ThunderPower_14

If there was ever a time to send a resume in! Assuming we're starting a brand new sportswear brand and producing kits in house, surely a talented, experienced and well credentialed Villa man would be like gold to them.

He's come on in leaps and bounds. He was a liability early in his Villa career but has gone on to be an absolute force at this level. Hope we can keep him.

Imagine having an effectively bottomless pit of money and still having that haircut.

It's only really Fulham i'm worried about. Everyone else we can beat at our best. I'm happy for Fulham to keep winning at this stage, I don't think we can rein them in with 4 games to go.

Could they not just have a button on each corner a la the end of a Ninja Warrior course which is pressed on the tyre being successfully changed and everyone being clear and the green light can't activate until all 4 buttons have been pressed? Horrible accident. Hope the guy makes a speedy recovery. (We should arguably have a thread for brutal sports injuries like that)

They talk about the agreement being innovative and ground breaking for football. Maybe our manufacturer will be Li-Ning and they'll also be our shirt sponsor, so we have a sort of double deal with them so we can justify the 100 million pounds a season deal.

Shame, I've been really happy with Under Armour's kits. I wonder what the issue was. If we want a proper deal with a big manufacturer we'd probably need to hold off until we know whether we'll be promoted, which would mean another season where the kits are released at the last possible minute.

The bans are manifestly excessive. Outrageous really. Cricket Australia have buckled under the pressure of media driven public outrage and handed down sanctions that aren't in keeping with the seriousness of the offending nor the punishments for similar offending in the past. The opposing captain in this very test series has been convicted twice without ever missing a match. I'm not sure how we get from that to 12 month bans.

Fighting is 90% about size, so i'd go for Costel Pantilimon and Fraser Forster or something like that.

Great post. Trump was clever really. He managed to have Russia assist in his election win, and then roll that straight into the big bad Putin discussion which will get Americans looking over their shoulders and nodding in agreement with any extra defence or security measures a Republican president chooses to introduce.

On further inspection, I really like what they did with Tottenham and Italy haven't looked bad in living memory.

I can't immediately recall liking anything Puma has done in the last 20 years or so.

Looking forward to seeing whether the fault was with the car or the woman.

Making up 8 points in 8 games isn't going to happen, especially when they have a game in hand. It's very unlikely that Fulham can catch them either, but that's probably a good result for us now unless we win out. Fulham barnstorm home, Cardiff fall in a hole including getting smashed by us in our game, Fulham overtake Cardiff and we get a battered, bruised Cardiff in the playoffs. It's all unlikely though at this stage. We're going to have to beat Fulham to go up.

I feel like i've been punched in the stomach. That fleeting moment of enjoying being a Villa fan again when we touched 2nd is replaced by the status quo of despair and worry. We need to find some form before the playoffs begin.

Really deflated. You just have to keep getting results, especially at home. 7 points in 9 games is too much of a gap unless Cardiff fall in a hole, and they just keep getting results. Hopefully the experience of our squad makes the difference in the playoffs.

Cardiff just keep getting results. It's frustrating. It's getting really tough now. 4 points isn't much to make up but it looks more and more every time they win. If they don't have a bad run of games, we're probably looking at a cutthroat promotion playoff against Fulham. It's getting pretty tense.

Just coming behind twice to win well away from home proves a lot of the mental strength of this team. If we can get Grealish and Adomah fit and playing every game, we'll achieve automatic promotion, i'm sure of it.

I'm honestly conflicted as to whether they should even display silver and bronze on the medal tally

What a perfect game! We not only destroyed them but we genuinely looked a class above all day. This is a team that believes it's too good for the Championship and the results are following.

That makes sense, thanks for the explanation!

I'm fascinated by this stuff. When you say something is impossible to make, can you give me an example?

We've been burned so badly by this club over the past half a decade, but I think belief is finally starting to overcome doubt for me. We've got a great squad of players I genuinely like for the first time since the MON era. We're getting results. UTV.

I absolutely agree that clubs shouldn't be saddled with unservicable debt. We don't want clubs flying too close to the sun trying to get promotions or European places and then being at risk of being wound up if they don't get there. I'm all for FFP that stops clubs getting into bad debt. But if an owner wants to inject money into his or her football club, it's moronic that they're not allowed to. It makes it incredibly difficult for a large club to ever really make that step up to giant club status, regardless how deep their owner's pockets are. Chelsea and Man City get in before the glass ceiling and reap all those benefits but other clubs aren't allowed to because of Portsmouth? It's bullshit.

I don't like the idea of a star appearing separate and above the crest, unless we're playing in Europe. Then the star represents something. Wearing it when we're playing away at Barnsley in the 2nd tier of English football is a bit meaningless IMO. I think the recent changes to the badge have been a huge success. The badge when embroidered is absolutely beautiful. I'm definitely open to change but i'm not desparate for one. If we were going to make a change, i'd much prefer a modern interpretation of the 1957 badge than something round. I feel like a round badge is quite generic really. I'd much rather have something where the shape immediately screamed Aston Villa.