Ginko

. The present tells us we are similar clubs but they are out performing us.

I wouldn't say Villa and Spurs are similar clubs. Villa, in metaphorical terms, are a vintage Rolls Royce whereas Spurs are a nifty, mid-level BMW. Villa are followed by Princes and Prime Ministers, Spurs by Talk Sport presenters. Two very different clubs with very different philosophies.

In terms of recent success, the clubs have been performing at similar levels I'll grant you. They're outperforming us this season because of the predicament MON left us in allied to 'Arry doing a very decent job at White Hart Lane. I'm quietly confident we will be back challenging again next season, though.

The point is that history and pride are great and all that, but they don't get you to the upper echelons of the league or champion's league football. It's just foolish pride that people cling onto. Aston Villa have no God-given right to be at the top of Premier League amongst the elite clubs just because we're an old club with history and were one of the founding fathers of league football in the world today.

We live in the here and now and Spurs are a better club with a better business model and it is being proven. I don't dwell on pride and history personally, I dwell on the fact that we're in a relegation battle and are lightyears away from teams like Spurs, and fair play to them.

Yeah but then Newcastle would have been 2 points ahead of us instead of level on points too so I think it worked out better really

Ireland's wife is quite attractive isn't she? He better watch out if he plans on staying up there with Pardew...

Yeah you can't really compare Delph and Young if I'm honest...

But still, where is Fabian? Is he injured or what? He's not even made the bench recently has he?

I suppose my worry is - what happens when he goes on an inevitable streak without scoring - as all strikers do.

Hah, kind of answered your own question there really

Indeed, it happens to all strikers, so no matter who we had on our books, it would no doubt happen to them too.

I'll admit, there was a time when I wasn't a believer. I used to think he was a waste at Spurs, but he's definitely a poacher and we have needed someone who knows where the back of the net is for ages now. I'm definitely over the moon we have him. Number 9 for next season, I don't care if Ireland is still here (hopefully not though).

Salifou, is that you? Your confusion at being invited to Villa Park on a matchday certainly suggests so.

Another Gareth classic :winkold:

I haven't seen today's one obviously but the one at the Newcastle game looked just offside to me. Either way, he's scoring which is great news for us. Let's not forget good ol' Gabby for popping up with the winner today though. Well done lads.

Hi General

Do you know when we will see the designs for next seasons kit?

some teams have already released images of theirs how long do we expect until we do the same?

Thanks

keep up the good work

UTV

I too would like to know this General. Even before this season's kit's fiasco I always hated having to wait for so long for our new shirt. My brother is Liverpool fan (he's a Judas) and he seems to get his new shirt before ours has even been revealed! Is this anything to do with us being with Nike and them having "bigger" clubs to deal with first so we are down the pecking order?

In a similar vein, do we have a new shirt sponsor sorted out yet? Obviously I assume you can't divulge who it is or any of the details but I think after the trouble we had before a lot of the fans would like to be kept informed of this situation. Lastly, any idea on whether we will stay with Nike after the current contract runs out? I personally would prefer Adidas

This is my first post on this thread so I would like to echo the sentiments of many other fans and say thank you for providing a communication channel between the fans and the club. We all greatly appreciate the time and effort you put in to listen to us. Semper Fidelis, Sir.

Poor today.

Still think he will come good though.

(if we're still in this league)

Straight from the man himself's mouth

I like him but I have to agree, he was pretty useless today. He wasn't mobile, didn't impose himself at all on the game, gave the ball away too much and his passing was pretty rubbish. Aside from the asist to the disallowed goal which was a superb pass don't get me wrong, he was pretty anonymous. A good win today and I don't want to take anything away from the victory (I am going to though), but Newcastle were pretty awful and those last ten minutes we were back to typical old villa, cringing to watch. It's about time we got some luck though.

Just heard on the radio that Rafa is interested in managing 4 english clubs

Blimey, what happens when they have to play each other?

I laughed because I thought the exact same thing

No to Benitez, no to Fat Sam, DEFINITE no to Mclaren, I think that guy is a massive waste of space.

I'd be happy enough with Moyes but I can't really see him leaving Everton. I'm not sure about Jol, I don't think he did a bad job at Spurs and I think he was treated pretty unfairly there, but I'd be lying if I knew much about what he's done since then.

is thee anyone you do want :confused:

Yes I think the poster concerned actually wants to stick with Houllier

I wouldn't say I was absolutely pro-Houllier, but it looks like he will be with us until the end of the season at least. If we go down then I couldn't really argue against shipping him out, if we don't go down I think he could buy some exciting players in the summer since I think his transfer savvy has been his best asset so far, admittedly there haven't been too many positives though.

I also wonder, due to the recent stories coming out, if Houllier isn't really the biggest problem we have, so sticking with Houllier but getting in another number 2 or just switching the backroom staff up a bit would be another option I'd be willing to give a go.

I did however say I'd be happy enough with Moyes and I wouldn't be unhappy with Jol so there's two there. I just particularly never rated Mcclaren and I think Fat Sam would steady us but we wouldn't be buying the sorts of players or playing the type of football that I personally would like to see is all. I'm sure there's many other managers out there who I would be happy with but with the recent options nothing particularly inspires.

No to Benitez, no to Fat Sam, DEFINITE no to Mclaren, I think that guy is a massive waste of space.

I'd be happy enough with Moyes but I can't really see him leaving Everton. I'm not sure about Jol, I don't think he did a bad job at Spurs and I think he was treated pretty unfairly there, but I'd be lying if I knew much about what he's done since then.

Niel Warnock pppplllleeeaaaassee God no!!!!!

There I fixed it for you.

Ie thanke theee fore youre kinde wordes

Interesting email. I just emailed Clark himself to demand that he adds an E on the end of his name. I just think it'd be easier that way.

I don't think you can recall players from loans if the team you loaned them out to are in the same league as you, so he'll be here until the end of the season I should think.

I'm in two minds about Hutton though. I think he's better defensively than Walker but that may just be that he has a bit more experience. Hutton's pretty good going forward too and he can cross, something that I haven't seen much from Walker, I do like the lad though and I wouldn't be against him staying if we had the option.

If 'arry is planning on getting rid of Hutton though, he's either got another RB in mind to buy or he's been impressed with Walker's performances in the Prem so far, if he wants Walker back not much we can do about it really. Hutton might be a pretty decent alternative.

I'd like to know about this bust-up however, if he's a bit of a cock then he might be trouble and we all know how GH feels about bad eggs.

The Helıcopter

Disturbing...

As for what he does, he's there to deal with journalists who get too nosey.

I don't mind the squares, either. I wouldn't mind continued use on the home kit but if we had to use them on the away tops it would limit the colours we could use.

A white away shirt with them down the flanks for next season might look pretty cool.

Adidas all the way, I'll admit Chelsea and Liverpool's home kits aren't very nice this seaosn but only because of the stupid bit of red on Chelsea's collar for that old fart supporters club, and the texture of the Liverpool home shirt. I'm quite a fan of their away shirts and most other Adidas shirts (Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Spain) are really nice IMO.

If not them I'd be happy with Umbro or Puma and not too fussed if we stuck with Nike as long as another balls up never happened, although I don't like this years home or away kits and the last away kit I liked was the white one when we were sponsored by 32red.com, apart from that I think our kits have been kinda crap.

I like Kappa's kits but for those awful huge logos on the shoulders. I also really hope the FX Pro logos are better next season, they look really cheap up close.

He'll not only get the clean sheet tonight, he'll get on the scoresheet too :!:

To be fair, I would think the majority of people who would vote no aren't comfortable with taking January as an individual portion of time. I could understand if people who really were against Houllier didn't think it made much sense to ignore everything that has happened in the months prior to January, I'd find it very hard to believe in anyone voted no purely based on January because really he hasn't done much wrong this month.

I voted yes incidently, and I've been behind Houllier from the start because I think he needed time and now that he's had some the results and the way we've been on and off the pitch has definitely improved.

I really hope he finds his spark at Newcastle and can back with us and have a proper pre season etc. Its difficult to let go of a player that without a doubt has huge talent.

Catch 22 really though, if he does well and settles in Newcastle then chances are he'll probably want to stay. Not necessarily the worst situation though assuming the price is right, hard to see him wanting to come back here unless he finds the grass isn't always greener but if he does badly then his confidence will be as low as ever when he comes back to us.

Absolutely love him, he was briliant today and works well with Cuellar, a good mix. Shame we were a bit shaky in the fullback positions today, but Clark was as impressive as ever. Stay with us and you'll be captain in no time mate.

To be fair, I'd rather we all just chant return of the Mak, that'd be awesome.

Jean II Makoun a doubt for the FA Cup clash against Blackburn with a thigh injury. Luke Young and Stephen Ireland both out. #avfc

AVFCOffical.

Damn, I'm going to the game on saturday and was hoping to see him play. Get rid of him, he's too injury prone!

Although if Delph is back I wouldn't mind...