The_Rev

Yeah. I mean it’s kinda equivalent to Villa’s shirt sleeve being sponsored by Drayton Manor.

The stadium tour is going on the list. I'm trying to score some tickets to Sociedad vs Celta Vigo too, but they aren't on sale yet. Annoyingly Bilbao are at home the day we land and the day we leave, they've got Osasuna away in a Basque derby on the middle weekend but getting tickets to that might be almost impossible and I suspect the atmosphere could be tetchy even if we did go. There's still a small chance Villa will get Bilbao in the Conference League while we are out there and that would be amazing. I think I'll try and grab some sea food too. The Semana Grande festival is on too. Had no idea it was even a thing but it looks fun.

Former Barcelona footballer Luis Suarez.

I'll be on holiday in Bilbao on the day of the first leg (pure coincidence, booked it months ago) so I kinda hope we do!

It's a nail in the coffin for the league because it will just entrench the clubs with the most fans. Manchester United (62m followers on Instagram) will wonder why they need to share revenue with Aston Villa (3 million followers on Instagram) when there are a million metrics pointing to the fact that they will get a bucket load more money if they cut out the middleman. This happens for a few years and somebody floats the idea of the European Super League again, only this time it's much easier because the collective bargaining agreement has been severely weakened. I don't think there's anything we can do to stop it happening, but unless you support one of about six clubs in all of Europe then it's probably foolish to wish for it. We've already got a system where new fans of the sport just follow one of the elite sides and any changes to what we have will send us further down that path.

He's been involved in the coaching side at Everton for years and the players seemed to respond well to him when he was caretaker manager. He's also got a bunch of Premier League connections and maybe they thought he'd be able to secure loan deals on favourable terms by calling in a few favours. Hannah Dingley has got her work cut out for her though. Forest Green went down with a whimper last season and unless there's a massive overhaul of players this summer the squad is going to struggle next year too. I hope she's not screwed over by circumstances beyond her control, but I suppose she has to take the opportunity wherever it presents itself.

Sea Life Centre is fun with kids that age. The Lion King is on at The Hippodrome, the Birmingham Weekender is on at the end of the month (26th/27th).

Yes. Having the financial backing of a nation state will do that for you. Ashley was a crap owner, but even the best individuals can’t sponsor their own club shirts for five times the value of the previous deal.

No. They don’t spend any money and Eddie has done a great job on a shoestring. (/s)

It’s a remake of their away kit during the ‘Spice Boys’ era of the mid 90s. They wore it in the FA Cup final which was made famous by their white suits. I liked the original version, I’m not so sure about this one.

Buyout clauses in Spain are a bit more complicated than that, it was highlighted by Manchester United's failed attempt to sign Ander Herrera on deadline day ten years ago. AFAIK it breaks down like this: 1) Under Spanish law anybody has the right to buy themselves out of a contract they have with their employer. This isn't just for footballers, it's for any job in Spain but footballers are high profile. Football clubs will set a value for a contract which gets reported as the release clause. 2) The important bit of the first sentence is that anybody has the right to buy themselves out of a contract. This means the person subject to the contract is the person who has to pay the fee. Obviously if the fee is high (like, €50m) then finding that kind of money is borderline impossible for an individual but a third party can step in and stump up the money. Thing is they have to give the money to the individual buying themselves out, so the Spanish government will see that is income and want income tax on it, so a €50m fee would require a payment of €50m plus tax, which might be another 20 or 30% on top. 3) Usually it's quicker, easier and cheaper to avoid step 2 and just come to an agreement between the buying club and the selling club. In Chelsea's case Villarreal knew that there was a serious amount of time pressure on the deal so they were in a strong bargaining position, they could just ask for more than the release clause and be fairly confident that Chelsea would pay so that they could be in front of the July 1st cut off date for their 8 year contract.

I've been dipping into this since it came out. Not sure how far I am into it, nor what my hour count is. I'm definitely one of those wander round and smell the roses kind of guys when it comes to open world games like Zelda and as a result I'm really enjoying it. Obviously it's not going to have the same impact on me as BOTW did, that's an impossible task as BOTW was an industry shaking title in the same way as, say, Streetfighter 2, GTA 3, Call of Duty 4, Minecraft (etc etc) did in that there was a games industry before it came out and a different one after. TOTK could only refine what BOTW did so all of the impact would be lost. That said, I'm enjoying the sky stuff and the depths, the Zonai system is really clever and some of the stuff people have made and shared online is delightful. I love how Twitter became a platform for Korok torture videos for a while, and I really love how the game just lets you goof around. I concede if you are after a more guided experience and want to feel like you've made progress after every session then it might not light up the bits of your brain that you want it to, but for me it's great.

Been said a few times already in this thread but where would he go? Martinez isn't going to try and force a move out of Villa, he's got four years left on his contract with the club. He's never going to be more expensive for anybody who wants to buy than he is right now. Of the clubs who 1) could attract him and 2) could afford him, how many are in the market for a goalkeeper? Manchester United are probably one of a very small group but reports today seem to indicate that as long as spectacularly mishandling the DDG contract situation (they offered him a new deal which he signed, then they refused to counter sign?) they don't want to pay as much the Inter want for £60m for Onana so they are looking for better value elsewhere. Liverpool don't need a goalkeeper, Manchester City don't need a goalkeeper, Newcastle don't need a goalkeeper, Barcelona don't need a goalkeeper, Real Madrid don't need a goalkeeper, PSG don't need a goalkeeper, he won't sign for Spurs considering he's on a hiding to nothing if he goes (ex Arsenal, it's a borderline sideways move and their squad is in need of an overhaul) which might leave Chelsea who have two insanely expensive goalkeepers on their books already. I'd only be worried if both of them end up in Saudi Arabia too.

Every Villa fan’s favourite YouTube channel, but moving from a system where the full backs bomb on to one where they tuck in and the 8’s push forwards kinda makes sense with the squad we are building. With Cash and Moreno in the squad we can now do both. If there is a fall guy here it’s likely Konsa or Diego Carlos, but there might not be anybody who loses out.

I'm absolutely going to the Guggenheim, I bloody love museums and it's a must see. Food is going to be weird, we eat halal so it's probably going to have to be a case of sticking to fish and/or vegetarian stuff and given that I'll have a couple of fussy kids in tow then some of the better restaurants in the area just aren't going to work for us. No booze either (holidays must be easy if all you want to do is sit by a pool with a book and drink for two weeks!) but I wouldn't mind finding a beach somewhere at some point. I know Bilbao is inland but the Metro seems to go a long way towards the coast so is there anywhere on it which is good for finding a beach? Also the Spanish fixtures get released in July and I'm kinda hoping I get to a Bilbao game with the boy while we are there. There was an outside chance that Villa would be there in the Europa Conference (August 24th) but Bilbao lost against Real Madrid on the final day and ended up missing out by two points.

I was going to do a "new kit bingo card" to post this morning but never got around to making it. It would have had the usual gubbins on it, stuff like "love the new badge" "hate the new badge" "prefer this kit that someone on Twitter made on their iPhone" and so on. Never in a month of Sundays would I have guessed what the club have actually done today.

Of course it doesn’t pop. The background is the same colour as our badge.

I’ve ended up just going with ten nights in Bilbao, it’s just easier with kids in tow. Still plan to go to San Sebastián, it seems a bus/coach is the best way to do it. Any advice @viivvaa66 ?

That seems like the sort of thing you’d say when you are 27 but not do by the time you’re 35.

From what I saw of the game Wales were gash. The first Wales goal shouldn’t have counted as they won the ball back with a tactical foul, but the main crime was just how much time and space Armenia were afforded in the final third. Give international footballers that much time and space when they are in shooting range and you’re gonna get punished.

That’s assuming you’re standing at Wembley Park station, that the next Met Line train isn’t terminating at Baker Street, staying in a hotel on Threadneedle Street and it takes you zero seconds to change lines at King’s Cross St Pancras. I’m being more realistic.

I’m not sure what the plans for Witton station are, but I’m in the industry so I have a certain interest in how things can be done. You could absolutely improve access to the station and reduce bottlenecks. Longer platforms would be the obvious move, extend them towards Aston and have a new entrance/exit there so the flow through the station is more efficient. If you had a tunnel beneath the tracks then access to the stadium from the Aston bound platform would be miles better and you could go over the river towards the Academy too. Plenty of room to put people, reduce dangerous overcrowding and just be more efficient with what capacity the railway can currently offer.

They are all incredible, No Country is an amazing adaptation of the book, certainly better than The Road was but yes, Blood Meridian hits hard. It’s a tour de force.

Of course “the shires” doesn’t include Solihull.

I'd second the recommendation to use Rickmansworth or Chorleywood, simply because: 1) you'll be heading in the opposite direction from most of the crowds at Wembley Park which means things will be faster and 2) I stand to gain from this arrangement financially and could really use the money. I'd add places like Pinner, Watford or even Ruslip and Uxbridge if you want counter flow stuff. They aren't the most exciting places but they are on the "country" side of Wembley, probably a bit cheaper and have good transport links to Wembley. Stations near the stadium are Wembley Park (which will definitely be the busiest, it's the one at the other end of Wembley Way you see on the TV on cup final day), Wembley Stadium, which is the closest to the stadium and has the fastest trains back to Central London, plus trains out to Buckinghamshire and Birmingham. A bit further out you've got Wembley Central, which is in on the high street a mile or so from the stadium which has the Bakerloo Line and overground trains or Alperton and as @tomav84 mentioned, Sudbury Town on the Piccadilly Line which are the best part of two miles away, definitely a half hour walk (minimum) but will be far far far quieter than the madness surrounding the station. The City is a looooooong way from Wembley. Probably more than ten miles and it will take you the best part of an hour on a good day.