PIW

Collins was shaky for me. poor passing and poor defending. Still, first game back and all that.

General, my 9 year old nephew has caught the Villa bug and is going with my dad on Saturday. Can he have a game?

Afternoon General. is it fair to say we'll only see/hear from you again if/when things are going well?

Gotta be happy with that.

It happens EVERY transfer window! Crumbs, is VT main forum ever better than off topic? Well the VT forum is the reason we're all here in the first place. Maybe the quality is not better, but during a transfer window it was always the first place I (and many others I assume) would go and also the most active area of the site. I think the fact we are resigned to not signing anymore players has put a stop to this though. really? The problem, here and on H&V, with the main fora(ums) is that there is only so many times you can argue 4-42 against 4-3-3 and whether Makoun is any good or not. Similarly, it gets boring wanting to suggest the latest Norwegian player so and so thinks would be brilliant whilst A Someone says that they've have an ITK that so and so is signing because their brother's girlfriend's hairdresser lives next door to someone who decoartes the inside of aston martins and they overheard someone saying that they were buying a house in the area and will be having a medical. It all gets so tedious.

General, Are we entering the Birmigham Senior Cup this year? Also - and this isn't a question - please make sure you have your contingency plan for a new manager in place because we'll need a new one quite soon I'd imagine.

Spot on. I'd shag her.

...oh and that thing about us all wanting Downing to stay? Not quite.

So eloquently written you could almost be a "pool" fan...

General, if this goes wrong, what next?

General, you state 'Again, I am not confirming the rumor…just simply stating my feelings…as a FAN!!!!!!!!' Can you confirm, as a fan, your feelings about Birmingham City? Also, the club statement says that McLeish's previous 3 and a half tenure should not stop him getting the job at Villa should he be the best candidate. General, who else are we interviewing that has taken a club with a top half finish last-season, a cup win this season, and still manages to get his team relegated? Finally, General, are you, Randy, the board completely f******g mad? (Mods no direct crudity meant).

General, Have we sorted out a sponsor for next season yet? Also, what ratio of season-ticket holders for the new season are from a 3 mile radius of Villa Park? And a one-mile radius?

McClaren it is then. Randy cancels a meeting citing how much we have it in for McClaren then sets up the rumour that we#'ll get McLeish. All of a sudden McClaren sounds like a brilliant option and we go back to him. the fans are delirious, not to say relieved.

Oh well. There's still Owen Coyle and Ian Holloway. Apparently.

Back to the economy although I note that there were some economists who did see it it comes across as people saying that the current trend of high wages being paid to footballers and vasts amounts at the top being unsustainable, how does that turn into policy? especially on a political level? Who would have the political will to adopt policies in good times that curtail prosperity? However false it may be? Name one politician who spelled it out, recognised not only the effects of what was to come - or could come - and what should be done in terms of sound financial policy. How do you tell a populace/an electorate that you're going to take the money out of their pockets and start tightening belts? No party would do it and that's why no party suggested it. You could say that they are all economic fucktards but its easier to make political distinctions. It shows a bigger problem that when we elect our representatives, because of the complexity of areas such as economics, there is an argument that we should elect the person and not the party. If at the last General Election there was a vote between Darling/Osborne/Cable based solely on their economic ability, understanding of the financial institutions and how to try and best run it, then its likely Vince Cable would have been returned and he is probably is the most qualified. As it is we have Osborne who has as little credibility as any of the other 'fucktards' offered. But, in a pluralist system we get anyone that the party deems fit to put into any position. However, important the position. Don't like them and there can be a re-shuffle and an other Joe Bloggs can get in. My point is that politically they are mostly all culpable. The Tories are lying to us that they would have been better/different to Labour and this is their fault. Yes, it happened on Labour's watch but unless the Tories can point to what they wanted to do as an alternative then stop lying to us about the causes of all of this. What we need is something that isn't driven on political lines because it wasn't political lines that got us here. (It was rampant capitalism but that's a different argument). And until then we will have the same tit-for-tat politics of 'yah, boo, sucks' hoping one side messes up as it helps your side, and decisions taken subsequently are and have been taken purely on ideological grounds. The electorate are being lied to. Constantly. By both all sides. Its time that we stopped accepting it and tried to get the new type of politics that we were promised before the election. What we have is the same old same old and once again we pay.

I think the big issue here is that most people, including your struly, do not have a good enough grasp on economics, financial institutions, and banking to really understand all of what is going on. Yes we have our opinions but they are mostly ill-informed and mostly led by political affiliations and by what politicians want us to belive. We know the banking crisis is global and we know that labour didn't bring the worlds to its knees. But its also true to say that Labour didn't regualte well enough, far enough, and let those institutions that were supposed to regulate it get away with doing nothing about it. So there are fingers to point and people to blame everywhere. But its global so it appears that those responsible are not necessarily incompetent but merely they didn't have experience, or understand the system well enough that they were allowing to finance the country. So, Gordon Brown takes a lot of flak for that. But if he is a "fucktard" was he isolated across party lines in his 'ineptitude'? Well, no. George Osborne criticised Brown's policies on regulation as going too far. He wanted the then govt. to allow the banking sector more freedom. Was is he not a "fucktard"? His party leader would have supported his then Shadow-Chancellor so is Cameron not a "fucktard"? it can be argued that only Vince cable argued for greater regulation but without having Hansard in front of me I cannot give an accout of too what length he foresaw what then happened and if he was the bright lone voice in a lost economic wilderness of those without understanding. So, to those of us without great economic understanding this party ideological blaming of Labour is as naive, as it is nonsense, as it is puerile. Nobody saw it coming (save Vince maybe) and too pretend otherwise is laughable. To then keep talking the economy down (as Cameron et al constantly do by banging on about Greece, and being bankrupt) is surely counter-productive when we should be talking our economy up and inviting more investment?

Steve for Small Heath then.

Am I the only one who doesn't think that an Ancelotti appointment doesn't mean great deal at the moment. He had money and an already decent team at Chelsea so couldn't do much but look successful. even Avram Grant was a post away from winning the Champions League. Can Ancelotti do it at a club like Villa? Where he can't sign just anyone? he's as untested as a Paul Lambert on this regard and for that reason I'd be fairly sceptical if he were appointed.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who gets the horn looking at a great big piece of red meat. I could seriously **** it.

General it really is time for you and Randy to go. Nahhh, just kidding. This is just to let you know that not all of us are pessimistic about the summer, transfers out, and the potential transfers in. crap season and the reasons for it need to be addressed. But i think players need to be sold and a new manager (or Houllier) needs to bring his players in - his type of players.

Young and Downing out for around 30m. N'Zogbia, Kranjcar, and some foreign/french bloke that Houllier knows about ( or two) and Bob's your uncle. Seems like I'm the only one going into this summer with a positive frame of mind where transfers are concerened. nd we've saved a bit of money with NRC's wages so we can go and get a half decent foreigner for sensible wages. Game on.

Sell him!

North - Villa and some Albion West - Villa and Albion East - The Shit with a healthy number of Villa South - Villa and The Shit. basically we're everywhere and they're just in isolated areas. If they had as many fans as they think then they'd have a stadium fit for it. As it is they can't sell out the Shithole that they've got. Says it all.

I see him in Formula 1 terms as a Sauber. On its day it can be great and threatens to break into the higher echelons. But all too often you see glimpses of greatness but more often than not, just sits in the midfield looking pretty. I've just had an idea for a new thread...

Well Fair enough. The bloody idiot. Going and embarrassing himself that badly...