brommy

A quick look at Google maps and it seems there are approximately 30 houses and flats on the west side of Holte Road that would be severely affected and another 20 further along but backing on to the Holte End and Holte End car park that could argue they were affected (blocking natural light etc.). Zoopla has the average selling price in the past 12 months as £145k. Supposing that was rounded to £150k with a further £100k to cover expenses and good will. 50 houses at £250k each is £12.5m. Not an insurmountable cost, but if just one resident campaigned against, it wouldn't be a good look for the club.

I don't think the projects are comparable. I expect the facilities in the new Stand will be more extensive, especially compared to the Holte End. Also, many people complain that the Trinity Road stand looks like it was thrown together in a hurry, so perhaps the new stand should take more time. Plus, there was no change in ground level, which there significantly is for the new North.

Err... I think with his new Villa contract freshly signed, Pau could afford to get Brean Sands Pontins reopened for a week or two! Whatever his good lady wants!

If Pau's on honeymoon it's clearly at Villa Park (see photographic evidence above) so why would he then need to travel to England? Romano is as clueless as Villareport!

In advance of any new news from today, my assumption would be - no if we don't get Euro 28; probably yes if we do. It's all linked with the redevelopment of Witton Station, which this evening was mentioned to be government financed upon the award on Euro 28. Access directly from both station platforms and the academy to the new North Stand, via a 2 minute walk along Station Road away from the longer walk and traffic of Witton Road, makes so much sense.

Can we assume the changes consulted with the local community will be fairly big or an increase rather than a decrease in size and/or capacity from the already consulted and approved plans? I can't see why the club would need to consult very little change or for example, a reduction in size and/or capacity. They'll be no complaints from local residents saying 'hang on, the roof was planned to be 32m high but it's only 29m'. I also realise it could be to gauge local concerns to the stadium expansion without the improved access and expansion to the station and without the Villa Live facilities.

I suppose it depends on what the consultation tells us. It won't seem so urgent if the news is the club is delaying and/or scaling back the size of the expansion or formally announcing it won't proceed at all if the UK isn't hosting Euro 28.

Monchi will start on Monday morning. No advantage to paying him time and a half today or double time for tomorrow.

Stop dying it then. Embrace your inner Schofield!

I agree it would be a large majority in favour of staying at Villa Park. I suppose the vote result would depend what the alternative offered, but my guess would be at least 80% in favour of staying at Villa Park. Perhaps under 40s around 60-70% and over 40s above 90%. I'd only consider a move if it was selfishly advantageous to my Villa family. We're all settled around the Lickey Hills area so a 60k+ stadium in Longbridge, with the M5 and M42 access nearby, direct and frequent train services from Lichfield, Sutton, Birmingham and Redditch and then build a new tram line from Birmingham city centre along the A38 through Selly Oak and Northfield, could possibly turn my head!

I agree. I'll only be worried about the expansion going ahead if - the UK and Ireland doesn't win the Euro 28 bid (to be announced in September?) and work hasn't started in time to complete by May 28. In theory, that could be as late as May 2026.

All dogging aside, did you see how steep the river bank was? Very steep and she was wearing a calf length heavy coat that would restrict leg movement when trying to swim.

Would you rather keep him and turn down £5m+? What's the cheapest you'd sell Marv for?

We have an academy in Gloucester?

Only if the UK and Ireland don't win the bid to host, which will based on the proposed capacity of 50k, as they'll trust it will be completed before 2028. We should find out in September, but if Turkey win the bid, it won't be because of Villa Park and its adjacent station. Whilst Villa want their fans to be able to access the stadium without excessive hassle, I expect they'll be more focused on the extra income the increased capacity and vastly larger hospitality will bring. If the station expansion/increased access isn't finished, it'll be the council getting it in the neck from local residents complaining. If the UK and Ireland get the tournament, I'll be surprised if the expansion and station isn't completed. If we don't host the tournament, Villa will still want to expand but we'll see how bothered the council are about the station. Hopefully the council aren't so small minded to refuse investment in their own city infrastructure. Birmingham has already fallen behind some smaller cities in that regard.

Born in Selly Oak hospital and lived close by for 22 years, the past 3 decades has seen me just the other side of the Lickey Hills at around 2 miles from the Birmingham border. Still closer to Birmingham than many parts of Solihull are though.

I think it ended about 22:55 but because we were in the Lower Holte we were out of the large exit doors and then out near The Holte Pub within 5 minutes. A brisk walk to Aston station, arriving at 23:08 and walked straight up on to the southbound platform. Unfortunately we'd missed the last Redditch train (23:02 - sod's law it was on time!) towards Barnt Green so we got the 23:12 to Longbridge and got an Uber to Barnt Green which was obviously much cheaper than getting a taxi from central Birmingham. My biggest issue is why don't Birmingham Council (who will have approved the concert and be welcoming the extra 'tourist' money coming in to the region) liaise with West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive to extend the latest train services when there's mass people events on in the city. There's no bottle neck at New Street at midnight so another half a dozen Lichfield to Redditch line and Birmingham to Walsall line trains would have avoided any overcrowding that my wife and I had obviously just missed. If anyone thinks more late trains just isn't the sort of thing that can be done, I worked on the train and tram network in Manchester from 2010 to 2021 and every Parklife festival at Heaton Park had extra services arranged, including trams that ran through the whole night.

It seems like there were more albeit minor issues for Springsteen but I can only speak from the experience of sitting in the Lower Holte for the pink concert. Apart from the unexpected queue arrangement (tickets were shown at the entrance to the Holte End car park but then not required again as the large Holte End exit doors were wide open making it feel open plan to the area behind the Holte), and a 10 minute queue for beers on a very warm night, I was very proud of how Villa Park looked and performed. My wife and I caught the train from Barnt Green to/from Aston with no waiting or overcrowding so I suspect the traffic delays were caused by not enough people using public transport. Birmingham Council want the large scale events to increase the status of the city and bring in external money to the city. Last week should a reminder to the Council that they need to invest in better transportation and traffic management. Increasing trains to the incredibly close Witton station (especially when the underpass to Station Road is completed) should be a high priority, no matter how tricky it could be at New Street.

Not a single blose shirt in sight but perhaps the Villa shirts were being worn ironically!

It feels like NSWE have really spotted the potential of the stage we're currently at. If we don't achieve reliable CL status within the next few years, it won't be for not trying. If only Ellis and Lerner had put so much thought and investment into our staff structure when we were knocking on the door of fourth under Little and MoN. Nevermind, here's to our NSWE future! Edited to correct the owner - manager timeline!

A small sample size - I was at a barbers in Rubery for 20 minutes on Saturday morning. 4 football shirts were spotted passing on the high street. I'm pleased to say 3 were Villa (including a circa 1988 Hummel Mita Copiers home shirt) but the fourth was a lad in a man citeh shirt. I'm assuming it would have been a manu shirt around a decade ago.

That could be difficult to enforce as it would be difficult to prove Villa weren't already interested in the same player(s) prior to Monchi switching to us.

MONCHI MAGIC!

I expect Leicester will believe Barnes adds more value than £20m in their attempt to return to riches of the Premier League. Unless Barnes refuses to play in the Championship, I'd be very surprised if they accept less than £30m.