Vancvillan

8 hours ago, privateer said:

So, to protect their investment they give him another contract, throw several millions more at him over the next 18 months, get a handful of goals out of him as he continues to decline by getting older, slower, lazier and even shitter  and then he leaves for nothing.    Genius strategy.

 

To be fair you wouldn't have to think too hard to find a few examples of us doing the same in recent years...

The Norwich marking is absolute jumpers for goalposts.

On 25/09/2019 at 14:14, VillaCas said:

I just don’t see how this happens without a huge tactical restructure - Nakamba or Luiz will take the DM position and Grealish and McGinn obviously won’t be dropped

Worked for the first half today. Ironically he looked knackered by 60 mins.

I'm going Davis for MOTM, purely because it'd be nice for him to get one.

On we go and another goal from Jack in the cup.  Hourihane making another solid case for a starting spot on Saturday.

3 minutes ago, Villarocker said:

McGinn or Grealish are going off for Luiz second half. Neither of them have done anything major to warrant another 45 minutes of that with Luiz on the bench.

I must be watching a different game. I thought they were both full of energy / industry and looked like our most likely sources of danger.

An entertaining game for the neutral, which I know isn't a priority but it's a far cry from our last run in the Premier League.

True story, this happened during the Palace game.

Then Kevin Friend knocked on the door and booked her for simulation.

I know this'll happen more and more as I move into my "managerial" years, but half their players look well YTS.

Got up early to look at my Q2 bookkeeping as I heard your brain is better at boring tasks in the morning. Got finished early so am going to look at my milage next. Think I'll try and do this every quarter.

4 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

I'm in love with man called Bjorn Engels

This. I can't believe how good him and Mings look together.

2 hours ago, BigJim said:

Our set piece delivery was really poor today

This - it was the most memorable thing from the first half for me. Every corner and free kick was wasted. Surely we don't have to have Hourihane on the pitch to at least whip a couple of decent corners in?

I think the starting 11 is fine though I'm not wild about Taylor.

I'm way more nervous than I was a week ago - especially after seeing the Liverpool and Man City games.

I'll go for 2-2, and would be chuffed with it.

14 hours ago, villan-scott said:

He finally has new boots!!  

 

If I was wearing those I'd want to go in knee high on myself.

11 minutes ago, Hobbit Feet said:

the whole lgbtq brigade on board too 

Explain?

Just tried MOMS based on the recommendations here. 

In the words of Mr Shakin' Stevens, lovely stuff.

11 hours ago, mjmooney said:

I assumed he showered and put a clean kit on. 

You are the person running James Milner's parody Twitter account and I claim my five pounds.

Really enjoyed accidentally going back to the first page of this thread and reading through the tone of where we were in Feb. Depressing times, though somehow made sweeter by what we know now. So glad we have at least a fighting chance of keeping Jack AND WE'RE BACK WHERE WE BELONG!

51 minutes ago, Dave-R said:

Now thats a bloody healthy pay chewue for the play off finals, damn thats mint and we have some fine minted Owners to go with it, if anyone can compete its us..

Am I reading that right 340 million over two years WTFOMG

""Aston Villa will reportedly pocket at least £170m after their win, including a cash boost of £95m just for playing in the Premier League, and parachute payments of £75m - paid out over the next two years.""

https://news.sky.com/story/aston-villa-promoted-to-the-premier-league-after-play-off-win-11729617

Hate to burst your bubble but you're reading it wrong. Would be 175m over three years if we played one season in the prem then got relagated for two years in the Championship.

But if we stay up 95m a season is not too shabby. Would have covered our wage bill under MON if I remember correctly...

Every time I come back and read this thread I need a poo again.

4 hours ago, Dave-R said:

I stick by 60mill because of obvious the reason above thats are going to happen if Jack gets sold.

Never before has the word obvious been used in such a non-obvious sentence.

The phone chooses the white balance and has done a worse job with the second photo.

White balance really just means "the colour of light that was landing on the scene". Different light sources have different colours (it's really obvious between say sunlight and tungsten light bulbs, but even shade is different to direct sunlight light).

When you take a pic, unless you set the white balance your camera (or phone) analyzes the image and guesses the white balance from there.

My best guess would be that because the phone lacks an optical zoom (it's essentially either cropping in or extrapolating pixels or maybe a combo of the both), the quality of the file produced when zoomed is worse, with higher noise or artifacting, and that throws off the phone's white balance algorithm. It would also depend on what else is in the frame for both - seeing them without the crop might help.

I hear you on the Guzzi and the Scrambler - at this point you've got it down to a bunch of pretty similar bikes and it's all a matter of personal preference from there.  No matter what you get you're going to love it.

Take a pic and post it here once she's up and running!

I took my test 3 years ago (in Canada) and bought an older bike - 1983 Suzuki GS650. It's an inline 4 so I can't speak about v-twins (I've ridden a couple but not for long).  I love it. Not too heavy, around 70HP so will take a passenger and luggage on the highways with more than enough power to get you out of trouble (and some of our highways are very mountainous).  I had a 49cc scooter before that, and despite people taking the piss I still miss it, though I'd probably never ride it if I'd kept it.

IMHO...

1. I'm glad I didn't get a 250cc - everyone I know either sold theirs after one season or is bored of it / frustrated by it now.

2. Personally I'd avoid any 600 sport bike to start with - a lot more power and less weight than my bike even in a 600cc, and they will throw you the **** off if you don't know how to ride them.

3. I'd buy used for my first bike, or just accept the fact that you're going to drop it at least once.  The main damage will be to your ego, and any fairings / mirrors / stuff sticking out. I didn't care since my bike is old and scuffed, but I would have been heartbroken if it's been a new bike.

Also, think about how much you want to wrench on them - generally the older the bike, the more work they'll need.  Mine's really easy to work on - fluids, filters, and cables are very simple / easy to access, and I've done some electrical and mechanical on it. I was actually annoyed / surprised that you had to take the carbs off to change the starter motor, which is a really unfair criticism but speaks to how easy everything else has been.  Make sure you get a shop manual and a Haynes / Clymer manual, and check both against each other (there are errors).  My bike lacks things like ABS and has some quirks specific to the make / model so it's not perfect.

The Street Twin is a lovely bike, similar riding position to mine which is great for most stuff. You'll get the wind in your face on the highway but that's half the appeal for me. I don't envy the old boys on Goldwings sat in the armchair seats with the big windshields. Sure, it looks comfy, but I'd rather be in a car at that point. The 250 might feel too small quite quickly, though if you buy it used it'll hold its value for a season and you can sell and step up.  The Ducati I've never ridden, and the Guzzi's aren't really my thing.  Have you looked at the Ducati Scrambler?  If I was starting out I'd take that, the Street Twin and a Bonneville out for a test ride.

As above, obey the two golden rules:

1. Everyone is trying to kill you all the time. You are always in the wrong - not a lot of point being righteous and dead.

2. Wear protection. This means different things to different people, but even if I'm going a couple of kms across town, I'm wearing Kevlar-lined jeans with built in armour, a bike jacket, gloves and boots (for around town I have ones that are basically re-enforced high tops).  All of those are a compromise in terms of protection but better than nothing.  For longer journeys I'll have proper pants, a thicker jacket, more sturdy boots and even in summer I'll go thicker gloves (my summer gloves are very lightweight).

Two extra rules:

3. If you ride in the rain (I ride all year) no-one can see you at all.  Your visor is like a blindfold at slower speeds.  Water will get into anything and make you uncomfortable / distracted. Buy your gear (and colour of rain gear) accordingly.

4. No passengers for the first few months.  Ideally for the first 3-5000kms, as you will make mistakes.  I'm at around 20,000kms, and since the birth of my daughter we've decided that we'll never be on the bike together again and I put my life insurance up.  The risk is real.

All that said, it's a ton of fun and hard to beat on a sunny day with your mates. Just take it easy and keep the rubber side down.

Leeds look leggy and there's a general air of frustration on the pitch.

Nothing seems to Klich.