The Fun Factory

Yes out of my usual seat in the Holte and I can confirm people in the trinity were singing! A rare occurance.

Just back from Villa Park. Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Isnt it nice to smiles rather than frowns at the end?! Villa got better as the game progessed, once we started to pass instead of lumping it to Bentenke.

The second half was liquid football.  Lowton was brillant, Bentenke was a beast and everyone played a part. Sunderland in fairness fell apart after the sending off but how clincial were the Villa?! The only downsides are my blooded shins over too much goal exictment but what the hey.

 What a night. Still not save yet but this is what the future may hold. And isn't it exciting?

Already got a knot in my stomach about this one. Forgotten what a stress free football match is now!

Crap- meant shirts, not skirts. Fat fingers!

I wonder if Lerner can stil be arsed with Villa. He has sunk a lot of capitial into the club and effectively we are in the same or worse postion then when he bought the club in those summer days of 2006. Doug might have been an annoying old git but he had the last laugh- he never put any of his cash into Villa and got a nice £20 mil payoff when he sold up. Still at least the old boy still comes to the games- Lerner hasnt for years.Obviously the  Man City take over totally blew us out of the water and we have never looked like challenging for the top spots since. We can talk about it for days but Lerner bascially gave O'Neill far too much trust in transfers and wages, and we are still paying the price 3 years on. Houllier was a experiment that went wrong, McClueless  was a omishambles and the jury is still out on Lambert.

What is the most disapointing thing for me is that under Randy, Villa still havent seem to be marketed well enough.I thought americians were good at this!  We all thought under Doug, Villa were always under sold.  If I remember they brought in some big PR guys, and then nothing happened. A good team helps hugely of course, but even under MON's days we didnt sell out no where near enough. Villa skirts were and still are, hard to buy in shops outside the midlands. Clubs like Spurs have a far better 'brand' than us. I know its mostly down to them being good at the moment, but some of it is still marketing.

The North Stand rebuild is totally dead in the water and we face going further back into the pack when West Spam get a free 60,000 stadium. Liverpool are still spending huge amounts whilst United  and the rest of the champions league teams are lightyears ahead of us. I dont know how we can catch up other than trying to stick to our current plan of youth development and buying rough diamonds. Unless Lerner is Billy Beane in disguise, this isnt going to have a happy ending.

7 years on and we still dont know him at all. We dont want a return to a Doug type chairman talking nonsense all the times (like a son to me etc, etc) but Randy has to make clear what he wants out of Villa, even if he is uncomfortable in the lime light. My gut feeling is that he tried to get us top four which failed. He has know going to try and recoup the money under Lambert's policies and if we stay up, look to sell in a few years time.

Listened to a bit of it on the radio. Fair play it sounded like a exicting fight, but to make out it shows Khan as championship material is a bit odd. Sure he has the skills but yet again doesnt have the chin. He seems a decent guy but he isnt going to change and I cant seem him being one of the UK greats.

45 quid is a bit of a joke. Must be helping Delia's retirement fund. Still I am always fairly impressed with Norwich's turnout at home and away. Suppose its because there is no other team for miles around! 

According to the Birmingham Mail  over 35,000 expected which should be the bare minimum for such as a big game.

All I know me and my underwear wouldnt be able to cope with another season like this. Come on Villa lets win our next 2!

I dont think any other player divides Villa fans as much as Bannan. The game is all about opinions, but I am in the anti Bannan camp. Yes he does obviously have some ability, but he is too inconsistent, gives the ball away too much, and those aimless long passes going nowhere annoy me. He has been on the fringes of the team for about 4 years in which most senior players above him have left. For whatever reason a succession of managers have not made him first choice. Perhaps it would be for the best if he goes in the summer and we get a few quid for it.

He has been largely underwhelming. He might come good next season like Petrov who took a year or so to settle in, but I have my doubts. At present I would have Znog ahead of him.

Whatever combination Lambert has done the season (and lord knows he has done a lot), the midfield as a unit has been awful. You cant polish a turd. And its a massive floater.

Whats it with all the massive stock clearance? Are  randy and faulkener going to get some family sized petrol cans, pour them over villa village and claim the compo?! Like the scene in Goodfellas.

The Newcastle game was a strange one. At the start of the second half they were all over liverplop like a bad suit, but once the 3rd went it in the atmosphere went like a lead balloon at St James's and they totally fell apart. They have been fairly useless all season. I went to the away game and we outplayed them.We  should have got a point in the home match but we threw it away in a awful 1st half. That Fulham game might be enough for them to stay up but they have nasty fixtures coming up. But most teams seem to be winning so I reckon we will need at least 40 pts to stay up. Everyone is saying it but we really, really, really, need to win on Monday.

That last minute winner newkey got v Fulham  looks increasingly bigger by the week

Yes sorry got a bit carried away, forgot championship has another week to go. My bad. Still I fancy Wolves to go  down. As much as I loved Deano the player, not sure of him as a manager.

A desmond! Kiss my face. Wolves are down if anyone is interested.

I am still clinging to hope that we can drag Norwich in it. They are largely cack. But they can defend.

Might have to do something mad like beat Chelsea at home. Its getting to the hail mary stage now.

TBH if any side loses 8-0 in a season they probably deserve to go down. Doesnt look good at present but we got to keep on fighting. And lambert to read  a book about football defending.

We are in a shit sandwich at present.

I will love it if we beat Wigan and send them down. I am sorry but i dont buy all this Martinez love in. They are rubbish every year- its not a 'project'- its buying players on the cheap to try and survive for another season in the prem. Their ground is a dump. Whelan is possibly even more annoying than Doug. 8 years in the prem and their support is still shite- if they go down they would be getting 10,000 in the championship. A total non entity of a club with only pies and northern soul as possible reasons for their existence.

Wigans alllocation is the biggest load of cack I have heard for a long time. They can dress it up as police reasons but its obvious that they are giving us just 3k as it could well be a premiership playoff match. I mean every half decent size club has had about a 5k allocation since they have got promoted so they must be used to it. If I remember Whelan tried at first to give the side stand to away sides of 8k allocation but he wasnt allowed to. Its not our fault that they have no support even nearly a decade into top flight football. He also moaned that he had to pay for policing around his poxy ground as well. Not happy with this. 

Up to 11 on hugeness. I am just looking forward to next season when each game is not such a stressful experience. We always look like a moment away from shooting ourselves in the foot, and even a 2 goal lead is nowhere near enough to feel comfortable for a win. But on the other hand if you compare our forward play this year to last year under McCluless its not contest.

Annoying KO as it is (one of the reasons why I won't be renewing) Villa have put good deals on this. I have moved for free in the Trinity middle, so I can look down on the great unwashed  in the Holte for a change. Its a huge game so anything less than 37,000 I would be disapointed with.