Dave1380

Hi General Just wanted to post something re the UEFA Cup away tickets. I have been a season ticket holder on and off for the past 15 years, and have had my current ticket for nearly 5 now. I have been a regular at away games over the past 2 years and am a member of the away and cup schemes this season. I am sure like many fans I am looking forward to the next round of European games and have made plans to go to both Prague and Hamburg, having already booked my flights and accomodation to Prague. I am unsure of what our allocation is for the Prague game but have read elsewhere on VT that people going on the club organised trip are gauranteed a ticket to the Prague game, even if they are not season ticket holders. Now I fully appreciate that I may not get a ticket for the game because demand may be high and other supporters may have a better booking history than myself - I can live with that to some degree. But I have to say that I would be most disappointed if I lost out because the tickets were taken up by the official trip and by fans who have not followed the team as much as I and other people have. How are the club administering this issue? Do we allocate a percentage of tickets to the trip or are these outside of our allocation? I may just be moaning for the sake of it and will hopefully be in Prague at the game in the away rather than in a pub or the home end but I do feel it is a system that is a little unfair on those fans that travel the length and breadth of the country to follow the Villa. Any how, all the best Dave

I'm going to be controversial and go for someone not on the list - Gabby! I would play 4-3-3 with Big John supported by Young & Milner for a few games as I am not too convinced about Gabby at the moment. I know he scored a hat trick against City, but at times against Stoke and Liverpool he was nothing short of useless!

General Do you know whether the Spurs game is likely to go ahead on 15th September as currently planned due to the UEFA cup game for both teams being on the Thursday? Dave

General - just wanted to agree with the post re sponsor colour, it wasn't very distinguished on the TV and apart from looking poor, I think it would be in Acorns best interest to have the logo in Black on the Grey & Yellow keeper shirts so that it stands out. Also, just want to echo what has been said re GB - he is going someway to proving to me that he really does care about Villa, irrespective of what else he thinks, and I for one think far more of him for the attitude he has shown when wearing the shirt. Pitty he can't get himself a better agent!!!

general it's clear that you are getting frustrated, and unlike some of us perhaps you have more reason to be! i know some bright spark will no doubt slag me off for being an arse kisser but never the less we, villa fans in general, need to remember that your participation in the fan threads is something that is unique to our club, and irrespective of how this thread reads at times, we are all gratful for that. unfortunately the more success we have the more we will expect, we have suffered mediocrity for too long now and crave what a club of this size deserves. irronically, most of the over reaction you are experiencing at present is probably due to the lack of transfer links, the exact cause of frustration when we are linked with every tom, dick and harry! lets hope that MON pulls 5 or 6 rabbits out of the hat in the next 10 days and you can look forward to another round of grief in january! keep the faith!

General - can I just say how grateful I am that we do not conduct our transfer business in public. I have just been watching Sky Sports News and some Spanish idiot has been going on about other clubs players again. I don't expect a comment on this but will say that I hope Villa have made a complaint to the FA about the way in which Benitez is conducting his transfer dealings, its a disgrace and is as good as tapping a player up - he should be fined and educated in the way a decent manager/club should conduct their business. Rant over!!

This probably isn't the place for this..but, just becasue Spurs, Man City & Bolton have spent big on players doesn't mean that they will be good players, they are are all unproven - remember Rebrov? What a buy he turned out to be! And Corradi was hardly inspiring was he!? We have another two months to go before the window shuts, lets save out thoughts until then. Even Ferguson has said that the transfer system shuts down whilst there is a tournament on so MON is hardley alone in not buying anyone. I know we need players more than Man Utd, but I for one would rather see quality, proven players than some expensive misfit. General - a lot of clubs have use the Marines to assist with pre-season training. Is this something that happens in the NFL? Also, given your knowledge of this type of training, would you recommend this approach to MON if he were to ask your advice (which he clearly wouldn't do as he runs the playing side etc etc!) Keep up the good work General!

General - I just wnat to let you know that many of us understand why the club is dealing with the Barry issue in the way it is, and agree with you. Liverpool were once a club that conducted themselves in the way that we are doing now and whatever people think of Doug, I want to personally thank him for not selling to Gilette and choosing Randy - we'd have gone from bad to worse instead of having a group of people who care about our club, its tradition and the fans. No player is bigger than the club, if GB goes good luck to him. My only comment would be that he is a mug if he does as we will be bigger and better than Liverpool before long and I for one will enjoy reminding Gerrard and Benitez of their stupidity!! Keep up the good work - UP THE VILLA

General I guess the comments on here regarding season tickets just goes to show that you'll never please everyone. For what its worth, I am not surprised or disappointed by the increase in season tickets. The standard of football at Villa Park this season has been a massive improvement on last year and if we qualify for Europe this year and spend in the summer (please lets spend big!!!!!) then the increase will be more than justified. Afterall, our tickets will still be amongst the cheapest in the league. And more importantly, those Noses at Randy's toilet will be paying more to watch football in the Championship so I couldn't be happier!!! Up the Villa and keep up the good work General

General After the cracking result against Blues I think it is worth me giving my experience of the after match incidents. Before I continue, I think it important to point out that I am not suggesting the "trouble" was only caused by Blues fans, I am convinced their were a number of Villa fans who, in my opinion, let the club down by their actions. However, in all of the local media coverage I have not read anywhere about the way in which the police dealt with the situation, which in my opinion was diabolical!! Firstly, as has been mentioned, we were locked in the ground for an hour after kick-off. During this time we were pelted with coins and rocks at numerous intervals. My cousin was indeed hit by a coin which caused a nasty cut above his eye. Had he been hit an inch lower I am sure he'd be one eyed now!! The missiles were thrown at intervals of approximately 2 minutes but not once did the police move the Villa crowd back towards the stadium, nor did it appear that they prevented the missiles from being thrown. Once the Police had cleared the Blues fans from outside the gates, we were released and as we walked down the street it became apparent that there were no police in sight!! It was obvious to all that we were Villa fans as we were the only fans on the road! When we got the the McDonalds at the bottom of the street we were ambushed by Blues fans and the fighting and ambushes got worse from there!! In all of the media coverage those fans involved, both from Blues and Villa, have been condemned and rightly so. But no where have I seen an account of the policing, which in my opinion was inadequate and quite frankly left us exposed. Why did the police lock us in? In previous years they have allowed us to leave ASAP and formed a barrier down the street. Why didn't they block the road off so that the Blues fans were not allowed near the gate we exited, giving us free access to leave the stadium. I fully appreciate that the police have a tough job and that the fans involved in instigating the fighting deserve to be arrested and banned etc but we needed better protection which we didn't get. We also deserve an explanation about their handling of our exit from the ground.

General - gutted to hear you will not be making the big match, hope you are able to fly over again soon! Will Randy be attending the game?

General I agree with ahamaad - your comment re "pig in mud" were blown out of context. However, what annoyed me most about it was that the media and our friends down at Randy's toilet failed to address the real issue - the sh*t are ripping us off. In my eyes you have/had nothing to apologise for. I haven't missed a derby game against them since their return to the top flight and I will be one of the fans enjoying the victory on Sunday. The atmosphere will be intense, enjoy!!! Dave

I think we are missing the point here. David Gold is a censored. we don't want to get sued. Blandy Pure and simple! I'll pay my £45 to see the Villa win down at Randy's toilet and I will sing your name General, at least you are sticking up for your fans and doing everything you can to stop them exploiting us. Gold is gutted that now Deadly has gone we are proving that we are the number one show in town and more to the point we are getting better.

Amazing isn't it - we are the only club in the league that has a Director of their club posting on numerous fan sites and we give the bloke a hard time!! Now my comments above may be controversial but the fans that are giving the General a hard time (the minority I would point out) should stop and think what life as a Villa fan was like under our previous owner. Had HDE been in charge we wouldn't even be thinking about further additions to the squad, we wouldn't have a fantastic old building renovated as the show piece to our stadium and there is absolutely no chance we would have one of the best Managers in the league. Now I know it doesn't seem like it's all a garden of roses on the transfer front but lets not forget all of the hard work and changes that have taken place over the past 12 months. I am the first to admit that I am concerned at the percieved lack of transfers but lets give MON time to prove that we are being active. And if we still want to moan about the lack of transfer - let's not give the General a hard time, I think he has proven over the past 12 months that not only is he unique in his approach to fans, he is a Villa fan!!! Can we please all adhere to the site policy of keeping this thread (uniquely) just for comments and questions directly for the General. The mods let all views good and bad and those in-between be put to General Krulak "unadulterated", whatever our own personal views. It's to keep the thread easier for people to find answers, whether questions have already been asked, and for GK to see new comments/questions with as little searching as possible. Thank you. Blandy Keep up the good work General!!

Thanks for your post General. It is good to know you appreciate my frustration over the lack of signings and that you are just as intrigued as we are. Keep up the good work and I hope some of the negativity doesn't affect your desire to keep on posting, whatever Mrs. Krulak says!!

General I don't expect an answer to my post, I just need to get something off my chest. I am really concerned by the lack of transfer activity at the club. We have sold a load of players (can't say I disagree with the players we have sold except for Davis) without getting in replacements. I am sure MON knows what he is doing, but I really don't see the logic in selling players before a replacement has been tied up, just as Liverpool were doing with us over Carson. It really p**sed me off to see our squad photo the other day, there were nearly as many backroom staff as there were players!! I am absolutely delighted with everything you and Randy have been doing for our club since you came a year ago, I am just concerned that all that hard work will be thrown away if we do not improve the squad. I hear lots about us having more quality in the squad now than we did a year ago, if we stay as we are I will have to disagree. I am sure you are aware that I am not alone in this thought, the problem is that since you involvement we have much higher expectations. We are a massive club and want to compete at the top of the league. Like I said, don't really expect a response - just wanted to say what I was thinking. Keep up the good work, and hopefully MON will put us all out of our misery sooner rather than later! Dave

General - pity about the game yesterday. With all the activity across the league this year in terms of transfers it is a shame the ref was still a one eyed scouser!! It may have already been mentioned, but can you pass on a big well done to the catering team who improved dramatically yesterday. Also the advertising boards are a big improvement and the ground is looking much more professional this season with the few changes that have been made. P.S - can you let the kit man know that the numbers on the back of the goalie shirt aren't very visable on either the Grey or Yellow shirt, I think they need to be black.

Hi General I like you was really impressed by the teams performance on Saturday. We looked fresh, exciting and hungry. I was wondering, how did the friendly with Inter come about? Did our connection with Nike have anything to do with it? I noticed (maybe coincidence) that all of the friendlies they were involved in whilst they were here were against teams sponsored by Nike (Man Utd, Valencia, Arsenal, PSG & Villa). Thanks for all your hard work and keep on posting!! Dave

General - is it true that Randy has had a Villa tatoo?

General - can you tell us when the new squad numbers will be released? Thanks Dave

General Just seen the new kits (officially!) and would like to say how fantastic they are, please pass my thanks on to all those involved in bringning Nike to the party, they have done a marvelous job! As for all this moaning about Big Marlon, we Villa fans can be a bit un-grateful at times but please don't let anyone take it personally. I am sure the Big Man will prove many people wong. Keep the Faith and up the Villa!!

Great question from Richard, he beat me to it!? Also General, could you tell MON we would love to see SWP and Defoe down the Villa! I know it's his transfer policy and he picks the team but thought he'd appreciate the input! On a serious note, thank you for all the hard work so far and I for one am convinced you are the best board in the league.