privateer

Yeesh

And **** this word removed as well.

My last point on Deano for the moment. He said something post game that was very telling. it went something like he was asked what kind of manager he was and he said he tried to be the manager he would have wanted to be managed by. There is is no finer sentiment than that for a manager to live their working life by in any profession. Unfortunately, most people won't have a manger like that, they'll find themselves working for a word removed.

That was funny as ****. A strangled "100%" was the best the loquacious wordsmith could muster for that one but I loved Smith's delivery answering the question. It was like, "WTF? You think I'm here to whistle Dixie as we get boned by teams we've convinced ourselves because the media have told everyone they are our betters?" The difference between Aston Villa Aston Villa understanding Aston Villa and Purslow Aston Villa talking about Aston Villa celebrating cups and titles.

I don't understand why that one isn't on everybody's ignore. Been on mine for most of the season since I copped on to what the schtick was. And people don't just not have on ignore, they don't practically ignore by being drawn into engaging. Dungeddit myself.

Need to sack that guy in the middle. He doesn't seem that committed to the cause.

Wait, what? Did Wes just tacitly confess to using the VT match thread to find ways to watch games?

On 16:00, exactly why we have got the right guy running the team. "We'll try to finish first."

I echo those sentiments entirely. I don't know what next season holds for him other than it won't be as the holder of a playing contract with us. He's very fit and I imagine he's got a good couple of years in him at Championship level.

I don't think it was malicious, per se, but I think ruthless levering it certainly was. He's a very switched on guy, in no way naive and he's sending out a message to everyone that a) He wants to sign for Villa and b) He's done with Bournemouth. He's burned a bridge deliberately, imo. He knows that even if we don't sign him then he'll get an upward move from Bournemouth on the strength of his performances for us. He's also put some downward pressure on the release fee they'll accept to get rid of a player who, in his mind, is only their player on paper.

Subtle, Tyrone, subtle.

TBH I was getting annoyed with him today for that very reason. The number of times he was close to a defender as they were looking to feed out and he just wandered around without harrying them was getting me irate. And towards the end when he received a short free kick just in their half but was so sloppy and casual one of their guys nipped in and took it away resulting in a dangerous attack had me spitting curses at him. Defending can begin from the front except when you've got someone like him playing the way he did today. There were times when I thought he'd get the hook and we'd find out he'd been injured, that's how torpid he was at times.

I think in light of his achievements we can re-categorise him as strawberry blond.

Yeah, agreed. Now we're going up and he's leaving we can call it as it is. He's just a shit Carlton Cole.

Watched it round my ma's place on a stream whilst the curry was cooking and she gorged on Death In Paradise and she's right pissed off. I popped a bottle of champagne too close to her glass - and her- it happens when you have done a bottle of wine watching us crack the playoff - and it **** went everywhere. All over her and a bunch of stuff she wanted kept dry. I made her do three toasts to try to get her champagne high quickly but it doesn't seem to have worked. She's got a face like Steve Bruce ATM

Totally legendary. Only the Villa can have the future King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and The Commonwealth and the erstwhile King Of The Fanny Clubs kicking it up together.

I wouldn't take him on a pay as you play when he is the one paying us when he plays.

Ahhh, that explains why my source within the club said we had conditionally offered him and a few others contracts with us for next season. Wow. Spying, schmying. We really do black ops on another level now we have multi-billionaire owners.

I don't wish him well but then again, I'm a bit of a word removed where karma is concerned. In fact I'm a bit of a word removed all round, really. However, I hope he doesn't die. I'd like him to be able to contribute to medical knowledge. He can be part of a diagnosable syndrome. Schumacher-Perkins Syndrome. And I hope he was pissed and there is no 3rd party liability so he gets looked after by minimum wage Kill Bill carers.

I'm feeling confident because we are the better team of the two, in my estimation. All things being equal, we'll prevail assuming we play the match and not the occasion. The fact is we're not so much better than Derby that the team who does the former will certainly beat whichever team succumbs to the latter. I think we've got the team to beat them and the experience and coolness to cope with the occasion, so I'm confident. But...it could all go Pete.

OK, so please put out your best side and totally outplay us.

Can't disagree with most of that except there was only one lucky team. We've earned our place in the final through skill, grit and determination which resulted in storming form on the run in. Then we trolled the Dingles into a penalty shoot-out, in which we handed out a lesson and a final Adomah troll, to break our local rivals for now and hobble their mental strength for next season. I did think you were going to cruise that tie out and we'd be playing you until that massive balls up in defence. Wasn't there a close shave a bit earlier in a similar fashion that you got away with or did it come after? Either way, you were looking dodgy with a goalie who seemed to be having rushes of blood to the head and defenders who were having concomitant white-outs when he did it. And to give Derby credit, they exploited what was going on there, pressured and pulled it off. The warning to all teams is there to see. Games can change in an instant, a mistake can act as a pivot to lever momentum in a different direction and if you haven't the coolness and mental strength to overcome that, you're screwed. And that's one thing we have that we had little or none of in years past under different managers with different players. We didn't do comebacks from setbacks the way we do now. Anything can happen but ultimately, as you say, they were the weakest team in the playoffs and they are coming up against who have demonstrably proved to be the strongest and who should have too much for them. Hopefully.