danceoftheshamen

I disagree, currently I see it a bit like this..... We are a big to very big club (on the rise) They (Chelsea) are obviously currently massive, due to Abramovich's Millions of course but we are most definately in the "Big club" bracket. Massive = Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City & possibly now Spurs i guess. Very Big = Villa (Just almost getting back to this level in my view), Newcastle (soon to enter the "massive" group no doubt) , West Ham, Everton & possibly Leicester Big = Wolves, Palace, Forest and most of the rest of the prem excluding maybe Bournemouth and one or two others Not exact science & we are likely in reality in between Big & Very Big currently (but not historically of course) So If carney had come out & said "Don't get me wrong Villa is a big club and helped me progress massively but Chelsea is the club I supported as a lad & with all due respect is a massive club right now" Or anything along those lines, I would have said fair play to the geezer.

Surely though Zatman, having been a part of the whole Sawirs & Edens rise he must have seen that this was no small club? Rather one slowly reclaiming it's place? He must have known the history, seen the fanbase and the Stadium plans etc. Seen the quality of the clubs Youth system & everything else? So why the insult? The first thing out of his gob after leaving? Sorry, but no. That's plain disrespectful and as a result I am delighted he's gone. Talk about having a rotton apple in the barrel. Anyhow he's nothing more than yet another Chelsea wannabe now so.

Apart from the inevitable helping hand they will no doubt get to claim their place at the top table from the FA, VAR etc. Something we will not get and which for me is worth 10 - 15 points per season for the "chosen" clubs, if not more.

Yes i'm sure he can learn stuff from them, but then he left Coutihno, Buendia & co as well as Gerrard... Just don't quite get the veiled dig saying "every young player wants to play for a "big" club. That was plain unecessary and quite insulting given what he is leaving behind in his desperate clamour to escape from such a paltry, tiny little club lol!

Having watched us under Gerrard, in all honesty, I am yet to see anything which makes me think we will challenge the top 8. We look pretty solid now but nowhere near a Europe finish. We still seem to struggle to get the strikers into the game as much as they should be. Hopefully Archer will be the answer.

Wherever the FA, Their corrupt officials and the even more dodgy VAR officials decide they want them to finish. With that money knocking around I'd say 7th to 8th is almost nailed on this season for them. It's an opportunity to open the human rights abusers wallets which I have no doubt the FA will not miss. Newcastoil United... who would've thought it lol!

Yep, turned down the chance to play regularly for a BIG Premier League club and learn from one of the best midfielders he could have learned from, to go to another big (£££££££'s) premier league club who he may have far less game time with and all because he liked them as a glory Hunting fan as a Kid. Meanwhile he then has the gall to make a statement saying "every kid wants to play for a "big" club." Okay Then Another JT masterpiece no doubt.

I'm so delighted he's staying for the season ahead & beyond, with a chance to truly break through into that 1st team proper! Take your chance Cameron!!

Bye! Don't forget to close the door on the way out. Would have wished you all the best but seeing as you chose to go to a rival club purely for £££££'s then I won't.

I still can't see us hitting a Euro spot as things stand. Around 10th to 12th for me but of course that could change obviously dependant on further signings.

From what i've seen of him he just needs a run of games. He looks sharper & fitter but as though his confidence (understandably) has taken a bit of a hit hence the moments when he makes a rash choice or picks the wrong pass. I really think a run of games will see him come good.

He always seems to hit similar shots. Way too high usually, which either makes it a simple save for the keeper or he over does it and it goes way wide / high or both. Both chances he had in the last two games surely would have been finished in the bottom corner by someone prolific? I don't want to hammer him coz I like Ollie but he simply has to show more.

First half showing was really poor for me and looked just like the stuff we were producing most of last season. Created barely anything and wasted the tiny bit we did create with poor forward play. Second half was promising however and despite the incredibly wasteful final third moments (which were many) we caused them a lot of problems and were for me by far the better team both before all the subs came on & to a lesser extent afterwards too. Totally deserved the draw at least. As for the ref? Appalling! He only started giving us anything in that last 20 mins & how they didn't get more yellows is a crime to football.

Can we quit with the 5 year old mistakes!! Olson now... goodness me!

Jesus wept Luiz! What a waste of a corner

Someone mentioned earlier about Wolves owners being worth around 50 billion? Well for the record a big Wolves fan I know is currently very depressed as he reckons they have gone from being one of the richest clubs in the Prem to now one of the poorest due to their owners losing around 41 billion over the last year or two!!

Watched the game and to be quite honest we totally lacked ideas from what i saw. They defended well but we were pretty awful in the final third.

No beat them 2-1 I think

Some lovely stories emerging from the tour in Australia. Anyone got any info on how many Villa fans were in the 40,000 crowd? Just out of curiosity. It looked quite a lot? Any nice stories or pics / vids? It is amazing to see the global reach the club has when it pulls the plugs out.

Odd game, First half I thought we started very slowly but grew into it on about 15 minutes when we settled a bit and played some decent stuff occasionally. Olson played well I thought in the main, Mings was just Mings with some good but some shakey play. I thought a few looked off the pace but that's to be expected. Watkins, Cash, Digne & Ramsey were not really "at it" I felt. Another typical poor miss from Watkins when he should have buried it in one of the corners, instead a poor shot high in the centre of goal which gave there keeper a chance to save he should not have had. Shocking penno from Coutinho too who I also thought looked off the pace a little despite a few nice touches. We were though the better team i felt in that half and should have gone in ahead. Second half was all about that numpty Bamford. Clearly Leeds knew they had been second best in the 1st half and they came out like demented idiots determined to get right in our faces and get physical "in a friendly". That has to be on their manager for me and Bamford was the ring leader. Up to all his usual cheating antics. Over reacting to challenges, diving and feigning injury etc and then reacting as though he'd been shot at the slightest contact half of which he instigated himself. His team mates all then followed his lead culminating in their 16 year old youngster going in badly on Buendia which nearly caused him injury. This all went on for a while until The Villa lads had little option but to give a bit of like for like and Mcginn awkwardly caught the lad Gray on his ankle and he was stretchered off. It was a poor challenge but more by the weird nature of how he went in than having anything malicious about it. Of course the Leeds media will see it differently and try to drum it up as us being dirty. For the record It was Leeds going in dirty in that second half and Villa simply had to stand up to it. Sadly the young lad was the one who came off worse. So a horrid, scrappy & poor quality second half all in all I felt. We were reasonably solid I felt but could on another day have conceded one or two. Clearly a work in progress but the new guys look decent. I thought Sanson had some better play in that second half but still some very "meh" play too. Positives, Defensively quite strong Olson, Kamara, Carlos, Feeney, Ings Concerns Poor finishing again and clearly things are not clicking yet but of course it's only pre-season so. Watkins, Mings look exactly the same as last seasons versions.

It's awkward, clearly driven by his agent "Giving it the big one" and trying to get as much ££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££££'s as he can for himse.....doh! I mean his client. Clearly Chuk is a good prospect and such but it sounds as though they are basically crossing the line with demands for him. As such the club has zero option but to not be bullied for obvious reasons. I understand players & agents trying to get the best deal but there are other ways to move forward, for example why not put in a clause whereby he signs but his contract moves up with his experience or something? I dunno I am not up with footy contract negotiations but to just go on as though to run down the contract, when he can leave for effectively nothing at the end, for me is disrespectful to the club which has helped him get to where he is. The least you do then in my opinion is to do right by the club by not allowing that to happen at least.

Mr Gray has a history of being a rude and arrogant so & so. I too will never forget the day he was our assistant manager and we played at Aggborough (Kidderminster Harriers ground) in a pre season "Friendly". Before the game had even started during the warm up he came out and was just stood doing nothing really. A young fan aged about 7 or 8 politely asked him to sign his programme & he just bluntly told him to "FO". the kid was distraught. No doubt ruined his day. I was ashamed to be honest as a Villa fan. It wasn't as though he was being constantly harrased by loads of people it was just one kid! Shame on the guy. What an a-hole.

On this doors thing.... I do remember an ex who had this weird obsession with blocking every doorway in the house, also the stairs. Always but always left stuff cluttering the stairs despite me pointing out it was actually dangerous on a countless number of occasions. The door thing was just weird though. Always stuff shoved behind every one in the house so as you couldn't open them fully. Used to do my head in. Must be something psychological in it somewhere?!

Just speaking with the missus & we are talking about a woman at her work in her 50's who earns circa £80k per year and represents the large company she works for to the general public. She is also head of her department & yet she rocks up in filthy dirty white Matalan trainers every day! Wrong in my view. Buy some new ones for goodness sake! Or at the very least clean them on occasion! The customer service around by me is nothing short of a disgrace generally. Rude obnoxious people. I even went into McDonalds the other day. Ordered some food and a McFlurry and they served the McFlurry 1st into a boiling hot car! 6 minutes later I was still waiting for them to cook a cheeseburger and the McFlurry had melted to nothing. I pointed this out to the guy in the drive through kiosk and he just, in a really cocky & rude manner, said "Oh well it's been done now so!...." That's about the norm in Burton on Trent

No that's their carpark on matchays