LancsVillan

Good point about the NFL. I guess that they feel the need to make an example of him for whatever rule it is he's broken a fine would have to be pretty substantial for him to even notice it. This way it enforces the rule with the other players.

1. Why - god only knows 2. To stop the NFL getting involved if it's something bigger than just say breaking a curfew, thus it's only one game. 3. Who with the player or the franchise? It has to be the player. As a 'Skins fan I don't like the Giants but do think that they've done a good thing here.

£70 to watch the reserves in a 'dead' game or £100 to watch the 1st team. The extra £30 means it's a no here.

American Idiot by JB Holmes and Boo Weekley

My dad throws it miles, to the pen spot on every pitch I've seen him on. Like he says they are better than corners as you do have more accuracy.

brilliant write up again Scott - cheers. Deja vu He played in his last Villa game in 1911, before taking a step down into a coaching position at small heath.

search for George Best , he was yellow at times

oh and I'm with the celery haters. The texture, the smell and then the taste. It should be thrown straight in the bin for me.

I'm not mad keen on it. It's not too bad if you fry the **** out of it. Like most things, really. Battered it's lovely maybe that's the Scot in me ;-)

good report, cheers Jonjo.

I'll start by stating that throughout my life I've been a Scotland fan and although wanting England to lose in games versus Scotland I've 'wanted' them to win in all others. I don't get hammered when they win big games 5-1, I don't get morose when they beat -oh yes they did win didn't they- Andorra 2-0. My 'support' did change a little when Aston was born IN England with my English wife. I've often said on here I prefer it if Villa players aren't selected as it's always been and always will be Villa before England. Yet I still cannot believe that the vast majority of those voting are no longer interested. If that interest is then reignited by qualification then that wasn't them being disinterested but fickle, going with the highs and not the lows. My main bugbears now is that we will not get to see the national side play as it on a paid for channel - that is wrong, yet that is a different thread. FTR I voted NO.

as were five others in the list.

poor Lucy

Against today's TV HSB does look bad but it was for me THE best thing to watch ever and I never missed an episode. It won every TV award going at the time too.

so go on vote.... nah forget that I've started this thread as a trip down memory lane of those programmes I used to watch, but I've had to kill the list as you only get 10 options. McCloud Columbo Ironside The Fall Guy Cagney and Lacey Knight Rider The A team fantasy Island (It's a plane boss) Lou Grant I could go on but that would negate the thread and is serves as a reminder of just how much American TV I've watched throughout my life as most of the things I watch today are from the US too and this is not even thinking of the 'comedies'

Cheers Pete, logged on specifically to read your report and once again was not disappointed.

Yes here is part two of the season preview First off it's the man usually found in a Vat of Guinness over in the Emerald Isle BOF Expectations are higher going into the 2008/09 season and rightly so. We are back in Europe. We just missed out on best-of-the-rest behind Everton last season and we've spent a fair chunk of dosh on the defensive side of the team. To date, 6 of our 7 new additions are defensive. After scoring the 3rd highest amount of league goals last season it's not that surprising that Martin is concentrating on Shoreying up the defence. Our once-tiny squad is bigger and better than it was last season. Losing Mellberg was a blow in the sense that he was a much-loved, long-serving quality senior member of the squad. However in terms of what we were actually losing from the first team was someone who was playing out of position on the right though he did a more than creditable job there. He has been replaced by someone who has won or almost won player of the year for his clubs in the last 2 seasons in Luke Young. On paper that should be an improvement. Bouma's unfortunate injury necessitated the quick recruitment of Reading's impressive Nicky Shorey without much delay. Shorey may not be quite the defensive monster that Bouma is but he will have a lot more going forward and is a good defender in his own right. O'Neill also quite rightly refused to meet Liverpool's ridiculous valuation of Scott Carson which was miraculously chopped in 3 when West Brom came calling. Preferring instead to hire the 2 Brad's and put an end to any goalkeeping crisis we may have for the short and the long-term future. I have to mention it. The one thing that has dominated our summer has been Liverpool's illegal (there is no other word for it) tapping up through the media of Gareth Barry and the subsequent realisation that they didn't in fact have the money (or more pertinently the permission to spend the money) to buy him. Cue weeks and weeks of posturing, denial, ambiguous messages, accusations, ill-advised quotes and finally an admission from those controlling the Anfield money that, while they aren't bringing their manager's judgement into question or questioning Barry's abilities, they just don't think he's worth it (so you're in fact doing both right there lads Smile). Sidwell was brought in early in the summer, in my opinion as a direct replacement for the then-outgoing Barry, and a good one at that. Quite where Sidwell will fit in now if, as looks likely, Barry ends up staying I don't know but with a long season ahead I'm sure they'll all have their use. Back to our prospects. This season I fully expect a much meaner 'goals against' column. Young and Shorey are quality fullbacks, Friedel is arguably the best keeper in the league and the early return of Davies with the real pressure of Cuéllar breathing down both CB's necks means there's motivation AND real ability in the backline. There'll be no 15 or 16 game stretch without a clean sheet this season! I'll be honest and say that while Ashley is undoubtedly the creative spark in our team, I don't expect him to get the numbers he got last season. Purely because he is now a known quantity and a marked man. Teams will go out from day one to cancel him out. That's why our current gaping hole on the right wing needs to be filled with quality otherwise we would be in danger of becoming slightly one-dimensional and predictable. As good as Ash is, he can't do it on his own. I can't honestly expect us to break the dominant top 4 quite yet although one of my expectations for this season is that we close the gap and make progress towards that end. I don't think we'll be alone in it though. I expect it will be very much Villa versus Spurs for 5th place this season. I don't see Everton keeping up with us. They're struggling to find 11 players at the moment by all accounts and while Crouch completes Pompey's comedy double-act up front I will tentatively say we have the beating of them over a season. Losing Muntari was a big blow for them. He beat us on his own last season. So for me I would say that we will be 5th or 6th again this season but hopefully closer points-wise to 4th place. I would like a good run in one of the domestic cups and I fully expect us to reach the knock-out stages of the UEFA Cup as 3rd place in the group of 5 achieves that. Then it's the luck of the draw from there. There are many reasons to be optimistic for this season and with one or 2 further additions we might just have the squad to do ourselves justice on all fronts. Fingers crossed and, as always, UP THE VILLA. Now to everyone's favourite taxi driver bickster My Hopes and Fears the Forthcoming Season (2008/9) This season for many will be one of hope and optimism at the start but for me it’s more about realism and consolidation. The summer has so far seen us buy quite a few new faces and right now we seem to have managed to keep hold of Gareth Barry. The manager has addressed the defensive problems we all knew existed and were lucky to get away with last season, we have a full compliment of keepers and centre backs and if I’m being picky we could do with another Right Back but considering we managed a whole season with none, going into this season with one seems like a luxury. If we can just add another couple of players to the squad, specifically a forward and a right-sided midfielder then the squad in terms of numbers will be complete. Rumours persist that we are actually still actively trying to purchase players for these positions and unlike days of yore, the rumours might actually be true! So why am I saying consolidation? For starters Rome as they say wasn’t built in a day, with so many new faces in the side there are bound to be a few hiccups along the way, I don’t think any side can expect to bed in that many players and not have the occasional mishap. Last season the defence was a problem for us and MON seems to have addressed that with the majority of purchases so far being defenders and keepers but defences need time to click, we don’t have a settled Centre Back pairing at the back, injury conspired against us last season to achieve this and with the purchase of Carlos Cuellar and Martin Laursen’s supposed fragility I doubt we’ll have that settled pairing most of this season either. Like I said Rome wasn’t built in a day. In the middle of the park things are more settled and the addition of Sidwell can only help the competition in the centre of the park a position we are now more than well endowed in if truth be known, we may even have the luxury of resting players and picking particular players depending on the opposition. I still however think that we need that right-sided player to really push on, its no use only having an attacking threat down one flank, hopefully the rumoured interest in James Milner (or someone else who knows in these heady times) comes to fruition. With Routledge hopefully providing some competition for that place we can look forward to a solid midfield that has all the options a team in our position needs. Up front we have the established pairing of Carew and Gabby with Harewood the impact player coming off the bench, to really push on we need another striker, Carew is fragile, Gabby is still relatively young and could do with a rest at times, he looked very jaded towards the end of last season. There’s also Delfouneso coming through the ranks but I’d rather he played from the bench and was introduced in short burst for most f this season, give him a taste of it when we can but keep him hungry. That’s the crucial thing if we get a new forward, he has to be the right one and again that’s still an if and not a when, forwards sometimes don’t click straightaway with their new team mates and I’m still not convinced Gaby and Carew have clicked either. For me this summer the manager appears to be addressing the squad size very well, well he will be if he gets in those extra two players but like I’ve already said, to buy this many players and to expect it just to click straight away is a big ask and that’s why this season is one of consolidation. Next season for me is the one to really put our foot down by replacing some of the players we have in our squad with even better ones. MON worked a few miracles last season, it would be improbable if he managed to do it again this season. We do have something completely unexpected in our favour though, our opposition! Most of the teams we would expect to be competing with for those two places below the top four seem to be imploding in some shape or form. Blackburn have replaced the departing Hughes with the imbecilic Ince and half the squad appears to want to leave. Man City, well the chickens appear to have come home to roost with added vigour, the former Thai dictator seems to convicted in his absence back home which will lead to him being investigated by the FA and being subject to scrutiny as a fit and proper person. Ho hum how I laughed. Everton appear to be skinter than a skint thing and at present Kenwright is doing his usual preseason bluster about money being there to buy players, he’s seeking new investors – yawn, heard it all before, none of it’ll be true and so far their squad is even smaller than it was this time last year with no players coming in. I predict a slump of huge proportions for them to be honest. Spurs appear to be buying well in midfield but look to be in danger of swapping Darren Bents role of perennial sub that never plays to converting him to a lone forward who can’t miss a game. They will need to move fast to replace both Keane and Berbatov (if he does leave). Pompey, well they added a few (once those players were told by MON that he didn’t want them anyway Wink ). Even Liverpool seem to be in the financial poo, the dunderheads on the board appear to be at loggerheads with each other AND collectively with their dunderhead manager, this is our and every other teams hope that Liverpool implode but this season I feel they may just hang on to that fourth place with what they have, next season though unless the situation changes, they should be ripe for the taking. Newcastle, oh they really aren’t rivals, I forgot again they are up the creek without a paddle, their newish owner has only just realised the level of debt he bought – hahahahahahahahahha oh yes and Keegans still in charge. The rest, the likes of Boro and Sunderland, well they simply aren’t in our league. So I think we can treat this as a season of consolidating on last seasons gains, bedding in a larger squad and allowing our main rivals to implode around us Where I expect us to finish:- Premier League – 5th or 6th place FA Cup – Quarters or Semi’s (as long as we don’t draw you know who in the 3rd round League Cup – A win would be nice but semi’s would be my expectation especially with our extra round bye UEFA Cup – It would be nice to win it but this season a realistic expectation is to advance from the group stages, if we can do that I’ll be happy Cheers Bicks and hope the bout of blandyitit clears up soon. That's enough from the Mods, it's over to the VT Newshounds and up first is TrentVilla Hard to believe I know but its here already the new season in all its promise, the highs and lows of the premiership rollercoster are about to begin and I can't wait for the ride. It seems like five minutes since we were heading down to Upton Park to say goodbye to Mellberg and hello to Europe. I always look forward to a new season but this season brings with it a level of hope and expectation I've not felt in a very long time as I feel we are on the verge of something special. Despite a worryingly slow start to the transfer window MON has worked wonders on the squad and I feel we are better equipped to compete than we have been in 10 years. The arrival of Friedel and the rebuilding of the defence should give us the sort of solid base we used to once upon a time took for granted at Villa Park but that has been conspicuous in its absence in recent years. Last year we had a "we'll score one more than you kind of spirt" this year I want to see the same attacking flair without us leaving the back door open. The likes of Shorey and Young may not be the 'names' or exciting signings some hoped for but they are good solid defenders who will come in and settle quickly and make their mark this season. While in midfield the addition of Sidwell will give us a new dimension and if, I repeat if we hold onto Barry well we can only be a better side than last year. Sure we need another player on the right of midfield, many will already know of my desire to see Milner fill that gap but I also have faith in Routledge and think he may surprise a few this season. While upfront as I think everyone knows we still need a little something extra, I can't help but imagine this side with a young Dwight Yorke upfront. Many I know are dreaming of an assault on the top 4 and I don't think we are far away but this season I would be content with 5th or 6th I think both are more than realistic and would see us establish ourselves as the best of the rest and the team most likely to challnge the Sky 4. In Europe I think we will sail through the early rounds and the group stage and into the later rounds of the competition there are some magic nights ahead of us at Villa Park and I simply cannot wait. As for the domestic cups I'd love to see us life one of the cups but would probably sacrifice domestic cup progress for league and Uefa cup success. This side is very much still a work in progress but with MON and Randy we know the direction we are heading and this season will be the time the rest of the country sit up and take notice. Predictions: Premier League: 5th FA Cup: Whatever round we draw Man Utd League Cup: Semi-Final Uefa Cup - Quarter Final

Am I missing something? I thought Everton had sold a bunch of players and signed no-one, how can they be stronger? Top post though guys. They've secured Pienaar, in the same way we got Curtis and getting rid of that fool Johnson strengthens them ;-)

yes the 2008/09 season is only a matter of hours away so I thought I'd ask the mods and news team to put forward a view on what will happen. This is part one as we all get a little wordy given the chance. Lancsvillan My idea so I got to go first This season I see as being one of two divisions, those that can compete and those that cannot, therefore I fully expect us to be in a similar position to last season, fighting for the UEFA slot. I'll be honest and think that last season came as a surpirse to me and quite possibly MO'N too. I think having gained 6th the expectation levels have risen too quickly as can be seen by the transfer and speculation threads on this site. We've certainly strengthened in defence, indeed it can said that we've got a completely new defence should anything happen to my Captain elect - Martin Laursen. Midfield is an area that I feel needs a little more craft and guile. Ash provides plenty but I think we'll see him come under greater pressure form opposing sides this season. Up front I see us as needing a poacher, a natural goal scorer (someone like JPA when we signed him and not the one we turned him into), since selling Luke I believe there has been a need for a further striker. Much as I like ot think of 'The Fonz' being that player, let's not put too much pressure on him too early. It is not hard to remember others who came into the squad with similar expectations only to see them languishing in the lower leagues throughout their career, Walker, Stefan Moore and Byfield to name but three. So overall I think we'ree stronger but so are our main competition for 5th - Evernot and Spuds. Then we look above that and I'm sorry I just cannot see us getting there quite this season, without one of those imploding and like every other Villa fan I pray for the RedScouse to do that I cannot see it. Predictions: Premier League: 6th Cup: 6th Round Lge Cup: WINNERS UEFA: Group Stages over to villafan306 I'm very optimistic about this season. Maybe it's the thought of European football, maybe it's the 3 signings in one week or maybe it's just dillusion. Whichever it is I think we have had a fantastic summer and if we can keep hold of Gareth Barry, we will be going into the season with a very strong team. In goal we have one of the Premiership's best goalkeepers in Friedel with one of the brightest young prospects around to back him up in Guzan. Defence is looking a lot more healthy following the arrivals of Shorey, Young and Cuellar. I'd like to see another player brought in to cover right back but I think Young will turn out to be a fantastic purchase. I wish Bouma a speedy recovery but think Shorey may just be an improvement and as far as Cuellar goes, well he is twice the player that Knight is...or so I'm told! Midfield may well be our downfall this season. While Barry (if he stays), Reo-Coker and Sidwell will give us healthy choices for the central role, we do lack quality wingers. Young of course not included there, but Maloney and Routledge have yet to prove themselves on the wing so we do need a signing there...unless of course we go with the 3 central midfielders and Young doing whatever he likes. Even then though, I can't see Ash playing 50 games this season so we need another creative player in there. Up front I'd like to see us get a natural goalscorer in. While Carew/Harewood/Gabby can all chip in, I don't see them as 20 goal per season strikers. I think the extra games that the UEFA cup will (hopefully) provide could see us bleed a few youngsters into the side. Osbourne faces a make or break season and Delfounso might well get his first taste of first team action. As far as the league goes I agree with Lancs - we out did ourselves last year and getting the same position again will be good enough for me. Everton have stood still, Blackburn are imploding, Pompey have lost their engine and while Spurs have brought in quality they did the same thing last season and it got them no-where. As far as breaking into the top 4 goes I think we have a chance but only if one of the Sky 4 has a terrible start or gets rid of their manager halfway through the season (here's looking at you Liverplop). If that happens then it will be our chance to capitalise and we will have to take it. Predictions: Premier League: 5th FA Cup: Quarter Finals League Cup: Winners UEFA Cup: Quarter Finals then comes the VTer who could give Stuart Hall a run for his money, yes it's squire blandy At the start of last season, having come off the back of a clear improvement on the season before, and with some strengthening done to the midfield, I predicted 7th - a jump of 4 places. In the end we beat that by a place. This season, we've lost Mellberg, and Freddy Bouma is sadly crocked for the foreseeable future, but again we've strengthened. Whether we've done so quite enough to make a big leap forwards is open to question, but I do think in most areas we will be stronger. Certainly at the back, despite the loss of Olly. Friedel and the 2 full-backs who've come in make us stronger, and Cuellar if he's half as good as the Rangers fans say will be a big bonus. Obviously, there's been , as yet, no addition to the right side of midfield, and Nathan Delfouenso has come into the squad for Luke Moore up front. Where i have my doubts still is in midfield. If Gareth Barry stays and plays as well as he did last year, and we get in say James Milner, or a similar player to fill in the gap on the right hand side, then I can see the gulf to the top 4 narrowing right down from the huge 16 point distance at the end of last season. I have some doubts over how well Steve Sidwell will fit in to the system. Each of the midfielders - Gareth Barry, NRC, Sidwell Stan Petrov and Craig Gardener have good qualities, but for me only GB consistently delivers. NRC's use of the ball often undoes the good work done in winning of it, Stan has with a couple of exceptions never dominated games as he did in Scotland, Sidwell I'm just not sure about, and Craig Gardner is a player I like, but is still learning the game. We do have a stronger squad and it may get stronger still, but then we'll probably have to play more games , too. It's a bit of a balancing act. I think 5th is a realistic possibility, and there's a lesser possibility of 4th even - if Liverpool (I hope) start to crumble under the mess that is their ownership and the Karma that must affect Benitez, (if there's any justice). Arsenal too, despite superb football may not get so many points next season. Spurs will do much better than last year. If we could break into that top 4, that would be an outstanding effort. Perhaps more enjoyable would be some tangible reward - a cup, particularly the FA Cup. It's too long since we had those days out at Wembley. Pin me down , and I'll go for 5th place and 65 points - Not as an expectation, or demand, but as a combination of hope and the continued re-birth of our Splendid Club. As for the Cups and Europe, that's just luck of the draw. I'm not tempting fate. so the first three are all optimistic on the league position, come back soon and see if there is a dissenting view

14 - HUGE - you need to go to Specsavers! 12-14 is considered normal size I think you'll find and having been shoppng this weekend you do not see those sizes as they are so popular whereas you get an 8 in anything. As said previously size doesn't really come into it and as I met my better half some 24 years ago and she's gone from 10 to 18 and back and now resides about 12 I'm happy I'm not so shallow that it does

as above back on Page 1 for me.

by: TrentVilla In what was an epic pursuit even by MON standards we finally landed Brad Guzan this summer after an almost year long pursuit of the current American number on goal minder. So Villa Talk welcomes Guzan on board and outlines a little bit more background on everyones second favourite Brad. Brad Guzan Height - 6" 3 DOB - 9.9.84 Born - Homer Glen, IL It seems like we have been chasing Brad Guzan for a very long time and the reason is we have, rumours of our interest started way back last summer not long after the arrival of Scot Carson on loan. So what do we know of the man who has arrived at B6 to complete the net minding rosta at Villa Park? Well Guzan was signed by Chivas USA in 2005 as a 20 year old as the first pick of the years draft becoming the first ever keeper to be the number 1 draft pick in MLS history. This followed an outstanding university career which saw him rated as the outstanding talent of his year in what is known as sophomore football and a year in the reserves at Chicargo Fire. Once signed to Chivas Guzan went from strength to strength as the regular number 1 for his three seasons with the club and made his USA debut in Febuary 2006. His career with Chivas culminating in him being named MLS goal keeper of the year last season. Interest from Spain, England and Scotland soon followed with a trial at Celtic and several Spanish sides showing an interest but in January MON made his move only for a work permit to be denied on appeal. Despite this rumours of our interest persisted and on the 12th July we finally landed our man when he was granted a 4 year work permit by the Home Office. Speaking after completing his deal Guzan had this to say; Just from seeing the facilities and the vision that the club has with Randy Lerner, I figure the future is so bright. "I think it's going to continue to get better. He (Lerner) has set the bar and he knows what it takes and I'm excited to be a part of the club. "The training ground is state-of-the-art. It's one of the nicest facilities I've ever seen and working in this environment day in and day out is one of the reasons the club is moving in the right direction. "I'm joining a talented group of young guys. It's going to be training filled with competition day in and day out. "I think that training and competition - fighting for those 11 spots on the field - makes the team and the organisation better. So I'm excited to get started and be a part of that." Guzan added: "I am going to go in there and work as hard as I can, learn as much as I can and try and become a better player and help the team in any way I can. "Whether that is as a No 2 or competing for No 1, I am going to be pushing to make myself better or pushing the person who is playing to play better. "Clubs with a good atmosphere have positive effects as they have competitive players who are pushing each other to make the team better." Guzan is currently in China with the USA Olympic squad and will link up with the Villa squad in three weeks time as Brad Friedel's understudy.

by: TrentVilla Following the horrible injury in the recent Intertoto game to fans favourite Freddy Bouma MON has acted quickly to try and fill the hole left by the absence of the Dutch hard man. Today Villa Talk welcomes Nicky Shorey as the newest member of MON's squad. Nicky Shorey Height - 5" 9 DOB - 19/2/1981 Following the horrible injury in the recent Intertoto game to fans favourite Freddy Bouma MON has acted quickly to try and fill the hole left by the absence of the Dutch hard man. Today Villa Talk welcomes Nicky Shorey as the newest member of MON's squad. Shorey has this evening put pen to paper on a three year deal to complete his switch from Reading to once again link up with his former team mate and close friend Steve Sidwell. The last few years have seen the career of Shorey go from strength to strength having completed a move from Leyton Orient in 2001 for just £25'000 before making his England debut just 6 years later playing in all four divisons on route despite almost having his foot amputated due to a blood infection. His move to Villa Park has been wrapped up in just a few days ensuring he is eligable to make his debute in the Uefa Cup a week today. A solid left back with an eye for goal Shorey also has an impressive record for assists and will likely prove to be a very valuable addition to the Villa squad in the coming year.

The Mods are on a winner for the Chelsea Flower Show

Can I ask that notes for Freddie are not placed in this thread, I am about to go and open a thread for that purpose, the thread will be printed and sent to the club.