brommy

Seems like he's acknowledging Ollie's supreme form whilst hinting at his acceptance of being patient at the start of his Villa career. Good noises.

We all know most owners like to feel good about themselves and important in their social standing. Hopefully, rubbing shoulders with the direct heirs to the throne of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth realms will go some way to nourish their continued ownership of Villa.

Very, very good!

Perhaps @villaajax is holding back on Hannah Hampton's head paint until she commits to a new Villa contract?

Simply open one can at a time and drink straight from that can with the other three cans (unopened or empty, just not opened and full) still attached. It looks especially cool if the can opening is facing towards the middle of the bunch.

European qualification or not, finishing top 8 would be an incredible achievement this season, especially given the legacy left by our most recent manager. Conversely, if we somehow return to average form, perhaps by losing some of the key games against our top half rivals, I hope fans won't be critical of the manager or team for falling away from our current height. I hope I'm not the only Villa fan who thinks that finishing anywhere in the top half of the Premier League will be a great achievement - this season. Having written that, I will allow myself a sigh of disappointment if we finish 11th!

Still one for Dyche's CV though - Spring 2023 - Made a crap team marginally less crap than some other crap teams.

I agree on all that. Even if the Witton station/underpass work gets final approval/funding soon and work starts at Villa Park late this year, it won't be anything major like commencing the demolition of the existing North Stand, but the peripheral and enabling work you referenced.

I think player likeability is strongly influenced by the team's performance. We're riding the crest of a mini-wave at the moment with apparently high squad camaraderie, so it's easy for us fans to like the players. Now imagine exactly the same players, showing the same care for charity and Villa fans in unfortunate circumstances whilst giving their all in training and on the pitch, but, for some reason they just can't win a football match and we are stuck in the relegation zone. I expect the players' likeability to fans and the replies to this to thread would be a lot different, yet the players would be the same people, likeable or not.

I'm pleased there isn't a comma in the middle of that sentence!

I previously mentioned that I thought someone (Purslow?) said October 23 was a possible start date, but nobody else seems to recall that date being mentioned. I've also heard that the stand completion, and therefore commencement date, will need to be synchronised with the opening of a refurbished Witton Station with increased access; the financing of which is still to be formalised.

I like to think that will be avoided by threat of withdrawal by the U.S., Australia and most European countries. I really hope those countries sports associations don't bottle it!

If it's going to take that long, Carlos must be paddling when the tide's out at Weston-Super-Mare.

As Randy Lerner would testify!

'Home free after six months...' but they'll have missed the small print '... or after the war is won, whichever is the latter. Severe injury or death is a significant risk and will NOT lead to repatriation.'

Having previously enjoyed series 1, I'm looking forward to watching series 2. Just one thought from me, your 'excellent, really good 7/10' has me wondering - is it excellent or 7 out of 10? In my mind, 'excellent' is a 9 and a 7 is merely 'good'. I do appreciate my 'matching adjectives to scores' is probably for the Boring Thread!

The destruction of Russian Cruise missiles within Russian occupied Crimea is likely to annoy Vlad!

No worries. I'm very much in the mind of 'whoops, never mind'. He took it well, tbf.

That's very much the sort of thing I've done. For example, I told my neighbour that I'd noticed his mother-in-law arrive a few days earlier and I commented she was looking well. He replied she has a brain tumour. I quickly asked how his parents were keeping and he told me they both died a few years ago.

Last year, my niece, 17, decided to learn and passed her test only for automatic cars. Her Dad drives a Tesla and her Mom an automatic Mini. In the short term she'll need to pay a premium over manual cars for a small automatic car, but in the medium to long term I suspect most, if not all cars will be automatics so learning for a manual licence will be somewhat unnecessary.

Similar to Maddison's effectiveness for Leicester this season. Both teams lack threat without Zaha/Maddison, just like we were without Grealish. Despite Palace's terrible form, if Zaha stays fit, they'll probably be okay.

A good win away at another woman's mid-table team and also matching the men's score at Everton. The Villa Ladies also seem to be league positioned similar to the men's team at the moment - securely best of the rest.

See, just a few months ago, the figures I'd been told (by a fellow HolteEnder who is part of a scouting network with some links to our club) are £100k at Everton and now on £120k at Villa. I see little point in using unsubstantiated salary figures when discussing player performance, especially when most, if not all, senior player's salaries are obscene anyway.

Pleasantly surprised! We've all seen games not 'put to bed', leading to a last minute equaliser and subsequent defeat on penalties so nice to see we didn't fall in to that trap.

Surely you meant - Give it to Stevie G - ready the slip!