TheSufferingVilla

Ronaldo anyone clicky

I watched Robbie Keane come on as a late substitute yesterday, looks sharp and fit with no signs of the injury he's recovering from. I know Celtic are after him but surely he'd be a good buy for us, can play behind the front two or on either wing and can create goals from nothing. Not a target man by any means but just the player to replace Baros.

Beckham is going to the LA Galaxy that is almost certain, Posh has been shopping for a pad in LA and the MLS recently changed the entire wage structure of the league to accomidate him.

One player who could do a job for us on the right is Ronnie O'Brien, I've mentioned him before solid player started out at Middlesbrough who was quickly snapped up by Juventus but never got his chance and eventually ended up in the US after a brief stint at Dundee. He's been playing over here for 4 years and has made the leagues all star team a couple of times (he set up the goal that beat Chelsea in pre-season). At 28 he's still got a couple of seasons left in him and delivers a good ball. Probably available at 1-2 million.

There's better ways to get revenue than pinching from the fans every year.

I'd imagine we will have a new sponsor for next season so there'slittle chance of us keeping the same kit, but it's great news that we wont be changing every year.

I remember last summer people were throwing Javier Saviola's name around a fair bit. What does everyone think now worth signing or even obtainable?

Wow we really have been linked to a lot of shit players, I'm just happy MON is our manager and not any of those runour mongers.

I'm not talking about rebuilding Aston, just polishing up the walk between train stations and the ground so that visitors don't get lost and to add to the whole Villa experience.

I'll agree with you there Robbo, if I wasn't following the other fans I'd surely have gotten lost, maybe we could have a marked walkway to the stadium with special paving stones, it wouldn't have to be the Hollywood walk of fame just slabs that maybe commerorate past players or club staff like the tiles out the front of the Trinity for fans, it wouldn't cost an awful lot and it would be nice for the kids to stop and look at them on their way to the ground and maybe give us space to pay tribute to our heroes when they pass.

New York to Villa Park: Hi general I went to see Villa play Man U as a little Christmas present to myself, after a stopover to see my parents in Dublin I set sail for Birmingham that chilly Saturday, here are my thoughts on the whole adventure most of the issues have probably been raised before but some might be interesting as they come from a first time visitor to VP as an adult (I was there once as a little kid). 1: Getting on the plane I immediately noticed a good number of Irish fans traveling over most were of the Villa persuasion but there was a few United fans on the early flight. Arriving in Birmingham I was surprised to see no Villa presence in the airport, I suppose this was to be expected after the previous regime’s lack of marketing prowess but it would be nice to see something there even a advertisement saying "Welcome to Birmingham home of Aston Villa FC" or anything mentioning the club. Considering the vast quantity of people traveling to the city on business or to the NEC the Airport would be a great place to promote the team maybe even get one of the vendors there to sell our merchandise. 2: Arriving in the city was surprising, fantastic city center full of great shopping and places to eat, I was very impressed by Brum but once again unimpressed by the lack of Villa presence especially when I made my way to the club shop at the Pavilions center, not that it's a bad shop although the walls did seem a bit bare of stock but the location is poor, right down the basement you would really have to go looking for it to get there. On the other hand our fierce rivals have a shop in the palisades (I think you call it) a terrible dump of a shopping complex which I suppose suits them. However walking through there I passed their shop, the point I'm making is that the placement of their store regardless of its shabby surroundings gets a lot more passing foot traffic than ours. Ideally we would have a nice shiny retail space in the Bullring and I could only imagine the cost but it is key to the clubs image that our presence in the center of the town mirror the size of the club. I also think it would be nice to see some advertising for the club on the high street, be it for the club shop, tickets or stadium tours. there must be a lot of visitors staying in the city year round due to the NEC surely it would make sense tapping their wallets to fill seats on midweek games or bring merchandise back to their kids. 3: After a bit of shopping, some food, browsing the German market and numerous trips to the bathroom (dodgy Chinese meal the previous night) we set out early for the stadium. Big problem - no idea what train to take. Not for a lack of trying we followed a bunch of Villa fans and ended up in Aston station when Witton Station would have been the better choice. It would be well worthwhile to pay a couple of kids to hang around the main train station giving directions to Villa Park, it wouldn't cost much and it would greatly benefit first timers like myself as well as visiting away fans. Failing that a couple of posters on match days indicating what trains to take and at what times. 4: On arrival in Aston I followed the other fans towards the ground. No offence to the locals but the area around the stadium looks a bit run down there's definitely room for improvement and I sure many ways the club could assist. Walking up to the stadium I passed the Holte Hotel in it's construction glory, elegant looking building should be a great pre-match spot once it's done cause the location is unbeatable. Circling the stadium I must say it still looks very impressive the Holte, the Trinity and Witton but the North stand looks miserable from the back, dull concrete facade definitely in need of updating. The next stop was the club shop which was totally mobbed, wasn't too impressed by this years selection of gear provided by Hummel compared to last years catalog which had a much better selection of ladies wear (for the missus) and a couple of hoodies and jackets I fancied for myself, still it didn't stop me spending 150 pounds on goodies for myself and our supporters club here in New York. I was impressed by the efficiency and friendliness of the staff in the shop, the place was packed but they were in complete control. The decor in the shop needs a bit of updating but the space itself isn't bad, maybe there could be a couple of other merchandise stalls littered around the ground on match day just like most US stadiums which have plenty of spots to purchase all the supporter needs. 5: Our seats were in the Trinity right beside the player’s tunnel. My impression entering the trinity was not great. The refreshment area was barren and charmless, more like a warehouse than the type of place you'd like to eat and drink, the exposed roof and exhaust ducts make the lobby look cheap and tacky. Definitely a small bit of interior design could make a huge difference. The food and beverages on offer were far from spectacular especially when compare to American sports grounds but at least the prices were somewhat reasonable. The seats in the Trinity are quite good, plenty of leg space no complaints there. The crowd around me was mostly families and the environment was very accommodating to small kids. Prior to kick off the atmosphere was superb especially as Ron Saunders came out, fantastic moment, wonderful idea. The game didn't exactly go according to plan but I still had a great time. 6: Heading back to the airport was a harrowing ordeal especially since I had no idea how long it would take, we hot footed it to Witton station where we somehow managed to get on the first train after a long cold wait, for some reason we found ourselves in a carriage packed full of opposition fans, not the most comfortable place to be but could have been worse if they happened to be a nastier bunch. I've no idea how this happened but there should be more separation of home and away fans going to the station as I could well imagine trouble arising under certain circumstances. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare but I think we could do with some other service to make the airport more accessible. One idea would be a shuttle bus from the stadium direct to the airport, visitors could buy their tickets at the airport upon arrival in Birmingham that way you could ensure that their are enough seats to accommodate passengers well in advance. It might even help attract more fans to fly in for games. In conclusion the trip was very enjoyable and Villa Park is still an impressive venue to behold, there is definitely a lot of room for improvement but the platform is quite solid. Hopefully next time I'm over I can take the stadium tour to see the rest of the facilities and hopefully I can get back over sooner rather than later. Thanks General, I hope the comments come in useful, it turned into a bit of an essay in the end but I had plenty to say.

That is just fantastic and the real beauty of it? If you hadn't of made the post nobody would have known it happened. This shows the pure class of our new ownership. Most other clubs and I'm sure our previous owner included would have made a big deal of it, having the press taking photo's announcing it in the match program and gererally stealing the persons dignity to boost their ego. But Randy and co are different I can see many fantastic gestures in the future which none of us will know anything about except for the person who their kindness has touched and that my friends isn't just class, it's pure magic!

Stuff Valkyries if we really want it to be unique and scare the shit out of the opposition, I propose Conquest of Paradise by Vangelis, here's a sample for those who don't know it: It's fantastic! this one has slightly better sound quality:

I'd prefer Randy to spend his time turning our club into European giants rather then being distracted by our ramblings of content.

I know the general suggested the Halls of Montezuma/Marines Hymn I know the idea doesn't sound too appealing but at my old school we used to sing a version of it at rugby matches and believe me when theres a crowd belting out that tune it's simply terrific nearly as spine shiverring as flower of scotland.

Indeed and I sure there's a lot of history yet to be uncovered due to modesty.

That makes my trip over from New York for the united game that bit more special. I can't wait it is going to be a fantastic day.

Cheers John I was hoping to hear a report!

Was it ROn that used the wing back system, damned if I can remember...

Correction time: mine is actually N3L0 thats zero on the end

I pretty much always stand but prefer to use the cubicle, hand on wall, pants around ankles, give my nuts a good scratch after, can't beat the luxurious privacy of pissing alone.

I would love Villa to come on tour to the US next summer, even if they don't play in New York I'd be happy to travel to most of the East Coast for a game or two

It is absoloutly fantastic to have honest professionals running the club, I really feel like we are all about to embark on an adventure over the next few seasons as the club returns to the dizzy heights of its glorious past and then surpasses it. What really warms my heart is the knowledge that at every step of the way the fans will be part of it. Thank's general and company, you have made some new friends in the last couple of months and although rebuilding takes time you will find us more than patient and gracious, after all we have been waiting 25 years! On my 27th birthday last month I also celebrated the 20th anniversary of the day as a 7 year old boy I choose Villa as the team I would support through thick and thin for the rest of my life, sure there were times of happiness and times of sadness, times of jubilation and times of pain but I have never questioned my choice because I always knew that one day my club would fall into the right hands and now finally with you, Bob, Michael and Randy we have the leaders who can herald in our golden age. I look forward to seeing the revolution with my own eyes on Saturday December 23rd when I fly all the way from New York City to the Trinity Road stand to cheer on my team, just one year ago I would have found it difficult to justify that commitment, hell 4 months ago I would have found it difficult but now everything has changed, for that I thank you all.

I installed FIFA on my laptop, total pants the graphics were bollocks. Now you got to understand that my laptop is quite a beast Toshiba Satellite P100 2 X 2 GHz Centrino Duos 2GBs of Ram and a 512MB GeForce Go 7900 GTX. As a gaming machine it's pretty powerful but FIFA looks totally shit, the laptop has a 17" WS display but FIFA doesn't even support any WS display modes. EVO 5 loks light years better, the players look recognisable and the animation is much better so unless PES6 takes a step back then the war is already over.

What if Doug pays Lerner 64 million to have it renamed Doug Ellis Stadium?