bubbadog

Lambert has never made a secret of his ambition. Norwich cannot match that ambition and not just financially. They are a success story sure but only at their level. Moving to VP would be an ideal next step for Lambert and I think that if it were offered, he would find it very difficult to turn down.

And also schooled under Hitzfeld whist in Germany. Good Call, especially as I don't really think that Norwich share his ambition (or at least are unable to fund it).

Is he under house arrest then? Wonder what he's done, that lady from Burma was locked up for years. Naughty Davey!!

General, You and I have exchanged PM's already this season over the issue of stewarding at VP. For your info this took place in the lower Doug Ellis, exactly the place I pointed out to you earlier. The incident today was a total disgrace but just reinforced to me the fact that some amount of customer relations training must be given before people are allowed to steward at games. Today's incident could quite easily have got out hand had some of the crowd waded in to help the poor young lad, it was after all quite a heated occasion anyway. I am quite sure that nothing will be done as I feel that customer service is not high on your agenda right now - now perhaps if we were corporate customers.............

Good Morning General Sir. I sent you a PM over a fortnight ago. I appreciate you are a busy man but I would have liked an acknowledgement that my issue was being dealt with somewhere at the club. If you get the chance would you take a look please. Many thanks

Relegation may be a long shot, especially with the likes of Blackpool, Wigan and West Ham down there but just how bad were we last Sunday? Certainly not a top six (ten?) side playing like that!!

Interesting to see that Damocles now has total control of City's transfer budget and obviously speaks for the Sheikh himself!!

Another Cruddas supporter here!! This will not play well, just Milly Vs Milly (sounds like a crap film), we need someone like Cruddas to reignite the core vote. For those who haven't heard him speak, he really is quite an orator (sp?), look him up on YouTube.

General Sir, Once again you and my club make me proud to be a Villa fan. We have a problem, we let you know, your team investigate and the problem is sorted. Thanks to all who have helped sort this mess. oh, and Happy Birthday for yesterday!!

Hi General, I must echo the points made above re. the "official train travel". I know that we made it vto Wembley in time for the match, but a day out like this is not ALL about the match, it's about the experience and to me that experience was meeting friends as pre-arranged witb a view to having some lunch together and going to see the Bobby Moore statue, etc. All of this was missed out on because of the inefficencies of AVFC's selected partner, namely Thomas Cook. What was equally galling was the fact that we paid well "over the odds" for these tickets and expected something just a little bit special, what we actually received was quite shabby, uncaring treatment which, it has to be said, took the shine off what could have been a tremendous experience (yes, I know Dowd didn't help either) Not sure what can be done but I think that the Villa do have some sort of obligation to "take up the fight" on behalf of the 600 loyal Villians. We deserved better!!!! hell, we paid for better!!!!

Peace Cup, Fiorentina friendly, both bloody meaningless. The real stuff began today, and we were found lacking, lacking not just in defence but in every area of the park. The defenc is the biggest worry though and, if not addressed, will see us struggling this year. Shorey was a joke today, that's one of the worst full back performances I can recall having the misfortune to see at VP. Davies converns me greatly, from the fringe of the England setup to a performance like today in just 1 season. I do have a theory about this though, I don't think he can read the game as well as defend, he needs a Layrsen figure to direct him, Laursen always pointed where the ball should be passed to and was always telling young Curtis whereabouts he should be, he obviously misses this instruction because he looked abject today, totally clueless. Beye was obviously not fit, he looked about a yard slow to everything and to my mind looked a little confused at what was being asked of him. (Message to MON - bring 'em in earlier!!!) In midfield we were also shocking, worst of all was Petrov (and I am a big Petrov fan) He also looked unfit, having missed most of pre season with his shoulder injury. Not at all sure about him as skipper either, there was one occasion today as he went to take a free kick where he totally ignored Davies who was asking if he should go up for it. The game was crying out for NRC, if only that we could hold the ball in midfield, something we failed to do all game. Our "young guns" really let us down today, Gabby was apalling, probably the worst I have seen from him, second to every ball, not winning anything, needs a spell away from the first team to recharge his batteries and to let the hype that has surrounded him die down.... which brings us nicely to Ash. For the first time today I found myself disliking Ash, I have put up with his antics before in the safe knowledge that a great performance was minutes away and a matchwinning goal wasn't far away too but today he took it waaaaay to far. I was astonished that he wasn't sent off for the headbutt (yes it was, just watch MOTD tonight) and the throwing himself to the ground at every opportunity reminded of a spoilt little child (or a highly paid premiership footballer who believes all the great press they have had and now percieves themselves to be a world beater) Heskey - well what can you say about Heskey? He tries I suppose but he just does not do it for me, I guess people will say that he worked hard today,but hell! I work hard every day, it's why they pay me after all!!! We should expect and MON should be demanding more from Emile, at present he just isn't up to it. One last word about wee Jimmy Milner - WTF were those free kicks about!!!! Rant over

Not my chosen starting 11 but I do think that Richard has this 100% spot-on. Personally I would have liked to see Fabian get a chance but I guess he may well have to bide his time a little. Here's hoping for no injury scares in the internationals this week.

Ok, so the decision is made. I have just given notice to Orange (30 days - boo!! ). What are my options from here? I want the £35 per month all in deal (is the Interweb really free???). Do I go to the O2 shop or will the deal be better from the Apple store? Any advice would be great

Dont dismiss the Rays, I have watched them a lot in the last few weeks and they look good. It would be some turn-around if they could do it on such a low wage budget.

Milliband may be a little busy here in the UK come the beginning of September. Interesting comment from Bickster that Miliband is a "stalking horse", I just wonder who's challenge that would be masking? As for any potential reshuffle now, I just think that would be seen as the act of a clueless man and could well produce more MPs with a grievance towards Brown. Looking forward to the Sunday's this week, I have a sneaky feeling that a couple of challengers may well give fairly controversial interviews (a la Miliband) just to test the water.

Whether it's 45 or 70, the figure should be easily within reach of any challenger, there will be an awful lot of Labour MPs fearing for their jobs at present, they all know (deep down) that a change is necessary (even if some are still desperately towing the party line at present). It does look as if Milliband is lining up the first shot and positioning himself as the reluctant asassin, but after what will be quite a feisty summer break expect all hell to break loose late August, possibly sooner if there is any more bad news on the poll front. I would expect a poll to show fairly soon that Labour support has decreased since the Glasgow by-election, that will probably be the catalyst!!

Labour dont "sack" leaders. What will happen is that his leadership will be officially challenged. Here is how it works: A bid to oust Gordon Brown as party leader would require a challenger to have the backing of 20% of Labour MPs. That translates to about 70 MPs. If a would-be candidate secures this level of support they must then write to Labour's general secretary announcing their intention to run. The contest would then be decided at conference by an electoral college of unions, MPs and constituency parties. Normally the party leader and his deputy are formally re-elected at Labour's autumn conference, whether there is a challenge or not. I suspect that this year's Autumn conference will be quite interesting.

You are probably not the only one but I tend to disagree. If the Glasgow East result were to be repeated during a General Election, Labour would not just be out of Government, they would be effectively out of opposition as the Lib Dems would actually become the official opposition, far fetched I know. With the probability that inflation will continue to spiral upwards and ill feeling towards Brown and his cronies continuing, at least the traditional "bounce" that any new party leader receives will give them some form platform to build upon. Labour need a leader who is prepared to come out and admit thay have made horrific mistakes, both at home and abroard. They need a leader who is charismatic in this age of 24 rolling news channels, they need a leader who will take them back to the left of politics (after all if they move any further to the right it will be the Conservatives who are the most left-wing party in British politics!!!) Milliband is NOT the answer, he is tainted by his part in the Brown administration and frankly his media appearences have been less than inspiring. I may sound like a "stuck record" but I firmly believe that the only suitable candidate at present is Jon Cruddas. I am not foolish enough to think that Labour can win the next election, I think the situation has been left to fester too long for that to happen, however I do believe that Cruddas could help Labour at least give Smarmy Dave a run for his money.

How about Jon Cruddas, came second in the voting for Deputy Leader, but that was at a time when all labour lemmings were following Brown. Would make a refreshing change, not afraid to face up to Labours mistakes and is easily a match for Cameron when it comes to debate. Media friendly too!!!

Hi General, Well, the close season is now upon us, I realise that everybody will be taking a well deserved break and that MON will be busy buying up all the young English talent that he can get his hands on , but what will your close season consist of? I don't mean this to sound rude in any way but what exactly will you be up to during the next few months?

Hi General, Something that I think you should be aware of. I think that our internal catering outlets at VP are breaking the law!! When people are asking for Diet Coke they are being given Coca Cola Light which is a different blend sold throughout Europe. The Coke Light has a foreign label, all the nutritional information is not in English and should not be sold in the UK (especially at the exorbitant price of £1.60!!) The following is a quote from the Coca Cola website: Is it legal to sell foreign 'Coca-Cola' in the UK? The answer depends on where the product is from and what it is. However, if it is from an authorised bottler in the European Economic Area it is likely to be legal provided the label is in English. Go and check those labels General.... they aint in English!!! You might expect this from some dodgy burger van outside the ground but not from Aston Villa itself.

General, I am somewhat confused by the regulations surrounding drinks at VP, not alcohol, just fizzy pop! I had a long discussion with a senior steward last night (Doug Ellis Lower), I asked him why we still insist on removing the top from every bottle of pop sold at the ground when we do nothing about people bringing in their own bottles, we also do nothing about the many people who bring their own flasks of hot drinks in (surely the glass inside a standard thermos flask could make these far more dangerous than a plastic bottle with a cap on?) On numerous occasions over the years I have had coke spilled on my shoes as people enthusiastically celebrate a goal and capless coke bottles are knocked over! The steward last night confirmed that they are under instructions to do nothing about people with flasks and that they have no right to remove bottle caps from people who have brought in their own bottles. If this is true why on earth do we still insist on removing caps from bottles sold at VP?

Elvis Costello - Watching the Detectives