NeilS

I may well be wrong and he may end up surprising us all, but if we appoint Dyche it will feel very similar to me as the McLeish appointment under Lerner. It woud make me wonder if the owners are being totally honest with us about competing with the top teams. We need to stop messing around appointing unproven managers, we need to stop appointing the middle of the road managers, and make a statement of intent by appointing a top class manager. It is the most important role in the first team, and scrimping on the pennies there can cost you many millions of pounds further down the line in wasted talent.

I agree, he didn’t deserve to lose his place at the time. His error today in front of Southgate would put that final nail in his coffin now. It’s probably for the best though, as I think England in Qatar is going to be a bit of a disaster this World Cup.

I think with that, Mings has now sealed a break from competitive football next month. He has proven Southgate right, and that’s him done at International level now.

100% agree. Purslow should not be getting involved in football matters, that is what Lange is employed for. It does however seem that Purslow does stick his nose in on these things, and that is a concern as that is not his strength and it hampers the job Lange is supposed to do. Purslow's role should be no more than to rubber stamp Gerrard and Lange's decision for football matters like recruitment etc.

I agree, Lange does seem to be Teflon coated. I guess ultimately his influence might not be seen as quickly as a manager, but then you see Newcastle’s new guy Ashworth come in and they are quickly flying up the table. I am not convinced that he is the best we could have got when we appointed him.

Well I’ve heard on the grapevine there has been a late change of plan with the crest, and they are removing the lion off the crest altogether. It’s being replaced with Steven Gerrards face as Purslow loves him so much.

I suspect he knows more than he is letting on. It wouldn’t look good if he said to a supporter “you know what, I have heard that hundreds of times this week”. He will play things close to his chest with regards those kind of things.

To be fair, you probably need a thick skin to survive in the heat of the Premier League and the inevitable fan abuse. Otherwise you would be a gibbering wreck within months of taking the job. (See former Villa managers change in look after a couple of years at the helm)

I think you may be correct. The appointment would surely have been done by now if he had shown any interest in taking our job. He will have his eyes on a bigger job, with a greater chance of success.

Stephen Cooke I have just found this article by Mat Kendrick at Birmingham Mail. It's quite a long, but interesting insight into the workings of youth football, training with the first team as a youngster and the struggle to make it at first team level. A bit of a sad tale of what might have been, but for a change of manager at the time and a really bad injury that pretty much ended his career with an insurance payout. I also did find the following paragrath of the article interesting:- "It's not just on senior international duty, it transpires, that heads get turned. Many of Cooke's Lilleshall peers were with big clubs like Chelsea and Liverpool and it was at the FA's behest that Cooke should join them, advising him to swap little Walsall for mighty Manchester United. Who was Cooke, and his Old Trafford loving old man to argue? A move to Manchester United beckoned - and Beckham-ed - and all of a sudden a lad with more than a sliver of self doubt was signing a contract in Sir Alex Ferguson's office." Now personally, I am not sure why the FA are advising youngster to leave his club (Walsall) to join Man Utd, they should be starying out of that kind of thing and be neutral. I know they are not, but this confirms it for me the bias.

For selfish reasons I won’t be too upset if our players don’t go to Qatar this winter. I will be sad for the players like Mings who won’t probably get another chance due to their age, but I think with Southgate in charge we are not getting past the first knockout stage. I would much rather our players get a bit of a rest, and can hit the ground in the second half of the season running. ps. Don’t listen to, or get worked up by what Danny Mills has to say, he is a massive end whose opinion is worthless. Use that energy instead to support Ty and the rest of the team.

Yeah, and that game was against Man City only a couple of days after he signed. What a strange thing to say!

Yes that World Cup break minimises the impact, so we can be thankful that helps us slightly at least. Such a shame though as he looked to be settling in quickly, and that is now both of our big summer signings sidelined early in the season. Hoping he comes back with no further issues though, mentally or physically. Leon Bailey showed it’s not easy to pick up after a long injury.

Support the new stand from The OS Aston Villa outlined the club’s vision for the future of Villa Park last month. And following the release of CGI images and the submission of a planning application for the redevelopment and expansion of the stadium, the club would like to share an open letter from one of our long-standing season ticket holders. In her letter, Anne Edwards outlined why she’s supporting the redevelopment of Villa Park and its surrounding areas, urging fellow Villans to do the same. If you also support our ambitions for the future, please take a couple of minutes to read and sign the letter in order to benefit the planning application. The club will be sharing the letter along with the list of supporters with Birmingham City Council's Planning Committee to support our application. The deadline for signing is 5pm on Thursday, September 22. The above is an article on the OS. The club are looking for fans to put their name down in support of the new North Stand.

For anyone on here who was thinking about a buying a membership, but didn't buy one in the summer. The club are advertising a deal with 25% off. Save 25% on Claret Membership The Aston Villa Membership sale is now on, saving you 25% on our great range of memberships. With benefits including VIP hospitality competitions, signed memorabilia and exclusive member priority ticket sale for all upcoming home games, there’s no better time to sign up. Memberships, which are valid for 365 days, can help secure your place at Villa Park to watch some of the season’s biggest games, with both Chelsea and Manchester United visiting before the World Cup break. A range of options are available to choose from, including memberships for junior fans and for Aston Villa Women supporters. To sign up today and take advantage of the sale, simply follow the 'Sign Up Now' button below and use discount code MEMBERSHIP25.

A great start to the season! It looks like we have made some astute signings for this level. Hopefully we can push on for a top half finish this season with a bit of luck.

To be honest a lot of their fans look like they are suffering the effects of a nuclear fallout already.

He’s got to learn to ride those tackles and learn stay on his feet more.

I know. I just got in from the match thinking the mood might be a bit better on here tonight than normal. I was wrong In my view, yes it wasn’t a fluid performance at all, but we didn’t really look troubled at any point either. I can’t recall Martinez being tested at all by Southampton. I am not 100% convinced with Gerrard, but after our poor start to the season I am happy we are putting some points on the board. The performances will hopefully improve when our confidence does. I hope Kamara is ok, and it’s nothing serious. The referee was awful again, is there such thing as a decent referee in the PL? I think they are rarer than unicorn poo!

This loan has now been confirmed. From OS Aston Villa Women are pleased to announce the signing of Kirsty Hanson on a season-long loan from Manchester United, subject to league approval. The Scotland international becomes Carla Ward’s eighth summer signing. Hanson, 24, is a forward who can operate across the frontline and has previous experience with United, Doncaster Rovers Belles and Sheffield FC. Manager Ward said: "Kirsty is someone I've known for many years." "She’s an exciting talent who will add quality and experience to our forward line." "She’s a winner and we’re delighted to get her on board." Welcome to Aston Villa, Kirsty!

Yeah to be honest I only knew them as The Tractor Boys. I must have missed the blues nickname as I was distracted when first reading the article, as my brain played a trick on me as I misread that we had employed Shooter McGavin to our academy set up.

I think that is possibly part of it. I think the owners wealth was earned from Duty Free shops at airports, so it is possible they have taken a hammering during the covid years due to reduced overseas travelling.

I think it is Huddersfield who ar emore likely going to rue that decision as they are firmly fixed in the relegation zone at the moment. I am just glad we are not the only ones this has affected now. It still feels like every bad decision against us (and there does appear to be alot) is justified as ok because we had that one decision go our way a few years ago.

Yeah I think that is probably the only logical explanation for what the officials were thinking at that time. They should have let play continue, and that is the frustrating aspect of the decision because I fancy that shot from Phil would have beaten Ederson after the deflection off of Stones face. I think the difficulty with refereeing in the PL stems from the pace the game is played at. You have a normal fairly fit person trying to keep up with elite athletes, a lot of whom are looking at ways to con the referee most of the time to gain that advantage. Couple that with 40-50k people berating you for every decision, players surrounding you and managers like Klopp, Fergie and Pep who all know how to pressure an official into getting their way. I do believe the top teams get given a leeway on certain decisions, and I think I recall an ex top ref possibly Jeff Winter saying that referees were told to be more lenient with the star players whenever possible as that is who the crowd have come to see. So that probably plays in officials minds when making decisions. Someone on here (I can't recal who), said that the FA should catch a lot of the youngsters who don't make it in the game but have the high level of fitness and pace to encourage them to take up refereeing, either that or recently retired Pro footballers who have maintained fitness could take on the role. Although on second thoughts, imagine Robbie Savage leading the teams out at VP dressed in his referee kit.

I must admit that I was expecting this to be Gerrards final match in charge when I drove up on Saturday, but having seen the performance and fight from the players and the fans singing Steven Gerrards Claret and Blue Army at one point, I think he has earned a reprieve for another match at least. Like you say, the players were still playing for him against Man City, otherwise it could have got messy after they took the lead early in the second half. The next two matches against Leicester and Southampton will be the true test though and will need to bring in better performances and results than we have previously seen this season. 4 Points is what I would like as a minimum return, ideally 6 points though to get us up the table and breathing a bit easier.