desensitized43

I think they will be looking at this and thinking they have got a decent chance. I must admit I find myself a bit nervous at the thought of the game this weekend, but its an excited kind of nervous.

For all of MONs faults (and he has a fair few) he always got the lads up for games of this kind and I don't remember a derby under him that we didn't perform. I just hope that we can replicate some of the success of the previous manager in these kinds of games.

I predict a close game with 1 goal deciding it either way. Think they will want to keep it tight as possible, nick a goal and rely on their thuggish midfield kicking our more skillful players out of the match which i hate to say, is a tactic I can see a lot of logic in.

Sports Direct profits plummet by 91% as things get worse for Ashley

Sports Direct said today it had taken a £53m hit on profits after stakes it held in rival retailers Blacks and JD Sports were seized by the administrators of collapsed bank Kaupthing Singer & Friedlander.

The retailer, controlled by Newcastle United owner Mike Ashley, said it was considering legal action. "We are in dispute with the administrators concerning the ownership of the shares," said its chief executive, Dave Forsey. "While we continue to maintain the shares are ours and should be delivered to us, we may not control the shares for accounting purposes."

Until the matter is resolved, Sports Direct has written off the £26.2m value of the holdings, which include a 29.8% stake in Blacks and a 13% stake in JD. In additional it wrote down another £28.5m to reflect the plunge in the value of its stake in Blacks. The administrators have a claim on the shares as they were bought with loans from KSF.

The dispute – plus the weakness of the pound, which has dented the group's buying power – contributed to a steep fall in profits at the retailer, down 91% to £10.7m in the year to 26 April. Stripping out these factors, underlying pretax profits fell by 20% to £68.2m. Sales increased 8.6% to £1.37bn, boosted by new store openings.

The group, which trades as Sports World, Field & Trek and Lillywhites, said like-for-like sales were up 2.5%, defying tough market conditions. Forsey said the retailer had not suffered a backlash in the north-east after Ashley's stewardship of Newcastle United was blamed for its relegation from the Premiership, although he said demand for replica shirts was once again limited to "diehard" fans.

Its profit margins were also hit hard both by the slump in sterling – almost all the branded goods sold in Sports Direct's stores are bought in dollars – and the continued pressure on retailers to discount to win custom. Across the group, gross margins slid from 43.6% to 40.8%. In the UK, retail gross margins fell even more sharply, from 45.7% to 42.5%.

Sports Direct has scrapped its dividend and Forsey said it wanted to cut its borrowings from £431.3m to below £400m in the current financial year.

Sports Direct has been criticised in the City for failing to act like a public company since its flotation in 2007. Forsey said analysts had been pleased with a statement that ran to 41 pages and included a like-for-like sales figure – a key industry benchmark – for the first time. However, it has still not formally appointed a new chairman more than two years after David Richardson resigned.

Forsey declined to comment on the recent row between Ashley and rival JJB Sports over a £1.5m loan made to JJB executive chairman Sir David Jones, which has since been repaid. Sports Direct supplies JJB with about £30m of sportswear a year and it had been suggested Ashley was angry at Jones's plan to reduce its orders.

Cant say im surprised given they have such blatent glitches in their website...thanks to them from me and my brother for the free name and number

He's a hero!

Here are my reasons:

1. Keeping us in the Prem - We all seem to forget so quickly how dark those days were and he scored the goals that IMHO kept us in the league for 1 or maybe 2 seasons that i believe if he wasnt there we could have gone down..

Just on this, Marcus Aalback scored some goals that really did keep us in the league, should he be classed as a hero too?

Its a combination of all those things mate. AllBack scored some really important goals but ultimately didnt give the team enough (as i mention later on). Angel brought others who were around him into play. But while we're on Allback i do feel we let him go too soon TBH lol

He's a hero!

Here are my reasons:

1. Keeping us in the Prem - We all seem to forget so quickly how dark those days were and he scored the goals that IMHO kept us in the league for 1 or maybe 2 seasons that i believe if he wasnt there we could have gone down.

2. The way he was treated - When he moved to England and could hardly speak a word of English the club did nothing to help him adjust to life in England...i believe he once gave an interview in which he said he only grew his hair long because he lacked the English skills to find a decent hair dresser and communicate what he wanted done.

3. His family problems - Again, this was a problem with the club helping the players at the time. He lost a few members of his family if i remember correctly and he just carried on and showed a massive amount of commitment and courage.

For these reasons the man is an absolute legend in my eyes and those who accuse him of being a flop should also remember that we never played him in the correct way in all the time he was with us. The man had some lovely touches, not a great finisher, but he had a massive leap and linked up the play really well but because he wasnt the '20 goal a season' man people seem to make up their minds he was a flop.

I voted for the synchronised swimming but i think there should be another option for "All Equestrian Events"...stupid upper class nonsense

My money is on southgate too!!

Have never liked the royal family...mainly because i feel that the state has done nothing to help me...never picked up benefits of any kind in my life...nor do i qualify for any of them!! why should these people be allowed to live off other peoples taxes?? its a farce that in the 21st century an institution such of this still exists!...another thing i object to is the class system in general and the root of that is the royal family, get rid of them NOW!

Im 19 and i say dylan all day long!! his stuff is just such great poetry!! neil young is good though...doesnt compare to good old robert zimmerman though!

Yes, for sure 200%, he's the man to take us to the promised land!

got to got to got to got to be thatcher!!! when will that evil old witch hurry up and die so the country can have one long piss up!!

I think of it in 2 terms...both for me came out as the same answer...

1. Money...a tenner is only valuable because WE say it has a value...in essense all money is either a commonly found metal or a special kind of paper (dunno exactly) but in terms of the value of its materials and the cost to produce i bet they actually physically cost next to nothing.

2. Sentimental items...they mean nothing to anyone else but mean something to you...i have old photos of my dog who died when i was younger for example and other crap along the same lines like we all do which means absolutely bugger all to any of you guys but to me its priceless.

so to me things are only valuable because we value them but i guess this is one of those things where everyone has an opinion and noones is wrong.

Agreed Newcastle fans have these 'strange' expectations but I would throw-in another local team - WOLVES ! I was unfortunate to work for their Council for several years and their optimism and aspirations were amazing - considering they were rubbish. Truly an example of 'delusions of adequacy' !

ps - and they all supported Worcestershire :evil:

Never seen a wolves fan being like that, they are like baggies...they know they arent a big club anymore really, out of interest what did they say? did they consider themselves at our level? man u level? lol

Stupid thread to bring back up.

naah mate i dont think it is stupid.

Its just simply to point out the amount of money we have to spend now compared to before and shows how well we sre doing.

If you dont like it, dont read it!

I took the thread to be more about how inflated the transfer market has gotten the past 18 months...

can you imagine if we still had DOL and doug???

I dont think we're a well off club particularly just that before we were unbelievably poor!

leave the suitcase...i'd rather be poor and have my self respect than a wealthy thief *cough* roman abramovich *cough*

Might not get a chance to be back on here with being busy over xmas and all so just wanna say a merry christmas and a happy new year to you and all the staff at villa...thankyou and will you pass on my thanks to all them for their hard work over the past year

What the **** going on?

This thread has had more action in a couple of hours than it did in entirety 3 years ago. Are things THAT boring??? :-)

Thats what happens when youve got nothing to bitch about!! haha we've got a great chairman, quality manager, the team is doing reasonably well...i think its raise a glass time to randy, aston martin, the general and the team!

thanks mate

just a quick question lads, what time is the their bout? some say 3 some say 4...i need to set an alarm and get some kip so what time you recommend setting it for?

No middle ground?

I don't hate them, however, they can get boring at times.

Think they should knock X Factor on the head and I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.

Strictly Come Dancing and Big Brother are alright though. (Tin hat ready)

I didnt put any middle ground partly because i posted this out of total frustration...im 19 and in my house my mother is totally obsessed with all things reality TV and has been since the first big brother and watches every single one religiously...therefore i have to vacate the area because i just find it so ordinary...i know its cheap to make for the networks but things like strictly come dancing and all that with just celebs is just about sticking a load of Z-listers together in the hope it will get ratings...

sorry about the no middle ground...hope this explains why i was so compelled to make you choose

oh and i also watch the first part of the X Factor but simply because i like to laugh at the freaks of our society! lol

This form of entertainment is really annoying me now...dont know about you guys but i think most of it was designed by brain dead idiots for brain dead idiots...its lowest common denominator stuff in its truest form.

The thing thats really bugging me at the moment is that it appears to be never ending...you get 10 (now 12) weeks of big brither in the summer, X Factor, Strictly Come Dancing, Dancing on Ice, Im A Celebrity, Celebrity Big Brother...and many many more that i just cant be bothered to list...am i the only one who thinks this has gone too far now?????

Discuss!

Hi General,

You must be annoyed with persistant questions about england and such (i know i am) so i'll ask you a question totally unrelated so we can get back to what this board was actually meant for.

Does the board have plans to keep villa park as a venue for live music events? during the ellis regime on (very rare) occasion the stadium was used in this way and i found it most enjoyable to see artists perform there. it would be nice to see it used for this again in the future.

P.S. Sorry if this has been asked before

posts deleted. Can we keep this thread for comments and Q&A for the General please, as per the site guidelines. Ta. Blandy

i think Spains time has definately come...they have some quality players there...having said that i will be supporting the dutch

I'll say it now and I'll say it honestly - I would gladly take a 0-0 on Sunday.

They're certainly no mugs at home so far this season. A point away from home is always a good point in my book. Every season we're in the same division I always think "draw at theirs, beat them at ours". And its no different this season as far as I'm concerned.

Any talk of us crushing them is just pie in the sky. It'll be a draw, or one goal in it either way tops.

They are leaking goals left right and centre, 5 goals in their last 2 games. They simply aren't as resilient as they were when they first came up, and they have a lot of naive players in their side, inexperienced.

We can take them.

agree

Hi General,

Just had a conversation with my dad and he was telling me about when he went to see Bruce Springsteen at Villa Park back in 1988 and was just wondering if its still in your plans to use Villa Park for live music and such and if so can you give us a flavour of the kinds of acts that you've been in contact with or looking to book etc.

would be great to see some live acts back at the villa again!

Thank You For You Time.

Adam