MikeMcKenna

Hi General Thanks for all your comments and feedback! I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas!

Obviously now at only 27% wanting him gone, more and more fans are seeing the sense of keeping Barry. As others have said I will never totally forgive him but if his staying means Villa perform better next year and challenge, I dont give a **** about the emotional side!

Its interesting isnt it that 66% either want him to stay or cant decide as opposed to 33% who want him gone. Sounds to me like he could be easily forgiven - despiete everything I would like him to stay - life's too short and we need players of quality. He needs to come out now and say he made a mistake and will commit to a new contract with Villa!

I voted "no" but as others have said that is based purely on our transfer dealings this summer. I am totally happy with our progress for the 1st two seasons under MON and Randy Lerner but worry about going backwards next season

General I realise that the Barry situation is not originally of the clubs making but MON's humiliating climbdown tonight is the sort of embarrassment that I thought we had left behind when ellis sold the club. Whoever came up with the idea that a "deadline" would work must be very naive. Tonight like many Villa fans I am really pissed off that yet again we have been made a laughing stock. I sympathise with the club but after all the big talk we have been made to look like a small time operation. I have been a steadfast advocate of MON and the Randy Lerner but like others I am now starting to lose my faith and patience. I have just wasted a day travelling to Reading to watch an inept perfomance by a Villa team made up largely of reserves and academy players.... we were lucky not to have lost lost 4-1 never mind draw. Our squad was small last year, now it is a pitiful. Please thank Randy for the for the pub and mosaics etc BUT......... I would like to know when Randy & MON are going to do what I did when I bought three season tickets.......... i.e. Invest in the FOOTBALL Club! Only a deaf, dumb and blind man could believe that we have a hope in hell of of realising the clubs stated ambition of "...challenging for the Champions League within 5 years" based on the current transfer dealings.

General A big thank you to all concerned on the Acorn sponsorship. I like Randy's style! Another 1st for Aston Villa Football Club. If there is God up there he will hopefully ensure Aston Villa are rewarded in the future with a few more firsts on the field!

I am very, very surprised at the results so far. I have a great deal of respect for Barry and fervently hope that he stays. But if he goes to anyone our premier league competitors such as the red scouse I will be seriously pissed off. I will not boo him per se but likewise I will not applaud him under circumstances. If he goes he is no longer "one of us" but "one of them"..... and should be treated accordingly! :evil:

General I have to buy 3 x Season Tickets fof myself, my daughter and son but can afford it so I dont have a problem with the increases personally. However I do feel the club have been heavy handed with some of the increases for younger people especially in the current economic climate. I realise that demand will probably outstrip supply and that these tickets were considered "cheap" but the youngsters represent the future support of the club and unfortunately next season I would guess that fewer will be season ticket holders. Some people now have the perception that the club is trying to dissuade youngsters from attending in an attempt to convert those seats to adults. I dont personally hold that view but I can understand why some may. Up till now the club and especially yourself have done a fantastic job on the PR side. Which makes this heavy handed approach to some of the price increases all the more confusing. Putting aside for a moment supply/demand and how our pricing compare to other clubs - do you think the club could have handled the PR side of these increases in a better way?

Beg to differ - as long as I can remember we have been Villains with an "i" - I have no proof that this was anything other than a corruption so I checked my old man and a 87 year old member of our supporters club and they concurred that as far back as they can remember we have always been the VILLAINS......... Like another poster I believe that the term VILLANS was inspired by ellis as he felt Villains was derogatory. So I suppose you could argue that officially we are the Villans but personally I and many others will always refer to us as the Villains

General like the others I am extremely grateful for your comments. In all my time folowing Aston Villa, I have never known the club to be in such harmony. There is no doubt, in my opinion, that we are once again on the brink of greatness and I am incredibly excited about our prospects for the future. The atmosphere on Sunday was as you say awesome, but as the saying goes: "You aint seen nothing yet!" IF and WHEN Aston Villa start to challenge the top teams you will experience the incredible sound of the VILLA PARK ROAR!!!

Cant believe that more would prefer newcastle to be relegated than the scum! I dont like newcastle but I ******* hate the scum!

Hi General Some time ago a few ideas were suggested, can you say whether there has been any progress? 1) A membership scheme 2) DVD's of home games Thanks Mike

General I appreciate that you have responded to the torrent of complaints about the PL's proposals to play games abroad. However I would also like to vent my anger and disgust at this so called proposal. I have supported the club for almost fifty years and if this comes into being it will be the straw that breaks the camels back. The media and "money men" have absolutely no respect for the loyal fans who despite everything have continued to invest their hard earned cash in following their respective clubs. When you say Randy would do nothing to hurt the club I really want to believe you and will trust him as you suggest. I very much hope that he remembers his statement when he took over the club saying that he sees himself as a "Guardian" of the club. However he is just one of the Premiership Owners/Chairmen and I fear that others will be very keen to chase the filthy lucre, which will then rapidly find its way into the hands of the overpaid players and their sleazy agents. Enough is enough - I sincerely believe that if the PL is allowed to proceed with this proposal that there will a massive backlash from the fans all over the country. Mr Lerner and all the other owners are obviously the legal owners of the various PL clubs but they BELONG to the fans.

General Merry Christmas to you and yours! Thank you very much for all the feeback, it really is appreciated. Incidentally whilst I was way on holiday recently I read a novel by John Grisham called "Playing for Pizza" where the main character is a a quarter back who messed up a chance of the Cleveland Browns getting into the Superbowl and being threatened by the fans and "hounded out of town" etc- did Grisham have to get Randy's OK and what did he think of the idea of his team being used? Rubbish book by the way......... in my opinion!

I think it depends very much on whether we bring another quality midfielder and dare I say it a RB! (who can overlap) in January. If we can I think Gabby is more than capable of getting up round the 20 mark. He seems to be getting stronger by the week and is less and less likely to get knocked off the ball. IF we could get more of a passing game going and through this more quality ball to Gabby I think he could go on the rampage from January onwards! He has one of best instincts for goal scoring that I have seen at Villa for years!

Thanks Stew I've had a look at the site. Still undecided - like the sound of the HTC product but dont think 02 do it

Having read all the comments here and elsewhere I have decided to give the IPhone a miss for a year or so till they hopefully resolve some of the issues. I dont really use MP3 players, Phone Camera's etc but do surf the web etc whilst mobile - however I do LOVE new gadgets! Anyway with head ruling heart and following comments on here I have started to research the N95 as I my primary need is business calls. Initially it seems the answer BUT from the 20 or so recent reviews I have just read it seems to have a patchy reputation with all kinds of faults. Admittedly its a small sample but out 20...............6 people reported having to get replacements in three cases five times. Of the balance no-one gave it 5/5 and the scores on average are around 2.5 - 3.00 which seems poor to me considering this is ssupposed to be a benchmark product. Whats a man to do?

*cough* the last winners in 83-84 were Northern Ireland, Wales came 2nd, England came THIRD, Scotland last........ it was the oldest competition of its kind and lasted for over 100 years. imho the proposal to bring it back is nothing to do with improving the football skills of the home nations and all to do with, as this sentence in a recent article in the Times states: Link: http://tinyurl.com/2zzn62 As usual the "UK" really means "England"

Definitely NOT - the thought of summer being f***** up by a pointless tournament that will give the red tops and the hooligan element in football the opportunity to promote and participate in the worst types of nationalism horrifies me. My suggestion would be that the various national team squads should made to spend the summer improving their skills needed to win meaninful tournaments rather than simply generating more cash for the various inept country FA's

Means a single tier with no upper and lower then I think that would be fantastic and create a superb atmosphere as the shelf in between currently affects the acoustics. General I can only concur with LancsVillan's comment. It would be fantastic if the Holte was a single tier again. The atmosphere would be improved immensely and am sure the Holte would have a massive positive impact on our players and visa versa on the opposition!

We were relegated from div 1 in 1958/1959 season, so I saw my first ever Villa game when we were in the 2nd division when we beat Charlton 11-1 on the 14th Nov 1959, we subsequently won the 2nd division and went straight back up So I saw my first derby game against sha on 22nd Oct 1960 when we HAMMERED them 6-2 at Villa Park! What a return to the top flight! If only we could hammer them again on Sunday by such a margin!!!! IF ONLY!!!

Hi General I have been helping to raise money for the Street Children of Nepal for some years and recentlly someone has donated 4 x manchester u kids shirts to the home that looks after the kids. Needless to say I am not happy that these children should be corrupted at such an early age On a more serious note there are 20 kids (from 2-12 years) in the home and I am sure they would look much better in Villa shirts !!! Is there anyone I could speak to regarding any old surplus kids stock? I will pay to get it there and will happily pay something towards the stuff - any chance we can save these kids from the red devils influence? I am sure the home will get pics for all concerned.

General had the pleasure of visiting the Holte pub for the 2nd time today. It really has been done well. Just one comment... First and foremost it is supposed to be a pub but the number of people running around with official badges on seems to out number the poor bar staff by 10 to 1. It took the best part of 20 minutes to get served. Wouldnt it make sense to have more staff behind the bar?

General, Yeah lets all get cuddly with the Evening Mail - they love us after all - Not!

THanks Scott great report -BTW Nice to meet you at the Holte on Sunday! Its sounds like we have a few "potentials" in the reserves! And that it was an impressive display.