Stephen_Evans

A rather quirky question for anyone old enough to remember: On which side was the home dressing room in the old Trinity Road Stand? I always thought it was pitchside of the corridor, i.e. its windows looked out over the pitch in the Trinity Road/North Stand corner. I thought that was what I remembed from a tour in 1999, but perhaps the memory plays tricks. But I am reading "Encounters of the Third Kind" which includes photographs taken inside the home dressing room after the 1970 League Cup semi-final against Manchester United. The windows are too large to have been the pitchside ones and match windows on the exterior of the old Trinity. So that would put the home dressing room on the opposite side of the corridor. I suppose the dressing rooms could have been switched over at some point.

I was amused early in the game when she said Taylor has a wonderful delivery into the box. Proof positive this commentator knew nothing about him!

I have a feeling the Chief executive changed in the meantime.

The unwillingness to redevelop the North Stand makes me sad too. Coupled with that, is the fact that my own little “dream” of a decent architect pulling off a redesign of the exterior of the trinity road stand (without affecting the structure or interior) will also never happen. Purslow recently described Villa Park as a “cathedral” but half of it wouldn’t look out of place on an industrial estate. Why oh why did it have to be Ellis and the hostile local council as then constituted that were in charge of Villa Park’s transition between 1990 and 2001?!

I popped into the shop yesterday before taking an exam in the 82 lounge - an unusual venue for a Trusts and Estates Accounting exam! Anyway, if you don't want to buy clothes, there is so little on offer it's unreal.

Looking at the merchandising offering in general, things are just not like they used to be. I remember the excitement as a kid of looking though the merchandise catalogue. I always loved seeing the different framed prints you could buy. These days, you cannot even buy a binder for the programme!

I wonder if construction might work a bit like the new main stand at Liverpool. They built behind it and kept the old stand in use for as long as possible and then finished the job in the close season.

I’m afraid that horse bolted under Doug Ellis to a significant extent.

A thing to fix - some hot water in the gents in P4 would be great!

That would have been an awesome partnership if a certain manager hadn’t played Mellberg at right back for most of the two seasons where Mellberg and Laursen weren’t prevented from playing together because of the latter’s injuries.

Is there’s anything on the exterior of the Trinity?

Spurs are cheating by gaining the extra few thousand with the wrapped round corners. The Holte is still the greatest!

Seeing these stats reminds me that it was somewhat miraculous that Villa stayed up with only 7 wins in 2011/12 under McLeish, although there a lot of draws!

Elmo I can understand and accept. But Taylor is a head scratcher. Jota is unlucky to miss out too.

I think the other problem with extending the North Stand (as opposed to knocking it down) is that structurally the top deck is literally hanging from the goal post style pillars. Taking off the roof effectively means the end of it anyway!

“Renovations” It’s a bit of (welcome) decorating!

Just wait until we are “handed a transfer twist”!

On the minor spruce up side, has anything happened with the Trinity?

The recent planning application in relation to the demolition of the Academy Building and Villa Village has now been approved subject to conditions (submission of a demolition method statement and details of preventing mud on the highway).

The ultimate blessing in disguise!

Why are they wearing the training kit?

Exactly. NRC made Gabby look like Messi in terms of ball control!

Yes but we might want to win the cup games!

So did any demolition work take place at Villa Village / the Academy Building this week, as the planning application had indicated?

I’ve been looking for footage on YouTube of our early years in the Intertoto Cup (2000/01, 2001/02 and 2002/03). I’ve only found the Marila Pribram (aka Dukla Prague) game at the Hawthorns in 2000 and the Lille away game in 2002. i’d love to see some others, particularly the 4-1 win against Basel in 2001 when Ginola scored. Does anyone know where any of these games might be available to watch or buy?