John

If Nursey's original story is correct, then we are their first choice with Albion as the fall-back option should we drop. That would be a big fall back!

Neither? The myth that Randy is making money from Aston Villa continues He was not "making money" but he was taking money back that had previously been spent on these players and a bit more on top (it was once called "profitable player trading" at our club). This reduced the gap between overall spending on players and income from player sales at the cost of performance on the field but not to the extent that he has added to his wealth during his time as our custodian. I just do not want to see Benteke leaving in the way these players did if at all possible.

We need to stop being a "selling club" and the line needs to be drawn now before Benteke like Barry, Milner, Downing and Young before him leaves us to make us a lesser side than we were before the transfer happened.

£30m + & Lambert would most likely see a deal happen. But only if we do not win the FA Cup, Benteke wants away at the end of the season, Tim cannot persuade him to give us another season at least and we do not get a new owner in that would see Benteke as a player we cannot afford to lose at any price. Benteke is a player whose goals have kept us in this division to date. He will take a lot of replacing and we should be looking to build a team around him rather than to sell him. Did we replace Barry, Milner, Young or Downing like for like or did selling them help our owner's bank ballance but see us facing bottom 6 rather than top 6 from then onwards?

4 more points should do it and if we cannot get that with 3 home games to come then we cannot blame anyone for our relegation other than Palace, Stoke.....

Tim did his own version of the "Do you want to bet against us?" from Ron Saunders when he was interviewed post match by the BBC below "What we play like that and we'll get relegated. You're having a laugh ain't you?" http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32468787

It would be great if the club could supply some figures concerning: How many tickets are being made available to fans of the original 25,000 allocation. How many current ST holders we have. How many Villa Cash members we have (ST holders could be deducted from that figure). How many fans have a 4 + Cup booking history (excluding ST holders). How many fans have an 8+ game history. I guess those figures were used to set the sales criteria so they should be available. This would enable fans to get some idea of how likely they may be to get a ticket on the understanding that this information could not be said to guarantee their right to a ticket which would still be subject to availability. Or the club could just say we expect there will still be some tickets available at the start of 11th, 12th or 13th May for example.

John I think you are being too kind. I don't know any "true" Villa fan who could make such a mistake. That he may "prefer" Villa due to the Dugdale family connection I accept, but his remarks show him to be A fraud. Happy to be considered as being "too kind" Mike. His late uncle took him to Villa Park and he has been a fan or had a preference for us over other football clubs in the years since then. I would see him as more of a fan than say Tom Hanks for example but less of a fan than both of us by some very considerable distance. He has said a lot about us in the past that was positive and that outweighs this one off remark for me. But I trust we can agree to differ on how serious this slip up is in the grand scale of things Mike.

I do not consider it is in any real doubt that he is a Villa fan. I guess his speech writer may have got this one very wrong and he had not realised what he had said was not quite the case until after he had said it. I think other politicians may have done the same once or twice in the past.

I bought Everton , West Ham and Burnley all in one go this morning ... They make no difference to my criteria though. I qualify the day after the Villa cash guys. But yeah, Burnley is on sale. Thanks got my son his Burnley ticket now. I hope I can do the same for the Final. It is. It would suggest there will be a hell of a rush on that day if there are still tickets and I would have thought it better for the ticket office to space these out a little and STHs a little less. I wonder how many have been to 8+ (possibly less than we would all think from this decision)?

I pray you are right! So do I but I'm not sure the tickets will last until the start/end of the last day. We can but hope.

I don't think the Burnley tickets are on sale yet.

For the semi-final I was told there were enough tickets to accommodate all of the criteria first published. I'm not so sure on this one but no doubt they have done the math at the ticket office or I guess they would have asked for say a 16+ and a 12+ booking history on the last 2 days. It would help a lot if we had an idea on how far down the table this might go with a view to holding back to be able to sit with others but I can understand the club would be plagued by complaints if tickets dried up before they had said they would.

Details on Villa site now on sale from Tuesday going down to + 7 booking history on 13/5.

Still no ticket news on the club's site. If they go on sale on Sunday it would be nice to know who to.

I would take a point but 12/1 might prove to be another high price that the bookies come to regret offering.against us.

I have heard Wolves fans say that he might do well as an impact player say coming off the bench for us and that he may thrive on not getting the sort of challenges he currently attracts from lower league defenders as well as by possibly getting a little more space than he is now allowed. On a free he may well be worth a look if his wage demands are reasonable.

I do not think that cup games should take priority over league games for the final.The number of combined cup/league games attended would seem the fairest way to allocate tickets after ST holders get their shot. Creaming off 2,500 tickets from an allocation of 25,000 tickets by the club before the above get a shot at tickets also seems around 1,500 to much for me. It seems fans will be paying for this new Wembley for some time not only through the cost of tickets but by the FA allowing such a high proportion of tickets to go to Club Wembley members in addition to the so called "football family". I have to say that I think if the game was at Old Trafford for example most of those that managed to get a ticket for the semi-final would most likely get one for the final as well. But that new stadium has to be paid for and the FA's concerns are for that and the "football familly" rather than on how many fans of the two teams get to watch their teams at the final

Source: Player Match Ratings: Football doesn’t get any better than this!

How joyous was this semi-final victory and how proud of our team do we all feel? We left the stadium having witnessed the best display a Villa team has given in 19 years at Wembley. This was an occasion to be celebrated and one that will live in our memories. What had threatened to be a season of despair may yet prove to have a glorious conclusion. We proved the press, pundits and bookmakers wrong yesterday. We did not play like the long-odds underdogs they considered were just there to make up the numbers. We fought like lions and fully deserved our victory. We had the resilience to come back from a goal behind and had the better of the game dominating it until we were put under some sustained pressure near the end. But we were not to be denied our first FA Cup win against yesterday’s opponents since our double winning year. So it is not to be the much anticipated and longed for final hurrah for Stevie G at this year’s FA Cup Final thanks to us party-poopers. But it is not all doom and gloom for Stevie because he is now free to book an early holiday in the sun. He can then watch us play Arsenal in comfort with a sangria in his hand as his glittering playing career winds towards its conclusion. His team-mate Sterling may have other forms of relaxation in mind for the end of May but I’m sure he found Sunday’s defeat to be no laughing matter. No doubt we will start the FA Cup Final as underdogs and with everyone expecting Arsenal to cruise to a comfortable win. But wasn’t that what everyone other than us thought was going to happen yesterday? As Ron Saunders once said “Do you want to bet against us?” My player ratings from a game that has left us 90 minutes from lifting the FA Cup for the eighth time and for the fist time since 1957 are: Shay Given – 7 – Did what he needed to do and looked solid when tested. Shay showed how much winning this game meant to him with his post game celebrations. Leandro Bacuna – 7 – Gave a solid performance. Nathan Baker – 7 - Left the field due to injury on 26 minutes. Had looked steady and composed until then. Ron Vlaar – 9 – Gave an immense performance at the heart of our defence which was reminiscent of his summer World Cup assurance. Kieran Richardson – 8 – Continued the upturn in personal performance he produced at Spurs on the Wembley turf and did not let anyone down at the back. A loose ball fell to him inside the box on 62 minutes following a Lovren challenge on Grealish but his effort was well wide of the post. Headed a Gerrard header from a corner off the line on 86 minutes. Tom Cleverley – 9 – He gets better with each game and wins like this may yet have him seeing his future as with us rather than elsewhere. His best performance for us and one that demonstrated he can still find the performance levels that made him an international player in the past. Ashley Westwood - 8 – Made a big contribution to our strong midfield display on his welcome return to the side. Fabian Delph – 9 – He was Captain Fantastic yesterday. He controlled the middle and hit our winner to put the icing on the cake. Delph started the move in the centre circle on 54 minutes by playing the ball forward to Benteke who back heeled the ball for Grealish whose well timed pass into the box found Fab. He then turned inside two defenders before hitting the ball into the back of the net. Jack Grealish – 9 – MOTM - He was so comfortable on the Wembley turf and produced a superb display being in no way phased by the importance of the occasion. Jack was always available to his colleagues and gave a match-winning performance. Made some good threatening runs and might look at having a shot when he gets himself into such positions in the future. He can now look forward to a Cup Final appearance for us 110 years after his great-great-grandfather did the same in our 1905 FA Cup Final win. Charles N’Zogbia – 7 – Benteke back heeled the ball to Delph who found Charles on 12 minutes. His shot from the edge of the box was tipped over the bar by Mignolet. Christian Benteke – 9 – His goal run continues and threatens to bring us some silverware as well as safety. Christian hit our vital equalizing goal on 36 minutes. Grealish played a lovely ball to Delph who in turn found Benteke whose shot beat the outstretched hand of Mignolet and found the corner of the net. He was a constant threat to the Liverpool defence. Substitutes: Jores Okore – 7 – Replaced Baker on 26 minutes. He was hesitant when losing the ball inside his own box in the lead up to their goal and unluckily got a touch on Coutinho’s shot which may well have took it from Given’s reach. He then settled into the game well and went on to form a solid central defensive partnership with Vlaar. Scott Sinclair – Replaced N’Zogbia on 75 minutes. Scott was not on long enough to gather a rating. Joe Cole – Replaced Jack on 83 minutes. Not on long enough to merit a rating but he does not lose many semi-finals does he? Up for the Cup Villa! John Lewis

A4 sized grey plastic envelope get down there Neil!

So you can buy the club in the summer then? I did not put quite enough on to be able to do that.

I would disagree if that is true. Its is the semi finals, you play your first choice keeper. Shay has done a good job in the early rounds, but now it is serious. Not really that fair on Guzan as he played every game of the league cup run and was dropped for Friedel when we got to the final. I think there is very little to choose between the two at the moment and I would not see it as fair if Given did not get a game on Sunday. But there will be a decision to be made on which keeper should start when we get to the final.

I just cannot understand why so many people (including the bookies) see this as a one horse race. Corals for example have us as 9/1 to win the cup but 11/2 to beat Liverpool (which appears the easier of the two potential barriers to our lifting the trophy). This is not the Liverpool of the 1970s & we beat them 5-1 in 76/7 in any case! I have backed Benteke to score first and us to win 3-1 or 3-0 @ 210/1 & 340/1 respectively so I may well invest my winnings in Club Wembley seats for the Final!