Mark Albrighton

It did get pretty bad in here. Real sense of deja vu of the first big drop off in form/results under Bruce, at more or less the same point in their Villa careers which at time didn’t make me feel any better. On Monday my fellow Villa mate was taking great joy in reading out some of my more.....reactionary WhatsApp messages during that bad spell. They weren’t really that bad, no “Smith Out” messages, more raising concerns I had. But it was certainly more frustrated in tone than anything I had posted on here during that run. I didn’t want him gone but like a few on here I wanted to see something in the final third of the season to reassure me that he was the right man for the job for the following season. Just FYI in case you were wondering, all things considered, the last third of the season has provided those reassurances I was after

Bows out as a winner at Wembley, wish all our players could end their time at the club in a similar way. Although it wasn’t a personal best season for him, for me his goal away at Wednesday during that winning run was one of the defining moments that made me start to believe this season could be the one we achieve promotion. Thank you and all the best for the future Albert.

Sorry should also add that no I don’t have questions for the meeting that haven’t already been asked by other posters

I think because it’s the same tune is why some may call it a rip off. It’s the original adaptation of a song that I think supporters take pride in. If another club’s supporters started singing a song based on “kumbaya” or “ghost riders in the sky” but with different words, I’m sure there would be a few Villans complaining they nicked it. In this case, Liverpool appear to have nicked off another club so they can’t have any complaints. We’ve certainly been very vocal with our version.

If you think you’ve finally had enough Mike, just tell Jack that it’s been fun but you’ve gotta head home as Mrs M will be wondering where you are. I’m sure he won’t be offended.

Think that must be the most generous usage of a forward slash ever.

Yeah I can imagine that would be pretty irritating. It wasn’t obvious from watching it on telly where I was what was being played, although to be fair my powers of observation weren’t at their sharpest by that point.

While I’m fine with the use of “Don’t look back in anger” after a game, I’m not averse to just letting the crowd do the work. “Hi ho Aston Villa” always does well, so maybe that’s enough.

Yep, said before if this was an option then we should go for it. Happy that the club is against loans, but I’d make an exception in this case. I’d rather see us pay £35m-40m on a Tammy following a good loan spell (say 15 goals or so) than pay £25m and have doubts.

I meant before then to be honest, the start of my football memories more or less coincide with the start of Man Utd’s glory years. I suppose the early years of the premier league would have been much more comparable to the first division in the late 80’s than anything post 2000 (say).

Yep. It of course arrived following our first away win in over a year, played over the tannoy and the Villa supporters joining in. If people don’t like it, fair enough. But the song summed up where we were as a club, people know the words and crucially it happened naturally and spontaneously. The way football throws up these moments every now and then. If anyone wants to suggest a more suitable song that everyone knows the words to and doesn’t have the feel of being chosen by committee, then good luck.

Nah, while I’d happily never play them again, it is enjoyable seeing the new and exciting ways they’ll **** things up.

Probably one for the older supporters on here to confirm, but the past three seasons in this league has given me a sense as to what football was like before the premier league (my memories are practically non existent). More chaotic, bit more of a free for all in terms of who’s going to triumph, much more likely to see an unexpected result....would that be correct?

Yeah true, I only saw that afterwards. Ok revised message - Best of luck Derby supporters, law of averages and all that...

Just a quick note to acknowledge Richard O’Kelly’s involvement in the campaign. Understandably Dean Smith and John Terry will receive more attention, during both the good times and the bad. But he’s clearly someone whose opinion is highly regarded by Smith and it appears he’s quietly gone about his job getting us to where we are today.

In fairness, having looked there are a number of Bournemouth supporters who don’t seem to mind. If it was one of our players wearing his loan club shirt around Birmingham....well I don’t think it would bother me, but I’m not surprised some don’t like it. Weren’t Southampton fans annoyed with Van Dijk for modelling a Liverpool shirt at Christmas before he signed? Similar sort of thing. Tyrone appears pretty savvy so he would know it might wind up a few people. Having said that, it wouldn’t surprise me if this was a bet he made with one of the players or something like that. Anyway it’s not an issue, so Gary Gardner if you want wear your small heath shirt in your spare time, it won’t bother me.

@Vive_La_Villa installed as 5/4 current favourite to start next season’s relegation thread

To think this was how we started life in the championship.

Just a note to wish any Derby supporters reading this all the best for next season. Us losing last season’s final was a blessing in disguise, every chance you could be there again.

Crazy when you consider how bleak things looked less than a year ago, the club staring into the abyss. Billionaire owners who, along with a clued up CEO, appear to know what they’re doing. A winning run that surpassed anything that’s gone before; some stunning out of the blue wins; some frankly bizarre games (the home games against Forest, Sheff Utd) two derby day wins, both of which will be remembered for years to come; multiple contenders for goal of the season - all culminating in a determined win at Wembley having dispatched the Baggies along the way for good measure. And this taking place under the management of a Villa supporter and the side being captained by a Villa supporter. That in itself is pretty notable. There’s probably a load of things I’ve not included there (The Cabbage for one), but taking it all into account, since supporting them from the early 90’s, for me there aren’t too many seasons that can really compete with this one.