blandy

It's always the best journey of the season, for me, Middlesbrough. Not necessarily the best game, or the best away ground, but just the best trip. The reason why is the scenery on the way and today it was even more beautiful on the way back. The sun's gentle rays alighting in their soft, evening, way on the ancient landscape between the East and West of the country. Lambs with their little black heads trotting and mewling after their shaggy coated mothers in their stone wall enclosed fields, Lapwings twirling and wheeling, like black and white mini-stukas. Crows waiting for fresh road-kill. Marvellous. I'd set off this warm morning in hope. Hope because of recent better performances and results and hope because Boro seems to be a lucky ground for us. Lucky in that we always seem to play well there, even if we lose. The Riverside is a similar distance from Lytham as is Villa Park, so, it's not exactly a home game, but it's not to difficult to get to, at all, and with the aforementioned glorious scenery, I got my kicks on the A66 (except the bit with the roadworks, which was a pain - still I should have got up early enough to catch the train, but there you go, another story..). My arrival in 'Boro was made all the more pleasant by meeting up with PMS from VillaTalk, his lads and Jan. We talked of Blackpool, Edinburgh and Vodka aversion, and last year's tonking of the 'Boro over a couple of drinks and some food and then meandered our merry way to the ground. It sits there, spaceship like, or maybe just ship-like, on the waste-ground the other side of the A66 from the town centre. And so to the match itself. I guess most people will know the result, 3-1 to Villa, and I think it was a fair reflection of play. The game had started off with both teams playing the ball around nicely, a couple of chances for Villa - Shaun Maloney should really have scored, clean through, but turned instead of taking the ball on, and the chance was gone. He hit another long range effort left footed, which Shwarzer tipped for a corner. Anyway, the play was bright and tidy, neither side had any fear or any massive objective to chase, but it was entertaining. Then Boro were given a free kick about 25 yards or more out. Rochenbach (the announcer said) hit a powerfull shot past the wall, but Tommy was well positioned, and caught the ball half on his chest, half in the crook of his arm....and then let it squirm through and trickle into the goal, at his right hand post. Some of the maybe 1800 or so Villans cussed and abused, some chanted Tommy's name. Me, I just thought, hey ho, it's team game, all of us need to make up for the error. And we did. The goal had come after about 20 minutes and by half time we were level. Phil Bardsley, I think, played Gabby through, and his run down the right and subsequent cross found Craig Gardner unmarked in the middle to finish nicely, for his first Villa goal. Gabby's rocket heels and endeavour troubled Boro all game. With the goal coming just before half time we went for our half time refreshments lifted. The second half was much more one sided than the first. Villa ran it. The previously slightly tentative Ashley Young and Phil Bardsley improved and the rest of them maintained or lifted what was already a good standard of play. With each side attacking their own fans we got to see plenty of Villa pressure and skill. While George Boateng is a fine player, he was outplayed in midfield by Stan Petrov and Gareth Barry, ably assisted by Craig Gardner and Ashley Young. All game Martin Laursen and Olly were well in control of the tricky Yakubu and Freddie Bouma has his side sewn up, too. Perhaps 20 minutes or so into the second half Luke Moore came on for Shaun Maloney to freshen up our control of the game, and within a couple of minutes he was celebrating. A free kick played in by Ashley Young was headed down by Martin Laursen and Luke swiveled and shot past the blameless keeper. Luke looked mighty pleased. 5 minutes later, we were further ahead. Barry picked up the ball, passed nicley to Petrov's good run, Petrov slipped past the defender and shot into the corner. Sweet for Villa, sweet for Stan, and sweet for my friend Yordi (a Bulgarian), next to me, who would collect Stan's shirt after the game. Despite the sunshine outside, in the shade it was cool, and Villa kept their cool too, to easily see out the rest of the game. Steven Davis (lively) and later Aaron Hughes had a run out. All was well with the world. Some marks Tommy 5 - His distribution of the ball was good, he wasn't that busy, but he did drop a ricket. Still it happens. Bardsley 5 - Still learning, plenty of time to get the necessary "nouse" Olly - 8 - Dominant Martin Laursen 8 - Dominant - the two centre backs were absolutely rock solid. Freddie - 7. Good Craig Garner - Worked his socks off, scored a nice goal - 7.5 Stan - Lovely finish, lovely passing. He knows how to run a game when we're on top 7.5 GB - Class, as always - 7.5 Ashley Young - eager, 6.5 Shaun Maloney - 6.5 - another youngster with time on his side. Gabby - 8 MoTM - Full of it today. A right handful. Subs - Luke 7 (1 for the goal) - he scored, That's what forwards are there for. Steve Davis - 7 Aaron Hughes not on for long, 6. We played keep ball, we passed and moved, we entertained. Let's hope that our tomorrows bring more of the same, but better.

GB by an absolute country mile. Which I guess reflects both how really well he has consistently played, and also, sadly, how no-one else has managed to come anywhere near the level of consistency and performance we'd have liked.

I've just gone the other way, picking Gabby, over Gaz. Very close call, either would be a deserving winner. Gabby definitely had a dip in form, and should have been rested, I felt, but I think he's had more impact on results, so that's what tipped it for me.

Bouma for me, too. He's settled in nicely, now.

Blandy writes A sunny Easter Saturday saw 4000 Villans in Blackburn Lancashire. Spring, don't you just love it? Certainly today was a beautiful day. The early morning mists cleared to make way for a blue sky and short train ride to Ewood for my local game. One of the highlights of the season for an exiled Villan is to be able to make just a short trip to the game, rather than endure hours travelling each way. The local train pulled into Blackburn, and 4 of us went for a few sociable pints in the Adelphi. "Black Sheep" was drunk, perhaps in recognition of recent feelings about a few of the team. There were a few concerns about the line up, but I felt nervously hopeful as we caught the bus to the Fernhurst, closer to the ground. The beer's a bit averarge in there, but standing in the sun, meeting with a veritable horde of VTers, no one seemed to mind. The fans were boisterous but well behaved, as we wandered into the ground. After a quick meat n'potato pie (they had no brown sauce, which is shocking) I settled down to watch Villa control the game. All the action seemed to be down the far end. Villa's midfield probing and passing, and Blackburn doing little but defend. Friedel, that excellent shot stopper, was at it again. Last season he'd played a blinder in the correspondng game, though Baros had been hugely wasteful. This season, with no Baros, and his replacement out injured, we played with "wee Shauny" and Gabby as a tiny tots front two. No matter, they posses speed and trickery and with Berger giving a bit of a masterclass Villa were well on top. Like last season though, things didn't quite go to plan. Blackburn got the ball up to the Claret and Blue packed Darwen end, Gamst-Pedersen ran into the box, Bardsley tackled and down went MGP, for what looked like a delayed dive and a penalty. Somewhat soft, I thought. McCarthy lashed into the corner. Villa didn't bat an eyelid, we just kept attacking, and before long had equalised. Bardsley crossed, and Paddy Berger in yards of space seemed to flick the ball past Freidel with the outside of his heel. A bit of justice. We should really have been winning, but parity was the least we deserved. Straight after half time, Villa got a very dodgy penalty for a handball. Right in front of me, Craig Gardener, playing on our right, on the edge of the box, knocked the ball into a Rover. He couldn't get out of the way, really. Up stepped Gareth Barry, and after a delay he powered the ball from the penalty, but Friedel made a stunningly good save. I guess the ball was perhaps too close to him, but still, the power of it, and the ability to keep it out, rather than divert it into the goal was impressive. Blackburn, perhaps sensing their luck was in, and revitalised by their Manager making a number of substitutions, started to get on top a bit. Happily the ever popular David Dunn was closed down, Berger collected the ball and rolled it through for Gabby to zoom onto, round Friedel and roll it into the net. It was at about this point that I lost my voice, and the last 15 minutes took an age to pass. We were now under the sort of pressure that I'd have expected us to be under for more of the game. Free kicks and corners, headers, shots - they all seemed to be down the far end, now. Tommy and the defence stood firm, though. Aaron Hughes came on for Bardsley, Gav for Berger and Steven Davis for Maloney. Rovers hit the bar, we had a couple of breaks, and eventually the game ended. Huge relief was evident amongst the players and fans. A number of the players threw shirts into the away end. And then the Big Screen showed that the other Claret and Blues, Burnley, had triumphed at the Sty. Further cheering and joy. We have had far too few of these sort of days in recent seasons, but it was immensely enjoyable. The only thing left to do was go for some more beer, and then a curry. Some marks Tommy - 7 very assured Bardsley 6 - daft challenge for the pen, otherwise sound. Assist for the goal (Hughes 6). Bouma - 7. Rovers had no threat to us from his side. Olly - 7.5 Martin Laursen - 8. Both centre backs did exactly what you want them to. Craig Gardner - 6. Solid on the right. Stan Petrov - 6. Sat back a bit, but was tidy and cleaned up a lot and kept the ball. Gareth Barry - 8. Missed a pen, could have scored a couple more, but played well, as ever. Patrick Berger - 8.5 MoTM. Superb. Won the ball, held the ball, passed the ball, absolute quality. (Gav 6) wee Shaun - 6 can be pleased with his efforts (Steven Davis 6) Gabby 7 - Far, far, better through the middle. Looked confident. Took the goal superbly. Just a top top day out. I hope and believe there will be many more to come.

Nice article, Scott. Just as a bit of info, I thought I'd write down last season's last 7 results Arsenal 5-0 Villa Villa 0-0 Albion Villa 3-1 small heath alliance Wigan 3-2 Villa Villa 0-1 Man City Liverpool 3-1 Villa Villa 2-1 Sunderland Won 2, drew 1 lost 4 F8 A14 GD -6 Pts 7 I think we'll do better than that, this time round.

Neither are "worse". That implies they are "bad" They are not bad, just because they follow the fortunes of one team or another. Sport is a "free" choice - a small boy in the most dictatorial country can follow the fortunes of any team from anywhere in the world, and the results can make him happy or sad, same as for us lot. I guess that once upon a time, people just went along and watched their local team(s), but it's not like that now. Electronic communications and the like have made the world a small place. 'Noses mainly follow their local team, Brummie Reds follow Man U on the telly, some go, I guess. It's their choice, their decision. So what? I guess people who never go might not be (able to be) "supporters", but they are still "fans". They're them, we're us. We're not so different.

I was quite disgruntled with the style of the Sky presentation. I don't think they were "unfair", but they were sensationalising the game both in the build up and commentary. All this Villa plummeting, only won 2 in 19 or whatever. Well yes, but they made no mention of the number of draws, or gave any context really. Just over-egging the whole thing. Then, having done that they seemed mildly miffed that it didn't go according to how they had pre-ordained it would in the second half. Strangely, I thought Peter Reid talked some of the more common sense stuff on the programme, along with the presenter bod in the box who asked decent questions of him. At least beelzebub wasn't on.

Has JPA pissed off MON big time too? I agree, I think it very strange that neither of them was on the bench. And that 2 out of form players in Gabby and Ashley were in the team. Most peculiar. There must be a reason, but I dunno what it is. JAP I can guess is on the way out, so maybe MO'N has decided the same with Ridge and Luke. I hope not, with Luke, as he seems to be a genuinely good prospect.

same points after the same numer of games as last season. So on the field, no change according to the stats. We don't have the right blend, yet, and it's a transition from heading downwards, to heading hopefully in the right direction. As much as some people understandably get nervous looking down, it's also the case that the results yesterday, with Boro and Newcastle losing, give the opportunity to jump upwards and clear. Off the pitch, things are just immensely better. I believe that the transition has been remarkable, and it's still progressing. Once the effects of that huge improvement start to have more of an impact on the playing side, then we'll be a happy bunch again. I don't think the effect of the euphoria that accompanied the new board and manager should be ignored. That euphoria carried the team and fans and manager to some above par results in the first period of the season, but as it wore off, and as the weaknesses of the squad kicked back in, it has been hard work, and at times hard watching. Ultimately it's players that will make the difference on the pitch, and whilst we've recently got some good new ones in, there's a lot still to do. Until that happens, we'll have to keep on biting our nails and waiting...

That's blatant anti-Guardianista-ism, Nick [glad to be of service, between mung bean salads]

Sky make me miss games I've paid to see. Murdoch is a twunt Sky's coverage is good Virgin play the onnocent underdog despite being no such thing Branson is a twunt Never see Virgin Telly His trains are pretty good Neither.

Paul Barnes was lucky enough to be at the New Wembley stadium today. Here's his tale, the jammy git You want tickets for anything? Then meet my friend Roberto. He’s a bonafide Brummie/German-Italian (Don’t ask for explanations, its a long story). As soon as I realised that I wouldn’t get tickets through legitimate means it was time to give Roberto a call. ‘Si, no problemo. Your friend Roberto will take care of you, I speak to my man at the Italian federation’. A couple of days later he was back on the phone ‘Ok Paulo. I have good news and bad news’. I asked for the bad news first ‘You have to drive to team hotel and pick up tickets’. Oh I thought, I guess the good news must mean that he’s got one for me and one for George. ‘No even better Paulo, I gotta four tickets for you and your lovely wife’. Thats the other thing about Roberto; he’s pure Italian charm. So on the day of the game there I am amongst the best dressed football team in the world at the hotel. But no tickets have appeared. A desperate series of text messages go back and forth. I am in luck; Roberto has actually got up and fuelled by his sixth espresso, he says he will call someone, who knows the right man. I am impatient - should I just go up to one of the Italians? I try to remember the little Italian I had learnt - But would the directions to the train station be of any help? Damn. It looks like they're leaving. Roberto texts back. Its a woman I want. That's great - there is only one with the Italians. I approach and with a little charm and a kiss on each cheek and the mention of Roberto’s firm the tickets are secured. Three hours later and we are walking from the station; I of course had screwed up. It was the station furthest away the ground. Its at this point that you realise that for all the expense this is still one of the worst places to build a football stadium, let alone the national one. How I loathe this part of London, its what makes people think the whole place is ugly and dirty. Apart from that, the stadium is impressive in the way that football stadiums can be. Its big, but somehow it doesn’t feel like £700 million worth (or how ever much it was). And even worse, it still feels unfinished around the ground. From the rumour I've heard, the stadium was finished a long time ago. The problem was that they couldn’t agree how much it was or who was going to pay for it. Nothing would surprise me with the FA. We found our seats. Roberto had done well, we were in the "Club Wembley" seats, which are in the middle ring of the stadium and offer a fantastic view of the pitch and give you a real sense of the game. The pitch looked in pretty poor shape after just a few test games; much worse than a lot of premiership grounds that have had twenty or so games played on them already. I've heard that during the winter the pitch receives little direct sunshine; how strange. The players came on to a good reception. Though there were 55,000 fans, I must admit that there wasn’t that much noise, or rather the acoustics didn’t build up the noise. What was great was that for once English fans didn’t boo the Italian national anthem and even better, with the full national team elsewhere, there was no annoying band playing "The Great Escape". Most of you will have seen the game; what can you say? Six goals, including some pretty good ones made it enjoyable. It was clear that the Italians who enjoyed much less of the ball, actually made better use of it. Time and time again England were wasteful with it; no one more so than Kierian Richardson, who seems to be about as selfish as they get. Every time he got the ball he seemed to have the idea that it was his to keep and then to plant a shot anywhere he felt it. Ferdinard and Reo-Coker were poor - you can see West Ham's problem. Both of them seem to think they have made it when quite clearly they haven’t. Bentley was good, but the rest of the team were average. Milner didn’t look the same player who has been doing so well at Newcastle in the last few months, and I saw nothing that would suggest that he should be a target for Villa. I was surprised that Young only made a short outing as a sub late on, but was delighted that Cahill and Gabby played. Time and time again people have asked for Gabby to be played up front, and I could feel real frustration that he was placed on the left wing (though the BBC tells me he was upfront, he seemed to be hugging the left side); maybe this will make him want to play for Nigeria. Whatever the criticisms of Gabby I felt that in this position he was onto a no win situation. With Richardson refusing to pass to him time and time again, he had little to show or do and England failed to utilise his pace effectively throughout his 45 minutes. Gary Cahill I thought looked pretty good, nothing remarkable, though he must have been constantly worried about his partner who was wondering what time China Whites was going to open. The Italians, as I said, looked comfortable, though they followed an all too traditional path. Time and time again they were cynical in the challenge, which was very frustrating. The Italian hat trick scorer Pazzini was excellent. His first goal was an utter stunner (which even I clapped), his other two goals were well taken and his positioning was outstanding. Maybe we should sign him up. Anyway we all came away pretty happy; it had been a good opener for the new stadium. We walked past the champagne and seafood bar (will we ever see one of those at Villa?!) and out into the cold north London air and back to the reality of where we were. I was left with the same old question; why would anyone want to build a stadium in this place in this part of the country? At least when Villa make it here it won’t be too long a journey home for me.

Was I right or was I wrong?? You were broadly right - run of injury/off form players and we'd struggle. Guess what - Gabby, JPA, Hughes, Petrov!!..etc - off form. Laursen, Moore, Delaney - long term injuries...etc. Again, right - somewhere between top 4 and bottom 3 - mid table. We're 13th (not 14th). Mid table I said you may or may not want to see it, because to my mind we're where you said we'd be. So I kind of thought you'd like to see you were broadly right, but might not like to see that your expectations were somewhat lower than you appear to remember. Ok what's wrong with that its all true isn't it, and what I believed, in fact I still do, so why would I not want to look at it? Because you again seemed to be saying that >10th place for a couple of years would be a "revelation". i.e. don't expect too much too soon, despite MO'N and his 2 chums being a "proven act", but you seem now to be lambasting them for all kinds of "failue to meet expectations. That's the way it reads to me, anyway. I might be a little worried as we lie 14th and on the way downwards after having gained a new board, new manager, and having spent nigh on 20 million. 6-10 I wish and still have a little hope We're now 13th - pretty close to the 14th with a new manager, 12th with a new board, too, that I said, No?. MO'N sadly didn't get time to spend in the summer - OK Petrov was rushed through, but Milner went the other way (out). Check the comments on the Jan window in that thread. fetish? Are you sure?. You mentioned expectations people had, I thought I'd actually try and find out what they were. The threads are there for all to see, almost no-one expected more than mid table. So we're not falling way below expectations from the start of the season. Course they can. It's good to do so on the basis of evidence or argument. I quite like it when people say they've changed their minds, too. It happens rarely. It might be my engineering background, but I also like to check the "evidence" and logic, rather than go by emotional aspect, which change hugely after a win or two, or defeat or two. - Best ever/worst ever..etc. Anyway, I think our discussion may be sidetracking the thread. Sorry.

That's my point - no proof things will get worse, none they will get better. People reach a view on how they interpret the whole goings on at the club, on and off the pitch. That would depend on people's expectations. Our position now (13th) is pretty much in line with my pre-season prediction (apart from I thought we'd do better in one of the cups, though in my defence the draws were both as hard as you can get). So for me they are not worse than expected. A quick search of the archives reveals this thread and also this one. You may or may not wish to look at your own expectations from pre-season. From the same source that said he was off back up to Celtic? Genuine question - unattributed rumours are not always reliable. That's my view. They are not independent, but nowhere have I even hinted that I am unable to "diverge" the two. Fair enough. I don't agree. I don't think we have shown much progress, but I do nevertheless think we have made some progress, basically because the squad needed and still needs a good deal of surgery. We have just the foundations, really. I see them as having been shored up, but not yet really built upon. Fair enough, again.

Hard to say Al - I mean (in my perception) none are performing consistently badly. people may or may not have expected more from some or all of them, I don't know, but Petrov was taken out of the side when injured/struggling, and since coming back in he's been decent. Maloney isn't an automatic selection, Carew justifies his place easily, and Ashley Young has been mixed good and bad. Dropping him after what 4 or 5 games is it? some good some bad seems harsh. I can't really see how people conclude that he won't drop "his" signings, other than guesswork. I feel that MO'N is more inclined to give a player a run of games to show what he can do, rather than just one game, but that's not the same thing. Earlier in the season I'd have liked to see Steven Davis play in his proper position, when Petrov was playing with an injury. Currently I'd like to see Luke get a bit more time on the pitch, and Gabby a bit less, but having different views on who to play/not play in the team still doesn't constitute evidence of MO'N not dropping "his" players. Does it?

Different people will no doubt have different views as to how to implement it. Personally I like the idea a lot, as the re-arranged games can affect me quite badly. Again personally, I'd be happy to be "credited" with the "credit" going to the next season's season ticket purchase. I'm not rich, but having paid the money out at the start of a season, I consider it "gone" and for me, knowing that a re-arranged game at least means I will get my 25 quid (or whatever amount) back in the form of a discount off next season's season ticket (or perhaps just as credit to be used anywhere within the club - shop, travel, whatever) would be equally acceptable as a straight refund. There are obvious advantages in this for the club, too. It is really pleasing that the club is both listening and acting in this way. Thank you.

I pretty much agree with your assessment JC, though I thought the game was spoilt, too, by the wind. We were well organised, they were well organised, the game never got going. Barry, Gav, Bouma and Carew were all very good, Cahill good, too. Tommy's save at the end was superb reflexes. I think the ref was Mike Dean, and I thought he was pretty good, tbh. Maybe got the odd thing wrong, but that's just how it goes.

Equally, there's no proof that things won't be fine tomorrow. Why are people who think things might improve "fence sitting"? Surely some people are hopeful, based on what they see and some fearful based on how they see things. Neither is right or wrong, it's just a "feeling" each person will have. Some people's hope for improvement comes through in their style of posting, and some people's concern that things might not get better comes through in their style of writing. Both are entirely fair. I have as much trouble with "everything will be brilliant, we'll win the league next year, just, er, because we will and MO'N is brilliant" as I do with "everything is going wrong, MO'N is making a complete mess of it" Neither view stands up to scrutiny whatsoever. We all would. We all always will. We're all Villa fans. Frankly I have no idea whether we will do great, or carry on struggling. But I do know that now the whole club, including the vast, vast majority of the fans are for once united in trying to bring about improvement. Positivity has replaced the frustration and despair of the previous regime. It's a long time since that was the case. And as Pete Bosworth said, it's great. WE have a much better chance of improvement because everybody not only genuinely wants it, but because they are genuinely acting upon that aim. Whether it be fans supporting at matches, the baord providing money and facilities or players and manager doing the best they can. In some games it hasn't been enough, and that'll be the case for a good while, but lessons are being given, experience gained and if they are taken on board, I'd guess we'll be fine. Big changes are always disruptive and unsettling, it's when the dust has died down, that you can then get on with rebuilding. Once the rebuilding is done, then you can say "That's better" or "Oh, damn". work still in progress, methinks.

sums it up nicely, Pete.

A very welcome brief return from Pete Bosworth with a heartwarming tale of a conversion on the road to Bristol. The Holte End, Wednesday 14th March 2007. This is where I discovered the fundamental truth about today’s Aston Villa - the pride is back. No-one who was there could have failed to have been really moved by the Holte back into its glory, back into the way it was when I first fell in love with the Villa. The Holte was proud of its team, proud of the magnificent effort and commitment that was put in against a vastly superior team. The Holte didn’t give two figs for statistics, for League position, for the semantics of team selection. No, instead the Holte roared, sucking the ball towards the goalmouth in front of that mighty historic stand in a way that I haven’t witnessed in many a long and dire year as the young lads who wore the claret and blue fought for every ball, covered every blade of grass and gave everything they had and more for the cause. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up in sheer awe of that magnificent spectacle. There is nothing on this earth as beautiful as the Holte End like this, like 20,000 caged tigers, fierce, proud, unbelievably noisy. It was, quite literally, awesome. 20,000 fanatical Aston Villa supporters, supporting their team in the way their fathers and grandfathers did before them. I bet you could hear it at St Andrews. I can feel the fear from there already. They know what is coming for them next season. I had forgotten that this is what being a football supporter is all about. Roaring on MY team, on OUR home patch (yes, Villa Park actually felt like home for the first time since the ground was vandalized seven years ago) and feeling the pride, the sense of belonging, that sense of the Holte being one mighty organism, the love of the game, the love of the claret and blue. God I have missed that so badly. What a feeling to have it back again! My ten-year-old son had come along for a treat, to watch Arsenal. I wondered as he dozed in the car on the way home what he had made of that. Last night I found out. I went into his room, and he said “Look Dad”. There on the wall, replacing the posters of Ronaldinho and Totti, were posters of Gareth Barry, John Carew and Olof Mellberg. So my friends, before I leave you again, I will share this thought with you. You can take your grim statistics, your moaning and your grumbling and you can shove it where the sun doesn’t shine. THIS is football, this is what its all about - the passion, the belief, the faith, one little boy changing the posters in his bedroom 120 miles away from his new Mecca. You ask what Martin, the General and Randy have done for Aston Villa? This is what they have done. They have made Aston Villa into a football club again. Proud, loud and very much back. For that, I thank them from the bottom of my heart, a heart still filled with pride, with the hairs on my neck still standing on end when I think of Wednesday night, and my eyes still welling up a little at the thought of my little lad feeling it too. Thank You gentlemen, you have my 100% support, and as we say in our house: “Up the Villa!” Have fun, enjoy your football, and see you all again soon perhaps

I went to sheffield, and felt that frankly it's a game, (maybe like Donny, and Burnley and Sheff U in the cup under DO'L) that we might have lost if MO'N hadn't come in. It's an example, I think, of how things have changed. I said Villa were again obdurate in the face of the onslaught. Warms the cockles, after so many seasons of meek surrenders. in the linked report (also posted on VT) and while it may not be a sign of much, I do think it showed that things are improving, to an extent. Maybe only a little in terms of some results, but it's the getting beat easy thing that really got me down. We don't have that so much now. Little steps, maybe, but the ethos and mentality ingrained has to change, and it's signs of that change, even if not fully evident, that allow me to be optimistic, rather than to take the same view as perhaps Malc and yourself have. It's not a convincing argument, but then this isn't a debate about anything other than opinion and perception.

perhaps they can't see what you can?...or.... perhaps you can't see what "we" can? is it a case of "oh look my lad is the only one in step" (as the proud parent watches her army son march past on a parade? - are we all blinded similarly? The stats are well known, the results are poor. So why do people give MO'N "such an easy ride"? Perhaps we don't see MO'N as the weakest link, as you do? Perhaps we see that he's an asset to the club, albeit a human one, and that a team and squad that has struggled for ages and in which too many have an ingrained sense of inferiority, or who in many cases just lack quality or experience, or both, will take more turning round than is possible in a brief restricted week or two in August, and a January window. You said yourself at the start of the season that the squad was relegation zone standard, yet you don't see that as the weakest link? It lacks balance and stability and cohesion and understanding. The manager has to work to resolve these intangibles, and that means changing players round and finding out, all the while whilst paying mostly against settled and talented opposition, of a higher or equal standard. Far, far, too early in my book to be thinking of getting rid of the manager.

that's one point of view. And then the opposite point of view, in the same post. Most confusing. You appear to be calling your own reasonableness pathetic and beyond belief. They say a lot of people are their own harshest critics

I love these OBE reserve reports. Either the games are all exceptional, or OBE's a VT treasure.