philthevillan

How has everyone found the sizing of the kits? I ordered a medium but it’s a bit tight on me around the midriff. Hoping a large won’t look too big, otherwise I’m going to have to get on the Slimfast shakes ?

Would be good if Kevan could confirm it is his twitter account so we have peace of mind. Plus I’d love to have proof Nursey’s story is a fairytale. As someone who works in the media, I get just as frustrated as anyone else. It’s obvious a lot of press and ITK guys get a story from a source then run it without having any definitive proof. Plus at this time of year lots are reporting stories by taking one person’s word. And of course there are plenty of people out there happy to use the media to make a deal happen.

The Bruce line surprised me too but the person who told me wouldn’t make it up. They had a good source so I’m inclined to believe it. Happy silly season folks.

Do we know if that Kevan Grealish account is 100% genuine? Someone pointed out on Twitter that he isn’t followed by his brother.

I have heard the deal was done, including photos. Then before it could be announced Fulham came in and agent told Bruce they were off to London. Story is that Bruce hasn’t given up and is following him to Fulham to try and change his mind. Agent apparently doesn’t think Villa’s deal will stand legally.

Woodytom, "the sign of a challenge" seems most likely to be told that you can't do what you are there to do. If that was me and I could afford to risk my reputation, I'd do the right thing and speak out. If we were talking about a national leader committing war crimes would you keep quiet in order to remain professional? It's an extreme example of the same principle.

Drivel? Says the person trying to bring balance by criticising the only two people that seem to have the balls to take a stand against Randy's regime. If they kept quiet and let the rot continue, they'd be criticised. Instead you're criticising them for taking a stand. Don't be so naive to think that they've done this to feed their own egos. They are risking their credibility in future roles by doing this.

I wonder if the takeover would be as likely had they kept quiet? I bet not. They've done the right thing and they know they've put their own reputations on the line to save our club. You should be thanking them, not criticising them.

This is just a load of BS designed to make Randy look like a victim. Do we really believe the former governor of the Bank of England and former chairman of the FA would say anything that would leave Lerner so upset? Come on he's a grown man. My conclusion: They told him the truth and he couldn't handle it. This is a man who for the past 10 years has been a coward. He won't front up and leaves everyone else to do it for him. When we needed to hear from him he'd release some wishy washy statement and expect us to appreciate it. That Shummanite one really took the biscuit. The man's deluded, these two realised that and they decided the best thing to do was force his hand and push through a sale. I have nothing but total respect for King and Bernstein. They are people that were on the inside, albeit briefly, that quickly realised what was going on and truly have the best interests of the club at heart. If they did stab him in the back then I'm certain it was only what he deserved. He's very nearly destroyed this club with years of atrocious decision making. The warning signs have been flashing ever since he ignored everyone and appointed McLeish. Total idiot.

Mellberg was class. Described by Zlatan no less as the best Swedish defender ever. He could have played for a better club but liked it at Villa. Also the awful teams he played in included two seasons of finishing sixth.

It has to be this otherwise the club is directly lying to us when they know leaked resignation letters are floating around. They can't be that stupid, surely.

It's odd they have referred to the sale of the club as usually this would be a guarded secret, unless it is very close. My optimistic guess is that they were brought in to implement changes but those are now on hold as the club is to be sold. New owners would be wanting to do things their own way. Let's just hope that's the case. My cynical guess would be that the sale line is PR spin and that Randy is obstructing any real change being implemented by the football board. As ever though the reality is I'm as clueless as Randy's been for the past 10 years.

His no-show today is a shambles. He knows he's on borrowed time. I defended him a couple of months ago, since then he's properly been taking the urine. Looking forward to him leaving. Word removed.

True but Jack Grealish, for example, is at the beginning of his career. Gabby is lucky to still be where he is bearing in mind he's done jack all for five years and bearing in my that as a father of several kids he should know to set a good example. I think he knows he's on borrowed time. It's a real shame because he still has the talent. It's just his application is so infrequent now his wage doesn't justify him being kept on.

I'm with you. Pat Murphy has confirmed it's being done to appease angry fans - he has done nothing wrong. I think it's a good call by the club and I think it should be the beginning of the end. He is way too big for his boots and needs to be binned off.

Let's all take banners and if they aren't allowed refuse to go in. Then there will either be a big crowd with banners or a sparse crowd without. The sad thing is that we are going to really struggle to get the majority to join in. So many fans have become so apathetic that they will just accept what's going on without making a statement. I really wish we could do something spectacular but it will take a Herculean effort to be a success.

Other clubs' fans are now coming to our home ground and offering support against our owners. These are our rivals and even they have got to the point of thinking our struggles aren't funny any more. With that in mind why are we talking about ways a protest can be watered down? I'm all for a peaceful demonstration but more needs to be done than chanting. Hitting the owner in the pocket and creating a visually stunning moment that makes the world stand up and take notice (Brian Little when he left Leicester to manage Villa springs to mind) is what is needed now. Otherwise there's no point trying to protest in the first place. This is Aston Villa, founders of the Football League, that we are talking about. We should be setting the bar not following the crowd.

Is there any truth about Garde spending a few days a week in France? A rumour I heard.

I'm going to have to pick up on a point here. There is no anti-Villa agenda in the media, BBC or otherwise. Please stop trying to speculate there is. Now in terms of the Villa PR machine there very much is an agenda. I am very close to saying I've had enough and unfollowing the club on social media. I can't stand the positive spin they keep putting on everything and as someone who has a lot of knowledge about how these things work I should know to ignore it but I can't. Not when fans are being mugged off a customers.

Any man that wears leather gloves to a football match is untrustworthy in my book. And if you are reading this, Mr Fox's bodyguards, I won't take that back. In terms of this whole sorry mess, what a shambles. Regardless of whether all this is true, it is certainly spiralling out of control. Not a sign of good leadership is it?

My message to Remi... Leave now before your career is in tatters. Then come back once Randy and his crew are gone. Remi is a class act. The right man at the wrong time. Problem is no-one is right for us at the moment.

I wonder if Randy will ever do another newspaper interview where we get the chance to hear what 'he' has to say. I can only assume he won't speak to TV or radio because he knows we won't like what we hear? To buy a football club supported by hundreds of thousands of people and not be able to say one word to their faces is farcical. He probably thinks he's done some good things for our club but the fact is, when you look at our esteemed history, he's been a total failure.

My guess would be that since the end of the O'Neill era there's been some form of transfer committee making the decisions on signings. For example we didn't have a manager when Ireland joined and I'm not convinced Lambert got all the players he scouted himself. Then there's the N'Zogbia - would he have been a player McLeish expected to have when told he had a limited budget? He was told to cut costs but allowed to spend £10m and £70k on wages? A (terrible failure of a) marquee signing by the board to keep the fans happy if ever I saw one. The whole thing stinks and until Lerner sells up I see zero light at the end of the tunnel.

If I was Remi I would quit now. It's only going to get worse and by leaving now, his future employers would only blame his failure on the people running our club. They don't deserve a decent man like him working for them. It's time they all left. Tonight I feel like throwing in the towel until they leave. I'm loathed to spend any money at Villa while they vacuum it up.

I think most of us would welcome the chance to not feel obliged to spend a miserable afternoon at Villa Park. If only everyone chose to do that and not just a handful. Protests only work when done fully en masse.