brummie

When i saw that i thought exactly the same, you could go to any traing ground in the country, and you could get a shot of any player in that position! This slander could REALLY fuck him up tbh, he will be scared to go in to a tackle because of the stick or injuring people! Hope he plays against us then!!! I am interested to see how the referee acts in our game at the Emirates on Saturday. I will state right now that I fully expect Nigel Reo-Coker to get sent off.

I honestly could not agree more. God knows, I don't stick up for that lot if I can at all avoid it, but that article really struck me as possibly the worst piece of sports 'journalism' I've ever seen.

I'd imagine he'll want some of his cash back at some point, mind. He could probably sell it for a tidy profit already. As MJ said, I doubt it has gone up in value by an amount in excess of the debts he has cleared. Although this is football, so normal sanity goes out of the window.

I'd imagine he'll want some of his cash back at some point, mind.

All the knuckledraggers I know say he's shit and lazy. Although in his defence, they are knuckledraggers, so not blessed with the best of critical faculties.

Not on quite the same scale, but us last season - last team to lose in the country, 13 or 14 matches ubeaten, top six most of the time until we then hit a spell of 2 wins in 17 or whatever it was, then finish off with a 10 match unbeaten run. Football is just fucking annoying.

Indeed, and I have a horrible feeling the same may happen this season

My girlfriends dad is a Birmingham season ticket holder. Was up there place over christmas having a few beers and watching match of the day. He lives in Daventry though, so between Northampton and Coventry, yet still a blues fan. You do get the odd bluenose away from town, sadly. Villa's support under Ellis was neglected massively. Our (admittedly more latent) support also goes all the way down the M5 corridor to places like Gloucester, Worcester, Cheltenham, but under Ellis we never did anything to win them back when football started to recover in the early 90s, we were complacent and lazy. Complacent, lazy football clubs end up paying for it nowadays. Oddly enough, Birmingham City are a good example of that currently.

Incidentally, I am prepared to admit to some hypocrisy in my above rant. The closest pro club to where I live is Coventry City, and by some distance (although I am from Brum). Villa Park is probably 40 miles away, yet the most frequently seen shirts around town (excluding Man U) are Villa shirts by a mile. I never see anyone wearing a Coventry shirt, and I can imagine that pisses off Cov fans hugely. In fact, last time I went to Coventry, I noticed plenty of people walking around there in our shirts, too. I guess my point is that this kind of behaviour cascades down and annoys everyone on different levels.

I've got a feeling City have been "found out". And yes, i realise that could well happen to us in coming weeks, too.

Feeling the Mrs would go apeshit if I put football on tonight, I hit the Sky plus record button thinking I'd watch this one later. Then I have a quick flick at half time and observe I've actually been recording the MK Dons match.

Forget what Owen is on now, is he really worth even 60k a week? Over a 4 year contract, that's 12 million pounds in salary alone.

I can't believe anyone would be mad enough to build a team around a player like Michael Owen, who looks a. distinctly like he doesn't give a shit and b. past it. I worry that his name/reputation will convince Keegan to give it another go rather than move on. I think he probably will, to be honest, and - perversely - in a way, i would understand why, he is a big, big name still. It'd still be the wrong decision, mind. If anyone demonstrates the folly of thinking spending huge amounts of money is a guaranteed short cut to success then it must surely be Owen.

Just seen this! Lescott with the second. How many has he scored? must be double f****** figures now. Eight goals now. More than any of our squad. :blush: £20million bid and make him our main striker? despite him being a left back? And there'd still be 130m in the pot.

I've got a feeling Everton v Villa on April 26th could be a pretty important match.

I can't believe anyone would be mad enough to build a team around a player like Michael Owen, who looks a. distinctly like he doesn't give a shit and b. past it.

Do you really think you've got a decent defence? Seems to me there's plenty of room for improvement there.

I thought you raised your game a lot in the second half, Hoop Blah, and we were lucky not to concede on two or three other occasions. You certainly showed enough spirit.

Also, absurd though this may sound, nowadays it is actually pretty difficult to spend 150m pounds. You don't need to just have the money, you need to be able to persuade the players to move. I've said this before but look at players like David Bentley. In the past that type of player would have been a lot easier for the likes of you, us, Everton, Citeh to buy, but these days there's little incentive to make a sideways move and lots of incentive to stay where you are, big fish in a small pool, and hope one of the top four comes in. The only distorting factor is for clubs like Spurs and West Ham, who have the London factor to offer. Incidentally - don't take this the wrong way, but I'm struggling to think of a club which needs the gradual building of solid foundations rather than a frenzy of hopeful spending more than Newcastle does.

Spurs bought 15 players in one window when Arnesen first joined and seemed to be buying a couple every week. They've all gone now but Pamarot, Davis and Pedro Mendes have all done well for Pompey. The likes of those players, plus Atouba, Naybet, Carrick etc provided the 'quick fix' stepping stone to the next level from the one where Spurs had previously languished. That first season we missed Uefa competition on the final day, to be followed by successive 5th places. Buying a lot of players in one window can work, and work well, if it's done properly. Didn't you also buy a lot of players last summer, though, and that didn't work out, did it? Not having a dig - they're for the large part, good players - just pointing out that there's no guarantee and it could be said that it backfired for you this year (I'm aware the reasons are more complicated than this post suggest, mind) ;-)

I agree. Build gradually and for the long term, not by spaffing a huge amount of cash in one desperate gamble. Worked for chelsea I don't know if you mean my method worked for Chelsea, or spaffing in one go worked for them, but either way, they spent money over a relatively long period, including before RA arrived at the club. What they didn't do was spend 150m and go in one bound from being in the lower reaches of the table to the top of it.

I agree. Build gradually and for the long term, not by spaffing a huge amount of cash in one desperate gamble.

Honestly, just turn your telly off and keep the fucking thing turned off for a good month now, the media wankfest over Spurs will sap your will to live.

This time last season, 37 games, 32 points, 13th place, and had won 2 of our last 16 games, 11 points from 48. Personally, I don't think KK was the right appointment, but no matter who you (or anyone) appoints, if they don't get a decent chance then they are doomed to fail.

People belittle the League Cup, but when you win it yourselves, it doesn't feel particularly smalltime.