tommybo

Not bad and not much in it here. Our Midfield work really hard but give it away too much.

I can see it being 3-0 or 0-3 - depends who turns up!

Torn between 'Escape' and 'Paranoid' - rest are non starters for me. I **** hate that bells song.

Escape is far more dramatic but Black Sabbath obviously have the Brum connection.

Hmmm.....

We can't fill 42,000. Redeveloping the North Stand would definitely make our great stadium look even better but that's about it. We wouldn't suddenly attract thousands more fans through the gates every home game just because we have a new stand.

I agree with what you're saying but isn't there also the possibility that having a bigger capacity could equal cheaper tickets and therefore attract more people on matchday? Just a thought...

I signed the school I work in up to this and its been fantastic. They've also given us loads of old match day programs which I sometimes use with reluctant boy readers to motivate them.

I would say most of the kids were more interested in gaining a ticket so they could watch Chelsea or Spurs than Villa at the end of the season though unfortunately. Having said that last season was utter shite.

Doesn`t matter what we think about the players o`neill signed. He was the manager using them and he got them to deliver.

Not to mention the fact that managers don`t negotiate wages and contracts. As you can tell we are still paying silly wages to injured loan players two years on.

O`neill said publicly before he left he was happy to work on budget. Anyone who thinks he had the cheque book and was signing off on these players wages must still be in spider man pyjamas.

If you want to blame someone for the state of the finances blame the people who deal with them.

I might be completely wrong but I thought MON had complete control over the running of the team (including transfer fees, wages and contracts). I think I remember hearing that he wanted complete control as one of his prerequisites (I'm impressed that I've used that word) for joining us in the first place. This would also tie in with not having a chief exec while he was here.

Realistically Martinez is the man I want to be our next manager.

"He's done his best to win over the Aston Villa supporters" - Hilarious commentator on McLeish

I fear this is actually true.

This is turning into a fine display of how to dominate a game without actually scoring.

So far - little short on quality but can't fault the effort. Why can't we play with this sense of urgency every week?

What a goal that could/should have been!

30,016

Taking Reo Coker off was bizarre, I much prefer Makoun as a footballer but he was absolutely woeful yesterday (can't believe he polled any MOTM votes) and nobody around us could believe it was Coker he took off and not Makoun.

I'd have took Makoun off, stuck Downing in middle alongside Coker. Switched Ash to left wing and put Gabby on up top with Bent in a straight 4-4-2 formation

Bent was bloody woeful too. He seems in a daze at the moment.

I'd already accepted last week that we're on course to go down, and yesterday just confirmed my suspicions. Too many players playing well below their powers and not giving it their all

This.

Perhaps Newcastle's medical revealed that Ireland is actually just a massive prick.

How many fans did we take up today? They were in fine voice!

total attendance was 17,700 i think, around 5,300 ish was us!

superb support! sheffields a shit hole! i want to go home!

walker was great, dunne was great, friedel was great, gabby was quiet again IMO.

first away game for a while and really enjoyed it! thanks villa and the supporters!

UTV!

Yeah support was great today - really enjoyed it!

Was anyone sat around the lower tier right hand side today? There was a lad in a pink shirt and a Sidwell look-a-like giving it the big un who took some serious abuse! Hilarious!

3 is my favourite. Says it all .

Laursen because he is simply our best player.

IMO the only players we need to get rid of (or should get rid of) this Summer are Samuel (done) Hendrie (almost done) Djemba-Djemba, Hughes, Ridgewell, those two young keepers and possible McCann. I am sure we will be buying some quality players in those positions as well as another Striker. No reason why we should get rid of any of the other youngsters.

I reckon that by midnight on 1st September 2007 this tread will be 821 pages long.

Shaun Wright-Phillips, Darren Bent and Luke Young for me please