regular_john

General, now that we're in Europe I understand the odds of MON taking over from Fergie have increased substantially. Can you do us all a favour and make sure that doesn't happen? I'm thinking a simple chain to the wall ought to do it. Or just grab him, grab him and never let him go.

What were they going to crash into? The Abominable Snowman? I think you'll find that at the time they were driving across a frozen lake, so technically they were drinking and sailing, which is not illegal.

When the hell did Reo Coker score?

Is there any truth to the supposed Bouma quote in tribal football ('Villa not big enough')? The reason I ask is that Tribal are known for twisting quotes and facts so much that they practically make things up.

They both suck.

I'm only a yoof, so my vote goes to Dave Grohl

General, RE: Reducing waiting time for beverages May seem like a very simple idea, so i apologise if it's been discussed already but have you considered implementing vending machines? I don't know the logistics of having these in areas where thousands of people will be milling about but i'm sure they'd go some way to reducing waiting times. A lot of bars in brum have implemented beer bottle (would obviously have to be plastic) vending machines to great success. I'm sure they'd be useful as they can be positioned anywhere in the ground, thus diverting the massive crowds at the bar etc. Anyway, just my two cents. Keep up the good work general, I've never been so proud to be a Villa fan as I have in the last two years, and that's not just down to on the pitch performance!

I like the Beach Boys, and I like that there was a bit of creative rivalry between them and the Beatles as it kept both bands on their toes and made for some awesome music. BUT!! The Beatles are without doubt the greatest group of musical artists in recorded history. No matter which category or perspective you judge from, the Beatles always come out as the best. If you want to talk about who had the best singles, the Beatles come out on top (27, 28 if you include 'Free as a bird'). If you want to talk greatest albums, the Beatles come out on top. I dare you to find a band that has put out five albums more brilliant and influential than Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sergeant Peppers, White Album and Abbey Road. If you want to talk about greatest pop bands, the Beatles come out on top. Listen to the early material (Please, please me up to Help!) for absolute pop perfection. To this day guitar-pop bands are trying to equal or better those records, all have failed. If you want to talk about musical experimentation, the Beatles come out on top. Listen to 'A day in the life', 'Tomorrow never knows', 'Norwegian wood' and 'Strawberry fields' for absolutely perfect examples of how to experiment with sound and structure, while still making enjoyable songs. Radiohead eat your heart out. Simply put, The Beatles are (imo) miles ahead of all their competition. Their musical sweep and grandeur is so immense it's almost impossible to cover it all. There is no debate as to who is the greatest band of all time, the Beatles have an iron grip on that position. Everyone else is fighting for second place.

To the tune of Hard Days Night: We've got Ashley Young! And he's gonna score a goal Watch him go on runs You won't stop him, no you won't And when he gets on the ball You know he'll score three or four And we'll feel OK Ashley Young, everything seems to be right Ashley Young, could score every day and night Repeat.

I agree we need a song for him, he's probably been our best overall player this season, God knows how many points he's earned us! Right lads, let's get on it.

It's a bit long, more of a song than a chant but i'll put it up anyway. I call it 'Holte Oddysey' (To the tune of Space Oddity) This is Ashley Young to Agbonlahor And he's looking bound to score And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear Now it's time to love the Villa And the Hare! This is John Carew to Ashley Young The Holte End's roaring still And we're scoring in a most spectacular way And O'Neills boys will win again today! For here Are we singing in the Holte End Far above the world The city scum is blue And there's nothing they can do Aston Villa will score one hundred goals and then score a hundred more And then we'll bring the silverware home Villa, we love you very much you know Villa boys to Birmingham Your season's dead, there's something wrong Can you hear us, Birmingham? Can you hear us, Birmingham? Can you hear us, Birmingham? Can you.... For here Are we singing in the Holte End Far above the world The city scum is blue And there's nothing they can do

anyone got a stream??

General, the best way to solve the 'Persistent standing' issue would probably be to put an article about it in the next match program or copy of heroes and villains. That way you could explain properly that the problem is persistent standing, not just standing during exciting moments. This is the only way i can see it working, because the majority of fans will not find out from sources such as Villa Talk and H&V, because they might not use the messageboards and trust me when i say they won't take kindly to being told to sit by the stewards. Anyway, that's just my two cents. Best of luck regarding this difficult issue. P.S. Please pass on a well deserved hug to Petrov, I knew the guy was bound to score one of those screamers eventually!

Actually, this thread came at a perfect time for me. I'm looking to lose weight so have changed up my diet, it's working but i'm starting to get bored of the same old rabbit food. Can anyone recommend a good healthy cookbook? I cook for one (student) and am on a budget (student). Any ideas?

Anyone heard the Nirvana cover? There's something so tragic about hearing Kurt sing this, knowing that months later he would redecorate his garage using...well...himself.

General - Not sure if anyone has mentioned this so i apologise if you've had to answer this before but i've noticed that AVTV doesn't appear to work with firefox, obviously this isn't a major concern as it works fine on internet explorer but i just thought i'd bring it to your attention.

Hello General, once again a massive congratulations at the job being done at Villa Park, chuffed to bits on saturday by the positive atmosphere even in the face of defeat. Two quick moans though... 1. Not sure if this is outside your remit but the new Villa store on New Street is absolute chaos, went in on saturday (granted it was the start of the season so was very busy) - took me over half an hour to get to the till, one of them crashed so there were several queues with people jumping between each, total chaos. Also no dressing rooms?! 2. Hopefully this isn't an inappropriate post but pass on a message to Gareth Barry on behalf of the villa faithful - cut out the diving. I have too much respect for Barry to see him take a dive, no matter how much we might need a decision to go our way, unfortunately it's part of todays game but one thing i love about being a Villan is the lack of cheating tactics we seem to employ as a team. I have seen better players than Barry lose fan respect for diving, Henry for instance. Barry is too good to cheat, Villa are too good to cheat, leave that up to the Italians. Rant over, other than that i am loving being a villain, let's get a couple more signings in and show the world what we can do! UTV!! MITM!!

I'm not sure, i WAS a solid and staunch believer until we missed out on Gordon, i'm starting to think that MONs transfer policy might be about to seriously bite him on the arse, 3 weeks left so fingers crossed though

General - Not sure if this has been asked already but do you know when we can expect the new website to be up and running? Love the sneak preview of the new kit by the way, it's looking good but stop teasing us already! lol happy 4th of July for tomorrow

looks like barton's off to newcastle then, don't know how to quote sites so i'll just provide the links http://www.viewlondon.co.uk/news/barton-to-sign-for-newcastle-18167758.html http://talkingsoccer.blogspot.com/2007/06/newcastle-clinch-barton-deal.html thoughts?

if owen is available for £9mill we'd be mad not to bite newcastle's hands off to get him, if there is one player in the world that can really profit from working under MON it's Owen, i don't think he's ever lived up to his true potential and really believe MON could bring that extra bit out of him. i know he's injury prone but i'd much rather pay the £9mill and risk Owen than sign Bellamy for £12mill

personally i think bellamy would be a good addition to the squad, i don't think his temper will particularly be a problem as we've already seen MON doesn't take any shit (i.e. patrik berger) however i would definitely not want us to pay £12mill for him, that is WAY over the top in my opinion. if we could get him for £8mill or so i say go for it, can you imagine how many defenses would crap themselves at the sight of bellamy and carew running towards them? i definitely think he could do well under MON for the villa, but if we were asked to pay £12mill i'd say the money would be much better spent elsewhere

actually scrap vanden borre, i've just found out he's off to fiorentina

ok guys lets forget the talk of Villa and Eto'o, that is obviously just fantasy talk and won't be applicable for at least another 5 years. let's get back on track... personally i would love to see tommy sorenson stay at the club, not as first choice keeper obviously but he'd be an outstanding keeper to have as backup/rotation, far better than taylor. artur boruc is the name that's been banded about and while i personally don't know anything about him i obviously trust MONs judgment, has anybody mentioned craig gordon from hearts? he'd cost a fair bit but i think he'd really be worth it. here's a youtube vid of him not sure about right backs but we definitely need to replace hughes, how about anderlechts vanden borre? he's only 20 so he'd need a few seasons to mature but i think he'd be a quality buy, apparently he's quite friendly with vincent kompany, another name i've seen banded about on here. as far as centre midfield goes i think samir nasri would be a fantastic buy, i know he's already been mentioned so i don't need to say too much about him. i think these are the kind of 'top class' players richard fitzgerald is on about, relatively young players that while inexperienced show enough potential to make them worthwhile buys. it wouldn't surprise me if MON bought a lot of young players in the summer and built a team of 'kids' (ala fergie in '99), much like wenger appears to be doing now. that's my two cents

i personally would welcome the signing of defoe, though not at the cost of losing gabby, and as far as defoes reported inconsistency i wouldn't consider that a problem if he was playing under o'neill, just look at what o'neill has done for carew - the man previously described as lazy, inconsistent and dispassionate. also i'm not sure if this has already been mentioned as i'm too lazy to check the other pages of the thread but villa have apparently made an offer for sevilla striker kepa blanco, here's the link http://www.eatsleepsport.com/news_details.aspx?story_id=563245&l_id=1&t_id=2