NeilS

I bought two tickets yesterday at around 6ish, not had a confirmation email or tickets yet. It looks like I am not the only one though. I guess they will probably get sent in next week or so.

19 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

No. It was going to be demolished.

I guess with the galloping inflation Villa Live has been replaced with a simpler offering, initially at least.

Yeah I imagine it costs a lot of money to demolish and then remove and dispose of the rubble, and that is before you even start to think about the cost of starting again from scratch with foundations and utilities to the new building. I think this option is probably a lot wiser way of keeping the cost down in these tough economic times. I think the warehouse looks good in the mock up, and will be a fine alternative. 

10 hours ago, villa4europe said:

I wouldn't be so sure... Its hypothetical as I don't think they'd stump up the cash or we'd accept but modern football is shit enough that even a sound logic defying thing like joining Chelsea right now would still happen, us finishing above them last year doesn't change enough

Sadly I agree, we need to regularly finish above Chelsea before we can be truly seen as competitive with them. At the moment it is easy to brush off Chelsea’s last season as a blip, and vice versa, outsiders see us as taking advantage of that blip. They still have recent history of winning trophies on their side, whereas ours are a distant memory for most. Hopefully the former is about to change under Emery and we can win some silverware in next couple of seasons. 

15 minutes ago, zab6359 said:

Page 4! Not having that, haven't seen him in any training clips so presume he's still pretty knackered.

I have seen some posts on Instagram over the past few weeks which show that he has been back a little earlier than some of the others doing rehab work with weights etc.

49 minutes ago, mikeyp102 said:

I was thinking more a Batman fight scene 

Haha, that was what I was picturing as well. The old style Adam West Batman Ker-Pow fight bubbles, as per about 11-12 seconds in on the youtube clip below. 

Batman Fight Scene

Gabby been on the Shisha pipe again

And former Villa captain Gabby Agbonlahor believes his old employers could do a lot worse than to consider offering Pogba the chance to kick-start his career after a couple of seasons ruined by injury. 

“100 per cent yeah,” Agbonlahor tells talkSPORT (12th July, 9am). “If he got back to fitness, he could break into Villa’s side.

This could be a good move all round. I don't know how Swansea are doing for cash, but we may get a fee for Davis? The link gets a mention halfway down the page, and links originally reported in the Swansea Independant.

Keinan Linked with Swansea

Another attacker linked with Swansea this week is Aston Villa’s Keinan Davis. Swansea Independent say that Duff is keen to strike a deal for the 25-year-old who spent last season on loan with Watford in the Championship.

3 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

I get the feeling most of the signings will be very close to the deadline as most of the players we are aiming for will have other choices before us, so it's a wait to see what happens 

Agree, I think we as supporters and club will need patience. We are not at the level yet where too players would jump at the chance to sign for us. We need to cement a top 6 place and maybe CL place before that happens.

28 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I’m also trying to think of an attacking player signed from Serie A that has really impressed in the Prem in recent years. I can think of Salah but after that I’m struggling. 

Yeah I can think of plenty who have come with great reputations from Serie A but have struggled in the PL. There have been some successes over the years, but they are quite a while ago now. Henry and Bergkamp being two that immediately come to mind.
 

I do think Chiesa could do well here if he is over his injury problems. He was the standout player for me in that Euro winning Italian team. I would definitely be excited by him signing for us.

What is up with the fielding by England in this series, Root dropped a couple in the first innings as well as Bairstow. Those drops have cost the team big time in this test match. England used to be pretty switched on in the field in recent years.

1 hour ago, ender4 said:

So if the start date is July 2024 and it's going to take 7 months of preparation, does that mean that the 7 months of prep starts Jan 2024?  Or does the prep start in July 2024 and the actual stand rebuild start in Jan 2025?

I would have thought that the prep work can only start once the season has finished, as the stand won't be able to be in use with fans attending while they are diverting drains and electrics. I would think that would make a health and safety nightmare otherwise.

Having re-read the quote I am surprised that the prep work appears to be carried out before demolition of the old stand. I would have thought that demolotion was stage one, then prep work was stage 2 and then new stand build as stage 3. Hopefully someone with a bit more expertise in construction can clear that one up?

16 minutes ago, thabucks said:

Always thought it was odd not to include a tunnel club hospitality option in the original proposals, Heck’s influence ? 
 

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/villa-park-redevelopment-new-aston-27272801

There is also a little bit of an explanation in that article about the reason the North Stand development is going to take a while longer to build:-

North Stand Redevelopment details from Birmingham Mail

"Prior to the stand being demolished, up to seven months of preparation is needed to divert new drains, high voltage electrics and matchday safety systems, while hundreds of cables will also need to be replaced for broadcasting. It’s a huge undertaking before Villa can even begin building a completely new stand.

Knocking the stand down is viewed as the most efficient way to deliver a new North Stand, instead of building it behind the current structure, like other clubs have done across England in recent years. Building a new stand behind the current North Stand would prevent construction workers from accessing key areas of the build."

It looks like Mr and Mrs Torres are currently on Safari for their honeymoon. He has just posted some lions on his Instagram story.
 

Could that be a sign? 

3 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

That article sounds like it was written months ago. Are you sure thats not for the old plans including villa live?

With what @OutByEaster?also said it does sound like it's was mentioned at the meeting last night though as well.

Anyone there that can confirm how it was phrased?

Yeah you are right about the date, looking back it looks like I picked up an article from about 2-3 weeks ago. I do still think it will take a long time to construct though, as there is lots of preperation work to do, removal of old debris etc. I think the timeframe quoted will be based on under-promise with the aim to better that timeframe. If we beat the two years quoted, then we could start selling match day tickets for the last 2-3 months of that particular season.

3 hours ago, MrBlack said:

Why are people talking about 2 years? They haven't said its going to take 2 years have they?

I think the two years comes from this article on Birmingham Live. You have to go quite a way down the page to find the below quote.

North Stand Redevelopment

Quote

Construction on the North Stand is expected to last between 18-24 months, subject to planning. Meanwhile, just a stone’s throw away from the stadium, Villa’s inner-city academy is due to be complete next month.

3 minutes ago, brommy said:

6537 currently sit in the North Stand (it still seems an incredible coincidence that the new stand will exactly double the capacity of the current stand 6537 + 6537 = 13074). So for two seasons, capacity will be reduced from 42657 to 36120, although after segregation it'll probably be around 35500.

Before anyone thinks adding 6537 to our current 42657 doesn't give us a 50k capacity, a further 871 is being added to the Trinity Road and D.E. stands, presumably in the lower tier corners that wraparound to the new North Stand.

Thank you. I wasn't too far out with my estimates in the end. Just out of interest, do you know how many of those capacity figures would be hospitality boxes etc? The reason I ask, is that hospitality packages are not for your every day fans budget. Which will reduce the availability of normal tickets for the average fan further.

1 minute ago, WallisFrizz said:

How many sth in the north stand? Could be barely any tickets left for members and I would imagine virtually none would reach general sale.

This was something I was concerned about. My Dad and I have a membership only, so I am thinking that after the next season it will be nearly impossible to get match day tickets due to the reduced capacity. I think I read somewhere that we have 30k season ticket holders, although someone may correct me on that figure. So take out the North Stand and I would guess that probably reduces the capacity by 6000 or 7000. Take out the away fans allocation which is probably 3000 and the available tickets remaining will be around 3000-4000. I think this may be the last season I can take my Dad along to matches, as he is now 78 albeit he is still fairly spritely for his age.

4 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Tin hat on. I wouldn't mind if we built a brand new stadium...

I will join you by donning my tin hat. I have thought about this a little bit in the past, and I don’t know if it is viable option. But could we could do what Spurs did and rebuild more or less on the same site. I think We would need to buy up Nelson Road and Jardine Road and rebuild Villa Park a bit more NW of where we are in the new space. Would that work, would that create enough space to do it?

23 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

Strange how my brain read this at the time and assumed it was suggesting the tests would be on Monday. Clearly says this week...,and I guess that could mean the end of the week. 

If he's back from his honeymoon anytime this week I'd be surprised...pretty short break really.

The first pics of his wedding day appeared on Instagram on  the 26th June, so I would guess he probably got married on Saturday the 24th June. So he has been away for 7-10 days at most on his honeymoon, which as you say isn't a long time.

I did read via Newsnow that the Express and Star were reporting this morning that the medical would take place at the tail end of this week, they may well be guessing though. If they are correct, I reckon we will hear some official annoncement on Friday or Saturday.

Torres to sign later this week

"Villa are on course to complete the signing of Pau Torres from Villarreal later this week with the centre-back due to undergo a medical when he returns from holiday.

41 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

@paul514 would spontaneously combust!

Thanks. I knew there was someone who was a big fan last summer, but couldn’t recall who it was. 

5 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

SIGN ALL THE MIDFIELDERS

Maybe we are aiming to deploy a 3-6-1 formation.

Villa to compete with Brighton for Koopmeiners 

We seem to be linked with pretty much everyone this year, yet another new link. Maybe rather than being quiet to hide our links, we are creating lots of noise about lots of targets to hide our real ones. If that makes sense?

I know there was someone on this message board who was a big advocate of signing Koopmeiners last year, could it finally happen?

Aston Villa reportedly intend to compete with Brighton for the signing of Atalanta midfielder Teun Koopmeiners.

That's according to Italian outlet Foot Mercato who report that the Dutchman has several sides looking to sign him. A "few" Serie A teams are said to have contacted Atalanta president Antonio Percassi and their sporting director, Tony D’Amico to enquiry about the "conditions needed" to sign the players.

Napoli, Juventus and Inter Milan are all said to have been the "most active" in their pursuit. Previous reports also stated that the Seagulls had made initial contact with Atalanta. Brighton boss Roberto De Zerbi is said to have identified the Dutchman as a "priority" target as Moises Caicedo is expected to join Chelsea.

The report also adds that due to interest from Brighton and Villa, a transfer "could prove complicated" for the Italian sides to make a swoop. As for Villa, the "player's profile is thought to please" the club.

37 minutes ago, colhint said:

Had to read that twice before I got it.

But are we the only ones to still use it

 

 

I think I have seen Burnley fans say up the clarets.

1 hour ago, villabromsgrove said:

I've been really excited about the possibility of signing Gonçalves, but the more I've read about his stats and history makes me wonder whether he is exactly the player we need.

His stats are excellent, but when you factor in the number of penalties he scores (as part of his goals total) and the obscure names of most of the teams he's scored and assisted against ,the stats become less impressive.

Ramsey has played the same number of games for Villa in the PL as Gonçalves has played for Sporting, and JJ has played twice as many age group internationals as PG just to compare experience. Also PG has only played two senior internationals for Portugal (a friendly against Spain in 2020 was one, and I couldn't find details of the other). He was in the initial group of 55 players named for the World Cup, but didn't make the squad.

In his two years at Wolves he played only one competitive game and that was an EFL cup game against Sheffield Wednesday. One of the reasons he gave for returning to Portugal was homesickness. I know he was young then and that wouldn't have helped him.

I'm glad that Monchi has joined us because I watched him say on his YouTube videos that he looks at the person just as much as he looks at the player, which is hugely important when you're thinking of taking a player out of an environment that may have become a comfort zone.

I'm still very impressed with Gonçalves, but I wonder whether he is a perfect fit for us. At his asking price that's what he has to be .... a perfect fit!

 

I must admit to having had similar doubts as you. I watched a YouTube video of his highlights yesterday and the amount on penalties on it was quite significant number, yes he takes a good penalty but we don’t get that many to be honest. Also, as we have discussed in the Vitoria SC thread, it’s not that strong a league outside the top 4, stats can be very misleading if he is padding against the lower level teams. 
 

He could end up being great, equally a team like us needs a more sure fire bet, I am not sure he is it at that price. I think we will look elsewhere unless the price is nearer £30m mark.

53 minutes ago, CarryOnVilla said:

I thinking we will be getting the full announcement tomorrow, photos, sit down interview, promotional video and a Lange smile

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.