Pongo's Socks

He's still learning on the job. Some will say that's not good enough considering the ambition we have. But the reality is, he's only 3 years into his first massive job, and we're only 3 years into being a 'proper' club again, after years in the wilderness (I mean numerous seasons of barely surviving in the Prem, along with the time in the Championship). The progression we've made since he came in is huge, that's undeniable. I like the patience that the board seem to have with him, they seem to have a long term plan, and see Deano as part of it, and look like they're willing to stick to it. Yes, he's had money. Yes, he still makes mistakes. Don't get me wrong, he frustrates the hell out of me sometimes. He can seem very stubborn at times. But I think Dean and the club are moving/improving at roughly the same rate.

Thanks ever so much, I'll give that a go

Yeah it's weird, If I log in under my name and try to allocate him a ticket, I get that message, If I log in under his it says 'on sale soon', like he's got to wait for general sale, even though his membership number is showing. God knows. Cheers again

Just tried that mate, keeps saying 'the number of tickets exceeds his allocation'. Can even see all of our booking history from pre-covid, he went to 10 games that season. Cheers for the reply though

Right, I'm about to launch my phone/tablet/head through a window. I'm stuck in an endless loop trying to link my lads membership to the ticketing page. His digital membership is up and running, we can log in under his name (using his mom's email address because I'd already used mine), his fan ID shows up, but for the life of me I cannot see where to link his ID to the ticketing page. Finally got through on the phone after days of trying, spoke to some lovely, helpful Scouse girl (seems it's a national call centre, not anyone affiliated with the Villa), she logged in for me, and told me it was all up and ready for him to link his ID. Guess what? It aint, back in the endless loop. The screenshot on the website showing you where to enter the fan ID does not appear on my browser. I'd swear it was me being thick, but after hearing others having had trouble I just dont know. In the meantime, Everton tickets are selling out fast and at this rate we'll be taking a punt when they go on general sale.

After losing You-know-who, and considering his contributions over the last few years, I think anywhere around 11th would be some achievement. I also think it would prove we've had a good transfer window, and that we've learnt not to be reliant on one player/tactic. But I also think we may be quite lucky with the amount of other teams going through similar transitions, Wolves, Palace etc with new management, Saints, Norwich losing influential players, and Newcastle blowing hot and cold like they always do. Then theres Everton and West Ham who I find really difficult to work out consistency-wise. Surely Brentford will struggle at times, but conversely surely Arsenal will improve? So I could see us stay where we are, I could also see us improve by maybe one or two places. But as this is the 'expectations' thread I'll say this: I expect champions league qualification, the North Stand to be replaced with a Holte End clone, and beating Shi**y in the cup final during which the snake does a Slippy G and pulls his hamstring, leaving a real local hero to score the winner. Anything else is failure

I've just sent this to my boss and told him I expect this kind of welcome on Monday morning

Congrats and have a lovely time! Me and the missus got wed in Cornwall, on the 26th of May a few years back. My Villa fan ushers chuckled during my speech when I said the date would forever be ingrained on my heart

Wasn't our goals against really good with him in the side too? Seem to remember we went quite a few games without conceding when he was in the side?

We did the tour last summer, it does look very smart when you first walk in. The boxes have been knocked through into large lounges with nice bars and seating areas. But when you go upstairs to the restaurant area (being used as a players lounge at the mo I think?), it did kind of feel like papering over the cracks to me. I might be being a little unfair, there was a bit of improvement work going on. Haven't watched a game in there for about 15 years, sat upstairs and it was awful. We sit upper Trinity now so it's world's apart in terms of facilities. Saying that, it still had a certain charm, if you like cramped seats, huge queues, and puddles of wee on the bog floor

Our back 4 would all get picked for England if they played for manure

I thought he did well today, especially second half. He does sometimes seem a bit slow getting back, but perhaps it's due to the advanced positions he gets into when we do have the ball? He's picked first and foremost as an attacking option, and we are playing with 2 defensive midfielders in front of the back 4, maybe a bit more organisation of Luiz or Mcginn could mean one of them is helping out the full back?

Hello everyone, new poster here. I've thought this for a while. We have the most fouled player in the league playing for us, yet fail to capitalise on it as much as we should. Since Conor hasn't been a regular, there's nobody I get exited about taking a free kick. We've got some decent crossers of the ball, and players we know can hit screamers from distance every now and again (although not recently). You'd think with some of the attacking quality we have, there'd be someone who can grab the ball in those situations, and you'd know there was something special about to happen.

Long time lurker here. Been supporting the Villa since the 80s. Too young (just) to remember the title win/European Cup. Got my football mojo back a couple of seasons ago when my eldest lad started showing an interest. He didn't have a choice, he's a Villa fan (child cruelty, I know) Great memories of Wembley trips, the old Holte End, and actually competing in the League! Nice to meet you all Matt