uvillaboys

Great work Andy. I had never heard of the player until a couple of weeks ago but I do have contacts in the academy. I didn't want to ask if he had played at Burton so I just asked how is he doing. The reply came back "He is training well. He is class" You are definately on to something. He is 100% training with us anyway.

I agree with Andy. This lad could be something really special. On his day he can be unplayable and every club in the country would have liked to sign him. It remains to be seen if he can translate his natural ability on to the higher levels of the game but if he can we will have a fantastic winger for the first team.

The team was; Craig Hill in goal, back four of Jenkins,Bryan,Lewis and Bateman. Midfield Barton,Darkin,Ward and Graham. Up front Eminoglu and Grealish. Eminoglu headed in a great cross from Graham to give us the lead before being sent off and then after going behind 2-1 Brad Lewis scored a last minute equaliser from another Jordan Graham cross.

We were a little unlucky to lose this game as we had enough chances in the first half to have scored six. We made a few changes including a new centre back pairing of Liam Bateman and fit again Brad Lewis. Juan Serrano also made an appearance as a second half sub.

You will be able to get in but you will have to pay. You probably can't give cash to the turnstile operator but you will be able to buy a ticket from the ticket kiosk right outside the Trinity road stand. There probably will not be a queue and I think it will cost you £4. Money well spent hopefully.

The Ajax game is at Villa Park but it is not free to get in. Should be a cracker. Villa Team. Bradley Watkins making his debut (I think) in goal. Back four Nelson-Addy, Bryan, Donacien, Williams. Midfield Barton, Michael Nelson making his first start, Ward, Graham, Up front Drennan with Melvin playing in the hole. Darkin, Eminoglu and Daniel Williams came on as subs during the second half.

We lost today against Blues 2-1. A few players were rested ahead of the Ajax game on tuesday but it wasn't one of our better performances. I thought Jordan Graham on the left wing was our best player.

Just come back from the game. We fielded a very strong team tonight but for an hour it just didn't gell as much as we would want. Bannan, who at this level is pretty unplayable, did not get the amount of possesion he usually gets. Gardner and DJ, though more than holding their own in midfield, didn't really dominate and Gary was quite wastefull at times. After an hour K Mac took Gardner off and brought on Carruthers. He dropped Bannan back into a deeper midfield role and pushed Samir forward to play behind Burke. For the next fifteen minutes we turned into Brazil with Bannan and DJ combining superbly. Albrighton put us ahead with a great finish from a Bannan cross and then 3 minutes later a touch of Genius from BB made it 2-0. Graham Burke made the game safe at 3-0 shortly after and we cruised to a comfortable win. I think that this result puts us 4 points behind top of the table West Brom with a game in hand.

He doesn't need to be rushed as he is still an U16 player. I am sure the Academy staff will know when he is ready. We have several other players who might be considered for a first team place like Gardner, Burke, Carruthers and Johnson and the first teams league position will have some bearing on them getting a chance. I think we play Bristol City away in the youth cup.

The U16s were playing at Coventry this morning but they were quite far away so I don't know how they got on. I haven't seen much of them this season and they are largely a new team from last year so no doubt I will see them in a complete match soon and will be able to tell you if there is anyone else that I think you should keep an eye out for. Grealish was brilliant this morning but TM will not be pleased with his first booking and it remains to be seen if he deserved the second. I was very impressed with him last week against Watford because I thought he wasn't having the best of games early on, against a right back who appeared to have his measure and he also gave the ball away for Watfords equaliser. Instead of going into his shell as most wingers normally do, he got better as the game went on and ended up running the fullback ragged and scoring a brilliant goal as well. To me this shows he has great belief in his own ability and nothing phases him.

Football can be a very strange game sometimes. We played away against top of the table Coventry City this morning and fielded a very young but skillful team against an older and very powerful team who are in very good form. We played Melvin, Ward and Burke in midfield with Graham, Robinson and Grealish up front. The skill and interplay between the front six in particular had Coventry chasing shadows but unfortunately after creating chance after chance with brilliant attacking play we proceeded to miss them all. Half-time came with the score 0-0 when we should have been at least 4 goals to the good. The second half continued as the first half with great skill from especially Grealish and Coventry trying to rough up their more skillfull opposition (nothing wrong with that) The Coventry right back finally got booked for his 27th foul on Grealish and then as the game got a bit spicey Kinsella and Grealish both went into the refs book for backchat. Then the inevitable happened. Coventry took the lead with a far post header very much against the run of play. Villa hit back and another Grealish run into the area attracted a challenge from a defender, Jack went down claiming a penalty and picked up a second yellow for taking a dive. My first reaction was that it was a penalty but AVTV will show the truth. Down to ten men we still played some excellent football and Darkin, on as sub, hit the post with a header and then Graham Burke hit the bar with a shot from the edge of the box. It wasn't our day and Coventry added a late goal to make the score even more cruel. FT Coventry 2-0 Villa

Hi Norton, Really pleased that you enjoyed your trip.

Yes. I see him play in every U16 home game. They are on the next pitch to the U18s and I always watch for about 15 minutes at least. The U16s are not too clever at the moment and lost heavily to Watford on saturday.

Daniel Crowley is a very hot prospect. He is 14 years old and already in the England schools team. He has been playing for our U16s against the top U16s in the country since he was 12 years old. He is a midfield player in the Barry Bannan mold.

Mikey Drennan is a very good player and very highly rated by the coaching staff. He was put straight into the reserves as a 16 yr old and scored on his debut against Blackpool last season. His form dipped as the season went on (probably due to being homesick) and he decided to go back to Ireland. The club didn't want to release him and he has decided to give it another try. We sometimes forget that these players are only young lads and are away from their family. Some lads can take it in their stride and other boys struggle when away from home. Jack Grealish, Jordan Graham, Callum Robinson, DJ, Daniel Crowley, Gary Gardner etc are all terrific prospects and all of them might end up in our first team but the reality is that even Gary Gardner has only a 50/50 chance of being a Villa first team regular.