and without playing really well, held it until a few minutes from the end of the game. Then, the most dangerous man in soccer at converting the pass to the far-post, Peter McParland, popped up to head the equaliser from his favourite position. But there should never have been any replay. In the first ten minutes or so, I squared two passes across the face of the goal, both taken by Ian Lawson in his stride. From very close range, Ian side-footed the ball wide each time.

"The pitch at Villa Park [in the replay] was in a shocking state. There were pools of water on the surface, and where there was no water, there was mud - gallons of the stuff! In one corner, in fact, there was a patch of filth giving off a most nauseating odour, causing us to wonder if this famous football ground had been used for sewage disposal. Thus was the stage set in terrible conditions for one of the most vital Cup-ties in the history of either club. Aston Villa at that time were being assailed on all sides for their vigourous style of football. They tackled hard, used their weight to the maximum advantage, and generally bothered little with the frills of soccer: although their manager Mr Eric Houghton repeatedly refuted charges that Villa were over-robust, there is no denying they were formidable opposition. In marked contrast, Burnley were a team of flyweights, with one of the smallest forward lines in the entire League.

"The Midlanders, who later went on to win the FA Cup, beat us 2-0, with goals coming from Johnny Dixon and inevitably, my old Irish pal Peter McParland. I say inevitably, because Peter makes a habit of scoring whenever he plays against me. Indeed, he has scored more goals while playing against me than as my partner in the Irish team...even though we have played many more times together than as opponents. Burnley were out of the Cup, well beaten on a terrible pitch by an efficient, workmanlike team. The match was not a classic, my main recollection of it being the rather odd-looking playing strip sported by the Burnley players. We wore navy blue shirts and navy blue shorts, and with the referee in his customary all-black outfit it was not surprising that he was given more passes than anyone in our team! We wondered at the time why return passes never came. Fortunately, he changed into a purple shirt at half-time, although I am still not certain whether this simplified or further confused the issue!"

However, McIlroy did not provide the whole story for the dark outfits they wore. Peter McParland takes up the story:

"It was a foul afternoon," he recalls. "Wet and dark. A really filthy day. So Burnley decided to wear black! With almost no natural light and against the dark background of the crowd it was impossible to make their players out. Eric Houghton, our manager, came into our dressing-room before the kick-off raging. He went to see the referee and complain but all the ref did was ask to borrow one of our purple away-shirts to wear!"

Having watched Houghton's men battling through the gloom, the board was convinced that floodlights were necessary. (Seventeen months later, at half-time of Portsmouth's visit to Villa Park, came the historic moment. With the match level at 1-1 and the late summer light fading, chief electrician Eric Farmer threw the switch on the brand new £31,280 system.)

After Burnley, another tremendous encounter saw McParland again (with two goals) force local rivals West Brom to a replay in the semi-final, which Villa went on to win - just! The Albion side contained an array of talent, including Ronnie Allen and Bobby Robson, so Villa did exceedingly well against them. The semi-finals that year also saw the presence of Birmingham City (who were in the 1956 final), who lost to Man Utd. Three Birmingham sides in the semi-finals in one year!

So, in 1957 it was on to Wembley and the match with Manchester United. The great 'Busby Babes'. I'd seen Villa lose at home to the Babes, 3-1 that season, in the league, but Villa had drawn at Old Trafford as their confidence picked up on a long cup run. So, the scene was set for a great Final (we hoped). Villa's rather corny cup song that season (to the tune 'It's a long way to Tipperary') was:-

It's a long way to get to Wembley,

It's a long way to go,

It's a long way to get to Wembley,

But we'll get there, I know!

Goodbye Bristol City,

Goodbye Middles-brough,

It's a long, long way to get to Wembley,

But we'll get there, I know!

For Jimmy Dugdale it was to be his second final, having played for the Albion in their win of 1954 (the year they almost won the 'double'), but for 'Doc' Pace it was a year of misery. He was something of a favourite with the Villa fans, yet a Billy Myserscough had come up on the ropes to snatch the centre-forward place from 'Doc'. I and a number of fans still think that was a poor decision on the part of Eric Houghton, but, because we won the Cup, that matter was forgotten about. It was 'Doc' that was sold later that year to make way for Gerry Hitchens, and forever afterwards, 'Doc' was a thorn in the side to Villa when he was at Sheffield United.

The Final came round, and we prepared to watch it on 'black and white' T.V. Manchester United had already won the league, and were going for the 'double'. Villa had been the last club to win the double way back in 1896/97 (exactly 60 years before), and so we hoped that United would be stopped in their tracks. Peter McParland was at the height of his game at that time and had scored some explosive goals that season...would he win it? Well, he did...he scored both Villa's goals in the 2-1 win, BUT accidentally put out United's goalkeeper after only 15 minutes of the match. United were effectively down to 10 men for 75% of the match. Nevertheless, Villa played some good football in the second half, and made their pressure tell. Captain Johnny Dixon was a worthy winner.

So, we thought that a new era was starting ! But not entirely in the right direction, as things turned out...! But, first, there was the matter of the Munich air crash, and the demise of several of the Busby Babes. Everyone cried as a result of that event. Villa sold wing-half Stan Crowther to United to bolster their team, and they even got to the Cup Final again in '58 - but they lost again.

Memories!

John Lerwill

Note: Most of the above comes from my website.

If you would like to chat about famous fans, please could you start a new thread.

I miss raiding, but no-one's available when I am.

If you would like to discuss smoking in the ground, please start a new thread.

Aston Villa 7 (Seven) - Fulham 1.

Seven. That’s right.

I keep telling you to come to the reserves don’t I? Well I’ve got to tell you, this was the best advert for reserves football you’re likely to see in a long time. It’s not often you get to see a Villa side score seven goals!

Team news to start us off, and one of the pleasant surprises to come from the signings of John Carew and Ashley Young is that we can start reserve games with a front two of Juan Pablo Angel and Luke Moore. Berger played in behind them and Osbourne played as a holding midfielder, add Martin Laursen at the back and Stuart Taylor in goal and it’s a very experienced line up.

We even got an experienced referee, with Dermot Gallagher finding his level.

It was a cold night at Villa Park. In fact I’m not sure that does it justice. It was so cold that if you spat you could hear it bounce. Colder than a polar bears toe, colder than my Albion supporting Mrs on the day they went down. In short, it was quite cold.

In my last report I enjoyed myself so much I forgot to include the result and the goals, I can’t really describe this game in any other way. So here they are:

0-1 Fulham score with a free kick. Which I think took a deflection. In retrospect, I think they’ll consider this a mistake.

1-1 Moore with a firm finish over the keeper from the corner of the area after being played in by Osbourne

2-1 Ozzy battles for it, brings it down, takes on two players and finishes from the left side of the area. Lovely.

3-1 Patrick Berger with a fabulous free kick from about five yards outside the box. The keeper never looked like moving.

4-1 Angel brings down a cross and slots it past the by now concerned looking Fulham keeper.

5-1 Moore again; a good ball in to him by Berger, and inside the box he turned a man and poked it past the keeper. Very nicely done.

6-1 McGurk nodding into an empty net from about three feet after Stieber had caused chaos down the left.

7-1 Stieber stabbing home after a fantastic run by McGurk.

But you know; we could have had as many again, chances were created by the bucketload, and by the final whistle Fulham looked like a team that didn’t want to play football again. Unfortunately for them they face us again next Tuesday at Motspur Park (Wherever that is.) I’m sure they’ll look forward to it.

Here are some player ratings:

Taylor (7) – Made one save, caught four of five crosses, didn’t have a chance with their free kick. Probably his most important contribution was his shouting. Which was excellent.

Eric Lund (7) – Looked solid enough and is a good size. Strangely he didn’t really get forward much despite the fact that we scored seven. Gave us a good base down the right though.

Stephen O’Halloran (6) – Likes defending. I can tell he likes defending as he keeps giving the ball to the opposition so that they can attack. Got better as the game went on, and if he can just improve his passing he’s good at just about everything else.

Martin Laursen (10) – He’s fit. If he’s not fit he’s even better than I thought. Those that think Cahill needs a rest just got a very impressive weight added to their argument. Didn’t put a foot wrong all game, passed the ball well, should have scored from a corner early on and could have had a couple. Played the game at his own pace and completely dominated it. Fantastic performance.

Sam Simmonds (8) – Not a player I’ve seen before, looks a little on the small side for a centre half but looked a decent prospect. He seems fairly quick, positionally he’s good and he looks pretty much unflappable. I’d like to see him again in a tougher match, but I like what I’ve seen so far.

Isaiah Osbourne (8) – Runs like a newborn horse. Occasionally looks like he’s not in control of his body, but has the uncanny knack of being able to find a ball at the end of one of his legs. His goal was excellent and he worked extremely hard, his passing was good and he gave Berger a good platform.

Marc Albrighton (10) – With all these first teamers about, one of the young lads had a chance to step up and prove he could play at the same level. Step forward Marc Albrighton. A constant menace down the right, he dominated the Fulham defence producing a series of excellent crosses. Worked his socks off and reminded me a fair bit of James Milner. I’ve seen him three times now and been impressed each time. I think it’s fair to say I like this one and think he could have a future.

Zoltan Steiber (8) – Too young and too small for this level I would say. Tonight though in a very attack minded performance he showed some great skill, setting up at least one of the goals and scoring himself. If his body can grow to reflect his talent, he could be a fantastic player. It’ll be very interesting to watch him in next years reserve team.

Juan Pablo Angel (8) – The good: Some of his passing tonight was as crisp as tomorrows frost. His link up play was as ever excellent, and more than that he displayed a range of passing that was a pleasure to watch. One ball over the top of the right back that sent Moore through one on one was right out of the top drawer.

The bad: His finishing, he could have had a hat-trick before he scored, he should have had two more before he was substituted on the hour.

Luke Moore (8) – A slow start, but once he got interested he looked like scoring every tine we went forward. Lead the line well, scored two good goals, missed chances for another three. He won’t believe he hasn’t scored a hat trick. He looks close to full fitness to me.

Patrik Berger – (10) It’s not so long ago that he got into trouble for not wanting to play for the reserves. Tonight he was Captain.

I’ve said before that Berger can sometimes show you glimpses of Zidane at this level. He was superb in this match. His free kick was fantastic, his passing dazzling, and his work rate excellent. For a man who didn’t like reserve team football he doesn’t half look like he’s enjoying himself! It’s strange to think that whilst it might be true that he was bought to keep Milan Baros company, it’s the exit of Baros that seems to have sparked the Berger renaissance.

Subs :

Adam McGurk (8) - Showed some good touches, it’s the first time I’ve seen him, and I like him. Tall, dribbles well, makes good runs and has an eye for goal. I look forward to seeing more of him.

Yago Bellon (6) – Should have scored with his first touch, struggled to get into after that in a brief appearance.

Christopher Herd (6) – Another that struggled to make an impression in a fairly short appearance. Did okay. I suspect like Stieber he’ll make an impact next season.

And that was that, other than to say that this Fulham team had only conceded eight goals in their previous eight games, and are by no means the whipping boy of this league. If you’re in London and you’ve the foggiest idea how to get to Motspur Park I’d strongly recommend you do just that next Tuesday.

I’ve seen a performance of verve and style, justly rewarded with a hat full of goals, I’ve been roundly entertained and I’ve found a new favourite in Marc Albrighton. If you live in Brum and you’ve watched Coronation Street instead, shame on you. Your next chance to put that right is against Charlton on the 20th February at Bescot Stadium: Kick off seven pm.

Or subtitled "And the Germans shot at us!"

Richard remembers...

In the build up to an upcoming event I thought I'd get my Rotterdam story in first, no doubt there will be others!

"I'd rather win the European cup than the league this year" my mate had said to me at the start of the season. In those days it seemed we had a choice you see! For me I wanted us to win anything and everything but the prestige involved in winning Europe's top knock-out trophy (when it really was the Champions Cup!!!!!) surpassed everything. Although I have to say it was during an era when English teams were dominant so it would have been easy to expect to turn up just to win!

We weren't doing too well in the league at the start of the season. Maybe expectations were on a high due to our previous seasons exploits (we won the league you know!). It took us till our third game to register our first victory and that's doing my best to gloss over the ignomy of a first game home reversal against newly promoted opposition.

So the European Cup proved to be a welcome respite, certainly in the first few rounds when we recorded a comprehensive 5-0 and 2-0 (it was two legs then for all our younger readers!) over Valur. But it soon turned into fantastic European nights at VP and nights in sitting in fornt of the radio listening to tales of the lads in far off countries. Hearing the goals in words rather than watching them made them no less enjoyable, such was the technology those days and TV coverage that not every match was covered live.!

So we trundled along and despiet a home defeat to Berlin in round two (second leg), we soon felt that this could be our year.

We safely negotiated Kiev (despite some "troubles") and next up were Anderlecht (quite a huge side in those days). 1-0 at VP, we feared the worse. Was it enough? We thought not. A nervy 0-0 draw away from home, under immense pressure and we were there. Rotterdam.

We had to go, we could not stay away. It had to be my first sight of a Villa game on foreign soil. "Come on Dad we have to go". Truth is he didn't take much persuading. He'd seen Villa in the old third division some ten or so years earlier and for them to now be at the pinnacle of Europe, well he had to go too. School were remarkably accepting of the situation, they had little choice!

So it was £35 a piece for a two day coach journey (1 day there and overnight trip back) including ticket!! Dear days, but it had to be done. So me and my old man went to see Villa. Never any doubt that we were going to win, even though it was mighty Bayern Munich. Those were the days, being a kid helped I think, when you never feared a defeat. You never felt that you'd watch the Villa Lose (oh for their return)

We turned up in Rotterdam and from what I remember it was packed, every bar seemed to be overflowing with footie fans but we had a few hours before kickoff so got ourselves something to eat before turning up at the ground. I had never seen us play in any stadium like it. Fecking huge. I also remember that there seemed to be about 5 different match programmes, all proclaiming to be the "official one", I had to get them all.

We made it to our seats way up in the gods, sitting next to Villa fans that started as strangers and finished as comrades in arms (quote literally as it turned out). So kick off, the team was as we expected. No need to "rotate", a phrase never even heard of in those days. No need to "rest", these were the cream of England even if our leage position didn't quite show it. The subs were the same as they had been for a while, hardly called on especially the goalie a lad called Spinks who was to be turned by the Sith Lord in later episodes. No worries. But something was up, what was it, hang on it cant be can it , whats happening. Jimmy Rimmer is coming off. Oh ***** what now? It's Spinksy, he's hardly played not he's against Rummenigge et al. Oh shit.

What transpired, as we all know, was that we were to wtiness a quite magnificent display of goalkeeping. Which was one of about 6 things I remember from the match.

If truth be told we didn't have many chances in the game and Bayern should have won (2nd thing I remember), but one of the few chances we had we took. What a stupendously brilliant goal and top class finish it was (3rd thing). After that we hung on for grim death and the last 5 minutes were the longest of my life, the clock never moved at all (item 4 on the remember agenda). But it was all over and we had won. We saw grown men cry that night. I saw my Dad cry (5), no matter as everyone was doing it ***** brilliant.

We hung around a bit but had to get back as the coach was leaving The Germans were none too happy and they fired at us (6), bastards.

We made the long drive home, everyone was knackered but didn't care. I got held up in customs as I was asleep on the coach when everyone got off , but it didn't matter and we walked through Brum City Centre about 4pm the next day with smiles so wide on our faces. It was truly magical

The best £70 my old man ever spent.

by drat01

Inspired by 2 excellent news articles, a story from a proud grand dad.

Just over 12 months ago now I got the phone call we in the family had all wanted. It was from my son and he said “Dad, Welcome Joseph Harry to the family”. I had become a grand-dad, people who have met me will now be going “No way you are far too young!”, but no we had a new addition not only to our family but also to the Villa family.

I was prepared for this, Werthers originals in my pocket, a new cardigan and slippers for me and for the boy obviously a brand new Claret and Blue scarf. Despite living some way from Villa Park there was never any question, this lad was to grow up as a Villa fan.

But!, like any parent or grand-parent you want the best for your family and the club that was hopefully going to be part of Joe’s life from now on was not a pretty one. I’d seen the glory days and nights of Rotterdam and Highbury etc, even Joe’s dad had seen them winning trophies at Wembley, but the way the club was at this time it looked as though Joe would have to wait a very long time before he saw his grand-dad drunk celebrating another Villa trophy win. Add to this, things we saw and heard about the way the club was run, something that had been building over a period of years from fans protests, manager comments, players wanting away because of lack of ambition, players being chastised in the press for things that on the surface were not true. The club had no ambition, kits and sponsors were not in the premier league, Joe would never be able to go to the local shop as he grew older and buy the new Villa shirt.

Frankly Villa had become something that was heading in only one direction and that wasn’t upwards.

Half way through this first year though, things were about to change at Villa Park.

Enter Randy Lerner and his team. Randy who? There was scepticism from certain quarters that this Yank was in it not for the right reasons. It was another Man Utd takeover, “what does he know about running a football club?”.

With Randy though came a team of people including the main focus, Martin O’Neill. I’ll leave it to the others to, rightly, sing the praises of that man because as “fans” of VillaTalk will know if they haven’t become too bored with my waffle, I like to look at the bigger picture.

What Randy started virtually straight away was to introduce change into areas of the club that had seldom seen any for far too many years. The stream of positive initiatives for fans, from laying on of coaches to Chelsea for 6,000 to the establishment of fans forums. VillaTalk and other web forums had a senior member of his team posting on here, absolutely amazing. Virtually straight away player’s quotes showed that they were happier with how things looked at the club, new training facilities being built, player’s injuries being dealt with by the top people, contracts being negotiated behind the scenes rather than through the press. Ron Saunders coming back to Villa Park. Work commencing on what had become a eye-sore, the renovation of the Holte Hotel, and many many more.

Randy is by all accounts a quiet man, the lack of quotes in the media backing this up. What he does know obviously though is what is important to getting a successful football club. For the first time in many a long year, we have square pegs in square holes, star pegs in star holes and striped pegs in striped holes (see what I did there?). All of this will enable Martin and his team to provide hopefully the main success on the pitch.

It’s not an overnight process and it’s a bit like little Joe as he grows up. Now 1 year old he can walk, albeit at time’s he has a little stumble. He understands instinctively who are the people who will provide for him and he looks and listens to them. There will be a few tears no doubt but as we progress these become less and less to be replaced by genuine smiles.

Mr. Lerner on behalf of 3 generations of Villa fans we salute and thank you.