delboy54

At half time I thought back to 4 years ago against Southampton I think it was and how the players were booed off at half time and the song that all supporters hate to sing but sometimes has to be done was "you're not fit to wear the shirt"..... Yesterday we went 1 up just before half time, and at half time the players went off to a wall of Villa noise and singing the "Allez" song. What a difference in 4 years What a day, what an experience, what fantastic fans we have......what a great club we have.........we are back

The only time I saw Villa win was 1975 LCF v Norwich...I was 16 yo Nervous now yes, but when I am standing with all you Villa fans tomorrow that will change. Remember, we are Aston Villa! Win or lose (God forbid) the world will continue to turn and AVFC will continue. Lets do it tomorrow, lets win this game .....

Hi Vive, yes (Villa ticket office) they cancelled the ticket that was in the post and arranged a replacement to be collected by me at the box office at Wembley. There were lots of us in the same queue/situation. I had to bring a form of ID to prove who I was but other than that it just added more stress to the day..... The ticket that they posted arrived in the post the day after the final!

Bought my ticket in the 5pm Saturday rush, got confirmation email etc, but ticket not arrived yet......I guess if its not arrived by Friday I will have to call Villa ticket office and arrange to collect at wembley.........just like I had to last year....... Anyone else in the same situation?

Hi all Two ways of looking at how the game will go 1. Villa are normally rubbish at Wembley and freeze on the big occasion, Derby are a young team and have nothing to fear.... 2. Villa have the bitter experience of not performing and then losing in a POF as well as FA cup and LC finals, Derby may find the game too big for them and under perform... I think its too close to call which Villa will turn up - hopefully JT and the experienced lads will prepare us better than SB did last year I just want the game over and done with and I can stop pacing around worrying Regards Derek

Phew got mine, Area 537......signed on at 1655 .......bloody stressful.....now the next part is waiting for the ticket.......good luck to everyone trying to get their ticket!

Hoping to get a ticket for this one. I am on the 5pm Saturday group....if there are any left Seen Villa a few times at Wembley, only ever seen them win once, in 1975 against Norwich LCF, saw them lose 2 - 0 V Spuds 1971 LCF , draw against Everton 0 - 0 1977 LCF and lose against Fulham last year.....it about time they won. I am 61 this year time is running out for me to see Villa win a final....

Good to see the Norwich fans celebrating they do play pretty good football they were the most consistent team over the season, its a shame that Villa forgot that Norwich normally score their winning goals in the last 5 mins....... but its easy to support your team when they are winning or have won something. I watched that game with envy at the Norwich fans not having to go through the ordeal of play offs.... Chatting to some Norwich fans on the way to the ground (great we can do this now compared to the 1970's and 80's), they were of course really happy to be going up, but told me many of their fans would have preferred to have stayed in the Championship as its more exciting there and more evenly matched teams. I do empathise with them, as other than in the top 6 in the premiership all other teams are fighting for the magical 40 points to survive another season. Yes its the access to stupid money etc which seems to be all the Premiership is about where a measure of success appears be a 1-1 draw at Manchester City. No one outside the UK is really that interested in Wet Spam, Brighton, Everton or Watford are they? I am fortunate to travel to other Countries in my work and I can assure you that only the usual top 6 are of interest to most footy fans outside the UK, and I am sure that Sky and and the ridiculous FPP rules intends to keep it that way... Regards to all Derek

I am sure that Dean Smith and John Terry will have looked at the bookings and suspension issue and what are the options and outcomes.......unlike I suspect previous management at our club.

Its going to be ok we will have loads of dosh .......doesn't Micah Richards contract finish in the Summer? ..... Regards Del

Weedman, I think there is more chance of me winning the lottery than Villa getting promoted this season in my opinion...ok its not a fact until its mathematically impossible that we cannot go up, but I take your point. Its so frustrating for all of us that the Aston Villa team we support through thick and thin currently seem unable to play football at the most basic skill level - and this has been the case not just recently but for many years, apart from the odd game, most games have been dire. Perhaps we should be renamed as Aston Inconsistant Villa, or Aston Consistantly Poor Villa. Regards Del

All this talk about being "so many points off the playoffs, and so many points still left to play for".....yes that is a fact Another fact is that the way we are playing over the last few weeks means that the above fact is irrelevent as we will not pick up these points as we are rubbish and the teams above us are better than us. Del

Aston Villa - Villa Park one of the best grounds in the country Aston Villa - Founding member of the Football League Aston Villa - play in the best colours Aston Villa - fantastic history Aston Villa - best fickle (ist) fans Aston Villa - one of the best training facilities in the country Aston Villa - most fans think we are entitled to be respected and other teams should just lie down and let us win None of the above does anything to contribute towards us getting promotion Regards to all Del

There should be a new thread about ex or old Villa players who have died in my opinion, rather than mixed up in this one...as much as Albert Finney was a good actor and Jim Dunlop made good plectrums they don't belong in the same thread as Ian Ross IMO My thoughts are with his family. Very sad, saw him play for us many times including the 1975 cup final, a great player and captain for us... RIP Ian Ross - Holte Ender In The Sky

I am trying to recall, (its difficult though!) that over the years (60's, 70's, 80's, 90's ) when I watched Villa play, when Villa had a bad game and lost, or a player was not playing well, misplaced passes etc I cannot remember if there was any booing. Maybe its a new thing since football was invented in the Premier League era when money now dominates and expectations of fans are higher. One game stands out that is the 1981 night game against Ipswich at Villa Park and we got beaten 1 - 2. Ipswich thought they had clinched the league and Sir Ron saunders gave that famous quote ...but I dont recall any booing, obvious disapointment about the result, but in general the crowd got behind the team whatever was going on on the pitch. Regards to all Del

Geting promoted to Premier League ... and ... staying there Look at Fulham last year, they put in a good run at the end and got promoted, spent the premiership millions bonanza on new players that never gelled and now almost certain to come down again (I think if we had gone up instead of them we would be in the same perilous position) Look at Wolves last year, consistency throughout the season, they go up, deservedly so - sorry to say that (- hurt me to type those letters in that order!), very similar squad this season and they are doing ok. So comparing these two clubs, what is needed not only for promotion but to stay in the Premiership, is the Wolves model, players that win you games (obviously) but being consistant throughout the whole season - not just having a good/lucky run at the end and sneeking into the big boys league....it doesnt prepare you for life in the Premiership..... We should act on our club motto "Prepared"......! Regards to all

I have to say that in this league, the standard of refereeing is shockingly bad. I cannot recall many games I have seen in the last few years where the ref was invisible i.e. he had a good game...

I was not at the game and only seen the "highlights" (!), however I wonder if it all comes down to arrogance and a sense of entitlement. We are in this league because we are not good enough for the Prem League. We are where we are because "the table doesnt lie" Just because we have a proud history, a great ground, fantastic training facilities and loyal (if somewhat fickle!) fans, does not mean we should just turn up and beat the likes of Wigan, Ipswich and all those other clubs that we seem to assume are "smaller" than us.....just watch that Sunderland documentry on Netflix...it could have been so easily Villa. Wigan looked to have moved the ball around better, made us work hard to get possession and to be honest Villa players playing "hospital passes" to each other, some of our players doing the hard things rather than the simple things and some of our players thinking all we have to do is turn up and we will win, makes it all harder to bear. I fear that we are going down the long exile route and will be in this league for a while, like Leeds, Wednesday, Forest etc. Yes we are "only" 5 points outside the play offs but we should really expect more of our players to at least try harder than just turn up as they did against Wigan. Whats the answer to this?, no idea, is it coaching, attitude, skill, desire, willingness to learn, willingness to fight for results??......or is it the big fat pay check and long contract that puts some of them in the comfort zone....? Regards to all Del

Dean Smith.....F.E.M. (Future England Manager)?....... It wouldn't be the first time a Villa manager or player ends up in that position)....... Regards to all Del

Not able to see the game, but thanks to those on here I was able to see our fantastic goal...thanks! Individual brilliant moments cannot be relied on to help out in each game. Its not the team SB puts out each game (on paper its a strong squad) but its the tactics, formation, instruction, training that is all missing. It has been like this almost every game I have been able to see since SB has been in charge - players look like strangers to each other, its like the first 11 that turn up at VP get a game. Our players treat the ball like a hot potato, they pass it to a fellow player who is surrounded by opposition players, they hoof the ball aimlessly and hopefully like a pub team on a sunday, build up play is so slow it can be counted in geological time, if we go behind it is highly likely that we will struggle to get back in the game. We only seem to be able to put up a half decent performance rarely and only for 45 minutes. Try looking at old clips of Villa in the 1980's of how fast and quick we strung passes together to unlock defences. I think SB knows his time here is nearly over. He did what we needed him to do that is steady the Villa ship, but the ship is steady (yes it nearly sank)....but there is stormy weather ahead if we persist with SB to be honest. I cannot see us getting promotion and I am sure our owners know this and dont like what they see. Regards to all

Shame the "triple" is over, however we can now concentrate on just the double this year Promotion and FA cup

Well this was my first visit to VP this season following the no show of the team at Wembley in May, and for this game I was expecting something different. After taking my seat in the upper Holte (well standing for the duration of the game!), I looked at the team sheet and thought that is a team to get us out of this division. I thought all the new players that played that we have bought in, including our new keeper did well. But..... There is no urgency in the team, sideways passing then back, only rarely did we string some good passing together and opened up Reading with ease however this was rare. At 0-0 halftime I always thought we would score eventually we had enough chances to be out of reach of Reading. However Kodja was hopeless to be honest, maybe it was one of those games, but he never really had control of the ball. The way Villa play these days is, we eventually slowly pass our way..... oh so slowly towards the Reading penalty area.... and then once in range try either try and do an Arsenal and walk the ball into the net or any player who decided to shoot then we were rewarded with a shot of all the power, accuracy and venom that my old 80 year old mum could equal if she were playing. I think one word sums up yesterdays performance...... frustrating. So if the players don't seem to know what to do on the pitch then what is the solution?....is it the elephant in the room SB?...but we are undeafted! Putting this into context, having dropped 6 points already against teams we really should be beating and looking at last seasons final table positions another 6 points would have put us joint second, this is the difference between staying in this division or going up. As my old skool report always said "D+ below average, could do better"

Rumour is that Hutton broke his nose during the Brentford game.....wonder if he will play Saturday?

Was there with my Dad in the early 1970's through to when he left us. I was 16 at the Wembley 1975 v Norwich ..."Saunders, Saunders, Saunders" chant was so loud...would love to hear it again at VP We never had it so good. Fantastic manager, so sad to hear about him, my thoughts go out to his family Villa really should find a way to honour this man...or is it too late now?

2058 pages of "sack or no sack"..... The way I see it is that the football played under Bruce has been pretty dire to watch. He has ground out results despite this. I wonder if the reason of his past success (and neary acheived in the final) was that to get in older and experienced players in the twilight of their careers and depend on these guys who know how to play football and let them make the "tactics" up as the game goes on (eg JT and Snodders). There never seems to be any game plan from bruce and we know that he "doesnt do tactics" so he must rely on these old hands to do it for him. In the past its worked (just), but in the event it fails then we lose all the old hands as they were mostly loans and left again with inexperience. So if Bruce is not doing tactics then who is? We just seem to be like a pub team that consists of the first 11 who turn up on Sunday morning with a slightly less worse hangover. I suspect that Bruce is now under pressure to bring in the young, inexperiednced and hungry players - but they need guidance and tactical awareness dont they?, so if they are not getting it from Bruce then from where?.......and round and round this argument goes. Is tactics/game/overrated....do wee all read too much into football...because it is a simple game really isnt it? So maybe Bruce has done the job of stabilising the club but cannot take us any further because of his limitations. However who do we replace him with?, if the new guy comes in and we pick up 1 point from the next 5 games will we be having a similar discussion again?......obviously yes Regards to all