The Fun Factory

Totally 100% expect United to win this 3-2 in the second half even though they are getting battered. Scum. Subhuman scum.

Irish 1-2-3-4. Fully expect some hand-wringing and state-of-the-UK racing/bewetting/will somebody think of the children chat for 24 hours.

1 hour ago, tinker said:

Not sure why posters are getting so worked up.The facts are clear, the club has cancelled the north stand, fact. They have said there's no plans to move , fact.

The ground has kept us being something when we was on our knees, Villa Park was one of the best and biggest stadiums in the country,  now its not, in 5 years time It will be ooutdated and if we're where we want to go then it will be holding us back.

I can't see how villa Park can be developed, enough, while we're playing there. It's just not going to work.

 

I can. They had an entire application on it. We would have had to play with a ground at 75% for a bit and then would have a refreshed stadium with new facilities. But for some reason the powers that be changed their minds. If that is for something even better, a cheap refit, or absolutely nothing, I guess we will have to see.

17 minutes ago, tinker said:

It's not really the ground, I love villa Park, it's the surrounding area and it's potential for development into an area for recreation, like Man City. Aston just hasn't got that potential in space alone, add to that it hasn't got great transport links and we have to play somewhere while it's been upgraded, North stand alone would be 12 months add the the other stands....its 4 years playing in a building site of one stand or another, just not going to happen.

It should have great transport links. How many other big stadia are within walking distance of two railway stations plus access to the motorway and a few miles from the city centre?

That is down to other partners investing in transport infrastructure outside of the club's control. 

Regardless if we ever move or not we need to change people's behaviour to lower the use of private cars to the immediate areas of the ground, and offer better alternatives that are reliable and cheaper to use.

4 minutes ago, jjaacckk91 said:

I am putting money on cov turning it around, cov need the points and blues are shit, and will choke it before the 90. 

Blues will stay up as they always do. Jammy barstewards.

21 hours ago, useless said:

New stadium for the women and academy to play at akin to what Manchester City have, more likely than a new main stadium. infrastructure can mean anything, it could be work on Bodymoor Heath, something Heck has already said will happen, but also it could relate to infrastructure at one of V Sports other teams, and probably a bunch of other possibilities man

We have just spent millions on Bodymoor due to HS2 now not going through the site. I think people are reading too much into this statement, infrastructure investment could mean a lot of different things.

4 hours ago, delboy54 said:

Got back at 0115 last night after the long drive back home to Newmarket.

This result has to favour Lille tbh. Shame we sat back and let in the inevitable goal, but I think the result was fair. 

 

No it really doesn't. We are a goal up and away goals don't count anymore. A win or any sort of draw and we are through.

Good atmosphere yesterday. Suprised Lille didn't sell both the upper and lower tier. Have we given up on announcing  the attendance now?

On 10/04/2024 at 16:56, mjmooney said:

It's deliberate, so that you won't do your usual focused route round, but will have more opportunities to see things you might 'impulse buy'. 

Except Aldi and Lidl don't do that sort of shite and are popular for it.

Thought so live at the game but that was a stonewall penalty and it is insane why on earth it didn't go to VAR. Emery is a gent but if that was Wolves and O'Neill he would still be camped out at Villa Park waiting for a response from the ref.

A good result, I would have taken that before the start of the match. Yes it is annoying we let a late one in but on balance Lille probably deserved a goal. Had it been 2 nil in the second leg we may start too relaxed, perhaps in the long run this might be beneficial. Maybe.  Martinez really is world number one with some superb saves. Our big players stepped up tonight- Watkins, Mcginn. We are n't playing the vintages stuff at the first half of the season. It isn't surprising really given the injuries, Kamara was such a blow and we miss Cash for balance at the moment. But we are grinding hard at the moment. Emery is not going to take a no for us to progress I think he will personally will the team through.

Lille are a cut above anyone else we have played so far. It isn't going to be easy but it shouldn't be really to get to a European semi final spot. Without the away goal rule we need just a draw. It is going to be tough but we are in the advantage at half time.

5 hours ago, cyrusr said:

Has there been any form of privatisation of public services that has actually been successful? Water, trains, mail are the obvious failures and I do not think power has been particularly great along with public transport generally. BT and British Gas don't seem the healthiest either but then have more competition. am genuinely struggling to see anything has been made better by it. 

Telephony is widely seen as broadly positive privatisation.  It opened up the market for new competitors and technology. All of the third-term Maggie privatisation like the water and energy utilities and then later the railways under Major have widely been seen as poor policy.

Ironically Labour started the first privisation of BP before Thatcher.

The rangers dundee match has been called off a second time because of a waterlogged pitch at Dens Park. Rangers aren't happy about it. Seems daft that they are moving to ban 3G pitches in the Scottish prem given the advantages of more matches being played and less costs for the smaller teams in the league.

32 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I actually can’t believe we still haven’t heard anything else on the new badge

I can as Heck has been useless since he has arrived.

21 hours ago, Xann said:

Grauniad

Special delivery of more Tory fail.

Well in fairness wasn't it Vince Cable who finally privatised it? 

Saddam Hussein set up a company called Montana Management to launder money, which was named after Tony Montana from the Scarface film.

57 minutes ago, andycv said:

We have to start development on the North Stand by 22 December 2025 if we are to keep the planning permission - so 20 months to break ground before permission expires (though I think you can apply to keep it going before it expires).

To be ready for the euros any work needs to be completed 1 year before it starts which would be June 2027. The original plan was for it to take 2 years the latest this can start is summer 2025. Or we are talking into the next decade, which will make nearly it a 30 year wait from the original plans.

If we are being optimistic the club could just be doing this the other way round of doing the small increase in capacity in the current stands before the big job. As the 2028 bid document bandied around a 52k capacity when the north stand job was only going to finish at 50k. Or that was just a number plucked from the air. But there has been no further details in the capacity uplift other than vague statements.  If both are to be done before 2028 then really we need work to start this summer on the couple of thousand increase. But there has been no application or any details on this.

As they haven't been clear in the communication to us we are just guessing at the moment. But on balance I am not hopeful at all.

33 minutes ago, andycv said:

I honestly expect this to be covered along with new badge, new kit and a number of new sponsors, as part of the 150th celebrations.

That's optimistic given past events.

Definitelty going to be a step up from Ajax who  have just lost 6-0 to Feyenoord the other day. Lille seem to be on the up and we are looking  a bit torn and frayed.

Still a bit stunned by our collapse at the weekend. Like a nasty return to the bad old days. Didn't seem much communication in the back four the entire match really. Got to sort this out asap.

This is going to be a proper test for us. Ajax was a glamour tie but they were a poor side really going through a bit of a transition period. Lille are 3rd in the French League and have the the advantage of the home tie in the second leg. We need to defend better than the weekend that is for sure. Wouldn't be surprised to see Lenglet in for Carlos. It is only our 2nd European quarter final tie in the last 40 years so lets try to savour and enjoy it.

Wouldn't be surprised if Poch got sacked by the end of the season. The semi final is massive for them now.

Forest are fairly shit but luckily for them, it will probably be  a very low points total to stay up, not much above 30 I reckon. This result was nailed on even if they made it interesting for about half an hour.