stewiek2

Owen Gibson of the Guardian.... http://twitter.com/#!/owen_g

I thought we were superb. Yes we tired near the end but any result at Stamford Bridge is a cracking result. If only Albrighton had connected properly at the end we could be buzzing over a 4-3. Still, brilliant from the boys today. At last, some fight and fire in the belly from us today.

Been listening to all the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club stuff last few days in readiness for the gig tonight. Well it should've been last night but the poor sods were stuck in Scotland so had to cancel the gig by 24 hours. Bring it on!

Tin hat time for me when saying this to you Oasis haters... Beady Eye at the O2 Apollo in Manchester on Sunday 6th March. Villa away at Bolton on the Saturday so a big weekend on the cards.\ Oh and Black Rebel Motorcycle CLub at the Academy a week on Tuesday (7th Dec)

I thought Heskey was superb, our best player out there easily. He had a thankless task yesterday, as he had the total sum of zero support. ashley young was f**king awful!?! Clark did well playing in a position unknown to him in a local derby. Collins was good. Overall far too negative and we showed when we went two up top that those blue nose c**ts were, and should have been there for the taking had we started with the balls to try to WIN the game.

Bit early I know (or late if you saw the old mock ups), but as I can't sleep thought I'd update my retro tops with the new Nike template (the cut of the shirt/and the collar) and add the FX Pro logo to too. Just done the home and away, can do a third top if anyone's arsed....

The main thing you notice how the lion actually stands out on the retro kits. So is that TWO votes for me as the next kit designer then? :winkold:

The way I see it is this- He will not 'officially' take charge til at the earliest the Bolton game. However, You can guarantee he is involved in everything from now on as much as he possibly can in the build up to Monday, let alone the Bolton game. If he has spoken to Kevin as he has done already then I would assume that he has very much spoken in depth about how he wants the team set up for Monday and definitely for next weeks game. Yes it's annoying and niggling that he's not in full charge yet, but sometimes you gotta take it on the chin in the short term to made strides long term. I am confident that he'll do Villa a good service. Welcome Gerard.

**** me there's alot of folks here doing what they accused MON of doing, ie. throwing their toys out of their prams. Houllier is right, as much as I hate to say the dippers are a bigger club than us. They have a global fanbase, have a trophy cabinet that is aching under the strain, and are able to attract players of the ilk of Torres. As the FSW stated, this is fact! AND most on here were predicting we'd finish 7-12th anyway, so what's your **** problems!?! I predicted 8th for us this season, and that was when MON was still manager! Let's wait and see what the guy does before slating him. He hasn't slated Villa, just stating his opinion of where we stand, NOT where he wants to take us. Or is the tedious 'I supported them longer than you' argument to justify GH not being able to comment on us yet we can? Get a grip.

2pm tomorrow according to Central News.

Shut up you. Shit stirrer! Moi? :-) Now he goes all coy! Get back in that kitchen and get some curries cooked! haha!

Shut up you. Shit stirrer!

Oooo hang on. Mods, can we lock this thread at 599 pages! hahaha

You do realise we will deliberately push this to at least 601 just to be pedantic don't you Sir Oliver of Reed! :winkold: Oh I do hope so ;-) hahaha I am raising a glass of scotch to you right now m'lord!

You do realise we will deliberately push this to at least 601 just to be pedantic don't you Sir Oliver of Reed! :winkold:

Sigh, Do I have to repeat what I wrote a few pages back about Staunton ringing Ron Toss live on air to say that he wanted to stay at Villa but Doug **** him about to the poiunt where plop offered him the deal he wanted which he agreed to, only for Doug to then offer MORE money than either Dougs original offer OR plops offer, to which Stan said that he had made an agreement with plop and it was unprofessional to go back on it. He said that he was settled in the Midlands, that his family was settled, but that Doug messed him around so much over a new contract. I heard this with my own ears! No chap, you don't. But you did anyway. Truth be told I don't care what kind of spin Stan tried to put on it when -or after- he left. His leaving was on the cards since at least 94 -and possibly further back. We thought we had lost him in the summer of 94 and a number of senior Villa players even commented on it at the time. He played us off against the Redscouse a fair few times to get an improved offer and according to JG's book had made his mind up before JG had returned in Feb 98. He even said he was specifically off to join the Redscouse to win things - no mention of broken promises. Had he agreed the deal we had offered him at the time he would have been the highest paid player at the club -unusual for a defender- so I'm not sure how much finance came into it. He was one of the very first high profile Bosman's, exploiting the system to make it work for him. So attempts to paint him as some loyal club servant only leaving when the club let him down won't wash I'm afraid. I don't actually blame him for leaving truth be told. Not due to lack of ambition or anything like that on our part, we had a pretty decent squad at the time. Rather the pull of returning to his boyhood club proved too much in the end. He had started there as a youth, and his mother is originally from Merseyside IIRC. My point was that there is probably a perception out there that he is a popular ex Villa player. That doesn't tally with the reality. You rarely hear Villa fans talking about Stan as a 'Villa legend' (chronically overused term) for example. Which is unusual bearing in mind the longevity he had with us in two stints. I do not deny that he wasn't the most popular bloke to have left this club. I am just getting the point across that it took balls to ring up a radio station to state ones side of things. As for his 'villa legend' status. Come on, please! THere are very FEW who get that label thrown at them. Stan Staunton must surely know he isn't in that bracket! I am not a Staunton fan per se. I just think that alot of fans dislike are based on biased publicity put out there by a PR machine when the guy himself took the risk (and I use that word as by doing so opened himself up to the sort of ridicule the general now has as he has no one to hide behind if the truth isn't what he put/said) to come out ans speak live on air. And what reality is it you speak of? That he should be loyal to Liverpool as he started there and his family is from there? Pffft my oldest brother is very derogatory towards Birmingham and our accent, city, ways. And he is from here!?! It means **** all! And as for JGs book and John Gregory in general. Without wanting to piss on anyone's chips, theres a fair few dodgy thing's I have heard about the man that make me question him, and also tick boxes as to why he hasnt succeeded in football since Villa. And I say that having loved the guy at our club to the point of writing a letter to Doug when he got the sack/left. So I wouldn;t take too much of what he wrote as gospel.

Sigh, Do I have to repeat what I wrote a few pages back about Staunton ringing Ron Toss live on air to say that he wanted to stay at Villa but Doug **** him about to the poiunt where plop offered him the deal he wanted which he agreed to, only for Doug to then offer MORE money than either Dougs original offer OR plops offer, to which Stan said that he had made an agreement with plop and it was unprofessional to go back on it. He said that he was settled in the Midlands, that his family was settled, but that Doug messed him around so much over a new contract. I heard this with my own ears!

As far as I'm aware, MacDonald and Thompson played together at Liverpool under Joe Fagan. And as for Thomo saying we played above ourselves under MON, I'd say he is right in some ways. The results we got playing the shite football we did mostly for the last 2 1/2 seasons shows that results to style ratio, damn right we did! Hell, you COULD say that our current league position, considering the performances in two of those games, is 'above ourselves.' People are giving Thompson shite because he is and outsider having a pop at us recently, when really alot have been saying the same on this and other forums over a period too. Get real people, he did a very good job with Houllier at plop, and, when he had to step up to teh plate when GH fell ill, did an outstanding job under the circumstances. We are getting (potentially) a manager and assistant who between them have won a bucketload of trophies, and their so-called failure at Liverpool we'd have given our right arms to emulate! Sure, my personal number choice was, and will always be Moyes. However that looks a no no. Randy for me has looked and decided he can't get the man he originally wanted, and I guess he is as frustrated as the rest of us at that. So he has decided to steady the ship and you know what, I think Houllier has something to prove. And thank **** it's not Curbishley, Bradley, or some of the others on the list!!!

I wouldn't be adverse to Thompason as Houliers number two. He has always spoken quite sensibly about Villa and I think he was a very very good number two whilst at Liverpool.

On a side note, regards Staunton buggering off to the dippers. I remember listening to Ron Toss and Staunton rang him on air saying that he never wanted to leave Villa but Doug had pissed him about regards a new contract. That his agent was trying to get him a new deal but Doug was refusing to pay what he wanted. In the meantime, plop made him an offer which he agreed. Having told Doug that he had agreed to join Liverpool, Doug then made him an offer on MORE money than he had wanted in the first place and more than what Plop had offered but Stan told Doug that he'd made a gentlemans agreement with pool and it would be ungentlemanly conduct to go back on the deal. Then there were leaks of him being a mercenary and always wanting to bugger off which he said was untrue and that he and his family were settled in the area and he never wanted to leave Villa, but he felt that it was unprofessional to go back on his word. So all in all, him leaving to go back to Liverpool was down to Doug playing silly buggers with him regards a new deal.

All I can say about the manager hunt is thank **** Sounness hasn't even been mentioned. Aprt from now that is. Yes I know I'm mentioning him but not in that way. I know, I'm not making much sense. Oh forget it....

If you're asking whether is Sandro availiable to play for Spurs this season in any and all competitions, then yes, of course he is. Guess that one just passed over your head heh Glaston? :winkold:

Has Sandra made twitchin' 'Arry's 25 man squad?

And a return to the days of the communal baths in the changing rooms!

Now I am not saying that they HAVE. I still think we'll be pleasantly surprised by who we get, adn that Randy is chuckling himself over the leaks being about managers we all are frothing at the mouth over so that when he does unveil the guy we go... '**** yeah!'