NeilS

If this article is correct, it looks like he is scheduled to arrive early next week for medicals etc. "Villa fought off Bayern Munich to secure the 26-year-old, who is scheduled to arrive in England at the start of next week to complete a medical and sign the paperwork." From Birmingham World I have no idea how reliable Birmingham World are though, the article is made up of old quotes etc.

No not really. I guess it depends on how much value you put into the Villa life aspect of the plans. That part of the plan may well happen in a few years anyway, depending on how things work out in the next few years. I think people’s angst is caused by being let down in the past on these plans. We need to remember and repeat to ourselves, NSWE are not Doug, Randy or Dr Tony.

A brief update from my pov. There was a letter from Villa that was put on twitter by a fan a few pages back (see near top of page 223) on this thread. There have been some alterations to plans, and the Villa life section has been sidelined temporarily and the old stumps building retained in the mean time to be the Villa Life part of the plan in the short term. The Villa shop is to be incorporated into the new design of the North Stand. I think it is all due to start next season.

Is he the guy who replaced Ronaldo in a match for Portugal at the last WC and promptly scored a beauty before going on to bag a hat-trick? If so he looked great in that match, so I am on board with this suggestion.

100% this! Pau Torres is known to be progressive and bring the ball forward as well. Which will in turn hopefully draw opponents out of position towards him and freeing up space in the gaps left for our midfield and attack to exploit.

Yeah, looking at every other teams signings so far the only decent player that we haven’t signed is MacAllister to Liverpool. I think patience is going to be required this summer, as top players are going to be harder to prise away from their clubs without overpaying. Monchi hasn’t even started his role with us yet, so I am not sure what people are expecting right now.

Yeah I wasn’t sure either tbh. It’s one of those, starts outside the box and falls in the box. We would want it checked if it was against us. It may have passed a quick check, or they couldn’t be bothered as the match is done.

The Customary Kane Penalty, and he didn’t have to dive to win this one for himself!

This could be a good move for the lad to gain some vital playing time and experience. From Birmingham Live quoting Alan Nixon so might be rubbish. Exeter eying loan deal Aston Villa youngster Viljami Sinisalo is reportedly set to join Exeter City on a season-long loan. The 21-year-old is Villa's third choice goalkeeper and has featured on the bench for Unai Emery's side during the past season. Sinisalo joined League One side Burton Albion on loan last summer before returning in January. Despite making just eight appearance for the Brewers, he is said to have caught the eye of Exeter, journalist Alan Nixon reports. It is said that Villa understand he needs regular game time to progress, and see the League One side as a good opportunity following a previous spell in the league.

I think we can all relate to that quote.

Yes, this problem was being discussed back in the Randy Lerner days and probably even the Doug Ellis days. I have no idea why we seem to be down the list on the release date of kits, it doesn't seem to have changed with the owners or when we have changed the kit manufacturers?

I am not sure to be honest. I just recall it being mentioned from the results of the fan questionnaire that there were issues with the station and it being dangerous to catch a train out after the match due to crowding. The train won't help everyone, but every little bit that can be improved will hopefully have a knock on effect.

It is nice to look at the fixtures without really fearing many games these days. That is testament to NSWE and Unai Emery’s great work. Yes, It’s a tough start away at Newcastle, but I now think we can put up a good challenge against most teams, and I think I am usually a pessimist. The only team I am not confident about getting a result is Man City.

Yes I think we could easily go ahead and just start to build the new stand. I do think the club are very aware of the transport issue getting worse as a result. Therefore I reckon we are just holding fire on announcing a start date to keep the pressure on the council to agree to stump up funding on their part for the station which will ease match day traffic and improve the links into the area. That is why we saw the article I posted yesterday where Cllr Lee Marsham and Cllr John Cotton are highlighting the financial benefits of the outlay to the wider area if we win the bid for the Euros. A clear message of £30m outlay now could bring over £100m to the local economy in the near future.

Interesting, this may be a key to why we haven't heard a start date for the project yet. Hopefully the funding for the upgrade to the station will be approved shortly so we can get cracking on the project. Villa Park holds key to £117m city cash boost as railway station plea intensifies Leader of Birmingham City Council John Cotton spoke with Aston Villa chiefs last week to discuss stadium development plans Aston Villa will find out in September if their home, Villa Park, will host the UEFA European Championships in 2028. And should the UK and Ireland’s bid be successful, leader of Birmingham City Council John Cotton believes it will boost the local economy by £117 million. Villa Park is one of ten stadiums which are part of the UK and Ireland’s bid to host the tournament. Others include Wembley, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, St James’ Park in Newcastle and Hampden Park in Glasgow. It’s understood Villa are awaiting funding from the West Midlands Combined Authority which, in 2021, funded the £30m redevelopment of Perry Barr railway station ahead of the Commonwealth Games. Speaking at Birmingham City Council’s full meeting on Tuesday (June 13), councillor Lee Marsham (Nechells, Lab) put pressure on Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, to stump up the millions needed to upgrade Witton Station in line with Villa’s grand plans to improve their stadium in the months and years to come. In response, Cllr Cotton said: “Now, clearly we want visitors to have the best possible experience so improvements to Witton Station are important, not just for this tournament but for the local community and for Villa fans who are travelling for games in the future.

Tielemans will be a great signing for us if Unai can get him back to his best. I am fairly confident of that having seen him turn around the form of current players this season. Welcome YT.

Steve Hodge from when I was younger, We have had numerous from the relegation years later on.

I am not sure if this is the right place to put this? Conor Hourihane to coach U16s Conor Hourihane to coach Aston Villa U16s next season The Cork man will continue his playing career by day while coaching at former club Villa by night. The 32-year-old Bandon man confirmed to West Cork newspaper The Southern Star that he will continue his playing career — likely at Derby — while coaching at his former club Villa by night. Hourihane told The Southern Star Sport podcast that, “as it stands”, he is set to remain with the club for whom he scored seven goals and laid on 10 assists across 44 appearances last season, earning himself a spot in the League One Team of the Year. However, Hourihane still lives in Birmingham where the Villa U16s train in the evenings, which will allow him to significantly progress his coaching career closer to home from September onwards. “I’m going to be one of a couple of coaches,” said Hourihane, who began doing his coaching badges three years ago. “It’s amazing just to be involved in it.

Let’s hope not, nothing against MacAllister but I hope Liverpool crash and burn and we go sailing past them.

I might be wrong as I haven’t seen a lot of him but I also think the same. However, it could be the case that he is a bit like James Milner was for us in his last spell here. To an outsider looking in he is not a fancy name or overly exciting in what you see on the tv highlights, but you appreciate him fully when you watch him in your own team pulling the strings week in week out.

I did not see those comments to be honest, but I did go to that game. That is good to know, and why in the past I have always thought it best to spend big on a decent proven manager. We are in good hands for the foreseeable.

You could be right and It is hard to say for sure for was going through his mind in the brief seconds during the match. We will never really know unless Ty does a Roy Keane style autobiography when he retires.

My viewpoint on Mings is that I think he meant to Ibrahimovic one where he was out for revenge after he had been elbowed earlier in the match. I don't think he meant the one against Reading, I think that was just unlucky and more clumsy than anything but had a worse outcome for the Reading player. I think the Ibra one being fresh in the mind, gave the impression he was always doing it on purpose so the image had been set.

I think we will as well, but I am still scarred by a number of times we have fallen foul of so called lesser teams over the years. I am still raw from the defeat to Stevenage, but also remember being knocked out late by a late sucker punch goal by Helsingborg in the 90's, losing to Trabzonspor at VP after beating Inter Milan the previous round. That is before we even mention Bradford and Peterborough. I think I just like to ground myself and not getting carried away by vocalising my thoughts, and I don't like it when I see Villa fans dismissing the opposition sometimes as a gimme win. I do think we are in better hands now at Executive and First Team management levels than we have ever been during my time of supporting Villa, so I think we will be ok. I just don't want the players or fans to be over confident and take their eye off the ball, lets bring the atmosphere for all of the matches at VP even if it is against so called minnows. I agree that we will be in a far better position with our rotation options come the end of the summer, if Unai gets his targets. I am fairly hopeful that we will see some top quality signings arriving in the next few weeks to improve that.

I would love for us to give this competition a real good go next season, I don't want us to play a really weakened team with wholesale changes at any point in this competition next year. 1 or 2 younger players like Archer or Tim if they are not on loan somewhere then yes, but alongside our stronger 1st team players as a supplement. You can see from the players and fans at WHU how much it means to win this trophy. I want to experience that as well. We haven't won a trophy for so long, and I don't expect this trophy to be a gimme, but we stand as good a chance as any in this competition next season. Winning trophies becomes a habit, and we need to start somewhere. It has been too long!