The Fun Factory

A memorable night. In reality it is a poor Ajax side but we did the business and kept our foot down and not switch off. Henderson is a plonker and hopefully Ollie's injury isn't too bad.

Quarter finals of a European competition and still in the race for fourth. We have had worse seasons.....

Just try to enjoy the game and the occasion as this sort of game has been so rare at Villa Park in recent years. Come on the Villa.

25 minutes ago, sheepyvillian said:

Jordan Henderson, that selection is baffling. As he ever had a great game for England, I'm sure he has, but I can't recall the performance. 

I can't wait till Southgate departs, all that talent at his disposal, and nothing but fear first football. 

After that comment, he will probably put in a MOTM performance tonight!

12 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

So if next seasons shirts are already on a pallet somewhere which badge do they have on then and why hasn't a picture of them been leaked? Why haven't the club announced anything knowing that such a leak is incredibly likely given recent history?

We only signed the deal with Adidas recently, and that isn't even formally announced so I'd be surprised if they'd manage to design and mass produce the kit already. 

More likely our kits will arrive later than normal I'd expect (and normal for us is late anyway)

As we have another US pre seaon tour lined up in July, I hope that both badge and new shirt will be ready by then.

New extremist check list

Are they racist yes/no

If yes  have  they contributed to the conservative part yes/no

No- Extremists

Yes- Not extremists

2 hours ago, wishywashy said:

We've got 3 threads in Future Brand Identity, Villa Park redevelopment, and here, where the recurring theme is either confusion due to poor comms (Club Badge and Villa Park Redevelopment) or just open dismissal of fan opinion altogether (Club Badge and the Atmosphere).

Shows the magnitude of the issue. It's not ideal.

Maybe reflect the size of the club. In that we are too big to been seen as a small 'family' club, but not at the slick all-conquering super size uber club stage yet. 

This is our first proper genuine European tie at Villa Park for over 15 years when we drew with CSKA Moscow. A lot has happened then with stagnation, relegation, near administration, promotion, stability, and finally back to where we were a decade and a half ago. It has been some journey so we should try to appreciate tonight.

We should play to the current players of Ajax, not the storied history of the club. A few linkages between the clubs. Cruyff's last game in England was at Villa Park with Barcelona in the Uefa cup. And arguably the entire philosophy of total football was started by the great coach Jimmy Hogan who coached Villa just before the outbreak of the Second World War. He influenced Rinus Michels who then managed Ajax and the Netherlands.

I just hope we can put in a positive performance and do the business tonight.

41 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

Interesting to note that Everton have reported that the construction costs for their (beautiful) new stadium went up from £500m to £800m in the last two years. Given that over that period, the choice of constructers has reduced after at least one major one went bust, and the costs of materials have gone up, I think that's probably a clearer explanation as to why we paused ours than anything the club have said out loud.

If our project went from being priced at £100m to something like £180m then it might well just be a sensible decision to wait for a bit until the market is better.

 

I can't see how labour and materials will magically decrease in the next five years, unless someone invents a modular stand design and we bring in cheap overseas labour.

On 12/03/2024 at 01:47, Jas10 said:

We were restricted by what we could do, spend and who we could attract in Jan… just the sad reality.

I was wishing for midfield (mainly DM) reinforcement and I’m, admittedly, not convinced by Tim (yet)… but we have to get on with it…

I think Unai would have added a quality player if we had the capacity to do it…

Tim just has to repay the faith in him and back up his manager’s words or praise…

Dougie needs to step up and recover his best form also… show he is a leader…

I don’t trust or have faith (at either CM or DM) in Youri at all… he’s already made too many mistakes in anything other than an attacking role… where he has thrived instead. Wish he wasn’t so slow and quick to get knackered… seems like one who needs the rest of team to perform well to shine rather than he himself lift it…

Just makes the decision to loan out Dendocker all the more baffling, unless we were so close to the FFP rules we had to get rid.

How difficult is it to get a reputable sponsor and clear branding?

That is a fail for both for Villa this season.

15 hours ago, alreadyexists said:

Oh right, fair enough, that makes it easier. The instructions were clear as mud. Although to be fair I am a moron.

It's usually restricting access on witton lane as that is where the away fans are. Like they used to do when we played Blues.

2 hours ago, chrisp65 said:

It feels like so long ago now that he needed to address the nation in an emergency speech from a lectern outside No 10 where he condemned hate speech and extremism.

It wasn’t made clear at the time he didn’t mean wealthy donors that say they want a black woman shot.

Stuff comes around fast, don’t it.

5 letters of no confidence received yesterday apparently. They need to end this death spiral at their earliest opportunity, so they will still be represented in Westminster after the election. They need a damage limitation April General Election.  

 

They must have a copy and paste no confidence letter on all of their laptops. Dear Sir or Madam I have come to the conclusion that our insert pm name, no longer carries the confidence of the conservative party. Yours etc.etc.

Starmer will do something to play on his man of the people stuff. 

Him and Diaby have seem to become the whipping boys for some reason. He hasn't done as well as I hoped but hasn't been that bad, as a stop gap loan signing.  A lot left in the season, he could play a big role.

3 hours ago, Wainy316 said:

Friday night and Saturday 5:30s are always the best atmosphere.

Hmmm- I wonder why?

Villa Stella Balti

No I love McGinn but that looked a straight red. He was just pissed off and made a stupid challenge.

4 minutes ago, Bizzzle said:

Lol I am as well

Good luck! Normally I do but last train back for me is 11pm at Snow Hill so if it went all the way I would either have to miss extra time or find a nice bench. So the pleasure of the rush hour it is then.

I don't know why they even list a season ticket holder criteria on sale date as for all prem matches they get sold out before then. The only tickets I have managed to bag this season were in our short lived FA Cup run at Boro and the first Chelsea game.

21 hours ago, Zatman said:

The 2019 Fulham Player of the Season at defensive midfielder. Watch a Hutton like renaissance and we give him a new 5 year deal 

Are you his agent? He is very much play only in the event of an emergency type player now. I expect we will pay off his contract in the summer as Emery doesn't rate him. He is probably on a good whack, so he is still here. Any move now will probably be a lower division and pay/

21 minutes ago, Bizzzle said:

I assume this goes to extra time and not straight to pens if it remains a draw? Could be a late night 

Yes and if you are planning to get home by train forget it.

It is quite sobering to think that our yearly wage bill is nearly double the original quoted cost of the new north stand.

CSKA/Stoke omnishambles. Please to the love of Mcgrath don't do this again Villa.

What really annoyed me was not just blowing 4th, but letting Everton overtake us for 5th when we were the better side the entire season. 

29 minutes ago, Pinebro said:

Atmosphere was the best 19/20 season

Before or after lock down?

Wasn't that good, we were largely shite. Everton and Watford were good. 

1 hour ago, gilbertoAVFC said:

There is absolutely no debate in my eyes that the tannoy is one of the biggest culprits for dimming the atmosphere.

You mean public address system. Tannoy is a brand name.

People referring to food as scran and not being northern. Just stop it.