brummie

Hopefully by the corner. I'm in Q3. Thats right next to the home fans.

Hopefully by the corner. I'm in Q3. Q1 is the far end of the Lower Witton stand. Actually, I think it is the lower, anyway, but you'll be in the corner in any case. If it is lower, you'll get plenty of "banter" with our lot in the cheap seats in the lower North. If youre upper, you'll get a better view.

I'm desperate to go to the game. Tempted to go in the Villa end too but I know I won't be able to contain my emotions if we score. Should I risk it or not? Unless you've already got a ticket, on account of your long booking history at Villa, you won't be, as the game is sold out. Incidentally, anyone who is going in our end, advice is to be very cautious. The stewards are pretty eagle eyed for that sort of thing, and there's no debate, straight out.

The other side of the ground from your lot, top tier, more or less centre, three rows from the front.

I'd have thought a match like this is beyond tactical fiddling, and almost entirely about motivation. Decide what you want to do, make sure it is simple, inspire the players, and get them to absolutely sweat blood to make it happen. Shearer's pre match and half time talk are going to be absolutely fucking essential. Watching your lot of late, the one thing that struck me was that your players don't look particularly bothered. We played Hull recently, and despiute them being wank, they at least looked like they cared. Stoke City have survived this season almost entirely based on that. Shearer absolutely has to fire them up and instill the right spirit in them. If he doesn't do that, then the task at hand gets twice as hard as soon as they get on the pitch.

I just think the "Premiership Era" distinction is significant because clubs that were "too big to be relegated" simply didn't exist before it. I see what you mean, but disagree. You're right in that nowadays, the financial aspect has cushioned big clubs against relegation far more than they ever were before, but even back then the "too big to go down" thing still existed. In my life time I remember Man United in the second division. When we went down to the third, it was unthinkable. My great grandad used to tell me that when we first went down to the second, it was unthinkable. You'd know better than I do I suppose. I remember the war and everything. Well, I don't. Well, i do remember the Falklands. And Vietnam being on the news. ;-)

I just think the "Premiership Era" distinction is significant because clubs that were "too big to be relegated" simply didn't exist before it. I see what you mean, but disagree. You're right in that nowadays, the financial aspect has cushioned big clubs against relegation far more than they ever were before, but even back then the "too big to go down" thing still existed. In my life time I remember Man United in the second division. When we went down to the third, it was unthinkable. My great grandad used to tell me that when we first went down to the second, it was unthinkable.

I would. I can't handle suspenseful situations. 1990 WC semi penalties, 1996 EC semis pens, turned telly off, went outside, smoked a lot, came back in 30 minutes later. I managed the 82 European Cup final, but looking back, i really don't know how. It must have been youth.

I don't know if Young will be back, I find it hard to believe we'll repeat the insanity of Milner at right back. Hopefully Luke Young will be back, and I expect we'll line up Friedel Luke Young - Davies - Cuellar - Shorey Milner - Barry - Petrov - Ashley Young Carew - Agbonlahor Personally I'd like to see Agbonlahor dropped for Delfouneso, but it won't happen.

I'm not worried about Milner, it's the likes of Carew and Young we won't be able to handle physically. Milner has been far more effective than Ashley Young for several months now, he's doing really well. Hopefully we won't see the utter fucking madness of him being played at RB again (that'll be Gardener if Luke Young isn't fit). Know what I'd do if i were one of your ilk without a ticket this weekend? Turn the radio and telly off. Go for a walk or something. Smoke furiously. If you don't smoke, start. Just do something else for 90 minutes, come back in, turn on the telly and get it over and done with.

A propos of nothing in this thread, other than the use of the term (and not even referring to you, oldtype) but I love the way the term Premiership Era gets bandied about. Its like Sky telling us "we got the rights then, it didn't exist before we got the rights then, it didn't exist before we got the rights then, it didn't exist before we got the rights then, it didn't exist before " over and over, and eventually, we've all started perpetuating it. Of course, the irony being that, if football before then counted for nothing, then Sky's second choice darlings Liverpool have never won the league.

Fair play to Ricky Sbragia, he seems a relatively honourable bloke and doesn't reach out for the nearest blame deflection option (ie the ref) like that stupid orange, microphoned penis Phil Brown.

What you don't realise is our reserves would probably do a better job than the first team at the moment.

All those Villa badge avatars and sigs, really, has there ever been something which looks more bound to blow up in people's faces?

OK, mate. Oh

Incidentally, all this Sunderland stuff .... if they do go down, they're really, really setting themselves up for the biggest egg on face situation ever.

When we went down in 1987, it felt like the world had ended, it really did. The next season was amongst the best 12 months of football following I've ever had, but I still remember the getting laughed at, the shame, the ridicule. We've had Birmingham City come up again this season, which is bad, but every single time they've gone down, I've absolutely milked it. A lot of Villa fans are milking the Albion relegation today, and the point at Boro yesterday which probably condemned them (Boateng, Ehiogu and Southgate still rankle). We - ie everyone here, and the wider football world - were pissing ourselves laughing at Spurs for the first half of the season, lest we forget. Last week, we were all sewing our sides back up after Chelsea's exit from the CL in hilarious circumstances - piss take knows no barriers, even when directed at small clubs like those two. All part of football.

It is really very, very simple. A big club who you wouldn't expect to be in this situation is, well, in this situation, so people scent blood. if it were Man City or Everton or us (for others) or Chelsea, or even Spurs, the reaction would be exactly the same. Football is about lots of things, most of them tribal, and laughing at the misfortune of others is one of the main ones.

Nearly every fucker on RTG is using that as an avatar. They could at least use the correct badge.

Good Lord.

We beat Boro last week FFS A team Villa couldn't beat this week by the way. Doubt we would have beat Boro at the Riverside to be fair..... Villa are better away then they are at home though. I've been saying this for ages, but nobody seems to be listening. We're shit at the moment, and are particularly shit at home. Needing a result on the last day of the season to avoid relegation is a pretty horrible place to be in, but playing us at our place makes it a bit easier.

but we are really SHIT. Very, very shit. But you've got something to play for. We haven't, and we're just as shit of late. Honestly, i mean, really, really shit. How we're sixth (and have only just dropped there) is absolutely beyond me, but there you go. Its probably got all the hallmarks of a crap game which will be decided by a mistake. 1-0/0-1. I'd bet my right arm it'll be an absolutely crap game, and as you said, a single goal in it.

I actually considered signing up to ask what their problem was for a second, then realised that I'd be playing by the rule that they use to hate us, IE the belief that all fans of a club are the same. As I said elsewhere when you were discussing the media thing, surely the time to worry is when nobody bats an eyelid, not when people start getting excited. It'd be the same if it were Spurs, Man City, Everton, pretty much anyone you wouldn't expect to be in relegation trouble.

but we are really SHIT. Very, very shit. But you've got something to play for. We haven't, and we're just as shit of late. Honestly, i mean, really, really shit. How we're sixth (and have only just dropped there) is absolutely beyond me, but there you go.

We're shit at the moment, we switched off weeks and weeks ago. I genuinely wouldn't back us to beat anyone currently. We squeaked past Hull unconvincingly, and that was our only win in three and a half months. Last day of the season, nothing to play for (sixth / fifth, who cares?), Ashley Young limping off injured today, really, if you can't get at least a point from that, then maybe ... well, you know.