The Fun Factory

15 minutes ago, duke313 said:

A lot of paper talk about them having to sell Isak to either to Spurs or Arsenal in order to buy in the summer due to FFP.  What a lovely system the cartel 6 have in place.

What are their tickets prices like?  Have they hiked them up like us? I would presume they would be even less likely to charge London prices given the north east is the poorest region in the country,

21 hours ago, MWARLEY2 said:

The first muscle injury he has had in 4 seasons i think. 

That's basically because he has run himself into a standstill. Looked knackered ever since the Ajax injury.  Ideally he could have rested in the international break but obviously he wanted to impress.

22 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

But 85% preferred it to an alternative developed over three months with around twenty meetings with different fan groups. Regardless, the opinion of fans had nothing to do with why it was cancelled - or at least if it did, it was only the opinion of one fan (or maybe three).

Purslow made bad football decisions and it's really good that football and business have now been separated at the club, so that people who know what they're doing are focused on doing the things they know. Coutinho and Gerrard are on Purslow, the badge fiasco is on Heck.

The bigger question is on why the stadium expansion was cancelled, who made the decisions, what the factors really were and when that decision was made - you'd imagine it was done at ownership level - but why still isn't particularly clear - it seems to me odd, that two very experienced businessmen would spend a great deal of time, money and effort in developing plans for their business getting them right to the point where they'd start, and then pulling them out. In some ways I feel some sympathy for Heck in perhaps being the fall guy in delivering bad news. Time I guess will tell whether Nas, Wes and Purslow were right in wanting to develop Villa Park through adding seats or whether Nas, Wes and Heck are right in looking to increase the stadium yield within the existing infrastructure.

And of course, beyond that is the underlying problem of how long you can keep the North Stand going - there's a lot of money going into it this summer, so it looks like it will be around for good while yet.

Is that official then? What are they going to do with the North Stand? This will be as  General Krulak once said, like putting lipstick on a pig. The stand is not fit for purpose and a cheap and cheerful makeover is not going to be a long-term solution. Unless you rip off the roof, add seats and expand at the back. And if you did that you might as well demolish the whole thing. Anything else will just be a short-term sticking plaster.

2 hours ago, Tegis said:

Gotta love it when a stadium explodes like that

Ed Sheeran had already left by then. Whoops.

14 minutes ago, Lichfield Dean said:

Birmingham Airport is a disaster at the moment. I went through there last week, and the ridiculous giant lifts they've installed to get people up to security is completely mental.

Yeah tell me about it! I arrived in plenty of time and then basically had to go straight to boarding the plane. Apparently it was supposed to be have been finished by now.

I love going abroad, it is just the increasing ball-ache of getting to your destination that annoys me. Took me hour and half the last time I went through Birmingham airport security.

They didn't announce the attendance yesterday did they? Definitely a few empty seats (my lord). At over 60 quid a pop on easter weekend for a televised match it seems expensive. But no doubt another price jump next season.

People may worry about the injuries but I don't think I have seen such squad depth at Villa before. At 30 mins to go we bring on two players with a combined 60 plus caps for Italy and France to finish the game off.

On 30/03/2024 at 22:22, jayEm said:

 https://www.instagram.com/p/C5J2zbpiagH

Don't know how to embed Instagram posts (someone who does, please do!) but this is so, so lovely from Unai Emery. We could not have a better manager at this club right now. How lucky we are!

Class by Emery.  Stay strong Sid. I think I have read that Withe has spent some time at Bodymoor as well, lovely touch. 

Chicken burgers. On their own they are too dry for a burger, and if they are battered or coated you don't need the bread. Pointless.

7 hours ago, chrisp65 said:

The telly.

There is very little I would be keen to watch, maybe the occasional series such as Pottery Throwdown. We have more channels and subscriptions than ever but i can scroll around and its all just mostly dross.

I’ve just watched the first episode of Fargo series 5 and I thought that was good, but I can see it being several days before I watch the next one, unless i just plain completely forget about it.

Yes I often forget how much the influence of linear tv has declined. When I was growing up it was 4, then five channels at most. If something popular was on, everybody talked about it. I think it came home for me  last Christmas when I looked at the tv schedule and they have basically given up now. I am not saying it was better but it has definitely changed.

Job done and the squad really stepped up yesterday.

3 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

He really does need to stop reacting so much, it’s a matter of time before he’s sent off if he doesn’t improve on it and we need him, particularly if Watkins is missing now

Oddly enough, and assuming/hoping he doesn’t get sent off, I think starting against City (if Watkins is out) might just work in his (and our) favour, just a hunch.

It's just part of  his personality like Ian Wright was like. Just need to channel it a bit better.

22 minutes ago, Caravella82 said:

Not for me and at the time, not for Ellis either.

Redevelopment was forced upon many clubs in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster and the Taylor report. This is why so many clubs changed stadiums in the Nineties (Eg. Sunderland, Coventry, Middlesbrough and Derby) and why most were redevelopment in some manner.

Villa unfortunately were ran by a man with no care for how the stadium looked as long as it meant as few pennies as possible were spent.

And Ansell's (Financial Director in early 2000's) quote at the time went as follows: 'You can't expect a business, particularly in the service industry, to offer the sort of facilities that are required today in a 76 year old building".

Ellis had many priorities but offering Villa fans value for money was never one of them. Being forward thinking was not his forte either.

Appropriate though that that quote is valid now for two of our current stands. But the advantage is I believe that now we have two far more advanced thinkers in Sawiris and Edens as our Clubs owners.

I think that is slightly unfair on Doug. We have ended up with a serviceable stadium since the 90s development, albeit with some opportunities missed.  The alternative would have been a completely unfit-for-purpose stadium like what Hillsborough has become or Goodison which is soon to be bulldozed. The 90s was a completely different era with far less money in the game.

People do bemoan the loss of the trinity but by all accounts, it was falling apart and had to go. We could have done a much more sympathetic rebuild,, and it seemed a bit odd that we didn't  when compared what we did to the Holte, but what has happened has happened.

The general opinion for most away fans is that Villa Park is still a classic ground even if we have messes around with it a bit.

On 27/03/2024 at 20:55, mikeyp102 said:

Being in Champuons League would mean the club are making more money, they should lower the price. They’ll make plenty by selling CL match day tickets (not that they will lower prices at all.)

Well yeah they could charge nothing for tickets as the PL went a year with no crowds without much problems but that ain't gonna happen.

Hah serves me right, shameless vacation brang

20 minutes ago, BOF said:

This is the 3rd longest gap between Villa games this season 13 days. So yeah, it feels bloody long (kw.gif)

Suited me fine for my holiday break.

17 hours ago, rbcuk said:

Can’t help but think they are waiting to see where we finish to decide what to charge us next season, esp with the meeting cancelled in regards to pricing 

They could do a early bird before C/L qualification, and a price increase if we get 4th. However, that would involve being pro-active which Heck hasn't appeared to be doing.

On 25/03/2024 at 14:00, villarule123 said:

If they go much higher I'd probably knock it on the head to be honest. I can't justify spending a grand on a season ticket. The home games are already a bit of a chore at times with the amount of traffic, crap start times and the amount of inpatient/entitled bellends we have supporting our club. I'd rather go away from home with the die hards and at least those games are capped at £30.

I don't understand why away games are capped but the home games aren't. 

Cos away games is at most 3,000 seats and home games on average in the prem is probably around 35 to 40,000 seats to sell.

20 hours ago, Villa_Vids said:

I agree to an extent. I am probably jumping the gun, I just believe the club can become global and reach that level of demand based on sporting merit - I don't think VP can hold the owners' ambitions. We will see though.

And yet they aren't ambitious enough to build one new stand as they had second thoughts in being able to sell thousands of GA+ plus admission seats.

13 hours ago, supermon said:

Ah man this looks bad for Ollie from what the pundits are saying. Hope this doesn't get to him. Just have to go on a mad hype between now and end of season.

Pundits know shit. I would be amazed if he isn't in the squad.

The longest circular argument in history. Ahead of the big chicken and egg debate.

We will be saying exactly the same things in about 10 year time.

The only real bad performances in the league since the turn of the year were Newcastle and Spurs. United annoyed me as no way we should have lost that one. 

We are right in it, scrapping for every point.  You can see the togetherness of the squad and that can really help down the stretch, plus having a elite manager. All to play for.

Do you want to bet against us? Feck the rest of them.

Emery is doing a lot of thinking at the moment due to the lack of midfield options with Kamarra out and now Mcginn suspended. He will continue to tinker with it until the balance is sorted. Trust the process.

I am confused which one is the shit player now Rogers or Zaniolo?

He is what he is a young prospect. Emery must rate him given the two starts in a week.

I think a full pre season under Emery will improve him a lot. 

1 minute ago, Pinebro said:

It's just a quarter final

Man Utd being way too emotional

Shows how far they have fallen. Under Fergie it would be just another win and into the next round.