FLVillan

Allan Evans springs to mind. Joined from Dunfermiline in 1977, left (I think) in 1988-89.

Ah yes, but I did enjoy a pint of Davenports once, and me mum drove a Rover...

I've been wondering that myself. Maybe they'll come out with a commemorative third kit in the new year?

My Top Three Home....

I grew up in Solihull and was definitely outnumbered by Small Heath fans growing up in the 70s and 80s - although the balance changed quite a bit in the early 80's when we were Kings of Europe. Slightly off the topic here, but I now work as ground agent at the airport here in Melbourne, Florida (close to Orlando) and we get about 15 TUI charter flights a week from Birmingham, Newcastle, Gatwick, Manchester, Glasgow (one a week from Bristol too!). Always interesting to see the footy shirts as people deplane. Birmingham Flights - about 50% Villa with the other 50% a mix of Small Heath, Baggies, Wolves, Forest, Cov, Leicester and Stoke. Manchester - 50% Citeh, 20% ManUre 20% Bin Dippers and 10% others like Everton, Bolton Gatwick - mixture of most of the London clubs and Brighton. High number of West Ham this week. Newcastle - 90% Newcastle and 10% Sunderland/Middlesborough Glasgow - 80% Rangers/Celtic with a few Hibs and some occasional others. Met a nice family last year all decked out in St Mirren shirts. Turned out they were friends of the Super McGinn family - nothing but nice things to say about the family. Bristol - mostly scarecrows and a few Cardiff supporters.

I think his radio silence is two-fold - one because he was off on holiday with his family as soon as the season ended. If he's like me, when going holiday he will switch off completely and focus on a nice mental break while focussing on his family... And two, because perhaps he doesn't feel unfairly treated at all and is not going to make public statements to jeopardize his prospects of a short-term deal elsewhere to finish off his career

Pure speculation, but.... I honestly think the decision was made based on whether we made it into Europe or not. If we had not, it's potentially 10-15 games less next year, and they probably saw Young as adequate cover for 40-45 domestic games. Now that we are in Europe, it's more games, more travel, and requires different tactics. It's also entirely possible that Unai was promised funding for a new fullback if we made Europe..... As we are not privy to conversations between club/player/agent, we could also speculate that he was demanding to stay on top-level wages while accepting a diminished on-pitch role. We can recall that Alan Hutton took a significant pay cut to stay. Maybe Young wasn't willing to do the same? We will probably never know... I honestly do not believe that the club deliberately did something to avoid giving him a "send off." After all, we witnessed a brilliant video and on-pitch send-off for a goalkeeper who played about 10% of first team games over a ten year period, most of which were in the lower division. If the club does that for Jed, then no reason to think they wouldn't have done something similar for Ashley. Downing was/is a word-removed, so no comparison for me.... 99% of players are loyal - to playing at the highest level they can, to their families, and to securing their financial futures.

Great Post. Couldn't have put it any better....

I'll take what "career-over-at-25" Reo Coker says with a pinch of salt.... Trying to look at this from a neutral/logical perspective, I saw a significant decline in James Milner at the Dippers this year - looking very much off-the-pace and out of place when he's been called upon. Almost felt bad for him a few times (except he played for the dippers so that's not an option).... I'd hate to see that happen to Young here at Villa, and as such he'll be remembered well for his performances, still able to put in top performances, rather than being rolled out as a desperate measure and being seen as a liability. I imagine he (Young) was on very good money, and Lange/Unai will look at things from a financial standpoint and know that we can bring in someone 10-15 years younger, on similar or lower money.... Professional sports is a business whether we like it or not...

I'd be surprised if we sold Dendoncker to be honest. He's a very versatile player with experience and has not let us down (except arguably the single mistake against Stevenage). Great option off the bench and/or to cover injuries in midfield and in defence.

This is the most overlooked and perhaps shocking thing in this transfer. Rare to get a player of this quality at this age on a free. Plenty of over-30 types run down contracts and always a good number of academy "rejects" but to get a proven international with (potentially) his best years still to come is real coup in my mind...

Scott Hogan and Danny Ings... I'll see myself out...

Played six seasons in the Premier League, playing 166 premier league games including runners-up in 92-3, league cup winners in 1994 and again in the 1996 league cup winning team (had to have an injection in his shoulder before kick-off). Premier league Player of the Season in 92-3. He was a regular in the Villa team until the end of 95-96 season. Part of a back-three that included Southgate and Ugo under Brian Little after partnering Shaun Teale under BFR.. Played on at Derby in 1996-97 season.

How ironic that you ended that rant with.... uneducated.... And you stayed 8 1/2 years???? But you're right, the millions of transplants from the northeast and midwest to the fastest-growing state in the country are all mental rednecks. All of them. Not a solitary educated person among them. Wow.

Agree that Miami has a good amount of crap areas (just like every city in the US including Denver), but that's one hell of a broad brush to paint the entire state with mate. How long did you live in the state?

Being in Rotterdam, 41 years on, still ranks as the most memorable day of my life. Just don't tell the wife that!

Every team in the midlands region (west and east) have bitterness/jealousy towards Villa. Stoke, Notts, Derby, Leicester, Coventry etc etc. We are, by far, the biggest and most successful club in the region. That region extends all the way down to the Watford gap and all the way up to the M56.

Agree 100% on this. As he got older he started to become one of my favourite characters. Really doesn't care what people think, knows how good he is/was. Always made me chuckle. I was fortunate to see him play for Sweden in Stockholm in a world cup qualifier against Portugal. Sweden lost 3-2 and Ronaldo scored a couple - but he was on a different planet to every other player on the pitch that day. I always knew he was an exceptional player, but until that day I didn't realize just how good he was....

That coaching team was an ideal mix. Three Villa men in Little, Gregory and Evans - all with very different personalities that combined to get the very best out of the team and give us that edge that only can come from Villa men in charge.

First of all, brilliant idea for a thread, and the initial post I would agree with 100%. Especially that Leicester game that propelled them to the title and us to the championship. I have a two games to add, both involving Derby County.... 1990 we sign Cascarino mid-season (terrible purchase because Ellis refused to pay the extra ten quid for Sheringham). Cascarino makes his away debut at the baseball ground and midway through the first half plants a bullet header that was destined for the bottom corner, until a world-class save from Peter Shilton. If that had gone in perhaps his Villa career would have taken off and he'd have scored the goals to get us the title. Instead he was a poor man's Ian Olney and a complete waste of money. 2019 Grealish makes his comeback from injury at home to Derby, having been handed the captaincy by new manager Dean Smith. He scores a worldy in a 4-0 hammering of the Rams to spark a ten-game winning streak and send us into the play-offs. Ironically we would then beat Derby 2-1 in the final to seal promotion and an aggregate score of 9-1 against Fat Frank's Derby in three games that season.

I've got a flat ex. Curvy everywhere else though....

And now they've "written to the PGMOL for an explanation of the decisions made" from the match. Good God, they just won't accept that another team came to their ground and played well and didn't roll over for them.

There was definitely a big mess at boardroom level for sure and changes were needed. Ron Saunders leaving was the straw that broke the camels back. Unfortunately, Ellis was able to come back in and take advantage of the mess. However, what is more notable is that the club achieved more on the pitch in the 4 years that Ellis was away (he actually joined the Small Heath board at one stage) than during the 30+ years he served as chairman.

And that's the funniest part of Wright's "analysis." He would have been caught offside time and again and would have resorted to berating the linesman and his teammates. These ex-players in the media talk like they were unstoppable machines who never had off-days. Wright's inconsistency was what kept him out of the England team for most of his career. He thrived when playing against slow, clumsy centre-halves in and around the box.

I think what the idiots on the BBC are (also) missing is that we don't play that high in every match. Unai adjusts it according to the opponent and situation. Plenty of times we've played in a much deeper block.