NurembergVillan

Four wins out of five!

I'm on my phone so I'm delighted you saved me the effort of typing that out. Wagner has had time, now they're reaping the rewards. Glaringly obvious.

Underage Kids Innocent Paul

Up early tomorrow for a flight to Sri Lanka. Sounds like it should be a nice holiday, except it's a work trip, on my own, for 3 (three) nights, and the forecast is 33C with rain, and I've got a cold so my whole body is aching. And I arrive at 4am local time on Sunday morning.

Just a little reminder that Sol Bamba only got a 3 match ban for this -

That's four times out of six. Steve Bruce's promotions (that 's' at the end is important) aren't an anomaly, as your points about Atletico and Leicester prove. if it was just about attacking Newcastle would've won the league under Keegan, Spurs would've won it under Ardiles, and Tim Sherwood would be Utd manager instead of defensively-minded, multi-title-winning Jose Moutinho. See also Argentina 1990, Greece 2004, Italy 2006, 1-0 to the Arsenal, and Liverpool's inability to win trophies with attacking football under Rodgers and Klopp.

Call me Caitlyn.

This should replace one of the banners on the Holte End. It's been a problem for as long as I've been going to VP.

Any more info on this? Not even fired the Xbox up for 12 months, but it'll be getting a dusting off for this one!

Seoul is amazing. I was there on a shopping trip for work and only had 48 hours so I didn't get much culture, but it was the coolest city I've been to in Asia. We went on to Tokyo from there, and whilst it was mind-blowing it was also raining the whole time so it took the edge off it. Went to the restaurant where they filmed the fight scene in Kill Bill, though. That was a privilege.

Over 3 million.

Plus Mancini played for Leicester, and is a bit of a journeyman manager in the last few years so might jump at a big contract.

You.

If we're getting free agents in to train with us we may as well have a punt on Berbatov.

I'd heard of him but never seen him "in action" until the the Bill Maher thing at the weekend. What an utterly contemptible bell end. I've never really hated anyone in my life. I don't have the energy for it, and it's not really part of my moral structure. But right now he's on a list of 4 or 5 people who I genuinely hate. I'm pretty even-minded, and can see things from other peoples' point of view - sometimes to my own detriment. But in the case of far right wing racism, sexism, xenophobia etc I just genuinely cannot get my head around it. I can't fathom how someone can hold those views and not just be either trolling or taking the piss.

Since this -

It's not really a case of not having leaders, it's more people who are part of the culture of the place. Even within a business environment, if the place lacks leaders who have been around the company for a while there's no real culture or togetherness.

I think you've nailed it. They're all strangers in a new club. Gabby is the figurehead, and even if he's turned a corner they'll all know about last season. We've got nobody who new players can look at and say "he's Aston Villa". From the owner to the youth team manager, pretty much everybody is new. There's no Gareth Barry, or Milner, or Southgate, or Petrov. There's no example who everybody looks up to, who's revered throughout the club. Of all the players we've signed, I do wonder if Petrov is the one we really should have brought in. He knows the club inside out, he's played at a high level, and his story is inspirational. Even if he rarely played, or was player-coach, or whatever, he'd have been someone to guide the club. Continuity really is key, but it's difficult when it'll seemingly be a continuation of rubbish. At some point though, we'll have a group of people who have been through this, come out the other side, and are part of the fabric of Aston Villa. Right now, nobody is the torch bearer during these dark times.

He'll be like a new signing next January when he's fit again. We're absolutely cursed.