chads

wasn't at the game as I am living abroad for a year but absolutely buzzing with the result and reading all the positive comments on here. reminds me of the early stages of MON's villa career after a few dreary seasons people were proud to have their villa back. onwards and upwarcs, lets hope this is the start of a Lamberty dynasty.

Anybody who says they don't want OGS because of the FIFA rumour is undoubtedly a complete cretin.

im interested if still available

massive long shot but I am after 2 spare tickets if anybody knows of any going?

anyone know what song theyre singing to the tune of 'shit on the city'..

it goes - small heath alliance, small heath alliance...(something) x 2 then?

Hi General, (mods - please do not remove)

I hope you are well.

Before I start, may I just say that you, Randy and the Board are the best things to have happened to AVFC in my lifetime. You breathed live into a club going nowehere under O'Leary/Ellis and have given me my most exciting times following Villa. I have spent the last 5 or so years spreading the gospel of Randy Lerner's AVFC and everything the board have done since they came in. I have and still am genuinely proud of the club and our owners. I am one of the most positive fans you will ever meet, read any of my previous and i'm sure the vast majority will show you that I always look at the glass half full and passionately argue the toss with doom mongerers and moaners.

Friends, family and colleagues have told me from the start of the GH reign and especially with our sequence of recent bad results, that he is past it - a bad appointment and a big mistake from the board. I have argued against them, always stuck up for him and said that I will not judge him until he has had a full season with his own squad of fit players. He has been left with an average, overaged squad and has alot of injuries.

However Gerard Houllier's position as Aston Villa manager is untenable. Forget the awful run of form and results, forget how out of touch he is with the modern game, forget the gutless performances of recent weeks, forget turning the leagues meanest defence into an absolute calamity, forget the embarassing 0-0 draw at home to blues where we played with 1 up top and looked happy with a draw, forget the fact that none of the players repsect him. Forget all that.

The reason his job is now untenable is becuase on Monday night he cheated on us. I'm sure when you appointed him he was viewed as the best man for the job, much like when you choose a girlfriend or wife you see them as perfect for you. They are perfect in every way until they cheat on you, until they dance with another bloke and mug you off infront of everyone at the party, until they show you how much you actually mean to them by ignoring you when their ex is at the same party and they're constantly looking to wave at them or re-ignite the old flame. Things are never the same after that. And this is what GH did to our club on Monday night. He mugged us off...the great AVFC, the founders of the Football League, The European Champions, the Holte End, the fans.

He can win the next 10 games on the trot but it doesnt matter. This issue is beyond football. We have been cheated on, and Randy and the board have to uphold the traditions of the club and send him on his way. It hasnt worked out, he's made his bed and he can now go and lie in it.

P.S - you can also 'unforget' all the absolutely garbage managerial decisions/qualities he has made listed above.

Please pass this onto Randy. I apologise if I have gone over what has already been said but I had to write this.

As always, sir - massive respect to you.

Thanks for your time.

Chads

got my tickets today!!! always knew id be there. COME ON THE VILLA

ok they have sold out and apparently i missed out by about 5 minutes!

I would do anything to get a ticket for this game so if anybody comes across or has a spare ticket then please PM me! Im willing to pay over the odds as I havent missed a derby game and cant imagine not being there.

Any help would be massively appreciated!

is there anybody who can get tickets in the early stages of the sales who isnt planning on going and would be willing to sell their tickets?

I have been an s/t holder for 10 years prior to this year but couldnt afford it this year. will be absolutely gutted if i miss it, havent missed a derby for years...and have been to most games this season.

any help would be really appreciated.

cheers

are there any s/t holders who arent planning on going that are up for letting me use their references?

i have been an s/t holder for 10 years prior to this year but couldnt afford it this year as i moved into my own place! will be absolutely gutted if i miss it, havent missed a derby for years...

any help would be really appreciated.

cheers

i really think this should be our song for the new boss, sung to show our support.....the tune of 'hey jude'

NA NA NA NA, NA NA NA NA

HEEEEEY HOULLIER....

good appointment, the board should be congratulated for keeping their heads whilst everyone (most internet message board fans) lost theirs.

houllier will bring a breath of fresh air to the club and the different perspective we need. i am fully behing him, randy, the general and everyone working behind the scenes to do their best for us and our club.

HOULLIERS CLARET & BLUE ARMY!!

their fans nearly blinded me with a coin when i was sitting in the lower north last year. absolute words removed the lot of them

There was no breaking point, no tipping point, I've no idea when I reached the threshold it was more a creaping realisation a gradual dawning over weeks, months, even the last couple of years.

I no longer love football. Or rather I'm no longer in love with football.

Sure I still have an affection for the game, the sort of affection that will last with me until the day I die. The game no longer consumes me though, it no longer grips me the way it used to.

I grew up living, breathing football, loving the absolute essence of the game. Even as it was in dark days of Hillsborough, Heysal's and Bradford some of the darkest days the game has and will ever know in this country the game was still magnificent, it was simple and it was ours.

It was the peoples game still, footballers weren't out of touch with reality, they lived near the fans, I grew up on a street with Kevin Gage a then Villa full back. He drove either his club sponsored Rover with logo's all over it or his misses Escort.

They were normal people, earning more than the average guy but not so much that they earnt more in a week than most earned in a year.

Players weren't plastered all over the papers for rape, for spit roasts and battering people in McDonalds or because some DJ wouldn't play some **** over paid arseholes favourite song.

The game wasn't perfect, I'm not kidding myself or trying to kid others. It had its issues, plenty of them. I know people have a tendancy to look back with rose tinted glasses, to only remember the good and think everything was more pure in the past.

Well this isn't rose tinted glasses, I remember clearly the issues and the problems of football back then but I still prefered it. I'd swap todays game for it in a heart beat without a moments second thought.

So much of the game now turns my stomach, makes me sick, distgusts me that I find it impossible to love the game the way I once did. Sure people aren't dying on the terraces any more which is a wonderful thing, not everything that has changed about the game is bad.

Yet so much is, how can you love the game the way you used to when the game is so sick and detached from those who remain the life blood of the sport?

We have a national team that looks like it couldn't give a ****.

We've a league packed full over players who earn a fortune but appear to care little about the game.

We have players in courts every other week on all kinds of charges.

We have semi finals at Wembley because of money.

We have as many corporate fans as real fans from each side at our cup final.

We have a player reported to be earning over 200k a week at Man City. Man **** City.

We have kids all over the country growing up sporting Utd or Chelsea without a **** care about their local club thats going to the **** wall.

The game isn't the same, its been polluted by money and greed.

I still love it, I will always love it, but in love with it? The way I used to be, the way I always thought I would be? No, not even close any more.

The passion has faded and I can only see it getting worse.

In 1990 we had Terry Butcher, in 2010 we had John Terry. Kind of says it all doesn't it.

a great summary Trent. I have just watched the Italia 90 documentary - real men proudly representing their country, and playing for the love of the game.

yes. i was saying to my mates after the germany deafeat that 2010 is the year i think i have begun to fall out of love with football. there is just so much wrong with the game that if i started on a rant i would be here this time tomorrow still typing. 50% of the players are just complete arseholes, and the money that they receive is absolutely ludicrous. there is absolutely no way that they can relate to the common man - and their attitued on the whole are just digusting.

we at villa are quite lucky in that there are some good honest lads like jimmy milner, richard dunne, friedel, warnock, petrov etc who are good solid professionals but still that doesnt change the fact that the sport has been ruined my murdoch's millions as a poster on another thread said a week or so a go.

I just don't believe this. We've gone form being completely on top to under pressure judt like that.

The usual after we have scored, for some reason...

its called a game of football. its what happens. especially when one team are fighting for their lives.

deary me

when i'm older and telling my kids about watching villa i want to say 'i saw them lift the fa cup at wembley' not 'i saw them finish 4th in the league once'. simple

anyone know when the date will be announced? as in sat or sun?

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaah

this is the real villa! I love MON!

General,

We would absolutely love to have you at Wembley - you deserve to be there! Did Randy hear us singing his name last night, I'd like to think he realises how much we appreciate your efforts and how much a trip to Wembley means to Villa fans, especially those like me not lucky enough to have been before!

UTV

It was a frustrating game, but I can't understand all the negativity personally. If Gabby's finishing was on form we would have won comfortably. As it was, he missed a few glorious chances and West Ham had something to hold onto. We created enough chances to win that game, but we didn't.

We lacked invention, but West Ham did 'park the bus', even the 'big' teams struggle against such tactics sometimes.

I read all this 'We've no chance of the top 4 because of this result' as an overreaction. Plenty of teams have dropped points this weekend and will do as the season continues.

I felt the overall performance was decent, I must be in the minority on here.

Richard Dunne for president.

In order to understand it mate, you must realise that 90% of people on internet message boards like these havent got the first clue about what they're talking about.

Good summary Pompey.

you win some, you lose some. we've never had it so good. move on. big game sunday where we need to stand up and be counted.

UTV

has anyone driven to the emirates before? do you have any parking advice?

MON's biggest mistake is taking the booing at the wigan game to heart. He should have realised that anybody who booed that day was a complete and utter moron and the true supporters of this club were in the quiet majority. The 'modern' football fan who wants success and wants it now, without seeing the bigger picture is an idiot.