Stephen_Evans

General, I expect the best time to analyse the season properly will be when it's all over and everything has calmed down. But I do hope that behind the scenes at the club, our long unbeaten run in the middle of season will be put its proper perspective, that is, seen in the light of the dreadful run which followed it. Even when we were winning, game after game the opposition saw more of the ball than us, we were sloppy in possession, we were often camped in our own half and we enjoyed massive slices of luck. Everton, West Ham, Hull, West Brom, Sunderland, Portsmouth, on another day wouldn't just have beaten us, they would have beaten us soundly. I remember after Slavia Prague hearing MON say how good we had been. Whilst we had worked hard, they had absolutely battered us without reward. I hoped that away from the cameras he would get real about some of our "splendid", "terrific", "exhilarating" single goal, nail-bitingly fortunate wins, but the latter third of the season has shown that he has not. Every fan thinks he or she knows the answers, but seriously, so many fair-minded people are questioning why it is that we lack balance at the back, are consistently over-run in midfield, have wingers who can't beat the first man or who put the SAME corner/free-kick into the box everytime. Half the team can't pass the ball, and the other half can't control the ball so passing is never an issue for them. Those who have suggested on this forum that the squad is split between those who can't do wrong (even when they're badly out of form) and those can't do right may be onto something. The tactics, the shape of the team, the SUBSTITUTIONS and the reshuffles arising from them.....well, put it this way, I'm now at the stage where anger doesn't do it for me anymore. I'm choosing to laugh. I'm not a fan who thinks we have to choose between being a MON "believer" or a committed critic. Like all managers, he has his good and bad points. But it will take a lot to convince me that he can ever take us beyond 5th. I want him to succeed, I want him to ram these words down my throat. So in that sense I am a "believer". But I cannot see it. For the sake of balance, let me say that I love the way the club is run, I like MON as a man, and in many respects as a manager, very much, and I am thankful for Randy every time I stroll past the Holte mosaics and stained glass windows, the new modern statement of Aston Villa's enduring greatness.

Hi General I've deliberately posted this a couple of days after the game, rather than in its immediate aftermath. I appreciate that you will probably not wish to comment on what I am about to write. I also appreciate that players are not your concern. However, the club's reputation is your concern and perhaps the two overlap in this instance. When Ashley Young throws himself to the ground in the penalty area, in my opinion he damages the club's reputation and hinders his own cause with referees. Please, tell the young man to stop it and to concentrate on taking the first opportunity he gets to cross the ball rather than trying to beat the full back 6 times before trying to claim a penalty. Many thanks.

General, I am absolutely thrilled by how beautiful the stained glass windows and mosaics look, and so proud to see a photo of them on the back of the Daily Mail on Saturday. With the Holte pub restored as well, that end of Villa Park has never looked more magnificent. Thank you and congratulations yet again to Randy, yourself and the Board.

Glad you were able to confirm that the HOK report is in, General. I am excited to know what Randy makes of it and what his plans are. I think most of us realise we will need to be very patient and that he will want to go for the best long-term strategy rather than a quick fix. The Holte pub, the mosaics, the stained glass windows, the Trinity renovation....these all serve to convince me that whatever he does will be class and something we can be proud of. You're probably aware that many of us will be eager to know in due course what plans, if any, Randy has for the external part of the Trinity. Randy has righted many wrongs and I know that he will have been inspired by the greatness of what Frederick Rinder built in the 1920s - the old Trinity Road Stand. If ever a building defined a football club, the old Trinity was it.

Hi General, Just finished my dinner. Humble pie never tasted so good (see my last post). Good on you for staying positive when some of us were down!

Hi General First up, I know you are not responsible for anything to do with team performances and that you are just a fan like us. So speaking to you as a fan, it concerns me greatly that MON's post-match analysis seems to miss the real reason why games often go against us or are more difficult than they should be. The reason is that for a side with top-4 aspirations we are simply shocking at passing the ball and keeping hold of it. Check out the stats: when it comes to possession and passes completed we are absolutely miles and miles behind the top 4 and I cannot see that changing. Considering the transfer fee paid for one particular defender I cannot believe how bad he is at finding a player wearing the same colours. I think I'd be taking him back to the Glasgow Rangers shop and asking for my money back! On another point, to help fans understand things a little better, could MON be encouraged (!) to enlighten us on the full-back shuffle in the later stages of games? It is totally up to him what he does of course, but most of us in the stands are absolutely baffled, and might be more understanding if we knew what the point of it is. Thanks for sharing the good and bad moments with us!

My question will make me sound obsessive about small details, but anyway! I noticed on Saturday that a section of steel panelling above the players' and officials' entrance has been replaced by glass (the section immediately beneath the brickwork). I am aware that you are reluctant to specify what the Board's plans are at this stage, but are you able to say whether the rest of the steel panels on the outside of the Trinity Road Stand will be similarly replaced. Or failing that, can you say whether aesthetic improvements to the outside of the stand are at least on your long-term radar? And with my tongue firmly in my cheek, if ever you fancy taking a walk with me around Villa Park, I'm sure I could make plenty of suggestions and observations! But then I'm sure that's what HOC are for!

Hello General, I was just looking at the photos of the Trinity Road Development on the website. I was under the impression that the work was all internal, but I noticed the scaffolding. What is the scaffolding for? Will there be some external work done as well, and if so, what kind? Thank you

General, My tongue is slightly in my cheek here, but (i) Can someone mention to the rhythmically-challenged gentleman in the lower tier of the Doug Ellis Stand (near to the Holte) that he is totally out of time with his banging, is deafening everyone remotely near him, and also point out, that very few respond to his beat anyway! (ii) I lost count of the number of times the pitch-side announcer told us it was a "super Saturday", "this is Villa Park", "it's a Saturday afternoon", "it's 3 o'clock" etc etc. A whole season of him has got just a little irritating!

Hi General, I thought this would be a good place to flag up the following issue, as I have no idea who to go to with this. After the Blackburn game I noticed that there is an extra row of car parking spaces directly outside the Holte Suite. The result is that fans could hardly move as they made their way out of the ground, and it was a bit of a crush, with people moving in opposite directions between Trinity Road and Witton Lane. Before the extra row was put in, there was plenty of space in this area. I can't help but feel that safety is being compromised here for the sake of an extra row of spaces, though I'm sure that such a compromise would not be intended. Anyway, I suspect this is something you would at least want to review with the relevant officials. Many thanks.

General, I must emphasise that this is not a moan or a complaint, just a sober-minded comment. For all the talk of effort, commitment, "deserved a replay" etc, etc ad nauseum, I do hope that the Directors all realise just how far behind Manchester United we are, and just how much money it is going to take to catch them up - if we ever do.

General, More praise! I have noticed the extraordinary attention to detail shown by the Board in relation to the appearance of Villa Park and was delighted yesterday to see that the seats in the Director's Box and Corporate areas are now all sky blue, in keeping with the rest of the tier. Men like yourselves who get the small details right deserve to be trusted with the big decisions, and I look forward to seeing what else you have in store for Villa Park.

General, I was just reading your comment about the Holte End. I respect the fact that, as you have previously stated, it is not possible at this stage for you to give us very much detail on stadium improvements. However, your comment does leave me wondering on what lines the Board is thinking. So in broad terms, can I ask you to let us know what is being proposed? Are you talking in terms of demolishing the current stand and completely rebuilding it, or just altering the frontage? At the risk of being controversial, the frontage of the old Holte was not nearly as impressive as the current stand, and the current double staircase arrangement is an impressive feature when viewed from the motorway. It did occur to me that you might just have been talking about giving the Holte a new roof to improve the acoustics, which would obviously be very welcome. With regard to the Trinity, again in broad terms, can we assume that some kind of aesthetic enhancement is being considered, perhaps along the lines of the reinstatement of a red-brick facade? More generally, I fully anticipate that the Board's plans for Villa Park will be carefully considered and ambitious in scope. As in other areas, I would hope that there will be, if not consultation, then certainly a sense of openness with supporters about the details. This has not always been the case. For example, the old Board led many supporters to believe that the old Trinity Road Stand would be "refurbished" and "redeveloped", when what eventually happened was the bulldozers moved in. The fact that the stand was being demolished was only owned up to very late in the day, which shocked and disappointed many of us. I would hate some new project to be sprung on us to the detriment of what is already, by comparison with many other stadia, a beautiful ground in many respects. Thanks for reading, I realise this is a long one!

We all agree...Aston Villa are magic!

Hi General, As a few folks have raised the issue of the new North Stand, I wondered whether or not future development of Villa Park might include a new fascade for the Trinity Road Stand. I have never been able to understand how the old regime could describe the stand as "magnificent" when it is so lacking in style and looks so cheap. There is some token brickwork but many of the window "spaces" are boarded up with steel and the main walls are all metal as well. The cost of replacing the metalwork with brick would be high, I know that, but it would certainly give Villa Park a more classy feel and go some way to healing the hurt that many of us felt when Mr Ellis sanctioned the demolition of the old masterpiece which preceded it. In regard to possible alterations to the Trinity and the design of the new North Stand, can I also suggest your getting in touch with Simon Inglis, a huge Villa fan and one of the foremost experts on stadium design and aesthetics. If you haven't already read it, I'm sure you would enjoy his book "Villa Park: One Hundred Years".