tom_avfc

“Irritating” is definitely the very least. Frightening is what I’d call it. I genuinely despair at what is happening in this country now. We’re becoming more insular as a country and the morons feel empowered to act on their “patriotic” feelings because those at the top actually share a lot of their views. We genuinely feel like a very racist country right now certainly more so than at any time in my 30 years. Sorry, it’s not racism of course. The statue protectors need Nazi salutes to ward off any potential statue vandals. They need somewhere to piss so why not do it on the very statues they’re there to protect? The police had batons - this is threatening to the poor statues so they must be beaten. Honestly how is anybody’s response to what’s happening today to blame it on a few statues being vandalised?

Yeah sorry that’s me reading between the lines a bit although the implication of some of what’s been written here isn’t far from that. When someone suggests that there’ll be 20 EDL types there we get the almost gleeful “oh there’ll be more than that” type posts never mind the 35k (including black lads) comment as if the fact that there being black people involved lends the whole EDL movement some credence as opposed to the racist rubbish that it is. When we get reports that Tommy Robinson is mobilising the troops to fight whatever their latest grievance is the response should be to condemn him and his attempts to fan the flames of the current unrest . Some on here seem to be more keen to point fingers at those taking down statues as if they deserve what is coming to them for daring to speak out about years of systemic suffering and sadly more prevalently now outright abuse.

The last few pages of this thread are up there with the strangest I’ve seen on Villatalk. There’s people seemingly advocating a load of Tommy Robinson EDL types turning up to cause trouble at protests under the pretence of protecting statues. Meanwhile those who don’t see the need for this force of vigilante statue protectors are now part of the “Leftwaffe”. If 2020 was a film script it’d be binned for being too farfetched. I genuinely dread to think what’s going to happen next this year.

Yeah that was the worry for me. There’s enough games coming out not to bother I think and with the ps5 coming this year I’ll probably just wait for that.

Wasn't sure where to put this or if there's already a thread elsewhere but just wondering if anybody has the PSVR and any opinions on whether it's worth getting. Thinking of giving it a go but a little concerned it may be an expensive novelty which doesn't get much use. Anybody have any experience of PSVR and does anybody know if the games that use it are any good? Also slightly concerned that a new PSVR may be coming out for PS5 so I guess there's a worry as to how much shelf-life it has too.

Which is fine but it doesn't give it a degree of historical relevance that the pyramids have or the Colosseum has as were being compared against. I just don't see that there's any historical reason to keep the statue there or maybe its more that the historical relevance of it doesn't hold up to the offence that it rightly causes a large number of people. As it stood it was a statue commemorating a man who was heavily involved in the slave trade which most people (me included) would walk past without batting an eyelid. Its only with the protest that the majority of people have had this brought to their attention. An attempt to call pulling down this statue a slippery slope to burning historical books or pulling down major historical monuments is somewhat disingenuous. I guess the point that I was trying to make was that a statue to a person serves no purpose other than to commemorate that person (unless as you suggested it is in a museum with an accompanying plaque and/or information on the person). I just don't see how anybody can argue that that statue should be there in 2020.

Are you actually suggesting that there's some sort of historical relevance to a statue of Edward Colston being in Bristol? What purpose does it serve to have a statue of him there? Is there anything we can learn from a statue of him there? I mean I kind of get the point as to where it stops but surely this is pushing it a bit. As a side note I don't really think we should be pulling down any statues but in this case I don't think the statue should have been there in the first place and given that they have seemingly been petitioned to remove it for a number of years with no effect I can understand the reasons for doing so.

This is one of the worst things about relegation to me. How can anyone look forward to a game which brings out the worst in fans of both sides? I'd much rather never play them again. The scenes of thousands of fans cheering on someone running onto the pitch and punching a player are something I'd rather not have to watch again.

Yeah I think I'd take this view too. I can understand the debates around the vandalism of the Churchill statue and the comments regarding times being different then. It doesn't mean that Churchill wasn't a racist but a statue to commemorate a wartime leader is at least understandable. The statue in Bristol on the other hand is something which just shouldn't have been there in the first place and certainly should have been removed a long time before now. I just don't understand why anybody would want to commemorate a man who transported 80,000 slaves with roughly a quarter of those dying during this transportation. It's ludicrous that there was a statue there at any time in my opinion and I can see why it being there now would be a source of anger for anybody. I'd also add that I was completely unaware of the fact that there was a statue to Edward Colston in Bristol and therefore the act of tearing down the statue has educated me (and I'd imagine many others) on this and achieved the aim that I'd imagine it set out to.

I tried to put it down to not paying as much attention in the past but everything about the people in charge at the moment seems so much worse than anything I’ve seen previously. And your last sentence rings so true too. There’s no way to defend some of the actions at the moment so it just reverts to completely irrelevant and/or unsubstantiated comments in defence of them. It worries me more where this will lead. How bad does it have to get before the majority of people turn against the current government.

Is it just me or is this government actually quite scary in the way it is operating? They seem to be above any kind of accountability and desperate to shut down any questioning without answering. Im only 30 but I can’t remember anything quite like this. I also find it a bit worrying that there seems to be a large number of people who would seemingly blindly defend the indefensible. If there was an election tomorrow I still think they’d win. I’m starting to think this isn’t the country for me and that’s not anything I’d ever have said. I know people will say this will pass but there’s still widespread support for the current government. We’re a mini USA where the very people disadvantaged by the government are going to keep getting the same government back in.

Agreed. It’s a potential title decider and it feels like a Saturday afternoon at the sty. Add in the fact that a full stadium of Dortmund fans would make this a completely different game of football and all in all it seems a bit meaningless.

Do we actually know that no one is refusing to train for us? From what I've seen Villa have put out pictures of about half a dozen players who we can be sure are training. Given the rumours from a couple of weeks ago, it's interesting that John McGinn hasn't featured in any of the pictures shown. Obviously I can't say that anybody is refusing to train but I'm equally not sure that you can state that no one is refusing to train with any certainty given the circumstances. Apologies if I've missed something where it's been confirmed that everyone is back and happy to train.

So you're holding the fact that Deeney doesn't want to unnecessarily put his and his young child's health at risk against him. He only seems to be asking that proper testing and protocols are put in place before he returns to play a sport (i.e. not save people's lives as health workers are doing). The further this "Project Restart" seems to go the more out of touch with reality football seems to be to me. Spending ridiculous amounts of money to allow players to return to finish a season in completely different circumstances to how the season started purely for the money is quickly turning me against football as a whole to be honest. The ridiculous pre-season friendly vibe to the Bundesliga games at the weekend shows what a farce the end to the season will be. I'd genuinely rather see us relegated on a PPG basis as it seems fairer than the contrived close to the season that this is going to be. Let's be honest we were well on our way down before this all happened.

I have full respect for him. The reasons given are well thought out and I can't see how anybody can disagree with his decision not to train at the present time. Must be a difficult decision as a key player for Watford too. It does make more of a mockery out of the whole idea of football returning. How many other players are there going to be who choose not to come back?

I wasn't alive in 1989 but I've seen footage and I'd argue that the Aguero game was more dramatic than the 1989 title win. The City game was drifiing towards a win for QPR with Man City fans leaving as the game reached stoppage time. I'm not sure anybody could have envisaged a two goal swing within stoppage time to rescue the title. In fact that game had just about everything - City took the lead at which point it looked a formality. Then a spirited and unlikely QPR comeback to lead. And the stoppage time at the end of the game just topped up one of the most dramatic and ridiculous football games anybody will ever see.

He's managed to get 7 goals and 6 assists playing in a pretty poor team. He's contributing a goal or an assist every other game in the Premier League. He'd have a decent chance of getting into a team of the season. He'd look better in a better team (any player would) but as for wanting him to move the ball quicker etc. I just think it would detract from his game. Obviously with better players around him he'd pass the ball more and he'd also have much more space as teams wouldn't be able to double/triple mark him out of the game but I'd like to think he'd still be allowed to play his natural game. Additionally for me I just like watching the way he plays football. He's a one of a kind player who will slow the game down because that's the way he plays football. While he's contributing in the manner he is the last thing I'd be asking him to do is completely change his game. I genuinely don't think I've seen a player like him before - in my lifetime he seems to have a pretty unique skill set and way of playing the game. That's not me saying he's the best player in the world he's just different from anything else. I wouldn't know who to compare him to if I'm being honest.

But it’s not his game to pass and move. He’s the player he is because he has the ability to beat people and to draw fouls. Why does every player have to move the ball quickly and pass and move? I could sort of understand the argument when he was younger and not getting the goals and assists that he is now. He’s been ridiculously effective for 2-3 seasons playing in exactly the way he does. Yes, if he goes to a better team he’ll more than likely pass the ball a bit more but I’d be completely against him becoming a “pass and move” player for any club let alone for us when the chances of him getting the ball back from a lot of the players he’d be passing to would be pretty slim.

I was also going to post this. How many fines have the police issued during this lockdown but because people are clapping its fine? Seems like a great way to show support for those risking their lives.

I know its an unpopular opinion but I kind of agree with this. I find it a bit odd that people have been told to go out and clap there hands at their front door for a couple of minutes every week and everybody does it. Its particularly galling when you see politicians, who have run down the NHS to the point where nurses are literally being sent in with inadequate equipment and dying, stood outside clapping. Given that a number of people I know who are not Conservative leaning at all have made comments like "the government is doing as good a job as they can" and "people should stop criticising the government" the comment about the simple psychology game seems particularly apt. On a similar point whilst its great that Captain Tom Moore has raised £17m for the NHS, it is also worth pointing out that the NHS is not actually a charity and should really be funded properly by the government. That £17m is a drop in the ocean to the NHS but to other charities it would mean a hell of a lot. Maybe the lockdown is finally getting to me as I seem to have woken up in a particularly bad mood!

I just think that using points per game is a sure-fire way to ensure that legal proceedings are opened by every club that is relegated. The points per game are based on a different set of teams played against by each team in the league. It's inherently an unfair way to decide a league system. The payoff that would need to be awarded to any relegated team above and beyond the parachute payments would be ridiculous. Even in Scotland there must be teams with easier run ins on paper than others which would immediately dispute any finishing position based on points per game. In reality I think there needs to be one of two options. Either write the season off completely or find a way to finish the season at whatever time that happens to be.

Given that it was done for Acorns with the aim of replacing some of the money which Acorns would have got for the charity day at the actual game I’d call it admirable that Villa pushed it as hard as they could rather than weird. At a time when many charities are in serious risk with income slashed I’d say that this was a very welcome and worthwhile thing to do.

Yeah I have this too. The dog constantly barking on the rare occasion that the shit music isn't blasting out is quite annoying too!

Given that this would probably mean Spurs being in the Champions League next season its hard to see this as completely impartial! Having said that I completely agree that scrapping the season seems to be the logical conclusion to all of this (this may also not be completely impartial!)

I don't think we can blame Ross McCormack for Jack going out drink driving in the middle of a quarantine (if true). I hate to say it as he's the best player at our club but it's hardly like he doesn't have form for this sort of thing (albeit not for a while) and I'm sure if McCormack wasn't in the area there'd be plenty of parties for him to choose to attend if that's what he wants to do.