Mic09

4 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

We've given him the keys to the kingdom, the ability to build a club in his own image, to his own liking, in his own way - the Director of Football is his, the medical staff, the coaches, we've bought him his boyhood club, he's supported, he's allowed the freedom to make his own choices and he has everything he wants to do the job. He will never get this sort of control again.

At the moment, I'd say 'for the foreseeable future'.

 

It's great that we did and I fully support it.

I just hope it never bites us if a Real Madrid was to take him and half of Villa employees along with him! 

14 minutes ago, VILLAMARV said:

As I was explaining to a Liverpool fan mate of mine recently, he's both the obvious weakest link in our current first team - and at the same time probably our best right back since the early eighties or before.

On 24/02/2024 at 12:24, sidcow said:

When does a fake video become a deep fake video? 

Probably at the same time when a 'chocolate cake' becomes a 'double chocolate cake'.

It's either a chocolate cake or it isn't, unless there are 2 different types of chocolate.

When I make chicken soup it's not a 'double chicken soup' just because I used chicken stock and have chicken pieces floating in it. But that's for the 'things that piss you off' topic. 

11 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

I think it depends on what you want. Money, titles, prestige - he’s got it all. 
 
Playing consistently and playing to his strengths? Well - I find either of those hard to believe. 

Ask any footballer if he wants to either;

1. Win every trophy club football has to offer, be one of the best paid players in the world, be an international star in the best football team in the world

2. Play to their strength.

He does play consistently when fit so that is a bit of a moot point. 

What are we even discussing? He made the right decision. 

And let's say he didn't, just to entertain the argument. When Man City called him 3 years ago, to offer him all the glory in the world, do you think anyone would have said ''crap, I might not move to Real Madrid in 2026, I might end up at Chelsea or Spurs or maybe even Inter Miami so I better stay at struggling Villa. I might even have to run down my £300k a week contract...'' ?  

56 minutes ago, WallisFrizz said:

 

Meanwhile, Chambers on standby:

On 24/02/2024 at 16:03, sne said:

Maguire is the most protected player in the league.

I believe the Premier League should protect the vice captain (Obviously Henderson is the 1st choice of captain) before the important Euros in the summer!

In Gareth we trust - these players should be protected.

53 minutes ago, LondonLax said:

It’s the substitutions bench which was young. They have a lot of key injuries and so had to fill out their bench with youth players who were then needed because the match went to extra time. 

I know no one wants to say anything congratulatory about Liverpool but it’s quite impressive beating Chelsea in the cup final with a makeshift squad. We couldn’t beat them in the FA Cup over two legs and with fewer injuries. 

I did state that they had kids as subs, but to build a monument of 'kids won the cup' is veeery far fetched, especially considering Chelsea had the younger team. 

Am I the only one who find Villa podcasts a little boring?

I know what's going on at the club and get various takes from people including this forum. Listening to someone tell me why Watkins is good for 10 mins is a bit ''yeah, I know that''.

The only one I listen to regularly is The Villa Podcast, some Irish humour makes it far more entertaining. 

1 minute ago, ferguson1 said:

Not my work unfortunately! Need to thank @Teale's 'tache but it is fantastic.

I know ha I thought I tagged the wrong quote! @Teale's 'tache please just stop what you are doing and follow the above steps. 

1 hour ago, ferguson1 said:

Honestly, as good as anything I’ve seen yet and unique

Please just send your CV to Aston Villa, ask them to reply with a blank check and write a number down.

This stuff is brilliant, both the shirt and the badge. 

@Teale's 'tache

1 hour ago, El Zen said:

Probably not a popular opinion here, but Legia’s TIFO yesterday was f***ing fantastic.

They can certainly put on a display.

What they pulled off (with moving all the ultras to the next stand) would not be possible in many clubs, but the owners know that ultras have a big say in what happens at the club. 

3 minutes ago, the_eristic said:

No, Lyon.

beat me to it. 

11 minutes ago, Wainy316 said:

Nice, might be too soon this week but hopefully back for the Luton game.

It's not Nice, the operation was in Lyon.

Just now, Mic09 said:

I guess everything is meaningless to a non fan of the team. Why green on Plzen? Who's the Ajax dude? Is that even an eagle on PAOK?

Anything you put on a badge that resembles history is only meaningful to the fans of that club. 

Hence, I wouldn't be against the principle of a very modernised insignia like Juventus have, with the lion of some sort being branded throughout the club. 

I just googled it's the Greek hero Ajax. I never knew that before. 

But it's got meaning to the fans, just like the gas lamp (no one outside of B6 knows about the gas lamp.) 

13 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

Stars all over the place on those badges, without knowing what they mean, I assume they're not all for winning the European Cup.

Makes me want the star on our bade even less. Its meaningless.

I guess everything is meaningless to a non fan of the team. Why green on Plzen? Who's the Ajax dude? Is that even an eagle on PAOK?

Anything you put on a badge that resembles history is only meaningful to the fans of that club. 

Hence, I wouldn't be against the principle of a very modernised insignia like Juventus have, with the lion of some sort being branded throughout the club. 

1 minute ago, Zatman said:

He spent about 3 seasons as back up at West Ham, Spurs and Burnley. I would say that's a drop

Sure it's a drop, but it's not a nose dive. 

Look at how many players drop leagues. He was also the England international.

It's a drop, but it's not a nose dive. When he sits down at the age of 80 I am sure he will consider his career a massive success. 

20 hours ago, bickster said:

The whole debate was pointless anyway, it was an opposition day motion and literally meant eff all.

The very definition of playing politics. The difference between Ceasefire, Humanitarian Ceasefire and Pause in the Fighting, with an added Hamas are bad (which was missing from the SNP motion I believe)

Literally a game of micro-semantics of no consequence to anyone

The thing I enjoy about British politics (as compared to other nations) is that there seems to be an element, most likely theatrical of course, of honour.

Very few other politicians in other countries would face calls being sacked from their job in a similar circumstance, or call quits because they shouted some stuff while drunk in a bar. 

Of course you also have things like COVID parties on the other end of the spectrum.

But, generally, you take a wrong step, and there is a good chance you might lose your job. And that's something that's rare in international politics. 

Some countries leaders run while "grabbing them by their pus**". 

In England I feel some of this stuff does not fly. 

But like I said, it might be mainly theatrical. 

It's an echo chamber of mates who went to ancient schools. 

If Watkins keeps this up for another season or 2 he will become our best PL era striker. 

It's funny how in a short space of time from Lescott, Gestede, Kalinic and co we now built a team with potential club legends all over the pitch. 

13 hours ago, KAZZAM said:

I can't think of many other players who's career has nose dived in such a way that his did. 

Not injury related or lack of effort. 

I'm not sure it's nose dived at all. He kept up a high level.

Look at Navas as a comparison. Madrid, PSG, Forest. 

I wouldn't say that's a nose dive either, but there are only so many players that can stay in "elite" brackets for their entire career, and it's arguable City weren't "elite" when he played there. 

He had a very good career, one that very few footballers have. 

54 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Either way he's doing it to make money, the thing is whether or not the Glazers will rub off on him (kw) and give him the realisation that Man utd can make a serious amount of **** money without actually winning anything 

And that's the thing with football clubs at elite level. Why should Man U aim to win CL every year while spending crazy money on players if they can finish 3rd most years and go fairly deep into CL while operating at the current standard?

There is not much extra financial reward for them to do a little better (i.e. be at the top) if they are already a cash cow.

And even if they do spunk an extra £1bn on players/training ground/infrastructure, they have no guarantees they will see a return on that investment.

I think glazers and Ratcliffe are perfectly happy with where Man U is as a business. Why wouldn't they be? 

1 minute ago, chrisp65 said:

 

Ha! I can see that happening. It never happened to me in Lichfield/Burton though, I would hate another 'booking/appointment' situation.

But then again, I have never attempted to try on a Saturday afternoon. 

3 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

The Birmingham tips still use appointments and it's great. Walsall doesn't so it's just a free for all

What's wrong with a free for all? You just drive up, get rid of an old mattress/broken chair and you leave. 

Just now, VillaJ100 said:

It feels to me a bit like a billionaire version of 'I wanted the blue toy car but someone else bought so I got the red toy car'. Like I'd want to know why apparently this through and through united fan was after Chelsea first.

I mean of course I don't give two shits and hope he's a colossal disaster for them 

He's just bought 25% for around £1.3bn, in 5 years he will likely more than double that investment. It's as simple as that.