brummie

Yeah, you'd think his bizarre potato face would be more of a concern.

What a nice man Willie McKay comes across as.

Has this been posted? http://www.espn.co.uk/football/sport/video_audio/107393.html?sport=3

That's what i was thinking.

How's he done? Can't say I've seen much of him in a Villa shirt. Did very well when used last season. Suffered a bit as did all the kids when we relied on them too much as we had that injury crisis, though. He's a good player in the making. The goal from Albrighton at Fulham last season which Bannan set up was a beauty. I think we're going to be relying on our kids a bit too much this season, though. Worries me.

Alright. It's a bit like watching a MON side without the endless crosses. I quite like the bloke. To be entirely honest, apart from the top managers with top money, the rest of the PL managers - the likes of Bruce, Pardrew, Moyes, McLeish, McCarthy, Redknapp etc etc - are all much of a muchness. Given the funding McLeish has this summer having spent 30m in January (ie next to zero), I don't really think he'll do any better or any worse than the rest of the managers we could likely have got.

I hate Twitter. Barton's stuff is beyond parody. Quoting Orwell when the closest he's probably come to experiencing the author is watching Animal Farm. And I'm talking about the 1970s animal shagging grot horror film, not the Orwell adaptation.

Blackpool enquired about Barry Bannan, apparently. Told to do one. Rumours that we might try to move Jean II Makoun on. I hope they're not true.

Just bring back Big Ron and Dalian Aktinson. That goal against Wimbledon man, still one of the best I've ever seen. The best goal I've ever seen in the flesh. I loved Big Ron's side. One of my favourite ever Villa games - and I'm old enough to remember title and european cup wins - was our first under Ron, away at Sheffield Wednesday, we played with such swagger. Shame it all went to tit with him.

I really don't want anyone to do well. It'd be easier if everyone just finished on zero points. We'd be second and qualify for the CL every year, for starters.

Again, not true. The police were funnelling too many people into too small an area, when the adjacent areas were not at capacity. There is absolutely no evidence that it was caused by drunk fans. You might as well say "take away the FA Cup, and it wouldn't have happened".

The report into the disaster stated that there was no evidence of a mass of ticketless fans outside the ground, but it still gets pedalled. There's also a contradiction in saying "don't blame the police" and "nobody knew what was going on" - given that the key duty of the police is to know exactly what was going on. The thing about Hillsborough is that, as any fan who attended matches regularly at the time will tell you, it really "could have been you" - we were all in situations where there were far too many people in too small a place, behind fences and with inadequate crowd control infrastructure.

Nee chance on O'Neil. Brewsey;s severance would wipe out the cash O'Neill would want O'Neill isn't going to go anywhere where he won't get a substantial amount of money to spend. They're kidding themselves if they think he'll go there. I just looked at RTG. Honestly, I have nothing against Sunderland, but fuck me, what a bunch of mongs. A new thread every ten seconds saying exactly the same thing - Bruce must go. After three games of the season, having bought 10 new players.

One reflection on our game yesterday. If Blackburn don't go down this season, I will be utterly amazed. They're absolutely terrible.

I sense a few are saying that because you had your hopes set on N'Zogbia, and Obertan doesn't appear to be as good as him. He's another body in and for all anyone knows, he could flourish a bit more if he's given more of a chance than he was at Man Utd, which he surely would be. People are free to air their opinions about him as a player but you'd think you were buying an inanimate object if you look at some of the comments on here. Come off it man Neil - it's the fact that we seemed to have money to spend this summer which we could have used to progress, and we've signed cheapies and non-entities. Even Everton shelled out on a few fees after getting the Rooney money. It's not what I was getting at, though. My opinion is that negatives have been overblown and positives swept under the carpet. I can see that this will have been an incredibly frustrating summer. Would I be raging about where this Carroll money has gone? Yes, of course I would. Would I be pissed off about what's going on with Barton, Enrique, Nolan etc? Of course. Has it been a Summer From Hell? Well, I'm not fully qualified to say but from what I've seen, no. I really think people have swept the signings of Marveaux, Ba, Ben Arfa and Cabaye under the carpet somewhat. You have Gosling coming back who barely played last year (if at all?) and it looks like he's beefed the fuck up, so he could really develop this year. Now you look like signing someone who yes, hasn't hit it off at Man Utd, but also hasn't been given that much of a chance. After a troublesome few days, news comes that you're signing someone who could bolster your midfield and offer some pace on the wing and who knows, with some faith placed in him, could start to really establish himself in this league. Instead, it's "he's shit". That is what I find bamboozling. Before someone says this, no, I'm not sticking up for Ashley. I am however sticking up for some of the very good business you've done so far this summer which has escaped the limelight due to the Enrique/Barton etc shenanigans. Potentially disruptive? I would certainly imagine so. Fucking shit? I don't agree. As a fellow outsider, I have to say, I agree entirely with this. I really think there's a bit of drama queenery going on here. Look at us, we've shifted 12 players and brought 12 in. Everton haven't paid money for a player since Vanilla Ice was number one. Things look different from the outside looking in. Although, having said that, Obertain's a bit shit.

YouTube comments are the biggest mong magnet on the internet.

Harry Forrester ex Watford, came to us, was released by us last season (interesting lifestyle, by all accounts) has turned down Ajax. For Brentford. Apparently, though, with good reason. His mom is extremely ill and Ajax wouldnt let him travel back once a week. Fair play to him.

I'm in my mid 40s and most of my international football watching life has consisted of watching England play fucking Poland. It seems to be like Coronation Street ... if you stare at the telly for long enough, England - Poland will come on. Here's what will happen. We'll start really well in the qualifying, we'll have a slight dip (maybe a home loss to Montenegro), but go on to qualify top of our group. When the finals come around, the entire nation will get far too excited about it all, we'll start talking about winning it, we'll play three group matches, one will be convincing, the first two will be deeply worrying, drawing with Algeria and Norway or something. We'll get a shit Latin American country in the next round .. Paraguay, someone like that. We'll beat them. In the QF, we'll get some half decent side, play quite well, but get beaten. The deflation will then start in earnest for the entire fucking saga repeating itself four years later. Boring.

I remember saying precisely that when you signed him. He's got a gigantic confidence issue at the highest level.

The ever so trustworthy Dave said he'd take it off if i prove i'm not a WUM. That was over 2 years ago. That seems a bit harsh. And that's the nicest thing I'm EVER going to say about Spurs.

Not if Agbonlahor is anything like he was last year. A lot rides on N'Zogbia doing well. To be fair (and i say this as one who is not entirely convinced by him) Gabby was injured for most of the year, came back and was clearly still not fit, then got inexplicably stuck on the wing by Houllier. I think "the rest of the team sucks" is somewhat nonsensical too, to be honest. It's not a world beating team, but it's certainly not bad at all. I would say that swapping Downing for N'Zog and 10.5m is stupidly good business. McLeish has got a long way to go to convince me, but he's started quite well.

He's signed.

No he wouldn't. I wish you'd give him a try.

Bannon on the wing? I'm only looking at the line ups. Thought he was CM and strange with Albrighton on the bench. Got a fiver on you guys to win. Albrighton on for second half. Bannan frequently plays wide. Pitch looks horrible. Stadium now full of plastic Chelsea fans. "Mongolian Blues" FFS

Hate them though I do, I don't think I can bring myself to want them to go bust.