Chris_McNerlin

i'll be in the drayton, live a few doors down. If anyone fancies going to a really decent real pub: Head to the hemingford arms on offord road, great pub, prob be there post match having a roast and a few celebratory beers. The hen and chickens close to highbury and islington station is also decent.

Get the train - loads of good boozers in N1.

Is anyone traveling up from London? we'll be having a few beers on the 8.20 from euston.

To 'Any dream will do'

I close my eyes,

The match is startin,

sign someone Martin,

anyone will do.

With Randy's cash,

we could sign Top class,

But you'll sign Dean Windass.

cos he's english too.

Lol Brilliant.

agreed, superb.

Hi General,

Are there any plans to provide an official Aston Villa 'app' for the iPhone or the possibility of having a mobile enabled website? (e.g. bbc.co.uk/mobile)

When are you next heading back home to Villa Park?

Cheers General, keep up the fantastic work.

Chris

Flights that is......

Has anyone found anything cheaper than £150?

Rolling Stones. They are shit and have been living on their reputation for longer than Milan Baros.

I don't care about barry.

He don't care about me.

All i care about, is AVFC.

shamelessly lifted from 'i don't care about rio' by FC united.

As the Uefa cup final is in Istanbul next year:

We're going to Turkey

We're going to Turkeyyyyy

We might get stabbed but we don't care

Cuz we're going to Turkey...

This could be ODENSE or anywhere,

Liverpool or Rome,

'Cause we can win, anywhere,

When we're away from home

One more to add general,

Is osama alive and living in rhode island?

I like it tom

Today I got told it's a done deal between barry and pool, just pool and villa on a price/exchange for him. 80,000 a week. from a friend who's friend goes out with barrys sister i think. Been done a while he said. Bye Bye Barry! hope it's a total load of shit! but i do think he is over rated for a player that only uses his right foot to stand on and is as fast as john terry (ok apart from the goal against spurs last year)

cheers, thats the song. sounded brilliant. a lot

On the train back yesterday some songs were being sung that i didn't know, "there's no snow on snow hill" anyone know it?

Oh Gareth Barry, I love you with my life

Oh Gareth Barry, I'd let you sh*g my wife

Oh Gareth Barry, pride of claret and blue.....

quality, easy and amusing!

i also love the you are my barry, that quality lets try and get these going on sunday

General a question slightly off topic but of interest currently to my studies:

What do you feel the differences are between leadership and management, or similarities?

Something that always confuses me about the army is that at times of peace good management is essential, but it is impossible to be managed into battle and a war time situation requires great leadership.

Could you consider with regards to your own military career, Randys career in business and of chairman of Aston Villa and also with regards to Martin O'Neill and Gareth Barry.

My instinct would be, a you are a born leader, Randy is more of a manager but has the vision of a leader, Martin is a mixture of both and Barry i have no idea?

I'm currently writing an essay on leadership vs management and as you seem to be able to sort everything else, I thought you might be able to help!

Congratulations on the ticket pricing, i can't believe how ridiculously low prices remain, anyone who follows the team away will realise how cheap our tickets are.

Chris

General,

From what I can gather and I’ve just completed a dissertation on inconsistent and inappropriate regulation, the Council have no say on the safety inside the ground?

The soul body for implementing the licensing of football stadia is the FLA (football licensing authority) I was under the impression that the council didn’t have any say on the matter. I am also under the impression that ‘persistent standing’ was a stipulation by Aston villa as part of the agreement we enter into when buying a ticket, i.e. there is no formal law that prevents it and therefore you cannot be removed by police because of it. Just confused why the council are getting involved when another ‘independent’ body is responsible for safety inside sports stadia (as per the 1990 football spectator act).

Sorry to drag the debate on, just if this is the case, we could just tell them to ‘jog on’ and increase parking prices or council tax to make some more money rather than rob our serial philanthropist, Sir (just a suggestion) Randy Lerner.

That's not true. Rather than drag this thread off from it's purpose, perhaps you could read some info on the FLA and council's roles

FLA Statutory Remit ...the Government...charged us with ...monitoring local authorities' oversight of spectator safety at international, Premiership and Football League grounds...Safety certificates are issued by the local authority. ..Birmingham City Safety Advisory Group Birmingham City Council, 1 Lancaster Circus, BIRMINGHAM B4 7DY

Another thing to add general,

a villa fan brought a man u fan to the game and sat behind me, I didn't notice until the second goal when he tried to quietly celebrate but I overheard, really pissed me off and wanted to give him a slap but didn't want to sink to his level, I gave both him and the villa fan a mouthful and they left. Their seat numbers were K3 row 26 seats 74 & 75 right behind where I sit every week, thought it was really disrespectful and possible inflammatory. Wasn’t so angry at the united fan but the villa fan, what a ridiculous place to bring an away supporter who can’t keep his mouth shut. I really think action should be taken.

Cheers chris

General,

Just thought I should inform you about my bad experience with ticketing for the Wigan game. From what I gather from the staff at Wigan there was quite a significant problem of tickets that were not received by villa fans for the game, I was one who received only one ticket when I’d purchased two. As usual I phoned the ticket office to let them know the issue and they said it would be sorted, they’d been printed separately and I’d receive them before the game. The Friday before the game I hadn’t received the other ticket and phoned again and as per usual they were fantastic and apologetic and told me the ticket would be waiting for me at Wigan. The ticket that was waiting for me at Wigan was unfortunately the ticket I had all ready received from Villa, but thankfully the Wigan staff who were extremely helpful said they’d print a ticket for the seat next to me and if someone was in that one to sit the other side. When I got to my seat as I knew there would be there were people sitting either side of me with tickets for the seats as well leaving my and my dad (we’re not small chaps) to stand within the confinement of one seat. We questioned the steward what to do and he had no solution and the people around us were fine being squashed together we stood there for 90 minutes. My dads getting on a bit and was exhausted by the end of the match even if people stand around him sometimes he likes to have a break ever now and then by leaning back on the seat but this just wasn’t possible. T he ticket office is usually great (99.9%) but I was really annoyed by this because I’m sure when I first called it must have been obvious there was a problem, and the second time I called it must have been obvious again. Yet I went to the ground I paid for two seats and only got one. There is certainly a huge safety issue here and even more emphasised by the suggestions earlier of overcrowding in block 3 at Wigan where I was sitting (standing!). I have no idea what’s gone wrong here general but I paid for something it wasn’t delivered but even worse it was obviously sold to someone else and I was still led to believe I had a ticket. Really think this deserves your attention general.

Many Thanks

Chris

General,

Just thought I should inform you about my bad experience with ticketing for the Wigan game. From what I gather from the staff at Wigan there was quite a significant problem of tickets that were not received by villa fans for the game, I was one who received only one ticket when I’d purchased two. As usual I phoned the ticket office to let them know the issue and they said it would be sorted, they’d been printed separately and I’d receive them before the game. The Friday before the game I hadn’t received the other ticket and phoned again and as per usual they were fantastic and apologetic and told me the ticket would be waiting for me at Wigan. The ticket that was waiting for me at Wigan was unfortunately the ticket I had all ready received from Villa, but thankfully the Wigan staff who were extremely helpful said they’d print a ticket for the seat next to me and if someone was in that one to sit the other side. When I got to my seat as I knew there would be there were people sitting either side of me with tickets for the seats as well leaving my and my dad (we’re not small chaps) to stand within the confinement of one seat. We questioned the steward what to do and he had no solution and the people around us were fine being squashed together we stood there for 90 minutes. My dads getting on a bit and was exhausted by the end of the match even if people stand around him sometimes he likes to have a break ever now and then by leaning back on the seat but this just wasn’t possible. T he ticket office is usually great (99.9%) but I was really annoyed by this because I’m sure when I first called it must have been obvious there was a problem, and the second time I called it must have been obvious again. Yet I went to the ground I paid for two seats and only got one. There is certainly a huge safety issue here and even more emphasised by the suggestions earlier of overcrowding in block 3 at Wigan where I was sitting (standing!). I have no idea what’s gone wrong here general but I paid for something it wasn’t delivered but even worse it was obviously sold to someone else and I was still led to believe I had a ticket. Really think this deserves your attention general.

Many Thanks

Chris

General,

Hatton or Mayweather?

General,

This is a plea on behalf of all villa fans. Please do not let the Martin O'Neill go. Please general.

1. As I have mentioned before, sale of kit will be moving "world-wide". This is absolutely the plan. I spoke with the Nike representative on Sunday and we talked about sales throughout the Uk and the world...and the fact that some fans couldn't even get the kit in Birmingham. He acknowledged the problem...and it all comes back to lateness of contract. This will get fixed. As for prices...hard to dictate price points and various stores. If the store is willing to cut into profit margin, we can't do much about that. We know what the kit cost Villa and we know what the margin needs to be...and price accordingly.

will there be any plans to get the villa kit in london at all this year? as cant find the villa anywhere but can get the leeds kit!

also will the black training top be avaiable in men sizes on the OS? as at the mo it only has it in kid sizes

Try 'Nike town' on oxford street. Was there last week!

General that was awesome.

The only bad thing i can come up with is that pre KO the song "Chelsea Dagger" by The Fratellis was played. Annoyed me to see the chelsea fans dancing and singing away. It was very difficult to come up with something to moan about so i hope you appreciate it!

Do the players receive a win bonus? and if so is it bigger when they beat one of the best teams in europe comprehensively?

We may not have signed the type of players most fans were expecting but we've ability in abundance, youth and most importantly passion and spirit which is worth ten drogba's and john terrys.

It's good to feel proud general , thanks.