brummie

And to think Allardyce is trying to get us to liken what Ramos is going at Spurs to what he was trying to do here The question what is Ramos doing there? its really a huge shock to me that just changing the way players train can turn a team from the hopeless bunch of fuckers Tottenham were before he came to the brilliant team i saw playing tonight. Or the pile of shite that lost 4-1 to Birmingham City the other day. Interesting though - Spurs 4-Villa 4, Chelsea 4-Villa 4, Spurs 4-Chelsea 4. Three good matches, those.

Thing is, you can't really have that attitude, in that if you are going to give him the job, you've got to back him, and when he does strange stuff, you have to back him in that, at the very least until he is proven wrong. I'm talking from personal experience here based on watching MON sign Marlon Harewood (jaw hit floor) and Zat Knight (jaw hit floor again, twice as hard). Weird, weird moves, but if you take the package, you take the *whole* package, including the idiosyncracies. Whatever he does, he has to do it his way, then if it goes wrong, he stands or falls by it.

The return of a previous hero is always laden with extra worry, though, lest they besmirch your memories of them. I felt the same with Sir Graham Taylor's return as manager, and Andy Gray's return as a player. On the flipside, as you said, it is that extra bit exciting.

I'm aware I'm stepping on very dodgy ground here, but I am genuinely very interested., I'm really not trolling or looking for a fight, I'm just keen to hear your thoughts. I'm interested in the perception of Keegan as your manager, and to what extent this is about sentimentality (which is, let's be honest, in many ways a good thing to still see in football) rather than cold, hard assessment of what the club needs. Those of you who thought it was a good appointment at the time - was he really the best man for the job? Forget Allardyce and the wisdom of sacking him or appointing him in the first place, was the Keegan appointment the one to make? When the news broke, I was driving home from work. Earlier that day, TalkShite had been saying Didier Deschamps was nailed on to get the job. I was actually quite impressed, in the sense that I thought it would be a good appointment and one that showed a freshness of thought which I haven't associated with those running NUFC for a long, long time. Then, the same station reported that Keegan had been appointed. Had I not been driving home at the time, I'd have fallen off my seat, I could not believe it. My first reaction was 'what the FUCK?', my second was 'what the fuck are they doing?'. Don't get me wrong, I like Keegan. Growing up in the late 70s, he was one of my football heroes, he was THE glamour footballer. I liked his first Newcastle side. I like his wearing of his heart on his sleeve, I genuinely think his "I would love it ..." outburst is one of the most watchable bits of sport television I've ever seen. I just can't believe they appointed him. Again, let me stress, I'm not saying I think he will fail, and I DO think that having given him the job, you owe him the chance to make it work. I'm saying I think you could have made a much better appointment, a forward thinking one, one which would break with the club's recent history of questionable management - new ownership, new money, debts cleared, manager who wasn't "the owner's man" jettisoned, a chance to show a break with the previous regime, but a chance missed. That's just my opinion, but I'm interested to hear how many of you had that feeling too, whether at the time of the appointment you thought 'fuck it, what the hell' and if so, how you feel at this point.

If you want a really good example, Man United's 1974 relegation turned the club around. From my point of view, 1987's relegation benefitted Villa massively. Relegation can be a good thing. That's not to say it is something one should want, mind.

But you reckon Fulham, the mackems and Reading are going to show a significant step up in class away from home? I hate to grim you out, Wullie, but we've got Sunderland at our place on Saturday, and not only are we playing shite recently, but we're also undergoing an injury crisis. If Dwight Yorke scores, I will kill myself.

Can't believe he took Martins off, alhough to be honest, I thought you lost the impetus before that. The match looked like what it was - two sides shit scared of getting relegated. Very cagey indeed.

Why taking Martins off?

Isn't that by Half Man Half Biscuit?

God, Blues are really shit. Beat them FFS.

Skinny youths with their shirts off. Young people. Mental.

Fear not. Liam Ridgewell hasn't dropped his customary one bollock per match yet.

I am not mate. Firstly its a money thing Secondly, I have been to see them at St Andrews a couple of times since I moved down here. Both resulted in getting kocked out of the league cup and it hurt like hell to see their fans celebrating and then having to meet up with bluenose mates that were there as well. I thought about it and decided that if it happened again, that I just couldnt cope with the disappointment. The stakes are just so high tomorrow. Weak as fuck I know but I just couldnt stand it - it will be hard enough going to work on Tuesday to face it I fully understand. I refuse to go and watch us play there. Partly on the basis of not wanting to face scenes akin to Fallujah during the US assault before and after the game, but mainly - truth be told - after the sheer hell and aftermath of the Enckelman game in 2003.

Off topic, but are you going tomorrow, Robster? Bluenose colleague of mine asked me if i wanted to tag along with him. Clearly, I'd rather have my kidneys removed without anaesthetic than sit alongside those scum, but hearing it is pay on the gate in the away end, me and another Villan in our office are half tempted to go in there to watch.

Doesn't he look like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad though? I'm sure that has been on f365 before, but he does. FWIW, I like Keane as a manager. He seems to have acquired an certain eloquence, which is at odds with the nasty gobshite he was as a player. If he keeps Sunderland up, he'll have done a very good job. His transfer market acumen is incredibly suspect, though. Although, saying that, so is MON's at times.

Cruyff was a major smoker, too, use to smoke on the bench I believe (when a player). In fact, didn't he smoke hs way to a heart bypass? Vialli also, big fan of the tabs. Zidane as well. Maybe there is something to this? Someone suggest to KK that he starts buying B&H for Alan Smith and we'll graph up the results. You'll need to inject nicotine directly into his lungs to get any response from that waster.

Cruyff was a major smoker, too, use to smoke on the bench I believe (when a player). In fact, didn't he smoke hs way to a heart bypass? Vialli also, big fan of the tabs. Oh, and friend of mine spotted Martin Laursen outside a club in Brum the other week, enjoying a cheeky cigarette.

I was just about to type the very same thing. Human Rights FC etc. Can you imagine if he was our owner. Each daily would have about 200 pages devoted to the subject I detect a persecution complex settling around the forum of late.

I was just about to type the very same thing. Human Rights FC etc.

I'd have Zat Knight above them all tbh. The Brummie Maldini.

Howay man. Ahead of Terry, Vidic, Ferdinand, King, Woodgate, etc.? He's earned the right to be mentioned in the same breath as King and Woodgate at least (both of whom manage to have a worse injury record than Laursen, even).

Incidentally - centre backs, not a mention of Martin Laursen?

Gallas deserves to be penalised for setting the worst example as captain for a long time. I was going to raise the name of Gareth Barry, then i remembered he hasn't had a good game for about three months.

Carson is so average. £10m for him?! There's not a cat's chance in hell we'll be paying that amount of money for Carson. In fact, it is looking increasingly likely we won't be buying him at all, if rumours are correct.

Boro were very good against us in the week. They'll pull clear, no bother.