M_Afro

I totally agree with this. It is ridiculous to think that the same fate would await us. The truth is, if we don’t spend £100m we have a much greater chance of failure than if we do spend £100m. Fulham made poor acquisitions and left themselves with a poorly balanced squad. They then rather foolishly sacked a very good manager, replaced him with another and then sacked him too! Compare the above to our position. The beating heart of our promotion winning team, Jack, Super John, Mings and AEG will still be here backed up ably by Chester, Hause, Elmo, Conner et al. We are being linked with and actively seeking recruitment that will balance our squad effectively. We have owners and a CEO who make sensible decisions and are unlikely to remove Smith from his position regardless of what happens this season. I remember Watford getting promoted and then basically buying an entire new team. I think they ended up finishing in the top 10. Spending the money is not the problem here. The key is to invest wisely. The Jota deal is a great example of this. He was priced fairly low compared to his potential. He can play in a number of roles. He knows the manager well. We only gave him a 2 year contract which is akin to saying, prove to us that you deserve more. We will either sell him for a greater fee next year or give him a new contract that reflects his performances over the season. Win win. Enjoy the ride. Things have not been this positive for years.

Nah. Been gone too long

Ha ha. You don’t have a lot of sex do you?

Maupay is totally different to Hogan. He is a very clever footballer with excellent technique. Signing him would represent a risk but I really feel he will make it. He has all of the right physical attributes, reads the game well and seems to have a good attitude. He reminds me of a young Robbie Keane. We missed out on signing him all of those years back and this has a similar feel to it. For £20m it is worth a punt.

This is s great signing. He always did very well for us whenever called upon. The way he played in the final after coming into the most highly pressured situation possible was incredible. He is also very young with plenty of room to improve. The last time we were in the PL, we were forced to rely heavily on Clark and Baker as left sided centre halves. This kid is already better than both of them with plenty of room for improvement. Really a great signing. Welcome back the Hause.

In terms of natural ability Nyland and Kalinic are both much better than Steer but Jed is just so much more confident. If the aforementioned can increase their confidence playing behind a higher quality and settled defence then there is hope for both of them. I have seen a lot of Cardiff and Etheridge is not that good. He has had a good couple of years when luck, confidence and form have been on his side. I hope the days of Villa buying form players with no real substance have gone. I would much rather we worked with what we have.

Sat next to Chris Woakes at the Arsenal cup final. He loves the Villa

Not sure but I bought tickets yesterday to watch them in December. I think Miles is the only one left from the original lineup. Sadly Gilkes and Bob are no longer with us.

The author Lee Childs is a massive fan. He always puts random Villa player names into his novels. My favourite is Tony Moon

That is so true. Truth is, he would have had double the assists if he had been playing for a half decent side! I actually laughed out loud twice.

No chance. I live in Leicester. He is well known as a massive piss head. He is basically the Chelsea version of McCormack. Hopefully the days of signing people like him have gone forever.

One of the things that has been really positive for Villa recently is the re-engagement and renewed positivity of our supporters. It is essential that this continues for the whole of the season. We are in a great place, particularly when you compare our position 12 months ago. Trust in Dean. Back him and the players. Enjoy life. Give Jota (if he joins) and all other new signings a chance. Back the boys. We are Premier League!!!

Deano and Suso both know him. He can play in any of the 3 attacking midfield roles. He is not expensive. Sounds like a good option to me. We still need to sign AEG and another right winger but it seems like a smart bit of business.

Brilliant. Just brilliant. That is all

Please be better in the final boys (but thanks for getting us there)

Unbelievable Jeff. Well done the beard

Couldn’t care less who we get in the final, as long as we get to the final. There’s work to do tonight for sure. If we get through without any suspensions or injuries, then I think we should all be thrilled. If we do get through at least we can be sure that Smith will go all out to win the final unlike Steve “too scaredy-cat to lose” Bruce. The final will be anybody’s in my view no matter which teams qualify.

As I have previously stated, why use the adjective “black” to describe Tammy in the song at all. Why not use “big” for example. There is nothing wrong with using the word black as an adjective if it is used in a responsible manner. The example that I responded to is a good example where the use of the adjective is not required to answer the question, so why use it at all? If the grandson had asked for a detailed description of Tammy then that would be different but he didn’t. It is fairly subtle but racists often express their attitudes in a subtle way. My dad always used to refer to black people as “coloured”. I would always explain to him that the term was, quite rightly, considered to be racist. His response was always”well I am not racist and I do not mean to cause offence”. The point that he never understood was that, although it was not his intention to cause offence, using that term did/does cause offence. The continued use of this term, after becoming aware of the potential negative effect that it had, was in my view racist. He had the knowledge but decided not to use it. Anyway. Massive game tonight. Let’s hope that big Tammy scores a hatful and we beat the Albion with ease.

It is racist I’m afraid. What difference does it make that he is black? Why even feel the need to mention it? If my son asked me who Andy Townsend was I wouldn’t say some white bloke who used to play in midfield.

It is the use of the word “black” to describe Tammy that is offensive. We would not be talking about this if they had used a different adjective such as “big” but they didn’t. The sight of a load of drunk, white men singing that song is distasteful. If it hadn’t offended people then we wouldn’t be talking about it. I also truly believe that they would have known that it was crossing a line but proceeded to do it anyway. There is an small undercurrent of racism that exists in our country and particularly throughout football. The amount of people on here who are willing to defend this behaviour is another example of a lack of understanding that the impact of such behaviour can have. It is sad. Our country is Great because of the multi cultural nature of it. This is a strength recognised by the majority of people but sadly, not by all. Just to be clear, I am not calling anybody on here racist and you are all entitled to your opinions but they differ to mine. I find the video very offensive.

The chant has caused offence. If something offends a group of people, then it is not ok. It’s all a bit embarrassing really. I’m sure most Villa fans know better.

The home atmosphere has been our Achilles heel for way too long (due to years of awful senior management). This season, under our new stewards, the worm has started to turn. Villa fans have deserved better for years and now we are finally getting it. If we don’t go up this year, I am certain that we will next year and the ground will be rocking. At times today it was truly awesome.

Top performance by him today. Keeps getting better and better. Really pleased for him.

Picked the right team today, in my opinion. He also made the right changes at the right time. I would have snapped your hands off for this position at ht. Plenty to do still but this guy is a class or 10 above Brucie. Keep going Deano. UTV

He played ok today. People are too quick to criticise him. He showed a bit of courage to keep showing for the ball after his mistake. He deserves a bit of credit for that at least. He has been important for us this season and if we don’t go up, I hope he stays for another year. He is a top pro.