MarkLillis

1 hour ago, MrBlack said:

o add to what OBE said above, the transport situation is better than most football stadiums around the country

For the Championship maybe but I don’t believe this with regards to the Premier League having spoken to many away fans in the queue for the train back to New Street from Witton.

Londoners especially pissed off but then they are used to the tube service.

I have no idea why we can’t have enough trains lined up to clear Witton and Aston Stations in a timely fashion.

Does anyone know the reasons I’m sure there are plenty.

4 hours ago, nick76 said:

 

All of the “other” clubs on that list have at one stage or other in recent history claimed vigorously that the “power had shifted” only Leicester had a genuine claim.

The cream has most definitely risen to the top again UTV

1 hour ago, av1 said:

FWIW there is something I don’t like about Maddison that I can’t explain, but he is certainly a very talented player. 
 

 

Tbf I feel similar.

I think it’s because he was placed on a similar footing to Jack for some time by other fans and the media.

When it was obvious to us the Jack was clearly superior.

You know.....not so long back when we were interested in a player like this with no real obvious evidence to the layman (us) that he is any good it was a red flag.

Now not so much because we don't have laymen running our recruitment anymore.

Just sit back and enjoy guys we don't have to overthink anymore

14 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

 

Will go on to become a true legend of this club alongside Tyrone....... with a bit of luck. UTV

The design of the kit that the players wear feels unimportant to me.

Modern football is something that I enjoy immensely. Todays game with it’s technical excellence,it’s competitiveness and the wall to wall coverage we get is brilliant in many ways.

However this thing about the kit……they are taking us for mugs here.

I wish more people would see it

Really is it all that bad?

it’s just another kit 

It looks like Burnley because they wear Claret and Blue just like us.

For me I just won’t buy them no matter what simply because of the price and the fact that( like all kits) they have a use by date.

11 minutes ago, Made In Aston said:

Yes this is a play to take over world football like they have done with golf. The main people who suffer are the fans because it will be even less competitive and have even less integrity than now. Those on the outside will be totally isolated. 

They can’t buy competition,prestige or history from the transfer market.For sure there are many fans worldwide who follow players which is upto them.They will follow the names to SA.

Europe will remain the no1 place for serious footballers to ply their trade and it will still attract the attention of the majority of football fans (the ones like us anyway).

54 minutes ago, thunderball said:

Like him a lot, one of the big surprises was his disappearance last season after looking red hot the season before

Agree with this.

Looks a player to me.(Emile Smith-Rowe)

A few areas from my experience..

Smethwick - predominantly Baggies large Villa presence a few Blues.

Small Heath - loads more Blues than anything else.Obviously 

Stourbridge - if you don’t like Orange don’t go out after the dingles have won.Plenty of Villa around too.

Halesowen - Lots of Villa also Baggies, less dingles and the occasional Blue.

All of the above areas have glory hunters….but are they real fans….I mean it might seem real to them but we all know that they haven’t earnt the reflected glory they bask in.UTV

14 hours ago, Mr_Dogg said:

You're way wrong on this one, they are world's apart.

But West Ham are massive……….

Everywhere they go!!

Whilst not knowing anything about his playing style he sounds like the Spanish equivalent of Arsenals Saka.

Would anyone agree?

Luton at home 

I like to start off with a win and I’m pretty sure however “up for it” they are we would win this one.

49 minutes ago, GrumpyFox said:

1 hour ago, gwi1890 said:

I don’t know why our fans would be annoyed….. I mean, we allowed ourselves to go down so what can we say? 

I can see it.

Youve lived the dream at Leicester to have ownership that took the team to the highest level of the game has been an amazing gift.

Maybe they thought it was going to always be like that from now on.Maybe they are young and have only seen a poorly managed shadow of Aston Villa.Or maybe it’s just a knee jerk reaction to losing a good player to a team they didn’t even see as rivals just one year ago…

For what it’s worth I think Leicester will win the Championship they are not the basket  case Villa we’re when we went down that’s for sure.

1 hour ago, MrBlack said:

We are ignored by the media largely, so the average fan probably won't know how loaded and well run we are. I didn't know Wolves were owned by the 7th richest owner, for example, until I dug into it. 

But yes, it does make for an exciting time to make money off your ignorant friends :). Or at least get a return that you could use to lay the alternative with a real bookie and be quids in anyway.

Any odds on Emery getting sacked would guarrantee me a profite here .......... you are right!

18 hours ago, MrBlack said:

With:

• The 6th richest owners in the league. 
• The work we're putting in to increase our revenue, most notably the expansion of Villa Park. 
• The developments we've made to our youth setup.

And

• The best manager in the league

 

We've surely got to be expecting top 6 football for the foreseeable future. 

If we keep on this track, and stick behind Emery through every eventuality, we're odds on to break the top 6 cartel. Arguably, it's already happened, but I see us being in a position to punch above our (still significantly) weight with Emery, and a top 4 finish is there to be had. 

This not what other football fans think is going to happen.

I’ve just struck a bet with a lad at work the Emery will not be sacked next year!

He thinks he will because Villa can’t possibly give Emery the backing to reach 7th again….and even if they do every one knows that Emery is shit in his second season!

16 minutes ago, wishywashy said:

He'll do great there.

And he can continue scoring against us in in his usual fashion…

44 minutes ago, Czarnikjak said:

The competitiveness of most  teams in Premier League has increased massively due to the influx of money. Even lesser clubs can now afford to sign very good players from any other European league. As Leicester showed You can have one bad season and get relegated. Look at us under Gerrard as well , the same squad as under Emery and we struggled as hell.

By any objective metric (wages and squad cost) Leicester had comparative squad to Newcastle this season. They just massively underperformed  while Newcastle over performed. The same can happen to us next season.
 

Obviously us finishing 8th is much more likely than 18th, but both outcomes are still realistic possibilities.

I can agree with this.

Leicester(18th) came to Villa Park and made us look very ordinary.

Newcastle(4th) came to Villa Park and we made them look very ordinary.

The premier league is a very competitive difficult competition.Long gone are the days when the bottom three were there because they were crap!

On 23/05/2023 at 23:01, El-Reacho said:

Great thread! Imagine we'd beaten United in that inaugural Premier League season. We were well matched clubs with a very similar history and pedigree. Look where they went to on the back of that title and look where we've been ever since.... 

with all due respect to the above…

Doug was running the show…..we would have gone back to mid-table nothingness quicker than you could say “balance the books”

A couple of years a go this guy was considered one of the best young players in the Premier League.

Many pundits thought his next move from Leicester would be to a Champions league club.

That player is still there…..he can be found again.

Unai can find him.

16 minutes ago, TRO said:

would Gyokeres be a good move for us?.....with a hit rate of 2.36 in the last 2 seasons.....it could be a smart gamble.

Ivan Toney made a good step up...as did Jamie Vardy.

I think he could he looks like a player to me.

However we already own one of the Championships hottest strikers in Cameron Archer but I’m all for smart moves like this…

13 minutes ago, lexicon said:

I've no idea why people think Newcastle are definitely going to be an absolute powerhouse. I don't see it. 

Purely based on the evidence Man City and PSG have shown us.

The Saudis don’t do second 

Man City - enough said we can have a conversation when Pep moves on.

Arsenal are close to peak (if they haven’t already).Not sure yet if they can dominate or be as consistent as Wengers sides.

Liverpool and Chelsea are in transition.They are big clubs so it will happen faster then at most clubs

Newcastle ahead of schedule and not even close to their inevitable peak which will most probably see them win everything.I think there will be a few peaks and troughs along the way.

Spurs look like mid table without Kane.They require a complete rebuild.Sooner rather than later they will come again.

Man Utd behind Citeh but not as far behind Arsenal as people think.Their future depends on Ten Haag and the clubs ability to bring him the top level signings he needs.

Brighton really well set up to stay in the top 8 for now,however they openly admit that they will sell their best players each year.This means also that DeZerbi will go sooner rather than later.I just don’t think they can keep picking the right players / managers. This type of style based on on consistent almost faultless recruitment is difficult to maintain re Southampton or Swansea or Leicester.

These clubs will be as Brucey might put it “there or thereabouts”.However in my opinion as they are all in different stages of evolution there are chances for us to take advantage when some of them are not firing on all cylinders.

Its not as straightforward as they were shit this year so they must get better or they are good this year so it must continue….

2 minutes ago, est1874 said:

Kyle Walker could be a very clever shout / bit of business now that Young is out. 33, still pacy (for now), can defend and attack.

I’ve heard the name mentioned few times.He’s a starter at Citeh so is it even remotely possible?

15 minutes ago, Pinebro said:

Still it's not success.

There's a difference between a good season and a successful season.

Celebrate all you won't but I wouldn't.

But too each their own.

To fall away in the race for the title does not feel like success.

I can remember how it felt both times I. The early nineties.

when we fell away in the battle against Liverpool there seemed to be an overwhelming sense of pride from the fan base.

In the race against Utd it felt a little disappointing as I remember kind of like a numb feeling that we had genuinely lost something within our grasp.

We did celebrate the 1990 team at Goodson on one of the Great Villa away days!

I think there was a great day out a QPR after the 1993 team fell away.

I guess the point I’m making is while losing is definitely not something to celebrate you have to put things into context and appreciate good seasons  as we know they don’t come round often.