The Fun Factory

Actually what happened is that we gave up the chance to host some Olympic matches as 'ground developments' where planned in the summer of 2012. Which then didn't happen as we averaged 33,000 under McClueless so I guess the board didn't want the ground to have 20,000 empty seats instead of the 10,000 we were regularly getting. That's not the truth and Voinjama has already pointed out one flaw. Well it probably just confirmed it, the crowds did drop from over 40,000 under MON's 2nd season when the club did sound quite serious about a new north stand, and it went steadily downwards to the car crash season of 11-12. It was the same time as the recession but I think Lerner realised that Villa do not have quite the fanbase for a 50,000 stadium so its been shelved. Had England won the 2018 world cup bid it might have been a different story though.

Yeah- but you dont take into account that England could well not qualify, Hodgson gets the sack and a more progressive manager comes in.

No chant for him yet even though he has been a regular for about 10 months? Maybe the old classic 'Super Ash, Super Ash, Super Ash-ley Westwood' could be given a airing?!

Actually what happened is that we gave up the chance to host some Olympic matches as 'ground developments' where planned in the summer of 2012. Which then didn't happen as we averaged 33,000 under McClueless so I guess the board didn't want the ground to have 20,000 empty seats instead of the 10,000 we were regularly getting.

Ask the general. Oh wait a minute.... I think the North Stand redevelopment is well and truly been kicked into the long,long,long grass.

Waiting for the players to accept those terms.... I wouldn't bet on it as Gordon Taylor would probably say....

He is hardly a people person is he?! Quite refreshing, but reckless.

He is being too nice and open at the moment. I heard his comments before the Chelsea game and he said something like I haven't seen Jose much recently as he is always in the champions league and I haven't reached that yet, which sorts of undermines himself without anyone else saying anything. But early days and all, you can't judge him until at least around Christmas time to see how is doing.

Is Ron in the Holland squad for the upcoming international break? Speaking of the Dutch, how is Freddy Bouma doing these days?

I will be suprised if we get anyone in tbh. I may be wrong but I just feel Lambert got his targets in early, and is now ready to back them this season. Hopefully ship out the bomb squad though.

I don't think we have to worry about Coventry at present- 200 season ticket holders have braved going to the wilds of Northampton to watch their team this season! You could probably talk for hours why Villa dont get the consistently high support they ought to have. Partly I think its expectations as I do think some Villa fair weather fans have unrealisticially high ones. Perhaps they were brought up in the 70/80s glory days, but at present we have no chance at the top. Staying in the premier league is accepted as a given (though last 2 seasons its been a bit dicey!) and nothing to get exicted about, so unless we can really challenge for the top four and dare I say it the title, some fans just will not bother getting a season ticket. I would say Villa's support is broad, but shallow, if that makes sense. We have about 25,000 hard core supporters and probably up to about 20,000 extra 'floaters'. Because their are so many other clubs in the west midlands area and we are the top dog, sadly there will be always more 'anti villa' supporters than 'pro villa' supporters around. But when you look at our programme we have supporters clubs all and down the country and abroad which looks pretty impressive. Also I would say the midlands area have loads of plastics. You can go into Birmingham city centre and see almost as many Liverpool and United shirts than the local teams. That would not be the case if you went around say Newcastle, Sunderland or probably even places like Derby. Put all this together and I would say don't hold your breadth on the North Stand extention!

Yes you are right. Its not all about the economics, but it is a large part. Most of the teams mentioned above are one city/town teams bar Everton which I think does make a difference. Another issue I will chuck in is almost a historic one perhaps, that the fact since year dot at Villa you can virtually always get a ticket before the match so the clamour for a season ticket is less important. It is a unvirtious circle. Stoke, Cardiff and Swansea are all having probably their best ever periods in their football history. They also play in newish stadiums. I don't have the stats to tell me but I guess at least 70-80% of seats sold are for season ticket holders, so the attendances do not fluctuate like at Villa. Take last season. At the Reading home game we had 28,000 in. At Chelsea it was a sellout- over 14,000 difference. Most other clubs probably have 5,000 max between the lowest and highest league attendance of the season. I don't know how this will get better other than the simple fact of Villa being consistently good for about 5 seasons. Which probably hasn't happened since the 1890s.

I am sorry, what does these charts mean? Labels on axis please!

That table shows you the economic state of this country. London is basically a separate country in terms of property and wages. Those prices at Spuds, Chelski and Arsenal are eye-watering. £41 min for a ticket at Chelsea?! £123 quid for the best seats at Arsenal. Madness but people keep paying it. Our prices are not bad when you compare it to that.This is probably not a popular comment, but Villa could well charge more for the best seating in the Trinity and Doug Ellis, like something nearer to £600. But I will try to keep quiet about that. Re attendances at Villa. Yes we should have more in. But we have the Baggies, Blues, Wolves, Walsall all nearby plus the likes of Leicester fairly near. Sunderland have Newcastle and thats it. Some decent football and proper marketing, Villa should be averaging well above 38,000 this season I reckon.

Wednesday showed that given has no future at Villa as Steer was selected ahead of him, and Guzan was on the bench. I hope we can shift him before the end of the month. Nice bloke, but we gave him a too long contract and high wages.

I still think its far too early to judge him after a couple of games.

Yes its expectations isn't it? I don't know if MON told him to change his game or just that he got older. Did well for us though. In relation to Westwood he has always said he is a holding midfielder in the Carrick mold.

Ah yes part of the 2018 world cup plans?! I will just ask the General what the plan is. Hello?.....

Now is this just the offical AV coaches or for lions club coaches as well? I go up most games on the supporters coach, and would be very happy if we are covered as part of this benevolence.

He cost £850k. Just keep saying that when you hear batshit signings like Andy Carroll , Dwight Gayle, or Joe Allen. Ridiculous.

Sir Doug Ellis/Witton Lane stand is better than Trinity as you can get a normal seat in the middle, whereas in the Trinity middle is corporate. Lower trinity is umm a bit too low, and Upper- well you can guess the rest. Plus its easier getting out of the stand onto the Witton lane if you are training it.

My twopence for what it is worth. A nice evening at Villa Park. It started off well with my kebab and chips, and just got better thereon. In fairness the fist 15-20 mins Villa were not great and Weimann's goal was against the run of play. That appeared to settle Villa down and we played some really nice stuff afterwards. I know people would say its only Rotherham, but they were keen and under McClueless Villa would have struggled to play well against a conference side. The number 18 for them, Pringle, looked quite decent I thought. Fair play to Rotherham as they must have taken at least 4,000 down to Villa Park tonight. Fulham take note. Okore had a good game and Delph was MOTH for the 60 mins he played. Steer didn’t have a lot to do but got through with a clean sheet. The first since December, which is a bloody long time ago. Westwood was his usual tidy self. Bacuna. I don’t know what he is but he aint a full back. Fairly decent going forward so I am going to keep my powder dry on him. I was surprised Bentenke played tonight but as one of my Villa supporters said, he jumped like a young Andy Gray for the second. The third was simply liquid football. Worth the entrance fee alone. We should have gone on and got a fourth but I am glad we kept it to nil at least. Re the attendance I thought it was a decent turn out. Its about 7,000 higher than the round last year and only 3 other matches have had higher crowds this round. All in all a enjoyable evening and bring on Spurs in the next round.

Thats interesting. I presume the offical capacity at Villa Park is a bit lower then? For atmosphere and good leg room I would say Upper Holte. Lower North is not bad for atmosphere but leg room is a bit tight and you are quite near the pitch. Personally the best ever seats I have had at Villa is at Doug Ellis lower, at the back near the halfway line. Perfick.

01/02/1986 Vs Southampton. 0-0. Att 8,456. A fellow Villa fan who went to that told me he thought football was dying was a major spector sport. Dark days.

Came here, played a bit, leaves. Needs to find a permanent club.