brummie

Decent goalkeeper. Nasty bastard in the middle. Another decent CB. Until they sort those three things, he's not going to win anything. That match today was Arsenal's deficiencies in a microcosm.

Good, the horrible little shite. All the time he played for us he used to go on about how he was a Villa fan as a kid, used to stand on the Holte, then the minute he goes to them, he turns into a lifelong nose. His brother, incidentally, Gary, is a fantastic prospect. The best of a very good bunch of academy products.

You and every single Villa fan I have ever met. And it was actually 9.5m in the end, I believe.

When we were there last season, they were changing hands for stupid amounts of money. It's an absolute fucking disgrace - officially sanctioned touting.

That's the least startled, and most "in control" I've ever seen him. Clearly, there wasn't a ball anywhere near him.

YOU FUCKING BEAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUTY!!!!!!!!

The Arsenal fans have been shockingly quiet so far.

Arsenal really are massive fucking bottlers. That's the one obvious reason they don't win stuff anymore. Plenty of skill, but absolutely no fucking spine. They've been pathetic today.

Reverse psychology? Sweet baby jesus and the orphans, no! Where about do you live? I used to live in Bromsgrove. In Warwick these days.

Aw, fuckity fuck.

Reverse psychology? Sweet baby jesus and the orphans, no!

I'm supporting Arsenal today.

That's because you're too busy shooting your politicans and abortionists. I said that whilst pulling a Bill Hicks face.

I bet Steve Bruce is well, well happy at the thought of Darren Bent hanging out of the back of his daughter, prior to thoroughly smashing it on a regular basis. Having had to put up with Lee Hendrie, of all people, tupping her too, he must fucking hate us.

OMG, can't believe you said that. What if I dropped by cafe mocha, it'd be like, so bad, yah? That randomly reminded me of "Mocha Joe" in CYE.

It's a strange situation with him, okay you could say that he wouldn't beat the man as easily in the Premier League but there's absolutely no logical reason why he can produce that quality of cross in the Championship but not at this level. I think Routledge's problem is that he's a very frail, confidence player. Stick him at that level, and he feels it is "his" platform, he can do it, and has done it with consistency. He has never done it in the top flight, and now has three experiences of trying to do so, and failed each time, so it is just getting harder for him.

To read that bollocks, you'd think there was something wrong with shooting students.

As I believe I've mentioned on here before, he's absolutely fucking hatstand. Good luck, but you'll be sending him back to us at the end of the season, saying "what the fuck was that about?"

They're the worst side I've seen for a long, long time. In fact, tomorrow I'm going to have a few quid on them to go down. They also had the smallest away support I've ever seen today - I would say there was quite possibly less than 100. Really.

There was an awful lot of shite spoken by Sunderland fans (and the media) when we signed Bent - "boo hoo how can he leave there to go to a club down the league when Sunderland are flying high" plus loads of bullshit about how Sunderland were practically in Europe, seeming to believe that European qualification is based on where you are in January. I observe that we are now only four points behind them, and having never given them a second thought till January, really hope we finish above them.

The thought of Birmingham being in Europe makes me feel slightly sick. Imagine how it makes me feel.

Never trust someone who says "this is the facts". Ever.

Id be surprised if we got that lot for £150k per week True, probably underestimated the wages a bit. Still; Gameiro - £50,000 El Arabi - £38,000 Reo-Coker - £25,000 Van Aanholt - £17,000 Jarvis - £27,000 £157,000 a week? Reo-Coker is on a lot more than that now, will be moving on a free transfer, and will therefore - as there is no fee involved - be looking for a sizeable signing on wedge, and a high wage, much more than 25k. No-one will pay him more than £30k a week .. Some suckers will, which says all you need to know about the fuckwittedness of football clubs these days. Don't forget - no fee, has value from the moment he signs a contract.

Id be surprised if we got that lot for £150k per week True, probably underestimated the wages a bit. Still; Gameiro - £50,000 El Arabi - £38,000 Reo-Coker - £25,000 Van Aanholt - £17,000 Jarvis - £27,000 £157,000 a week? Reo-Coker is on a lot more than that now, will be moving on a free transfer, and will therefore - as there is no fee involved - be looking for a sizeable signing on wedge, and a high wage, much more than 25k.

One thing that does annoy me is the thought that we are the only club that loses its players to 'bigger clubs', that lies to its supporters and charges silly ticket prices when in reality, as Brummie's post shows, we're not. For every Newcastle, there is an Everton or a Villa. We're all stuck at that midtable crossroad IMO. Indeed. Gareth Barry, then James Milner. Probably Ashley Young this summer. You can make a case for those players that we either got the best of their years (Barry), that we got stupid money (Milner, Barry to for a player with a year left), or that to be honest, they weren't that big a loss (Barry and Young too, to be honest), however the point is that the club, at the time, wanted to keep them, but couldn''t. As soon as Milner knew Man City were interested, they were always going to get him, because they were going to pay him stupid money. I felt for you lot when you lost AC but there is not a club in the country, bar Man City and Chelsea, who would have turned down that money. What is depressing is the thought that, really, that's as good as it gets. We finished sixth three years on the bounce, but still couldnt push on, and still couldn't hold on to Milner. It really does make you wonder what the point is. Incidentally, obviously for every Milner we lose to Man City, or Carroll you lose to Liverpool, there are players clubs like us, you and Everton poach from clubs further down the pecking order as well. The difference is that the point at which the cherry picking really happens now is choking the entire remainder of the premier league. What gets my goat more than anything is the suggestion in the media that, actually, the fans don't have a right to complain or to feel short changed by it all. When we bought Darren Bent, we got slaughtered in the press. What for? Because we're not supposed to spend up to 24 million on a striker. When Liverpool spent 35m on Carroll - let's face it, a very good player, but over a short period of time in the top flight - barely a murmur of "maybe that's too much money", barely a hint of surprise. Why was that? Because, beyond the usual suspects the media favour, the rest of us aren't supposed to do much other than take what we're given, and be grateful for it. We're supposed to be grateful for having had Martin O'Neill as our manager, and the reason he fucked off MUST be something we did because, well .... well, we should have just been grateful to have him. As for short termism, I don't think it is really possible to do anything long term these days - as I said, you get a good selection of players together, they get bought by the usual suspects, you're back at square one. Interesting that someone posted that Lambias quote from a while back, about wanting to be an Aston Villa, ie well run, competitive etc etc but without daft investment. The very idea that we - after 200 million plus investment by Lerner - might be seen as the "sensible" financial option to follow is utterly insane.