brummie

In the summer he said he wanted to go to Liverpool and it was purely about wanting CL football, nothing to do with money He's just gone to Man City, who won't be playing any type of European football next season, without even seeing if the Liverpool interest materialised again. I wonder what could have changed his mind. What kind of reception will he get when he comes back to Villa park Brummie? A much, much worse one than he'd have got if he had gone to Liverpool ("I only want to leave for CL football, it isn't about money, were it not for that, I wouldn't be thinking of leaving"). That and even when he wanted his "dream move" he didn't have the balls to put in a transfer request. I was resigned to him going to Liverpool, and would have understood it, as would most of us, but this has really, really got my goat. That's all to do with him, the man, though. I still think Petrov was miles better than him last season, and something needs changing in our central midfield, so from that perspective, I'm not too worried. It is just the duplicity of it all that annoys me. I also think there will be an awful lot more of this going on with regard to Man City this summer.

I went to that game. Zilina's fans were brilliant. Best fans I've seen in the last few years was when we (Spurs) went to Besiktas. Everything a support should be. Yes, they were very good. I saw that Spurs game on the telly, and was iumpressed by Besiktas

I'm in an exceptionally bad mood this evening, David. i got my head sunburned today, Fat Arse has shown his true colours, i spent the entire day at work listening to witless wankers, the Mrs gave me grief about mowing the lawn, the traffic on the M6 was fucking awful, and I drove about 3 miles at 70mph in the M6 50mph average speed check section before I realised, despite doing that route every day. I'm now going to feed the cat (it'll be dead, no doubt), and make myself a nice cup of tea (the milk will be curdled).

What right do you have to be quite so indignant about it? What's it actually got to do with you? I went to every home match in the competition, and the Intertoto qualifiers starting back in June, I spent a lot of time and money on the competition, mainly watching us play Slovakian metal bashers and Icelandic postmen, and I thought he made the right decision at the time. We looked at that point to be pushing for the top four, we patently didn't have the squad to do it (as subsequent events showed), so he made a tough decision. It didn't work out, but at the time it was right. I hope you'll be calling for all those clubs who play their under 12s in the Carling Cup to be barred, too. All this over a couple of poxy banners. Jesus.

In the summer he said he wanted to go to Liverpool and it was purely about wanting CL football, nothing to do with money He's just gone to Man City, who won't be playing any type of European football next season, without even seeing if the Liverpool interest materialised again. I wonder what could have changed his mind.

Barry was never a leader. Any Villa fan will tell you that. Laursen definitely was, though. Barry had a lot of responsibility on the pitch though. A lot of your play went through him. I meant it more from that standpoint. I would agree that Laursen was more of a leader though, definitely. Any news on who you might be bringin in to replace either of them? Barry goes missing for games on end and always has done. When he's good, he's great, but the game bypasses him with far too much regularity. Defour from Standard Liege is the rumour which has been around for a while. No idea about Laursen. We really need an experienced CB there to bring the best out of Davies. To that end, someone like Scharner at Wigan would do a good job (assuming someone like Hangeland is not an option)

Barry was never a leader. Any Villa fan will tell you that. Laursen definitely was, though.

2/10 She's an Albion fan.

I'm annoyed because he made that hoo haa about "I would only leave for CL football", but to be going to Man City, it can only be about money. On the other hand, I've said on here for ages and ages that Barry goes missing for great chunks of the season, and has for as long as I can remember. This season, Petrov alongside him has been much better and more consistent. Our central midfield doesn't work, something needs to change, and so long as we rape Man City on the price and get a good deal (I like the look of Sturridge), I'm not really that bothered. Football is really dying though, with people like that crew at Man City. I bet they've offered him 150k a week or something absurd.

I don't know what you were like, because I wasn't there. Season before you were quite noisy, but understandably less so after our equaliser given the way the match turned. One thing I will say, though, is that the best fans I saw at our place all season were Ajax by a country mile. Only about 1200 of them, but they made as much noise as most clubs who brought almost three times as many, and never stopped going the entire 90 minutes. Disappointing: the obvious (Boro, for example, Fulham, Wigan etc), but also Everton and Liverpool (the first sat down the whole 90 mins, which has a limiting factor on how much noise you can make, the second consisted mainly of jester hat wearing Scandinavians), Man United (who are usually amongst the best). Generally I find that the ranking goes like this: 1. Non top four (except Man United), sell all the seats, stand up all the time clubs 2. Newly promoted clubs 3. Foreign clubs in the UEFA. Even MSK Zilina were quite good. 4. The rest. There's no such thing as a club having support who are always noisy, though. Human nature being what it is, everyone gets downhearted and quiet when things are going badly. I do get a bit uncomfortable when supporters go on about how good their away support is (and ours are as bad as anyone at this - in fact, pretty much everyone does it), it makes me think of Albion supporters, who do nothing but big themselves up. It is all a bit small time, really.

I absolutely agree on all counts.

Has anyone got any of those funny pics of cats with LOLZ I AM EATING UR COMPUTER!!!11!! and what not that they can post?

I think football (ie top flight football) will have to undergo a very real crisis if it is ever to return to its local roots. When you hear stuff like that Game 39 proposal, it is really flaunted in our faces that we're not the people who matter any more, it is the mass audiences in the Far East who make the tv rights so valuable. So valuable that the league wanted to introduce an extra match which would, at a stroke, destroy the validity of our league being based on every club playing every other club twice - the last vestige of the "level playing field" gone in the name of money. As a supporter, I don't particularly feel the benefits of this being the richest league in the world. My season ticket still costs me a lot of money, I'm watching the same four teams win pretty much everything, even breaking into (for one or two seasons only) that top four is seen as an achievement of the size of Burton Albion winning the FA Cup. Talking of which, the FA cup, in the new Wembley, and yesterday we have 25,000 fans of both sides getting tickets, meaning 40k for stuffed shirts from the FA and corporate sponsors. The entire game is wrong, wrong, wrong from top to bottom, and ideas like following the Barca line of membership (ie great ideas based on noble morals) are fucked from the start The entire game is drowning in a sea of wrong.

Nah. English football is about as local as McDonalds or Visa, and it is never coming back, unfortunately. How many industries can you see extremely rich people investing massive chunks of money only to find that someone else considerably richer than them has washed up, prepared to invest even more than you can, and thereby blow a massive chunk in your plans. The whole thing now is about as much a sporting event as Britain's Got Talent, and concepts like a Barca style membership scheme, though incredibly noble, just will not work.

Isn't the problem that people want an owner that will be able to put money into the club (i.e not Ashley or Freddy), wouldn't a fans' consortium do just the opposite? We wouldn't be able to plug the club with money if needed, which it probably would. I don't see the parachute payment and the money from player sales being enough to stablise us. Yeah, I know and I agree. The hypothetical Real/Barca scenario would be more beneficial in the long-run. Even if we are condemned to the Championship for a couple of years, if we can become financially stable and viable, then promotion into the Premiership will mean that we can actually spend money too because of our fanbase. We're not like other teams who need someone to shoulder their spending sprees. The infrastructure at the club is still very strong. We've got a short-run financial problem. If this can be solved, then a Real/Barca style ownership is possible. The Barca model is fine, if you're a club with the money printing ability of Barca. The fan ownership model is an ideal, and it is hard to pick at the principles behind it, it would be a beacon for the rst of football in many ways. But, you;d still be competing against clubs bankrolled by rich owners. 10k average extra punters through the door over your competitors makes little difference these days. That's why football is intrinsically fucked. Manchester City, 250m transfer budgets, buying everything on the planet capable of standing up, etc etc etc.

Shepherd back? Holy fucking shit. You lot know better than I do, but as an outsider, holy fucking shit.

Yes, Acorns again. Kudos not just for Lerner, but also for Doug Ellis (through gritted teeth) as he started the partnership between them and the club a while back now. Sheff Wed have done the same this year n all. Some kiddies charity or something is going to be on their shirt. Smaller scale but Walsall have also gifted theirs to a childrens' hospice next season

Yes, Acorns again. Kudos not just for Lerner, but also for Doug Ellis (through gritted teeth) as he started the partnership between them and the club a while back now.

I reckon we should be loaning out Barry Bannan and Marc Albrighton, both of whom look incredibly promising. Bannan spent the last few months of the season at Derby, and did very well.

BINGO! That makes the full house of every single club in England now having been linked with Larsson at some point in the last two years.

I don't believe for a second we are interested in Bassong, let alone at that price. Not that hes not a good player - he is (although 15m? dear lord) - but we need an experienced head to play alongside Cuellar or Davies, not another up and coming youngster.

Not that I ever like making excuses for mackems, but he was probably slightly confused because Carew is hardly ever fit to start so it could seem to someone (who doesn't watch religiously) that is possibly a "third choice striker." That's a fair assessment (except for the "hardly ever fit to start" bit, which is a humungo-exaggeration). I love him.

I must be living in different times, because Sunderland, although they've won very little in, say, my lifetime, are a club awash with history.

I had a look at that SMB forum yesterday There was a thread started by some bloke who reckoned they should make a move for John Carew, as he's "Villa's third choice striker"

Point of order. Man U have been, and not that long ago. Sorry, I love reminding myself of that.