thetrees

are many people planning on going to the US tour ? as I'm thinking about it ....

Yes, but i wish that they would announce the dates quick as it is playing hell with my itinerary.

In principle I will be at the Columbus game, unless it is on the 28th July, in which case I will try and do the Toronto game instead.

If they stay beyond the 30th and play the Red Bulls I will be there as well.

:-) - I look forward to the day we can share a beer and NOT discuss politics then

Me too.

And I never discuss politics :winkold:

None.

Perhaps I should start a new thread of which VT member I would most like to meet.

Hmmm which bit of BHX do you work at? Do you ever get to see any of the Joe Public's?

Only when I am travelling myself.

I love the irony, as you are on my short list for the abovementioned thread

None.

Perhaps I should start a new thread of which VT member I would most like to meet.

ManU vs Chelsea with a small thermonuclear explosion in the pre match entertainment should do nicely

Sounds good, but better that happens at a league game at the theatre of hate, taking out 75000 glory hunters in the process

Young Boys Of Berne vs Accrington Stanley

Ahh, beat me to it.

Mine was MK Dons vs. Videoton

I don't give a toss about the CL final, just so long as AC Milan win it

I've gone for hero.

The guy has only ever conducted himself with honour, particularly taking into account the difficulty that he suffered when he first arrived.

If we look back in history, the signing was a reaction to supporter unrest at the time (probably why the price was too much). The Man City game at VP, when the police stopped the stewards from removing the 'Ellis Out' banner was the first time that I felt we were finally getting to Ellis, and that his days were effectively numbered. It took a few more years, but for me Angel will always be a symbol of the revolution!

I am probably more of a Lee fan than not, but have voted no.

Testimonials are completely irrelevant in the modern age, unless they are for an iconic player who can attract a near sell out, with proceeds to charity.

I don't think Lee falls into that category.

The News of the World & Sunday World had that rumour thetrees - £7.7m

Thanks. I have been away for the weekend. Checked the thread to see whether it had been mentioned and didn't go far enough back :oops:

My PSV supporting colleagues are under the impression that we have bid EUR11.5m for Arouna Kone.

But then they do get excited at the thought of big money from England.

I am afraid that I am in the small minority.

Manure, Liverpool and Arse all tried to create a breakaway european super league, holding *secret* talks. I still think it's a pity that they didn't go.

Manure will always be the ultimate scum. There is no one to touch them. They have the nastiest, whining fans, summed up in the pathetic bleatings of one of their players, Gary Neville.

A large section of Liverpool fans are just whinging murderers, refusing to accept their part in two of the three human disasters that befell football in the 1980's.

David Dein has done more to destroy English football than anyone else, particularlywith his G14 campaigning. Arsenal may not be boring any more, but they are about as English as Boca Juniors.

Whether you like them or not, Chelsea have injected huge amounts of new cash into football, and if them winning the title for the next 10 years is the only way of stopping the other three, then I would take it.

I don't think that a future Villa captain would want playing for the crap on his CV

General Krulak here:

8. Platini's Plan will not impact us when we win the Premiership.

General,

For me this is the most significant comment to come from anyone at the club since the new dawn. I was quietly harbouring a fear that the Champion's League was viewed as the true measure of success. Thanks for putting my mind at rest.

If Mr Lerner is in Miami next Sunday and sees a group of 6 overgrown lads in Villa shirts, please ask him to be sure to give us a wave!

Nigel Rio-Coker is unhappy because of Neill's salary so he could be on his way to Villa Park

I believe that Reo-Coker is one of 4 West Ham players who will be out, if not during this window, in the summer. One of the others is Ferdinand, and I can't remember the rest.

All rumour and speculation, mind you.

Blosers by a mile.

Of the others mentioned I think that the Baggies, Coventry and Walsall, together with the Blosers, all have 'little club syndrome' when referring to the Villa, which is why they hate us so much.

Wolves are a decent club with a strong tradition, and are the only other club in the area who can point to their history and rightfully claim a period where they were the biggest club in the area. Which is probably why the Blosers hate the Wolves second only to us.

General Krulak here:

Marketing "next door" and marketing world-wide do not have to be mutually exclusive. I think that maybe we are so used to how things "were done" that we fail to realize that Randy, Fitz, the Directors, etc. have a huge amount of experience in sales and marketing and that to limit them to "next door" is to waste their talent.

General,

I didn't make any further comment owing to moderator's wishes, but just to be clear that I am not advocating any restriction of marketing areas, I just thought (and still think) that it is important to point out that the most prominent sports shop in a large 'Villa town' does not stock our shirts.

Much of the talk on this board is of widening the Villa's appeal both globally and nationally, which I wholly support, but the front line of any sales and marketing push should be to extract everything possible from your core areas first.(in my opinion, of course)

i live in chester and i haven't seen a villa kit here for 4 years

I live in Sutton Coldfield, one of the 'hotbeds' of Villa support.

JD Sports (I think) in the Gracechurch centre, opposite Beatties, only sell Liverpool, Scum(Man Utd, for the benefit of the General) and Arsenal shirts.

Before south east Asia, USA, London and Chester the home turf needs to be hit first. I would suggest strengthening the base, then building on that.

By the way has the rumour of Chelsea sniffing around Barry and Gabby been discussed

Surely Barry's to Spurs in the Defoe deal?

Wow, have you been chasing Mysterons for long?

Where does Lerner's first priority lie at the moment?

1) Villa transfer-window

or

2) Fixing the situation with the Brown's poor results?

Browns season is over, and it looks like he is set up to be here all week.

It wouldn't surprise me if he stayed until after the weekend game, but let's see.

General,

Just a thought re the website.

At the moment I pay GBP43.50 per month (which I think is more than enough) for the full Sky TV package, mainly for my kids, who would make my life a misery if I cancelled any part of it. If Villa introduced a TV and website package priced somewhere around GBP8 per month I would change the level of Sky subscription to accommodate the cost of the Villa package.

On the kids front I would get away with it easily as my son is a mad Villain. Not sure that mum would be too pleased about us cancelling the movies though

I'm also amazed at how many of us on here are Grauniad readers - I'm sure you'd get a different result if you could poll the non-internet-using footie fans.

I guess that Socialists have more time to spend surfing the internet as they are paid vast sums for working 'normal' hours in jobs with great conditions and final salary pension schemes.

Capitalists meanwhile need to work all the hours God sends in order to create the wealth of the country.

:winkold:

Also by upper middle class that think that they should have all the money and everyone else is evil in the world, especially non-white gay libertarians.

I thought that the evil minority in Blair's Britain were white, male, heterosexual, employed

people? They are only allowed to exist because of all of the lovely taxes that they pay.

"Upper middle class"? As any wealthy person will tell you, they can't make money under the Tories. Labour on the other hand flood the economy with money, and guess where most of it ends up.

The 'old' rich donate to the Tory party. The increasing majority of 'new' rich donate to Labour. And we all know why

:winkold:

I am in the none camp. I dislike the lack of objective reporting in the UK press and object to any foreign ownership, as I believe that is against the interests of the nation as a whole.

S'pose I should move to France really.

Thanks to Barnesi for pointing out two papers that are not foreign owned, but unfortunately neither offer any balance.

I spoke with someone close to the Tottenham board yesterday who doesn't say too much but he advised me that Defoe wouldn't be going anywhere. The likelihood for them is "one in during the transfer window and not much out"

He was a little less firm about Keane, but the impression that I got was that he is more likely to leave them at the end of the season which, given his current lack of fitness, makes sense.