brummie

Other than Chelsea, no British team has purely bought success in recent years. Man United's best team ever had a strong, home grown backbone. You're right on the general point though, it is a business, we're customers nowadays, not supporters, we're the last consideration, the lowest in the food chain.

There's no doubt whatsoever that the quality of coverage is way, way better than it was pre Sky. ITV had the live rights and used to show a game every now and then when they could be arsed. My beef with Sky is that they focus almost entirely on the big clubs of the day. Understandable, but fucking annoying. Oh, and when they pay that much money for the rights, they expect football to be their bitch, which is why you'll find yourself watching your team playing Bolton at 5.15 on a Saturday evening, and why the fixture list is largely meaningless.

Solano packed in international football whilst playing for us, too. EDIT actually, he packed in playing football whilst playing for us. EDIT EDIT that's a bit harsh, tbh. Well, untrue, in fact.

When our takeover went through, immediately we started hearing stories along the lines of "OMFG!!!! Lerner wants to rename the ground!!!". The general consensus was: 1. He probably doesn't (and has since said it is not on the agenda). 2. Even if he did, we'd still call it Villa Park. 3. So would everyone else. You won't find many of our fans referring to the Doug Ellis Stand, for example, and I'm sure none of you refer to the Newcastle Brown Stand. I'd have thought naming rights for old, established grounds like VP, SJP, Goodison etc etc would actually not fetch that much anyway, purely because in the same way we know they'd always be called by their proper name, so do potential sponsors. New stadia are a different matter, mind.

I think Richardson looked shite the other night.

So will Milner... I've been saying how good Milner is on this very site for almost a year now. But I don't think Milner is ever going to be a true flair player, just a very good one. meh. I wish you hadn't managed to call him back just as he was about to sign for us. I'd have loved to see what John Robertson could have done with him - if there's one coach who knows a bit about crossing a ball, it is him.

So will Milner... I've been saying how good Milner is on this very site for almost a year now. But I don't think Milner is ever going to be a true flair player, just a very good one.

Great ball from Young Ashley. I'll tell you this right now, that boy is going to be one of the most exciting players in the premiership next season. You heard it here first.

I was stood right in the centre of the Holte End, at the perfect height to see that Ronnie Rosenthal miss against us way back when, having seen that at such close quarters, I honestly don't think any miss will beat it. It was the third funniest thing I've seen at a football match.

Good play there from Young Ashley.

Is it true you've paid the 300k he reckoned Citeh owed him? Talk about being eager to get yourself off to the decent start and a fresh slate with your new club. Good player, total fucking slimeball, though.

I can't believe Bosko Balaban isn't in that list.

I wouldnt expect Davies to go straight on to 35k a week. Or am I being a bit behind the times on that score?

If I were Joey Barton, I'd be thinking the following: - I've got the chance of a quick move to another big club. - I smacked fuck out of a team mate, something I don't really want to be drawing any more attention to. - I've got the chance to wipe the slate clean and make a fresh start. - I've done well out of the fact that my sell-on clause is relatively low, meaning more money for me. - I've got a new set of fans who are going to need a little convincing, given my somewhat chequered past. - I've done well out of being at Man City. They stood by me during all my previous problems. I pushed them into a corner. They (esp the fans) deserve better than this. Yes, 300k is a lot of money, but in the long run, he'll make a lot more than that out of not taking the piss, and making his departure from Man City as painless as possible. I was in the "fuck it, so what if he's a cunt, he's a good player" camp, but this is making me reassess that situation, as i suspect are a lot of people

I mentioned it because Nike are making our shirts next year. I should point out that i am an Aston Villa supporter, mind, which may explain the confusion.

I heard the other day that Wigan are paying young Titus 40k a week. *shocked face emoticon* And I do take the 70k thing with a minor pinch of salt. Although ...... *thinks of Kieron Dyer*

He's the absolute worst person on earth for sounding like a walking, talking directory of football cliches, too. Listen to his post match spiel, he just trots out overused football cliche after overused football cliche. I genuinely think he's just unintelligent. What is it about this country that we automatically assume former top players are going to make fantastic managers, and we give them managerial jobs way beyond their capability (I'm looking at Gareth Southgate here), then when they manage to stumble through a half decent season, we link them with the England job? They'd make much better managers if they did their time in the lower leagues and proved themselves rather than opting for a flashy job, a spell of good press, and then an opening for the England position.

I can accept inflated transfer fees far more than I can inflated player wages, though (and I'm talking generally here). If you spend 7m on a player and then pay him 70k a week, you've spent his transfer fee again in two years. Although, regardless of the rights or wrongs of NRC as a player, I'd suggest that 7m for the England U21 captain is on the low side. I suspect he'll actually go for more than that. But then again, I'm using the yardstick of Spurs paying 10m for a player who is so young, he's only recently passed from being a glint in his father's eye, and who probably kicked a ball for the first time about 10 months ago. Which is in itself kind of barmy.

Im fixing it now.

70k? I can't believe anyone would pay Joey Barton that kind of money. Good player though he is, he's not worth that much.

I don't know if this has been posted already, but this is the new PSV Eindhoven away kit and is my favourite new kit for three reasons. Firstly, it looks like a 1970s Villa away kit I particularly liked (except red and white stripes on collar instead of claret and blue). Secondly, it looks like that fantastic Milan away kit (same colour disclaimer again). Thirdly, the design is simple and understated. I hope this is the template they use for our kit next year. http://img231.imageshack.us/img231/2850/psvawayam4.jpg

Yes, he looks infinitely happier on the right, he certainly did last season once he had settled down. Pearce is tactically absolutely clueless. As Dr Spectrum will attest.

I didnt see the game. Where did he play? Left or right? He's far more effective when played on the right. Massively so.

Ian Storey-Moore (completing the triumvirate of men with three, let alone two).

Oh, and although not football, and I don't really like watching rugby that much, every time i see that famous try in the Barbarians v All Blacks match in 1973, the commentary makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up "Kirkpatrick to Williams. This is great stuff. Phil Bennett covering, chased by Alistair Scown. Brilliant! Oh, that's brilliant! John Williams, Pullin, John Dawes. Great dummy! David, Tom David, the half-way line. Brilliant by Quinnell. This is Gareth Edwards. A dramatic start. What a score!"