ThunderPower_14

Agree fully, we should be aiming to capture a bit of the aesthetic magic of Villa Park, reimagined in a modern stadium. We'd want to see the brickwork, a massive single tier Holte end, mosaics, the statues. I know a few people have talked about Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis with it's brick facade. It's not quite the same aesthetic as Villa park but it shows that bricks can be done well on a modern stadium. The new Everton stadium features brickwork as well.

This is sad, similar to what has happened with West Indies cricket over the last 20 years. It just compounds the issue because you lose your most marketable and talented star

The current rules regarding sustainability are decided by and designed entirely to benefit the establish big clubs, and don't actually stop bad owners or clubs going under. I don't see how a regulator could make things worse than they are currently. What exactly are people afraid of here?

The USA really nailed it when they had the red and white hoops a decade or so ago. It's such an obvious and distinctive look for them and they should have stuck with it. Everything else they've done since is disappointing.

Not at all! There are owners all over the league who are widely considered to be terrible for their teams but make money hand over fist, the most notorious probably being James Dolan of the New York Knicks.

Gabby has England caps. Sure you can say that his only real asset was pace, but that pace was absolutely blistering to the point where it changed everything about how the defence had to set up and created space for himself and his teammates. It's like arguing that Shaq was only good at basketball because he was enormous. I think Duran shows signs of being a more well rounded striker, but if he ends up starting almost every game and scoring 50 odd goals over the next 4 seasons as Gabby did at the same stage of his career, we'd all be pretty happy with him.

Villa Park has some undeniable limitations. I'm happy with whatever decision the owners make on the stadium, but if we move on from Villa Park to a New Villa Park, it will be because they think Villa Park as it stands is holding us back from being the best club we can be.

Great take on an 80s-90s aesthetic England shirt, might get a Konsa or Watkins shirt if they're readily available in Aus.

That's an excellent point I hadn't really considered. Everton have bricks on their new stadium which I assume are the brick slip cladding variety. I guess it just depends on how they work it in to the design. I don't think we'll get something akin to a hypermodern NFL stadium, I think they'll want to give nods to Villa Park where they can.

I think you can absolutely build a new Villa Park and work hard to keep some of the aesthetic. The brickwork, the mosaics, the statues could all be worked in to a new and modern stadium and i'd expect them to be. Like with everything about how we brand ourselves, we can't ignore our history but we also can't be limited by it. A modern stadium with modern facilities that pays a very strong homage to Villa Park would be ideal for me. I live in a city which had a major stadium upgrade a decade ago, and it's centrally located, which absolutely makes it more useful. The two biggest sports clubs in the city moved from a stadium out in the suburbs with terrible transport options and it was horrible and congested trying to get out every time. I'm not fully aware of the public transport options in Birmingham but the ability for people to get in on busses and trains and utilise the extensive amount of parking options available in the Adelaide CBD and surrounds definitely boosts attendance. It also boosts the stadium's use as an entertainment venue. There is always plenty to do around the stadium in terms of eating and drinking with money that goes back to the club. People go elsewhere before and afterwards, but that's a good thing, because you get people that might not have gone to the football attending anyway because they can continue their night out in town afterwards. Going to the football becomes part of a night out instead of the entire night out, and that's appealing to people.

Very keen for Ollie to overtake both Yorke and Gabby. Can't help but be amazed by Benteke when you look at this. He scored a tick under 1 in 2 despite us being absolute dogshit for the entire time he was here. Everyone else on the list was with us for a few seasons where we were in the top half.

I feel a bit sad for CVByrne because being unable to enjoy this season for what it is is a great shame. I'll probably do what I call "emotional hedge betting" as the season goes on where I bet against us winning so if we lose, at least my sportsbet account is happy. But we're terrified about falling to 6th or 5th and England missing out on the 5th CL spot. At the moment we're 4th and England are in a very strong position in Europe. Man United have been trash this season and Spurs aren't that reliable either. We've had runs of good and bad luck. Plenty to be excited about. 6th would give us a Europa League place and we'd still end up with some massive European nights. It'd be a bit disappointing but it's not fatal

It's nuts isn't it. They talk about sustainability but don't care at all if clubs go into enormous levels of debt. They could have just based the entire rule off of debt as a percentage of turnover and it would have protected clubs just as well.

I don't mind this, i'd just argue that the gate receipts should be split regardless of where it's held. So if Notts County draw Liverpool at Anfield, profit from hosting the game is split between the 2 competing teams evenly. Then it doesn't disadvantage smaller teams at all financially. They could even elect to hold their cup tie away if the receipts are worth it to them over hosting. Other than that, I think a single leg benefits lower level teams because it's much harder to knock out a premier league team over 2 legs.

Great to see the Fit and Proper owners test and FFP protecting clubs from being destroyed, oh wait.

He's great coming off the bench, running powerfully like he does at a tired defence. Incredible qualities for his age.

Great result for him to get on the board like that, hopefully does wonders for his confidence

Surely we've all been assuming that Leverkusen were going to beat Qarabag at home and factoring that into the odds?

Leverkusen with the winner in the 8th minutes of 6 minutes of added time. FFS Qarabag you had one job

Leverkusen with 1 back

QARABAG GO 2 GOALS UP OVER LEVERKUSEN!

Qarabag down to 10 men, still holding a goal lead in the tie

BAAIILLLLEEYYYYY

Currently a goal down in the tie. Cmon Qarabag!

At least under the new format we'll play 8 different clubs if we make it. They can't all be boring.