ThunderPower_14

It's also a bit of a slap in the face to suggest the board messed up in seeking fan consultation and sets a precedent. The idea was well intentioned and must be applauded, the final execution poor.

20 20 hindsight hey? I loved the idea of the fan consaultation, it's typical of our brilliant new board. But honestly, looking at what we got (and this badge has grown on me, I would say i'm happy with it now), a single designer working by himself would have likely pleased a lot more people.

I don't think voting from 6 or 7 finished designs was the way to go, for the reasons people have stated. If they were all decent, we would get the winning design only getting like 30% or something. Not good. I agree now with whoever said before that they should just have gotten a designer to do it without asking us. If we weren't asked, we couldn't have gotten as upset when our choices didn't win. And honestly, without the survey, I sincerely doubt the badge would have come out exactly how it did.

A good design that stretched the guidelines in this case may have been better than a design that followed the survey guidelines to the letter.

That Said, I just went to the Aston Villa wikipedia entry, noticed they had the new badge up as our emblem, and went to myself "hey that isnt too bad". It's a grower all right. At least it's a classic design, not ultra modern or anything. This means that it wont go out of fashion.

On may 3 2008, someone should start a thread regarding the one year anniversary of the badge. By then I doubt people will still be bothered by it, and it will be accepted as part of the club.

Very good article, I can't disagree with much you have said at all.

The lion element has grown on me, I now like it better than the old lion, it looks classier. But other than that, while I like the elements enough individually, they haven't grown on me as a badge. You are dead right, we didn't completely stuff up, but it could have been much more classy, determined and "Aston Villa". Definitely a wasted opportunity for me.

Do people really, really believe that a board containing an exec who is CEO of one of the biggest sports marketing companies out there will throw something together?

This is something i mentioned in the closed thread. There are people on our board who surely know about this kind of stuff and even Randy will know how important logos and marketing a brand is from his NFL experience.

Not to knock Randy, but the Browns logo is about as boring as batsh*t. It's just a brown helmet. It would be like Villa having a plain image of a claret shirt with blue sleeves as it's emblem.

Branding isn't all about the emblem though, far from it.

Not that the Australian market is huge, but Leeds got tons and tons of fans over here when Kewell and Viduka were playing for them. If we make Europe with Lucas Neill in the team, look for a huge boost in the Australian supporter base.

Turning 21 quite soon

Van Der Vaart would be a magic signing. Absolute magic. Trabelsi is a very good player as well, and plays in a spot where we are in need of quality, he would be a fantastic addition. Only problem is he's 30 years old, and we should be looking at more long term prospects IMO.

If you have any spare scarves general, send one this way! I'll pay for postage!

Just kidding, sending one to every international Villa fan that asked would be a nightmare. What to do with them would depend on how many were left over. If it were thousands then giving them to fans who couldnt attend the sheffield united game might be a good idea, but if only a few hundred it might not be worth it.

How about one of those "Why you love Villa" in 25 words or less competitions on the OS? Would be a pretty fair way to go... and it would give me a shot at getting one.

Van Der Vaart himself would be almost 20 Million. But he would be an absolutely awesome signing. A way bigger signing than Carew, and he was an awesome signing.

i dont want chelsea to win it...

dont want them fuckwits joining us as clubs to have won it..

other than that, i dont care...

how can u say sorenson. He costs the villa points all/every season. I swear some people watch a different aston villa who post on here.

I know this was a couple of pages ago, but care to point out where he has done that this season? He has been terrific. The games where we hade Kiraly in goal really made me appreciate how good a keeper we have in Tommy.

Hero for Villa.

We never quite had the team to make best use of his talent. If he was 24 now and we signed him in the summer, he could have been that 20 goal a season striker every team is looking for.

I was 50/50 between Sorenson and Barry, went Barry, and i'm actually pretty shocked Sorenson hasn't gotten a vote considering Petrov and Angel both have. Not saying they suck, just saying Tommy was more valueable to the team this season.

Over here every bloody person is a fan of one of the big 4 teams. It's a joke. No-one bothers with family heritage, they just glory hunt.

Over there it's even worse. Every person has a relatively local club, and unless you have parents or family who follow a different club, your local club should be the one you support. A brummy Manchester United "fan" is a joke. SHA fans may be scumbags, but at least they support the team that represents them, and not one of the big 4 just so they can support a team that wins a lot of silverware. Silverware isn't what supporting a club is about.

Over here in Aussie Rules football we have a salary cap and draft system, so no club is ever up or down the ladder for too many years in a row. We like to say that if you don't support the club with all your heart during the bad times, you dont deserve to enjoy the good times, and they wont be as sweet anyway. The Brummy Manure fans decided they were too good to support a club that would have bad times, and I guarentee they wouldn't enjoy Man U winning the Premiership anywhere near as much as every member of this site will when Villa next win the premiership.

Just out of curiosity, because my Brummy born Dad has an Aussie accent and my memory is foggy on the accents of my Grandma and Grandad, what makes a brummy accent a brummy accent?

Oh and I don't think it as a penalty.

Think it was dude, seeing it on MOTD; 2 players infact fouled him!

Exactly, without rugby tackling him, I can't imagine a much clearer penalty. The player who caught his left foot just caught him (and we have seen penalties for less this season), but the guy on his right foot took him right out.

Hey, better a villa fan is shaking a claret and blue shaker than sitting down doing nothing IMO. It might get the fans actively supporting a bit more.

General,

Alan Perrin the Villa fan from Devon who was nominated as the Barclays fan of the month has won the award. (He was particularly pleased with your vote !)

Can we have him on the pitch at half time at one of the next two home games so that we can give him a round of applause?

I will second that. The man devotes his life to helping others and supporting Villa.

Very much agreed. Inspirational stuff.

God no, loan him out to anyone else for this month where we have no games, but not bloody SHA. He would be tainted. Unless he was just there to score own goals...

Realistically, how quick is Carew? Cause I'm not sure I fancy those two playing together up front if it means lack of pace.

You're able to get away with it in some games but mostly at least one of the lads up top has to be a fairly nippy bugger

Based on his Pro Evo Soccer 6 stats, he's faster than Gabby

But Gabby's pace is severely underrated in that game, still... fast.

I am biased as an Aussie but I think Lucas Neill is a gun. He is a very dogged defender and was by far our best player in the world cup IMO. It was reported over here that he had SIGNED with west sham, and I was disgusted frankly. He is much better than them. Definitely worth more than 2 mil if thats what they are paying for him!

Imagine Baros and Ronaldo upfront , the laziest forward line ever . Teams could play one at the back and still mark them out of the game

I'd have a lazy, overweight Ronaldo in my team!!

Same! He is a goalscorer nomatter what anyone says, and the shirts would fly off the shelves.

Its the kind of dreaming I can definitely get excited about. However he'd want to go to a bigger club being only 30. Damn.

I'm **** sick of rumours, it's time for signings!!

Exactly.

If we get adidas as a kit sponsor, the 1st one, otherwise, the second one, whatever it means.

I don't think Viduka would be a long term solution, he is getting on a bit now. But he would do well as the CF in our 4-3-3 if we go back to that when Moore is fit. If he is just in the squad to compete for the CF spot for a couple of seasons there is no problems here. Provided MON and Randy are committed to signing a better striker in the summer that is.