Caravella82

That's a great read. For some odd reason I've never really connected the down period of the mid to late eighties to the need to claw back money spent on the North stand but it's great to hear that perspective. As a child of the Eighties I can only put this down to being too young at the time. Remembering stadiums constructed before the Taylor report, I can understand that it looked favourable when compared to most stadiums in the early Nineties but the architectural period to which it belongs has aged so badly I struggle to think of any other club of our stature that would have allowed the stand to remain for anywhere near this period of time. Everton maybe but, as we know, their move is imminent. Where I'm conflicted is that while I absolutely believe the North stand is long past its use by date, I have little to no faith that I will like any replacement for it because of a universal lack of lasting modern architectural work. Everything seems to be built for easy convenience at the cheapest cost possible. I did not like the plans for the North stand and I'm glad that the plans were paused for that reason. If our name and crest had been removed from the plans nobody would be able to guess the work had been done for Aston Villa and Villa Park. I would just like an Architect to design something that can be unique to Villa and still looked upon fondly in 100 years rather than a design with half of its frontage consisting of glass forcing me to think its Anfield 2.0 rather than a modern representation of what most people believe to be iconic Villa Park.

I really struggle with most modern architecture as I don't believe anything is constructed with any permanence in mind anymore. The old Trinity would have been looked upon fondly if it had stood for another 200 years while the current North, Trinity Road and Witton Lane stands are all in various levels of poor quality, and in the Trinitys case, less than 25 years after construction. The plans for the new North stand were no different as cost clearly played a part and any permanency did not. In 30 years we'll all be hoping that will be demolished too.

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!)

I haven't seen much of Rogers, but if he joins I hope this move proves to be a great deal. It does make me question FFP even more than I already do, though. Trust Unai completely but there does seems to be an incentive for Clubs to sell their best academy graduates for profit just to help their accounts. Does anyone know how Rogers compares to Aaron Ramsey and why, if similar in playing style, Rogers would be a preferred squad member?

I will never believe that Gabby Agbonlahor belongs anywhere near the other players on your list. For me, his lack of professionalism (To put it mildly) played a massive part in the 2016 relegation and he spent far too many years at the club without making a single positive contribution. My choices though are for the Premier League Era; Jack Grealish. The single most important contributor to our 2019 promotion and the same again for the 2020 Great escape. Then of course there is the £100m cheque to help keep the FFP Cronies at bay. And for all time: Sid. Our greatest player in our greatest team. He should be mentioned alongside the greats of any football club.

I don't mean to alarm anyone but there is a possibility that the Gold lion will only exist for the 150th anniversary year and then revert back to Yellow!

Cancelled the North Stand plans to get the Theme park back on track!

I would always choose a traditional approach but I would still like to see the club present multiple different options rather than the choice of two. I think the Forest badge is the best designed in the league, and as it turns out, not at a bad cost to them either. Do the new rules prevent us from running a competition like them then hiring a graphic design company to perfect the winning design out of the 20 or so shortlist put forward to a fan vote?

Plus I really don't think Villa are a hard sell at this point in time. I'd imagine Tom Fox could have got us a good deal if he'd been surrounded by Emery, Sawiris and Edens.

With risk of sounding like Roy Keane, I don't see why Heck is getting credit of lack of credit for this deal. It's his job. Making up poor excuses involving unsold tickets for why you don't want the North Stand redevelopment to go ahead rather, or presenting fans with a crest survey one year after the previous one just because you didn't like the previous results. That's not his job. He will struggle to convince me he is concerned about anything other than self promotion.