bickster

But if You are Spizz, where's Captain Kirk ? Welcome btw

Has to be said thats the worst version of RotV I've ever heard BUT I kind of agree with you its not that great a tune to run out to Me I'd have gone a slightly different route in a classical way I'd have gone for some Grogorian Chanting right at the start and then let that kick into Mars (Bringer of War) from Holst's Planet Suite But I didnt enter the debate earlier so its my own fault (that and I've only just thought of it) (So thats a combination of Bunnymen & Bauhaus concert openings from the eighties )

Not all of us. At 50p you could use him for cleaning high things. Nah he's much better on the deck than in the air

Of course, we all would. The question is what is the right price ? I might have some Green Shield Stamp books in the attic

Enough said methinks

Just been announced by SPuds that Robbie Keane will be out of action for 6 weeks be a bit of a gamble buying him in the window then, be disappointing to some VT'ers methinks

By Blandy Many readers of this fine site will know that the Club is very keen to both listen to and talk to supporters. The Club has set up a series of regular consultations, (Supporter Consultation Groups). The first one is next saturday and Villatalk will be represented. A couple of the more obvious candidates to attend were unavailable, so as a one off, I'm going. I'm keen to represent all the posters and readers of VT as best I can and have been asked to take to the meeting VT's top three questions, ideas or suggestions. This article is to canvas ALL VT members and readers for exactly those things, then. If you follow the link "comment on this article" at the bottom, you can fire away with whatever is bugging you, pleasing you, or that inkling of an idea that you've been formulating to make things a bit better, smoother or different So please, go ahead, type away and let us know what you think/want/like Don't worry if you post the same as someone else - it'll help understand a priority order for things - as I said, time constraints mean that the top 3 issues will get raised this time, then next time the next three and so on. All contributions will be gratefully recieved. Thanks in advance, both to you and to the club for giving us the chance to pull together and be more involved in the way the club deals with us.

Not quite as badly as Portsmouth, who actually own Andy Griffin. spoilsport, I was wondering when someone would actually cotton on to that minor fact

Thanks for sharing your experiences with us Slovenian, good read

It was the same when Everton sold Jeffers to the Arse, the actual fee was only £1mil - the rest of the supposed £7-8mil fee was addons, don't think even triggered a single clause either

By Slovenian My mate and I (not a Villa fan) were in Birmingham from Friday till Thursday last week (24.11. - 30.11.). We were there to see Middlesborough and Man City games. This is my review. My mate and me started the trip from Ljubljana to Birmingham at 15.00 on Friday. The flight was interesting because of six guys that drank more than they should. Minutes after we landed five or more policeman escorted them to the ‘other room’. Train station at Stansted airport is not hard to find. We only had to wait half an hour and off we went. The trip that should take little more than 3 hours lasted 4 hours and a half. And we paid for the single tickets twice as much as we paid for the plane return ticket. No problem there though, couldn’t wait to get to Brum. We got off at New Street. It was raining quite hard and we had no idea where to go. We followed the crowds and ended up at the Birmingham Markets, the first place that was mentioned in our directions to the hostel (Milk Street, Digbeth). Five minutes later, at 23.30 we were at the hostel. They had the place running for only two weeks and they only accepted cash and no credit cards. We shared our room with a 16 years old whiskey lover from Australia, rocker from Finland and an Italian snob. You can imagine the quality of air in the room at 8 in the morning. We went to the Bullring first, had a quick breakfast and off we went to Villa Park. We forgot our map at the hostel but went on anyway. We walked for more than three hours, including a couple of Pub stops. We came down the Church road. When I saw the church I knew we were close. The sight of Trinity stand was impressive. Finally Villa Park! Absolutely unbelievable! I probably saw hundreds of pictures but Villa Park is bigger and better than I could ever imagine. We walked round the VP and then to the Villa Village. I wanted to take the stadium tour but it was already sold out for that week. Damn! I remembered three names of the pubs that were mentioned here where the fans meet before the games - Upper grounds, Aston Hotel and The Social. We went to the Upper grounds before that game (vs. Boro). I think we were there round 13.00. At 13.55 we met Chris at the Holte Suite. Five minutes later we had a meeting with Rob Bishop, chief programme writer at Villa (thanks Ian). He wanted to take our picture and have an interview. It will be published in the programme for the Bolton game (Saturday, 16 December). After that we went to the Upper grounds again and back to the car park, but nobody was there anymore. It was only five or ten minutes before the kickoff. We went inside the stadium and the sight was magnificent. I stood at the top of the stairs, my mouth and eyes were wide open, no words to describe the feeling. Sounds from the Upper Holte, sight of thousands Villa fans. We soon found our seats (Holte lower, L5). The view was perfect. I will not comment the game. Ok, shortly – Agbonlahor is ace, they scored from an offside, Huth should have been sent off, Boateng is a t*@t and I don’t think Bouma should be playing. After the game we wanted to return to the city centre because we were not sure how long it will take. We only walked for an hour to the Bullring. We stopped at the Bull ring Tavern. It’s not the fanciest pub but the atmosphere was brilliant. We returned there two or three more times over the next couple of days. We spent our Sunday, Monday and Tuesday discovering Brum and its pubs. We went to all the attractions that are walking distances away from the centre. I can tell you I have never walked that much before in my life. And the walk to Villa Park on Monday only took 35 minutes. We went to the Wednesday’s game against Man City early in the afternoon. We stopped at almost every pub along the way. I was always wearing green Slovenian Kappa shirt hoping to meet some fellow VTers. We again went to the Upper grounds, atmosphere again was not what I expected. We moved to the Aston Hotel. Too dark and too quiet, again no prematch singing. Time to get to the ground. We had tickets for the Trinity stand, lower C. Great view, you could smell the grass, that close to the pitch we were. But sitting there was like being at the theatre. I shouted at the ref on more than one occasion during the match. I could see people round me, eating their chips didn’t like it too much. Now I know, it’s the Upper Holte where I belong. Again, a short game review – an opened game, we made Man City look like Brazil in the first half, I didn’t boo Vassell, wish we had Barton in our team, if we scored when we were 2-1 down, we would probably win the game. We had a steak burger after the game and we went straight back to the hostel, we had to get up early. The trip home began at 6 in the morning and we were home round 6 in the afternoon. Both, the train trip and the flight were quiet. I was reading Villains (ex hooligans book) and You can call me Stan on the way home, I recommend reading both. I was in London in February to see us play Charlton at the Valley. We were at a pub Antigallican couple of hours before the game and the atmosphere there was brilliant, lots of singing from probably more than 300 Villa fans. I have not been at the Social before the games, but the atmosphere at the Upper grounds and Aston Hotel was not even near to what I expected and experienced at the Antigallican in Charlton. London is unlike Birmingham, full of tourists. London is full of attractions but i don't think its the better looking city, and Birmingham has the soul. I felt almost like home in Brum. You won’t find friendlier people anywhere in the world. I will return.

Oh they do, they do................... Yep where is Wendy, not been around much recently?

rumour on the mailing list, (supposedly come from a friend of Lil Lee) that we will be signing Bellendamy? Thoughts?

A thick gold bracelet from Elizabeth Duke

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indeed. It's a little bit Grisales to me. Nah not in this instance, he plays for Rapid Vienna, if he wants to go abroad he's trying to further his career surely? He's not saying he has a problem at Rapid, he's saying erm shit sure I want to go and play in a better league Whether he's good enough is another matter though

Katzer isn't good enough, look he didnt maim Bellendamy Seems he's a fullback

nothing to stop them all the rules do is make sure the player can't play for the new club until the window opens, he can still play for the selling club So for many reasons this rarely happens, the player cant be registered until the window so technically he still belongs to the selling club. Of course the buying club can insist he isnt played but then they get a player in Jan who is lacking in match practice but should they play him to keep him match fit, he could get injured

BFR - no doubts for me, I reckon this one will be a landslide personally

Subtle difference there is that Chelsea haven't actually previously enquired about Gabby, had a bid accepted, the player been on his way only for the Villa topull the plug in the final minutes of the deal. Its totally different imo We have a history with James Milner both as he played for us last season and the fated almost transfer in the Autumn. Those facts make it fair game to comment imo especially as if the quotes true then MON was probably asked directly about Milner and with the history between Milner and ourselves what is he actually supposed to say?

Never seen a clearer case of tapping up in my life. If O'Neill said that and Newcastle haven't complained... it must be pretty much a done deal. Why is that tapping up? Firstly its mostly old quotes, secondly its tribal fFootball" and thirdly all he is saying is that given the chance he'd sign him (something which is a matter of public record that he's tried to do in the past) When DOL got brought before the FA for tapping up it was because he said "Here is a player I KNOW wants to join Aston Villa", it was the I know he wants to join aspect that was iimportant as it clearly meant he'd already spoken to the player about it. Nothing that MON is supposed to have said constitutes that. What was he supposed to say, "Yes I tried to sign Milner before but I think he's not good enough for us anymore" ?

Sorry but those two statements are a contradiction to my mind First of all anyone can manage with pots of cash The when someone gets pots of cash and fails its the boards fault DOL got in the CL without the pots of cash, the huge spending came after the one succesful campaign - he then failed when he spent the money I'm not saying the board was competant, but they did provide him with lots of cash which he then managed to fail with

Wasnt havin a pop at you BillyShears, just rantin about the state of education in this country.

erm.......... DOL...................Leeds................ Tarj theres plenty of managers who've not been able to handle large budgets

I think you are right, I feel similar myselt TRO. Malcolm just isnt getting as carried away as some fans are. He has a different outlook, thats all.