NurembergVillan

From the Veloso thread -

Welcome back General. Independence Day too - nice touch Having spent time in hospital in Kenya with a bacterial infection of the stomach I can sympthise with your plight...

Players sharing secrets with friends they don't really know on Facebook? Whatever is the world coming to??? From the Bentley thread: X

Also from the Unfounded Speculation thread, we've got some "my mate met someone ITK in a casino". Juicy! X

SellyOakVilla sticking his neck out again in the Unfounded Speculation thread on July 1st. Fair play to him - he has faith in his source: X AND X

From the Lerner In No Hurry thread: X

After all the speculation over the last 12 months, I want the chance to explain my decision to the Villa players. Firstly I want to thank them for the incredible rollercoaster I have experienced over the last 12 years, this football club has been a huge part of my life, I got my first season ticket as a 16-year-old boy and now I am moving on as a 28-year-old man with a wife and two children, and a collection of souvenir programmes - including the two special ones from that European thing we played in last season. A lot of things have changed in that time, players, management and a chairman (Doug Ellis gave us a reason to have a good old moan, eh lads?!) - but every season bar none, whether we have been bottom half, mid table or challenging for Europe, the players and everyone on Villa Talk have been fantastic. My one huge regret is that during my time at this club the players have not brought the fans the success we deserve - Stan Collymore, Sasa Curcic, Bosko Balaban et al all failed to pay the fans back for our support. Gareth Barry obviously has to take his share of responsibility that we have not been good enough to win trophies, but also the "fickleness" of us as supporters hasn't helped. I feel the club is in the best position it has been in during my time as a fan (a far cry from when David O'Leary was slagging us all off), I think we have a group of very good young players (apart from Isiah Osbourne), we have a fantastic chairman who is here for the good of the club and one of the best managers in the game. Obviously people will ask why I am leaving to support Manchester City if I feel like that. I have honestly been very undecided what to do, the manager and the whole club have bent over backwards to try and persuade me to stay - including free copies of Claret and Blue magazine and some desktop wallpapers with my name on the back of Ashley Young's shirt - and made me a fantastic offer which I am extremely grateful for (season tickets in the North Stand Lower are EXCELLENT value). But, after changing my mind lots of times, I came to the decision that the time was right for me and for the club to part company. I need a new challenge, I have a massive fear of going stale and falling into a comfort zone - I didn't want to become a glory fan with a Liverpool shirt when I'm not even from there! I believe the move is a good one for the club (they can sell my season ticket to someone more committed), I am sure the Mrs will use the spare season ticket money well to buy something nice and the club will go from strength to strength. I am also excited now about my new club, a lot of people will question my decision to support Manchester City, but they were the club prepared to pay the most for players, which for a 28-year-old with a satellite dish and HDTV I think shows how much they will allow me to boast down the pub. Once I had seen them sign Robinho there was nobody else I wanted to support, I was also desperate to avoid any long drawn out saga. I feel I am supporting a club that will seriously challenge to win major honours. People might doubt that, but I am convinced with the plans the club has short term and long term. The backing the manager will receive from the owners (we almost signed Kaka untul Milan "bottled" it) tells me that we will be a major force. Also the World Cup next year has always been a major part of my thinking. I feel with Manchester City being on TV so much next year I will get be able to forego a season ticket and spend the money on a nice handbag for the lady and a flight to South Africa next summer. Touch! Time will tell if I am right or not, but those are my reasons. I have grown bored of all the speculation surrounding me over the last 12 months and I am sure all the fans have as well, I am glad I never left last summer because I would have left under a huge cloud and not been able to a) brag when we were 3rd and moan when we were 6th. This year I feel things are different, I haven’t used Setanta. I have discussed things with my best friend (a United fan from Richmond in Surrey) but ultimately made my own choices. I believe the situation has been handled properly by everybody involved. Once again I have to thank the media and Man City's new owners for that. I genuinely wish the club all the best for the future and want to thank everyone who has helped and supported them with me in my time here. For the rest of my life Aston Villa will be the first result I look for. After Manchester City. And Barcelona. Unless Real Madrid sign Cristiano Ronaldo and start doing well again under the new President. Thanks for everything. Gary Bareth. Is it any more acceptable coming from a fan? Is there any point following football any more, when it's all about who has the richest owner? It's basically Formula One with boots instead of tyres...

After a full year of will he, won't he, Gareth Barry finally did and has moved to Manchester City in a £12m switch, signing a 5-year contract worth an estimated £25m over it's duration taking him up to the age of 34. After in excess of 400 league and cup appearances, Gareth has decided that he and his ambitions will be best served at Manchester City. He joins a list of central midfielders which currently includes Elano, Stephen Ireland, Vincent Kompany and Nigel de Jong and so will need to replicate his England form on a regular basis for his new club if his World Cup ambitions are to be realised - a place in the starting 11 can surely not be guaranteed. This is a far cry from his last two years at Villa, where he has been a permanent fixture in the midfield, forming a partnership with Stilyan Petrov this season which saw Villa finish 6th in the table - 12 points ahead of Gareth's new employers. It was a far from dynamic pairing, though, and while international football gives Barry the freedom and time to dictate play from deep with megastars like Lampard and Gerrard in front of him, a more central role at club level saw a large variation in performance levels. For every Newcastle at home there was a Fulham away. Reinstated as Captain when Martin Laursen succumbed to his career ending injury midway through the season, Barry would occasionally inspire his teammates but many fans felt he was a far cry from the game's top leaders such as Terry, Gerrard and even the aforementioned Laursen. With Barry's leadership coinciding with the dip in form which accounted for the much coveted Champions League place, it remains to be seen whether he will be a massive loss or a massive opportunity to move forward and change the style of play. Manchester United survived the departures of Ince, Beckham, Stam and van Nistelrooy. Arsenal survived when Flamini, Henry, Petit and Vieira departed. Villa will survive without Gareth Barry. How Gareth Barry will fair without Aston Villa, though, will only be known as next season unfolds. Did he move to a more ambitious club? Did he move for the massive pay packet? Or was it just time to cash in and move on for all concerned?

Jordi Gomez, was on loan at Swansea this season from Espanyol, attacking midfielder. We've also signed a 22yr old American, a 16yr old German, a 15yr old from Southend and a 14/15yr old from Australia. Apparently close to signing another 15yr old from Leeds too. Talk about poaching kids! You have to sign loads cos half of 'em will get shot or kidnapped

They inspired this one, NS!

Exactly what it says on the tin. The season's just ended, but where will we need to finish at the end of next season for you to be happy? Why?

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE ARTICLE HERE IS A COMPLETE FABRICATION AND THE QUOTES ATTRIBUTED TO MIKE ASHLEY AREN'T TRUE AND WEREN'T MADE BY HIM. IT'S A BIT OF FUN WITH NO INTENTION OF CAUSING ANY HARM. THANK YOU.

Clicky

Because they deserve it. Because every time something mildly interesting happens to them (like they sign Oscar Whateveriznaymez) there's live press conferences on Sky and thousands of unemployable pit-monkeys foaming at the mouth outside Exeter City's St James Park screaming incoherent bollocks which would roughly translate to how they're "gunna win tha Champeeunz Leeag". "Like". "Ahlreet". Etc. Plebs.

I quite often don't agree with your posts but I've agreed with you on GB right from the get-go.

I've never thought he was as good as his reputation suggests. A bit like our version of Emile Heskey. Except now we've got both of them...

Can you imagine what life would be like if we could all read each other's minds? Yes my life would involve a small cage or walled room, be it soft or hard, not sure, but freedom would be greatly compromised. Stay the hell out of my head for my safety and for everyone elses. Cheers Please let them never develop this technology until I'm dead dead dead. I knew your were going to post that. I knew you were going to post that Harsh!

That is truly insane!

Now I'm back living in this country I've started having a go at roast dinners and in typical me style I want to try and make them a bit more exotic. I've followed a Jamie Oliver recipe of putting garlic and a lemon in the chicken and that added a nice flavour, but what if I wanted to get quite a strong flavour into the meat - say chilli etc Would I need to leave the marinade under the skin overnight? I tried putting it straight in the overn but the flavour didn't soak into the meat.

When Villa triumphed at Wembley in 96 you could see half my face on the front page of the Guardian.

James Milner arrived at Bodymoor Heath at 6am this morning, stripped to his grey y-fronts, fibreglass socks and ill-fitting hobnail boots and proceeded to clear snow from the entire training ground using only a teaspoon with a broken handle. He had finished by 7.30 and, not wanting his hard work to go to waste, began running furiously back and forth across the turf to prevent any further snow disruption ahead of the arrival of his teammates.

I'm an old romantic at heart - I'll be in New York so am flying the Mrs out for the weekend and am hoping to get in a meal somewhere like the Empire State Building and then a horse and carriage ride around Central Park.

I voted Yes. Personally I think it's outrageous and exploitative. I'll be writing to my MP in the morning. Perverts!

It's the Japanese who are obsessed with elections.

As a Mod I've kindly added a poll function