regular_john

There's definitely a lot to be said for the long term impacts of different parenting styles - our formative years are the making/breaking of us IMO. Mum is a lovely woman but can be a bit 'hard'. She has that Irish Catholic 'just get on with it' way about her. Dad was a character, full of life, loved by many but also had his demons, namely his borderline alcoholism and penchant for domestic violence. He contracted an autoimmune condition in his mid-40s, which left him hospitalised for months. I think being off the beer cleared his head, he realised how badly he'd screwed up his marriage etc. and really turned a corner. Sadly, he deteriorated and passed away quite quickly, which was desperately sad as he and mum were back together and all was looking rosy again.

My penis, I hate it. It's just far, far, far, far, far too big. (Rubbish) jokes aside - I'm too hard on myself. I'm doing well - I have a good job, amazing wife, beautiful children, am pretty much financially secure, and yet I constantly worry that I'm not doing enough, not good enough at my job etc. etc. I also agonise over every mistake and imperfection. Meh, thankfully I have an enormous penis to make up for it.

We'll see. I've seen far too many false dawns down B6 to make any assumptions about where we may or may not be in X years time. Maybe we'll be in a good place and he'll be nothing more than a squad player. Maybe it will have all gone tits up (again) and he'll be hailed as a prodigal son returning to get us out of the shit (again)

I agree. They went on my list of hated clubs that day. I was hoping we'd get our revenge last year and then Patrick **** Bamford put a hat trick past us. Let's do to them what we should have done to Manure

That's very much the impression I get. He clearly loves The Villa and, had we been able to offer European football etc. probably would have spent his career here. I get the impression he's gone off to tick his career boxes by winning the league, cups, playing in CL etc. before coming home for the last few years of his career. I don't wish him any ill. He was great for us and I hope he continues to have an excellent career. Just like Deano, he's one of our own.

Has anyone mentioned Red Dwarf yet? It's cold outside, there's no kind of atmosphere... /Thread

Watkins ahead of Ings is the right call IMO. Strong 11, decent bench. Game on!

Go on Deano! Cracking manager

Looking at our next 5 or 6 games, we've got the opportunity to go on a bit of a run and put some real points on the board. Let's hope it starts at Goodison!

**** abject so far. All the pre-match optimism gone after 6 minutes. Big changes needed second half.

Ta muchly

Just to check - is this just a loan until the end of the season? There seemed to be a lot of talk about it being an 18 month loan Anyone know?

Shame to see him go. Decent squad player who scored some really important goals for us. Always welcome back at VP for me.

Pretty spot on. The bulk of the SPL sides would struggle in the championship. Celtic and Rangers could probably manage midtable Premier League finishes if they had a good year. They're obviously nowhere near the level of the top 6.

I don't think I've ever wanted a win as badly as I do for this game. I wouldn't mind so much if they were the top Manure sides of 5+ years ago but they're a bag of shit now and we still can't beat them! Please, Villa, just beat these **** clowns for once. Preferably a 7-2 style hammering!

How about a sign that says: VAR 1 Football 0

Ditto. Lots of misplaced passes, getting in the way of other players, looked a bit overawed at times as well. I'm a JJ fan but I thought he had one to forget last night

Expecting the usual frustrating loss against Manure, probably due to some dodgy officiating as per usual.

I really like Keinan. He puts himself about, always looks a threat and positively influences games when he comes on, works hard, strong as an ox, good feet but...it just doesn't seem to work. The lad isn't a goal threat at this level. I hope I'm wrong but I suspect this is the start of his tumble towards league 1/2 obscurity.

Shocking performance. We gave them far, far too much respect. They were there for the taking and we bottled it.

What kind of reception did Deano get from the Villa fans?

Whatever BCFC want to do to pay tribute to that poor boy should be applauded by everyone, regardless of allegiance. Fair **** play to them. KRO, Arthur.

If he plays, what kind of reception do we think he'll get? I'd hope he gets a positive one given all the joy he brought us over the past few years. Or maybe clapped before and after the game and booed relentlessly whistle to whistle?

Go on, Deano!

Agree with the above sentiment. They're almost certainly going down irrespective of the manager. If they do, Smith will probably find himself needing to rebuild his reputation in the championship before trying for another prem job. He's better off waiting for another position to come up.