delboy54

re the planets aligning......don't forget Alan Hutton to score the winner with the last kick of the game at 90 mins + 7 mins injury time ......

Regards to all

Del

I am thinking that Villa 89 was being sarcastic....not meant to be taken seriously.......but you never know. the way things that can be read on emails and on this site can be completely misunderstood...

Regards to all

Del

May 26th was our day in 1982

May 26th will be our day in 2018

We are Aston Villa FC

got my ticket....just waiting for email confirmation....will be happy when I get that, the ticket in my hand and Villa winning on Saturday....not much to ask

Regards to all

Del

Just listened to a bit of talk$hite this morning (yes I know I shouldn't) and other than the wank fast over Liverpool/Man C£ty,  they had a section of news on last night in the Championship, all talk about Cardiff and Millwaaw, a mention of prince William at Villa Park last night but nothing....nothing about Jacks goal or in fact anything about that other team who cardiff were playing last night and actual beat them....

If any other player had scored a goal like that it would have been all over the news....

What is it about the media and Villa? this has been going on for decades....it is if the media cannot bring themselves to mention anything positive about our fantastic club...

Regards to all on VT

Del

I saw some statistics somewhere once that the team finishing third in this league rarely get through the play offs and get promoted - it usually is the team finsihing 4th, 5th or 6th ....

Hi all,

So looking at the table as it stands and lets imagine thats how it finishes at the end of the season....

What are our chances or perdictions of going up the hard way via the play offs....will we make the final and then bottle it as we have done for the last couple of finals?

I would soon us go up in an auto place then the lottery of the play offs....I can just imagine the heart ache of failing to go up having missed out on the automatic places.

If we miss out by a couple of points we can look at the 0-0 at home to Brentford and other games we should have done better.....so frustrating to be so close....

Anyway lets keep positive!!

Regards to all

Del

For me I think this is the biggest game for Villa and Wolves this season.

1.Villa win then it will open up the race for the top two (confidence builder for us)

2.Villa lose then I am pretty sure its play offs at best for us

3.Wolves win then they will have justified their postion at the top and deserve promotion (sorry to say that but the table doesnt lie)

4.Wolves lose then they could (despite Leeds result) jitter and possibly scrape a top 2 place or sink into the playoffs

5. Draw will suit Wolves much more than Villa

Personally this game is too close to call, I think it will be a draw, but as mentioned above if we have a tit as a ref then he will ruin the game and it could go either way on a dodgey decision

Nail biting time ahead......

Regards to all

Del

RIP, gone way too early at 59...

So sad to hear another great player has left us.

Regards

Del

I think Peterborough are going to take this game seriously. They are in good form and pushing for promotion out of division 3 (or whatever its called these days).

Some of their fans (like my mates who are Peterborough season ticket holders) who are going by train £58 return each (!) and treating it as a day out in Brum...

Villa need to be careful Peterborough don't add our scalp to the huge collection of embarrassing losses over the last few years...

Ticket sales seem very low, although Peterborough are bringing loads of supporters

Regards to all

Del

Not sure if this is the right place if not sorry!

Got some mates coming up from Peterborough for the game on Saturday and want to know where, or if, there are any away friendly supporters pubs nearby?

I have no idea but I am sure some of you will!

Regards

Del

Not sure if this is true, but after Deadly left us in 1979 and then we won the First division title in 1981 and the European Cup 1982, when he returned back as Chairman in 1983(?) he had all the pictures of the team photos of that time at Villa Park taken down...

Perhaps when he is gone AVFC should conduct a poll to look at renaming "his" stand to a more deserving individual...

All the best

Del

With our current state of injuries, if our young upcoming players cannot get a game now, then they will never get the chance.....

On 11/08/2017 at 08:56, hippo said:

Thats one up there - I must admit

Drawing 2-2 with barcelona - after being 2-0 down with 8 to go.

Drawing 2-2 with qpr in the league cup semi final 1977

Beating blues 5-1 - always good to beat the noses but this was such a complete team performance.

Beating Bradford 1-0 in the 1987/8 promotion campaign - weird game - it was as though the holte won the game on sheer willpower.... 

The only game of those listed above I managed to get to was the 2 -2 with qpr in the 1977 semi final second leg......a great game 48000 and the announcement that the Holte end was now full and gates were closed to prevent anymore in..........that was a rare occasion (all standing in them days)

Strange how these games all come back like it was only yesterday isnt it?

I did have the pleasure of meeting one of my hereos for the first time before the Brentford game, Sir Brian Little, shook is hand, and told him that I saw him scoring a hat trick against QPR in the 1977 replay at Arsenals old ground (the library). He said "oh I remember that!"......not washed my hand since......Brian Little a true gentleman and Villa legend....with a bit less hair now.

VTID

Del

Wow nearly 1000 pages of Steve Bruce.....

I am sure when we lose to Barnsley on Saturday (its on Sky - thats why we will lose), then that will be 2 points from a possible 9 from the last 3 games. Not good enough whoever the manager is.

I am sure there will have been some private enquiries going on to sound out a possible replacement. Businesses do this all the time - contingency planning.

At the time it was the right appointment whatever we now think, I am dissapointed to be back where we were 11 months ago with no progress. That has been the major issue for me.

VTID

Del

Couldnt get to the Norwich or Wigan games

But correct me if I am wrong, did we break with tradition and attack towards the Holte End in the first half of both games rather than as normal attack towards the Holte in the second half?

Perhaps that was the solution all along to all these years of woe!

Regards

Del

Maybe Bruce has accidently discovered the right formation for us

Maybe Bruce has see that playing players in their normal positions works

Maybe we have finally found the "start" button for this season

Maybe he has seen how bad Hutton played

Maybe he now has seen we have abundance of young players who want to perform on the "stage" and not worried about the opposition

Maybe we are on the way back

Maybe the Wigan and Bristol City games coming up will see us reverting to "business as usual"

Maybe I sould stop typing maybe

Maybe....

Ok if the players are good enough to get us out of this league, and the manager has done it 4 times before, then who is to blame?

I would look at getting rid of the coaches  - is it true that Bruce has never worked with Calderwood?

I think Bruce is a genuinely nice guy tbh. I wish he would just resign now it will be best for everyone.

What gets me though he was a professional footballer at the highest level, took teams out of this league a number of times (4?) and yet seems to have no idea on what to do, tactics, formation, team etc etc...

I think football has passed Bruce by...

Hi Just read that Guardian article again (posted in full elsewhere)....snippets of it below.....it makes scary reading to be honest..

"Shortly after taking charge at Sunderland Steve Bruce was asked if he had considered experimenting with a Christmas Tree formation. "I'm not really into tactics," he replied. At the time that response was easy to interpret as a deliberately flippant or, perhaps, a self-deprecating means of avoiding answering the question. As the seasons passed, though, the suspicion grew that the former Manchester United captain had simply been honest."

"Arguably one of the principal reasons Bruce is no longer in charge at the Stadium of Light concerns his apparent inability to tweak formations or tactics during matches. Whenever a rival manager re-configured his system mid-game, Bruce invariably failed to come up with a countermeasure."

"If he failed to cut it as a tactician, the 50-year-old did not seem much of a strategist either. Including loans, 30 players were signed – several of whom have subsequently been moved on – during Bruce's two-and-a-half years on Wearside. That represents an unsettling "churn" factor and hardly proved conducive to developing either a clear playing philosophy or strong team spirit."

"Always rather amorphous, if not downright scrappy, Sunderland's high-tempo style lacked creativity, not to mention control, in central midfield. Unable to dictate play, the team frequently failed to press home early advantages."

My thoughts:

Giving Bruce the job was a no brainer at the time to be honest, he had been there done that and got teams out of this league. On paper it was the correct choice in my book. I never liked any of the football his previous teams played, but at the time we needed an experienced manager.

The problem is I think modern football has passed him by, he is on record of not really being into tactics. Yes I know footy is a simple game but there are areas you try and exploit other teams weaknesses as seems to be case every week when opposition find it easy to find our weaknesses.

If its not Bruce that is the problem, that what is?

My conclusion is that its the coaching of players and I think as much as I like the bloke and really wanted him to do well for us, he seems now at a loss at what to do next. Its time for SB to consider his position.

The Dr like any owner is not going to sit on his hands and see his investment give him such a poor return without action, so I think its a case of SB to honourably leave or wait get pushed by the Dr to be honest..

But who we have as the new manager?..................... as long as its not Moyes

Regards

Del

Moyes???......is anyone serious about him coming to Villa as manager?......come on my 84 year old mum could do a better job

Mind you as mentioned by Dimitri_C,         Moyes will fit right in with our boring, predicable, negative football that is currently on offer