Caravella82

We do deserve him though. And he deserves to be at a club where supporters appreciate him. Villa should never have become a club where inexperienced Managers are given a chance to prove they can manage at a higher level. Owners should have viewed the club as belonging to the highest level but last time that happened was with Big Ron as a league title then became a possibility. You are right though. Emery isn't just a common Football Manager. He is one of the World's best.

I do respect your kinder outlook on the Ellis era changes to the stadium and I am grateful that the club had remained in the same location but I don't agree that the old Trinity was falling down. The manner in which the club went about its demolition was covered in so much denial, broken promises and lies that I detest those involved. A more thoughtful Ibrox style redevelopment was never on their agenda as this would have increased the cost and they were looking to spend the absolute minimum that they could get away with. The result being the mess that is the current Trinity. I think the classic ground comment often comes about due to the fact that decades of underperformance from Villa has resulted in the Super league 6 gaining more than their fair share of favourable results against us. FA Cup semi finals and the unique exterior of the old Trinity and now the Holte End plays its part in that too though as they gave it that an old stadium feel.

Not for me and at the time, not for Ellis either. Redevelopment was forced upon many clubs in the aftermath of the Hillsborough disaster and the Taylor report. This is why so many clubs changed stadiums in the Nineties (Eg. Sunderland, Coventry, Middlesbrough and Derby) and why most were redevelopment in some manner. Villa unfortunately were ran by a man with no care for how the stadium looked as long as it meant as few pennies as possible were spent. And Ansell's (Financial Director in early 2000's) quote at the time went as follows: 'You can't expect a business, particularly in the service industry, to offer the sort of facilities that are required today in a 76 year old building". Ellis had many priorities but offering Villa fans value for money was never one of them. Being forward thinking was not his forte either. Appropriate though that that quote is valid now for two of our current stands. But the advantage is I believe that now we have two far more advanced thinkers in Sawiris and Edens as our Clubs owners.

100% agree with Dakota on this. Villa park has been irreparably damaged by the Ellis era. But what it still has in its favour is that it is in the same location that all our fellow Villa fans have made the journey to for over 100 years.

I agree but if Kaine Kesler Hayden is having to thumb a lift I worry about cost cutting in other areas!

As we have been for most seasons in our history. I don't think that is enough for our owners. They will want to be one of the best in the world.

I really do hope that Sawiris and Edens have ideas for Villa park that far exceed what was previously put forward as in a similar way to how Politicians concern themselves with what their legacy will be, the same can be said with owners of Football clubs. McGregors legacy was the Football league and its most successful club. Rinders legacy was the Old Trinity Road stand. Ellis legacy was decades of underperformance, unspeakable vandalism and the current standard of Villa Park. Unfortunately Lerners legacy was one of wasted funding and eventual neglect (Although I will always be thankful for his redevelopment o the Holte End and Holte hotel). Sawiris and Edens, who have mirrored Manchester City's owners on a number of endeavours, could possibly regenerate the Aston area in a similar manner. It depends on what they would like their legacy to be.

Right next to Witton Hall, The Witton Tavern and The Witton Expressway! As much I enjoy reading this thread for opinions that differ from my own, I am yet to read one that can convince me that Villa's stadium doesn't belong exactly where it is right now. Does it need redeveloping? Yes. I'd even go as far as to say I dislike 3 of it's stands. But it's location isn't the problem. I'm just more than aware that a move will give me infinite things that I'm likely to despise even more than the stadium as it is right now.

At some point change will happen with Villa Park as I believe the owners will not allow us to be left behind any club after working so quickly to turn us into a club capable of challenging the established top 6. When that change happens or in what guise, whether it be redevelopment or a new location, only time will tell. I guess different individuals will push for their own preferences. Purslow seemed very keen for redevelopment for the European Championships while Heck, I hope has more ambitious reasons to "pause" the plans. From what I've heard from Wes Edens regarding Villa Park is that he considers it our home in a similar manner that Fenway Park is for the Boston Red Sox. I'm still glad that the option was taken to put it on hold but purely because I think the designs could have been better. I can't help but feel that there was a complete lack of imagination or thought given to our unique heritage when compared to the planned redevelopment of Selhurst Park which appears to be a design unique to Crystal Palace but one absolutely designed in the 21st century.

I don't know. We wait years to have a state of the art inner city academy 500 yards from our stadium ... ... And then we start discussing moving to a new stadium built miles from that academy!

One person doesn't remember the Uefa cup Quarter final against Athletico Madrid. I've never heard any fans in any stadium make the noise Villa fans did that night. Player performance spark the fans and that didn't happen tonight. Too many individual performances were awful. Villa park isn't to blame for that.

If Quinn does go on to make 100+ appearances for Villa then the references to Gabby on these first two pages will certainly remain an unexpected start to his thread! Never Change Villa Talk!

I remain horrified because even though it should have been protected, no chairman with any affection for Villa's history or stadium architecture in general should have allowed that change to happen, let alone for something akin to it's replacement. For me, the red brickwork, stained glass and mosaics made Villa Park unique. Ellis turned it into just another stadium and in the case of the new Trinity, worse than many others. I visited Ibrox in September last year and couldn't help but be envious at the preservation of the Bill Struth Stand. Leg room is almost non existent but I can forgive that when I feel that I'm sat in such a historic stand.

The great Frederick Rinder quote came into my head when I read this. Copied with some backstory for anyone unaware of it. He led the club with an iron will until his resignation in 1925, when he stepped down largely due to the criticism he received for the cost of the new Trinity Road Stand, which had spiralled to nearly £65,000 (at a time when the country's costliest player cost £5,000). However, Rinder's view was that nothing but the very best was good enough for Aston Villa with its stained glass, Italian mosaics and grand frontage. He said:

If a new stadium was to be built elsewhere an Architect would be given a clean slate based around wherever that new location is. It would bear no resemblance whatsoever to what The Holte end looks like now. Nor should it. The Holte End was designed as it was to accompany the old Trinity Road Stand and the Old Trinity Road Stand was designed as it was to represent it's proximity to Aston Hall. Any designs belong to the locations in which they are situated. (It's just Cheapskate Owners that create eyesores by refusing to hire architects!)