Raver50032

Is this just fantasy? Don't Stop Me Now, we're having such a good time. Whilst it may be true that Too Much Love Can Kill You, especially given how badly we have been run in the last decade or so, we're in with a decent shout now. It's A Kind Of Magic that Mr Smith has begun to unfurl across the Villa landscape, and we put a large myth to bed over the course of the game... able to win without Jack and Tyrone. When it looked like he would be back Under Pressure... He had One Vision... and that was still to win. I remember back in the era of Big Ron (the team that finished 2nd and won the league cup the following season) and the Brian Little 'Squaddies' era where team spirit seemed parallel with what we are seeing now... and These Are The Days Of Our Lives... So again, another win... Another One Bites The Dust... and The Show Must Go On. Lee Johnson meanwhile showing once more that he needs Somebody To Love. Aston Villa, the Love Of My Life. Bring on those Fat Bottomed Girls from Bolton.

It'll be QPR if anyone... the lure of the London market. It also has the smallest ground of the three clubs mentioned... Spending new money to create a new big club with new history. Villa and Forest have already been there and done it. A but like why Chelsea fell on their feet... and then City fell on their feet... twice.

Ooooh, a closet Billy Ocean fan eh? Everything's So Different under Smith isn't it? With Smith in charge, there is an air of positivity and our Emotions In Motion feel so Bitter Sweet. For sure, There'll Be Sad Songs along the way... as we venture along The Long And Winding Road towards renewed success. Suddenly, we've won 7 on the spin... It's magical at the moment... and hopefully the Holte End will be all Calypso Crazy come full time on Saturday.

The two yellows resulting in a red card (rightly or wrongly) has put Tyrone in the naughty corner for a couple of hours... So at the moment, he's Tyrone Minge. But he'll be back soon with renewed vigour and fresh faced. Mings The Merciless will strike back with aplomb I am sure.

Not sure this one is now a six pointer. It's going to be tough to recover from last night's heroics in the second half in time for full freshness on Saturday. My assumption is that Mings will be suspended for this one and leaves us with another selection headache back there, just when things had started to look nice and settled. Do we know how long Hause is out for, could he be back for this? As creditable as Jedinak was last night, could he last 90 minutes against a currently rampant Bristol City? All of a sudden, this feels like a game 'not to lose' rather than go balls in for a win and end up with a defeat. But what do I know? We're riding a wave at the moment and anything is possible I guess. That's the wonder... the wonder of football. Looks like it's going to be a crowded house on Saturday down at Villa Park... Don't Dream It's Over... It's Only Natural to be nervous... I am too. Let's hope there is some Saturday Sun shining on the Villa boys... and take the Weather With You.

All the hallmarks of a Coldplay song... Last night, second half, was a Sky Full Of Stars... As we reach the end of our Parachutes payments, we have to hope we can get back to the Paradise of the Premier League. It seems that Dean Smith sent a Message to the team at half time to dust themselves down and generate a performance that could translate to a Hymn For The Weekend. John McGinn, a performance correlating to the Speed Of Sound. The sending off of Mings for two Yellows will undoubtedly make Saturday an even bigger challenge. The Hardest Part will be recovery from last night's heroics. In Dean I trust... and in Villa, a renewed faith I have... Up the Villa... A few posts back, the McGinn heat map showed global coverage, with one poster lamenting the possibility of him not being able to swim... Well, this is McGinn, super John McGinn... I'm sure he wouldn't be Swallowed By The Sea... Enjoy this result VillaTalk... rejoice at the magnificent 7. Feel free to strut around your offices, your shop floors... your supermarkets... Strut... I'm enjoying this run.

Absolutely this... If ever there was a team that could conspire to disappoint at the least expected moment, it is Aston Villa and this fixture. We have to be wary as a Club (the team and the fans) that this is a tricky fixture, away from home against a team fighting for their Championship lives. We can't go there dancing around all BillyBigBollox (the team and the fans) as our fine form over the last 6 games can all be undone in one moment of unexpected football. We have to treat Rotherham with respect - they are at home and can damage us. We can't go there and expect a cake walk. If we do, we could end up like that portly Wolves fan that BT Sport focussed on wearing that topical bandana, the old gold shirt and even a pair of what looked like keeper's gloves. Nothing looks worse than an image of 'full kit rocket polisher' when your team is falling apart. Come on Villa... do us proud... But underestimate them at your peril...

I always wait until the mad rush has finished, generally one of the last half a dozen off a plane... Always nice to thank the Stewardesses and if the door is open, thank the Pilots too... It's only polite after all.

I'd love it if we beat them... Just love it.

A weekend to feel proud to be a Villa fan. It all started on Friday night... at the Poorthorns. Local Derby... WBA versus Birming-HAM. Empty seats. WTAF? A local derby. Albion at home... 4th in the league... decent season... against local rivals. Tramps. Then we move on to Saturday... Other than a handful of seats, and a half full Blackburn allocation, we have 39.5k turn up... against mid-table Blackburn. Proper club. Proper atmosphere... a sense of something special just around the corner, whether this season or next. That opening 20 minutes was fantastic... orgasmic. Triangles of quick passing... dribbles... an early goal to settle the nerves. Crikey, we could have been 3 up at half time, easily. Not because the Blockburn Ravers were poor, but we were mint. Super John McGinn has been a revelation... tireless runner without the headless chicken act. Whelan - a man recently possessed by alien intelligence?? Where have these performances been hiding over the last season or so? He's been like a new signing himself in the last month. And what of Mings... Majestical Mings. My MOTM. Second half was a bit of a stagger, though I always got the impression that we could go full basketball and go end to end to keep the score in our favour. Fair play to Blackburn, they didn't cave in and gave us a very stern test in the final twenty minutes. I felt a little for Green. I am desperate to see him do well... On a pitch of heroes against Blackburn, I think he had the look of a 'toiler' the most. Hope he can improve - one of our own. Well done to Mr Smith... and the ref didn't have a stinker either. I enjoyed that... in the sunshine... So, later on Saturday... Middlesborough (having a decent season again under Tony Pugilist) against high fliers Naaaaaaarch. Curiously wearing their away kit? Anyway... empty seats. Borough showing that they themselves are a bit of a nothing club? Or is it the Pulis effect? If you can't fill your stadium on a Saturday afternoon against high flying oppo, when can you? Yeah... feels good to be a Villa fan right now.

And somebody needs to have a word with Chelsea... and Manchester United... and Liverpool... and Arsenal... and Tottingham... and Rangers... and etc etc...

Back in the mid-80s, that did cause a fair amount of merriment in the playground.

So pleased with the result, and especially SJM, that I decided to break into a special packet of expensive biscuits normally reserved for guests. Oooh-rahhh... semper-fi and all that jazz...

Too many people called Dave in this thread... Regards, David from Rugby.

I'd chip thirty notes in for that. Grealish MotM for his goal, what it means to him, and especially for his conduct under such provocative circumstances. I cannot say for certain whether I could have done that. The subs seemed to make a big impact for us in terms of our approach and paid big rewards in the end. I have Smith 'good,' and I thought the ref was pretty average. Could have given them a penalty, and maybe could have done something nuclear with that challenge on Grealish so early. All told, a good weekend... a payday Friday... England win the rah-rah... Villa win under tricky circumstances and a nice cheeky polish of the rocket to finish. For once, feels great to be me.

I should add... I will probably look to wear a Villa top to these two airshows, so if any other Villa nutters are there with their Villa merch on them, I will probably say hi.

Very busy itinerary this year that will put paid to much of my savings, but hey-ho... you only live once... and I'm 44 now. I'm very lucky I can do this, I know that and this isn't a boasting thread... June 2019 - Normandy, to commemorate 75th anniversary of D-Day... This is an aviation themed tour (about a week) to tie in with 'Dakotas Over Normandy,' where it is planned for between 35 and 50 DC-3 Dakotas from around the world will be performing mass flypasts and parachute drops over the Normandy beach areas. If you do not know what a DC-3 Dakota is, it's a two engine 1940s era transport aircraft, and some still perform revenue earning service around the world. My trip involves me also having a flight on one of the DC-3s over the beaches. Most poignant. July - 7 day staycation based in Witney (Oxon or Gloucs?) - anyway, that's my base for the Royal International Air Tattoo... six days on the base. Last year, I took over 17,000 pictures there... I'm a sad old word removed. August - Cruising with my daughter to the fjords of Norwegian Norway, courtesy of P&O. September - my first long haul flight and an adventure to the west coast of USA. 11 hours there and 10 hours back! Heathrow to Los Angeles. Reason for the trip is aviation related, with two airshows (Lemoore and Miramar) and photography at several US Air Force and Naval air stations in the San Diego and LA area... Highlight of the trip should be two performances by the USN Blue Angels display team. October - astrophotography and night landscape workshop in Slovenia. Yes, I take photos of stars, as well as aircraft. January 2020 - astrophotography, night landscapes and northern lights around Lofoten (North Norway). Busy times... and lots of photos.

Edited, just for you... 2021 is probably a sensible guess. Of course, the 'millennial instant gratification' crowd will shout loudest and be disappointed. (And no... I am not for one instant suggesting that you are a millennial... I've kind of worked that out for myself).

Take care - I hope the team do the business for you.

2021 is probably a sensible guess.

Generally agree with the questions you ask. The 'fact' in bold simply cannot be proven as fact. It's like saying that Britain is leaving the EU on March 29th... fact. When actually, Maybot could still pull the plug on it if we head into no deal being likely. But that, is for another thread.

Brian Little and Ian Taylor most probably... though Little probably wasn't a Holte Ender considering he's from the north east. But he was here from a very young age and seems to have Villa most closely at his heart. For all the 'what aboutism' of others you list, the fact remains, Smith has been here less than five months and people are already wetting their nappies. It isn't perfect right now, far from it. I'm not happy... and I don't know what the answer is. Pretty sure it isn't throwing Smith under a bus in less than 5 months though. We can't run a football club like that. Not with any aspiration of sustainment and ambition. There's already been mention elsewhere of 'cabbages.' Come on, VT is better than this surely? It's not often we have somebody that has the club so dearly at his heart managing us. Smith might make it, he might not. Not aimed at you, but I'm done with the discussion in this thread as it's pretty clear it is going right down the same road as the Bruce thread... already. Bonkers. On the subject of Joe Lolley, I have seen loose paper talk that we will be in for him in the summer. That's nice... but if MON rates him, I can't see Lolley coming here unless he's out of contract or he kicks up a stink - and, stink kickers aren't what we want here.

Me again, sorry... You state that 3/4 of our players are off in the summer for various reasons (debatable as to which ones are trying, and which aren't). The 'rest' are 'shite.' You don't trust Smith with a rebuild. Just out of interest, why is that? If 3/4 of the players are off (some out of contract, some not trying because they're off and don't care?) and the others are 'shite,' what exactly were you expecting Smith to do? Just asking as you've nailed your colours to the mast and seem to have lost all faith in Smith very quickly indeed. There was never a magic wand to wave given the summer turmoil and state that the previous incumbent left the team and the squad. I'll admit that there is precious little about the last couple of months to be really excited about and results haven't been what I was hoping for considering how well we dealt with the 'difficult' run of fixtures before Christmas. But I can't get my head round why there are people who can be 'Smith out' so quickly when the journey has barely even begun. For people criticising him for never having won anything, Bruce (FOUR - 4 promotions)... Warnock... Allardyce and Pardew all had won nothing as managers before winning their first managerial honour. Chicken and egg again. As Director Orson Krennic once said... 'you have to start somewhere...' Given how this thread is degenerating, it won't be long before the personal insults start on Smith. That itself will be shameful given that in actuality, he is one of us. It doesn't make him a charity case, or beyond criticism... But you might just as well shit on the Holte End steps.

Set up not to lose. Simples.

A deflating night really from start to finish. The stats confirm a bit of a harrowing horror show of incompetence and disbelief in the latest instalment of the 'Brentford Bummings.' For me, that's it for the season now - pooooooof... Like most of the players, very little interest in the remaining fixtures now. Time for Smith to experiment with systems and young players he might want to consider (or be forced to consider for FFP reasons) playing next season. Play 'try not to lose' football on Saturday and away at the Sty, and nothing else really matters now other than looking ahead to future challenges. Grealish isn't going to resolve this... and I think the summer cannot come soon enough now for Smith. He really starts to earn his money for me from the final whistle at Carrow Road.