NIVillan

Three Leicester players have exhibited coronvirus symptons.  I dont think any names have been released but this might affect Villa seeing we played them only last Monday.

In the US the NBA have cancelled all games to the end of the season so could the Premier League be heading the same way?  No that team players might have been affected this could move fast.

13 hours ago, sidcow said:

No wonder the pitches were such a state if they were training on them as well.  Did they not have a training ground before Bodymoor Heath? 

Yes they had one very near te ground but it was sold off before we went bankrupt late 60s.  Charlie Aitkin talks about it on the history of Villa Video from years back how they then had to beg and borrow places to train such as school pitches and car parks.

I think though will be correct fast  if wrong that Bodymoor was Developed when the new owners (Ellis etc came in).  One of the drivers was to develop a youth team that could supply the first team, and they needed goog training facilities for that.

It is why Ellis was so proud of Bodymoor Heath as he was there at the start. 

1 hour ago, hippo said:

Yes - we would be one of the richest clubs in europe if that were a thing ! 

I think with our current owners we already are

I said earlier in the thread I think, this has the same feeling when Andy Gray came back mid 80s.

Return goalscoring hero returns to a struggling team.  err we went down

30 minutes ago, omariqy said:

Re Benteke

What I will say is that sometimes a player just fits a club. They feel at home, they feel confident, they feel loved. Every player uses a team as a stepping stone. Even Jack is using us a stepping stone in a different way. It's the way of football. However, if he was the 2nd of 2 strikers then I would be happy with that. Look at Mousset at Sheff Utd. Awful at Bournemouth and been one of their best players this season. Sometimes it just works. 

For Older ones : Gary Birtles was a good example.  Good at Forest earnt move to Man U, Bad..  Moved back to Forest.

5 minutes ago, useless said:

Might be one for the academy thread but...

Meant to be very highly rated, used to at Albion

Perhaps homesick and as we now have the old Head of Albions Academy we get a look in signing him back.

Crystal Palace are reportedly trying to offload Benteke.

But

Villa re-signing Benteke has the feeling of when Andy Gray re-signed in the mid 80s.

17 hours ago, TRO said:

I agree with that......during our finest hours in the late seventies and early eighties, it was quite clear, we had a midas touch for it , much like Leicester do now.

We bought in players that was never heard of and turned them in to gold.

We have never really been a club renowned for buying well at the top of the market....I don't think we have ever had the consistent network to capitalise on it.....we have always had our toe in and out of the water.

Wasnt that because we had our own version of Peter Taylor in Tony Barton who spotted a lot of the players at that time.

He is all we currently have so we should support him and try and build his confidence up instead of booing and calling out he is shite.

Jan we may be able to bring in some help/alternative but until then...

On 26/11/2019 at 01:27, Tomaszk said:

Go on then, here's something silly.

I think he's the best Villa keeper ever.

Give me a better one. Nope, lalala, can't hear you.

In my lifetime, it has to be Jimmy Rimmer, Mark Bosnich at the top followed by Big Brad and Nigel Spink.

Heaton hasnt been here long enough to make that sort of claim.  

Have to be a certain age to get the gist but:

The thing is we have bought a Paul Rideout , paid the current rate for a Paul Rideout but a lot of fans are expecting a Peter Withe straight away, 

When we have had Marvin bloody Harewood playing up front for us I am very happy with Wes!

Cheers for the answers.

Found it strange that Kappa would allow fanatics to continue to manufacturer the kit as in the initial report (as listed above)

Also people should note who actually designed the kit, it wasn't Luke or Kappa.  

I wonder if Kappa will get more involved in the design of the next batch of kits?

1 minute ago, hippo said:

incorrect - Fantatics and Kappa are separate companies 

Sorry my wording, I know they are seperate companies but fanatics do the production and supply of the kits, while Kappa and Luke were brought in for the design of the kit.

So two different designers but exactly the same manufacturer of the kit.  Meaning the same supply and quality issues whether Kappa or Luke

2 minutes ago, hippo said:

Did we ?  - I thought we had multiple kits over the seasons - but its wrong to say it was exclusively white in the 1970's  

Early Seventies we did have a Yellow Kit with Dark Blue trim but that was early seventies when we were Div 2/Div 3 and not sure off top of head if that was just for one season.  From around 74 onwards (after promotion in 75 we would have played West Ham in Div 1) we had the Classic Umbro kit that had a White away strip.  We kept that basic design until 1981 when we changed to Le Coq Sportif (Still a white away Strip).

A Friend was at the game (well this is the story he tld) they first wore the Yellow strip in a preseason friendly.  Villa ran out and teh fans booed them as they didnt realise it was the Villa!  Could be just an urban myth mind.

Need something clearing up.

People are whinging about this seasons Kappa Kits (I dont think they look too bad and my two boys kits have no QC issues with badges etc) and saying that we should return to Luke (I personally didnt like the Luke Kits).

Isnt the kits produced/made by the same people - Fanatics and Kappa and Luke were basically fronts for the design.

So it didnt matter if it was Luke or Kapp this year we would have the same issues with Quality and quantity/supply.

Anyone have an idea about this?

On 26/10/2019 at 14:17, hippo said:

Wasn't a problem in the 1970s 

Cause we wore a white away strip back then.

and While I am here I hated the black, red, green kit back then and dislike this seasons as a Villa Kit now.

Remember when Salah first came to Chelsea he wasnt performing and was shipped off to Italy.

Give it time.  With the International break and his suspension he has time to work on things.

Roll on to Winter Transfer Thread

2 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Incredible isn't it?

And yet there's still people banging the ""give hogan a chance" drum.

Not sure what Kodjia has ever done particularly wrong.

Hogan in my mind had his chance when Dean Smith became manager.  He was a guy who had managed him before and when he was successful, but he couldnt even break through then.

Kodja, in someways hasnt been given the same chance.  He suffered because he wasn't Abraham, but personally I felt more excited watching Kodja at times because you didnt know what he would do next than Abraham.  

Something I liked about yesterday (Might have been mentioned before!) was that Early on we knew we wasnt getting our main targets or even a back up plans, but we didnt panic and drag a Simon Dawkins out the bag instead said ok thats it.

Makes you really feel that they do have their shite together and a master plan.

5 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Hmmmm. 

They won't work as a component of the tactic, but the guy scored 38 goals in 78 starts up until the injury, doing just that. Then last season when we needed him to step up he bagged 3 in 4. If he hadn't turned up like he did in that second half against Rotherham, there's a chance we wouldn't be where we are today. 

Can he be a better player? Definitely, undeniable. Does it really matter if he is simply the same player he has always been? In my opinion, no. I don't expect him to change much either. 

Rescued the game against Brentford early on as well.  Last Minute Equaliser and those of us left in the holte went nuts. 

My two boys first time in the Holte and the youngest kept saying we should go as others are leaving, I kept saying no we stay until the end you never know what might happen and yesssssssssss.

Balotelli would be interesting

He might actually thrive having someone like Mings to keep him under control.  Depending on the cost he might be worth a gamble.   This is just that I would enjoy having a total wildcard in our pack.

He didn't look too bad playing up front for Ivory Coast.  Have a feeling he could be useful next season.

Dean Smith has given the vote of right lets see what you can do, so it is now firmly in Kodja's court.

The Team that developed at the season last year is totally different to the one he was first choice at the beginning.  Tammy was banging the goals in so he didnt get a look in.

What ever he is a Villa Player so I will be willing him on.

11 hours ago, mjmooney said:

You want loons detached from reality, you want the Villa Facebook pages. 

Or the Old Villa Email List