dundeevilla

If there was a law saying premises could be smoking or non smoking (as I suppose there is now in a way in England) then landlords would also have a choice. If there was a demand from their custom and staff to go non-smoking then I'm sure they would, rather than lose staff and customers. Give them the choice. The fact there isn't many non-smoking premises at the moment may suggest there isn't a huge demand from customers.

But then you take away the non-smokers choice of working in places where smoking is allowed. Anywhere smoking is allowed indoors, a group of people is effectively excluded from that place - simple as that - therefore smokers will have to give up their right to excersise their bad habits and desire to kill themselves in public rooms. If there was a choice of smoking or non smoking places no-one would be 'excluded ' from anywhere. That's like saying you're 'excluded' from Chinese restaurants if you don't like the food. People should have a choice - smoking or non-smoking establishments. Seems like a sensible solution to me. Then smokers could carry on killing themselves happily while all the other people who dont like smoking can go to their nice clean-aired pubs. People could choose to work in a non-smoking pub rather than a smoking one if they so choose. Choice - it's what living in a proper democracy is all about. In a democracy a compromise is better than banning something that is not illegal, IMO. That goes for anything, not just smoking in boozers.

The UK is hardly the first country to try it out, so I really think that argument is weak. As is the point about adult choice. In a smokey bar, there is no choice. Exactly my point - if there were non-smoking pubs people would have a choice. Just cos other countries have it doesn't mean we need to follow suit. Typical politicians in action - no imagination, just 'BAN IT OR TAX IT'!

I'm in Scotland, I'm a smoker and I've accepted the ban, no other choice really. I understand the point of view of people who don't like smoke in pubs. I would have thought the adult way to sort this out would be to have smoking and no smoking rooms in pubs, which are totally seperate with modern ventilation systems. And smoking and non smoking pubs. ie: Give people a choice. After all we live in a democracy, buying and smoking cigarettes is not illegal, and as adults we have a choice to smoke or not. So give people a choice of smoking or non smoking pubs and bars. This is what they do in some places in Spain. But apparently in the UK it's better to 'ban' everything these days than give people an adult choice. I'm worried about the way our society is going. PS: What people have said about pubs stinking since the ban is true. Disinifectant and vomit. It's like drinking in a hospital ward in some places.

There's no point worrying about something you have absolutely no control over whatsoever. MON will go for the players he wants, if they end up elsewhere then it won't be for the want of trying. If we went for Parker for example, but he says he can't live his life anywhere else bar London, then West Ham are welcome to him. It's not really the sign of a winner for me, so it wouldn't be a great loss. Same goes for Bertie Big Bollox Bellamy, if he doesn't want to play for us, fine. I'm sure there are many players who really do want to play for Aston Villa and I hope these are the type of players our manager will bring in. I'm confident MON will get the players he wants because of the type of man he is, and the type of club that Aston Villa FC is. In the meantime, chill.

It's a shame that threads like this always degenerate into a "WHY HAVEN'T WE SIGNED ANYONE YET?" mess. Some people really have no sense of proper persepective on life, or football.

Me with some wrecko scary fella who was asleep standing at the bar in a Leith pub. (I'm the one on the left).

There's a piece in todays' Guardian saying that Sidwell is set to sign for Newcastle after holding preliminary talks. It also says that the deal could fall through if there is a change of manager in the summer. I take this to mean that Sidwell wants to play for Newcastle, which is strange enough, but even stranger is that he actually wants to play for Roedent and no other manager at Newcastle! WTF.....Is he mental?

These days Scotland are the new England, and England are the old Scotland. If you see what I mean. 0-0 in Bari tonight would do nicely. And c'mon England please hammer the Adorrans. I'm sick of hearing the "Manager out" debate all over the TV/radio. It happens for five days solid after every England non-performance. We need a good show tonight so that England will again be future World Cup winners in the media's eyes. Until the next shyte performance, when they be the worst team in the world again. Repeat ad nauseum. Nothing against the English at all guys, but the media are a joke when it comes to your national team. No wonder they are underperforming with the media muppets on their backs sensing blood. Would you want to play for England in the current climate? The team is playing with fear.

A few of the gay people who I know had some sort of sexual trauma when they were kids, ie: abuse by an older male. I think this could have something to do with why they turned out gay. If your first sexual experience is when you are very young with someone of the same sex it must have a huge psychological impact. However, I also believe that most gay people are just born that way. So it can be either nature or nurture IMHO.

We're a football club, not WWF wrestling or whatever it's called now.

"Martin O'Neill will today be finally unveiled as the new manager of Aston Villa to end 2½ weeks of speculation that has added to the uncertainty surrounding the Premiership club. O'Neill has opted to become the successor to David O'Leary at Villa Park after receiving assurances that the club will be sold before the start of the forthcoming campaign." How sweet these words are to read after coming in from a night on the blarrt. Think back to three weeks ago, how bleak and barren seemed the Villa landscape?Now we have one of the best managers in the game and we are days away from having very very serious money behind him. Vive la Revolucion, **** off Ellis. Cheers boys, we've waited years for this , enjoy every second of it. Hic!

Very positive I would say. The silence from Lerner's camp (and the club) is very encouraging after all last week's shenanigans. A bit more patience and I think we might be home and dry............but if we are at the same stage this time next week we are fecked. IMHO

I just received this email from Steve Dyson, editor of the Mail, after I mailed him this morning with a general moan about their recent coverage: "Hi Scott Our information is that O'Neill should be manager within days, and that Lerner is still at the negotiating table. We can't say more really, rather than let's see what happens in the next few days. Do not doubt, however, that this newspaper will explode should any of what we understand to be taking place is derailed by intransigence at the club. Watch this space - and keep nudging. Thanks again Steve" Interesting..............

Padfield QC as chairman could be entertaining in interviews: Geoff Shreeves, SSN: "What's the latest on the potential Ribery signing chairman?" PQC: "I put it to you sir that you are nothing but a moustachioed fool and a charlatan, parading as a serious journalist while all the time licking the anuses of Ferguson, Mourinho and any senior England international in an effort to sickeningly ingratiate yourself with the said persons through inane questioning and a fawning 'we are all chums together' demeanour." Shreeves: "Guilty m'lud".

I really hope this is true too. But if they know they are out of their league, and they know that Rothchilds think their bids are not up to it, what would they have to gain by going to the media. It's not going to change the minds of the people who matter (the bankers, Ellis).

Agree. The fact that they are thinking of joining forces at this stage surely blows away any credibility they had as bidders. If they both had strong bids and were confident they could seriously challenge for ownership, joining up would be the last thing they would do. A very odd announcement IMHO. Seems amateurish on their part.

This guy seems to know next to nothing. Could it mean that the club already have their preferred bidder and are concentrating on those negotiations for the moment??

Agreed. It dosn't make sense why this is dragging out so long. I'm clinging onto the vain hope that an announcement is going to take us all by surprise.......

Looking around various site's (F365, BBC, Mail etc) they all have differing accounts of what's going on at Villa. The only thing I take from this is that no bugger knows what's really going on, and most of it is media guesswork. Don't believe 5Live. I have a mate who's a senior sports producer there and he knows nothing more than what we all know. No-one has an inside track to what's being said behind closed doors, and representatives of various parties will all be briefing in their own interests. I wouldn't put too much importance to what 5Live says. At the end of the day they are just filling as much airtime as they can cos they have a lot to fill.

Hi guys, I'm a long-time browser on this forum who enjoys sifting through the chat at work but never gets round to actually saying anything. I saw my first game under the Venglos era and was a season ticket holder during the BFR and Little years before my job took me away from the area and I don't get to VP as much as I would like to these days. This takeover saga has prompted me to break cover and say hi. I've been glued on here from morning to night for the last week experiencing every twist and turn of this soap opera, it's painful but I think it will be worth it. Like everyone here I'm well excited and frustrated in equal measure about goings on in B6 at the moment. FWIW I just can't see anything other than Doug being shown the door within the week, if not within days. There is now no way out for him except through the door marked EXIT. I think today's relative silence is not necessarily a bad thing. I would rather hear nothing than wide-of-the-mark and varying media reports. I think the silence shows that serious negotiation is going on behind closed doors, and I'm very hopeful and confident that Lerner will emerge as the man who is going to lead us into a bright and shiny new era. One thing's for sure, after years, nay decades, of the breath being slowly strangled out of the club, all Villa fans deserve this takeover. We are one of the greatest old clubs in world football and it is a travesty that Villa has become the personal dictatorship of a self-interested egomianic. It's going to happen guys, I can feel it.