brummie

Blackburn edged Boro and Bolton as the worst team I've seen play at VP this season. Except for us, naturellement.

Oh well. I'm very, very glad he is our "average" manager, and so is pretty much every other Villa fan on the planet.

Cheques only valid for 6 months, innit. I trust Parky's word. EDIT oh, hang on, post dated. I should read threads properly. Nah, i'll accept his word of honour. *Within days of the start of the season MON gets hit by a car and the rich owner has a heart attack.* *Shortly after, Souness spotted at VP*

Cheques only valid for 6 months, innit. I trust Parky's word. EDIT oh, hang on, post dated. I should read threads properly. Nah, i'll accept his word of honour.

The bet is only for Parky. I'm trying to test his optimism. No matter who you appoint (and we knew this would be the case, and were proved right, when we appointed God's man on earth last summer), next season will be about getting the club in the shape he wants it, and consolidation. It'll take time. Possibly forever if he doesn't make shipping out garbage like Bramble, Ramage and Carr, shirking piss takers like Dyer and Duff, and underachievers like Emre and Parker his first priority. Ok £50 it is. OK, you're on. The Bonk shall be our witness. My word is my bond sweetie. Should be fun. Paypal, cheque or cash is fine, in case you were wondering.

The bet is only for Parky. I'm trying to test his optimism. No matter who you appoint (and we knew this would be the case, and were proved right, when we appointed God's man on earth last summer), next season will be about getting the club in the shape he wants it, and consolidation. It'll take time. Possibly forever if he doesn't make shipping out garbage like Bramble, Ramage and Carr, shirking piss takers like Dyer and Duff, and underachievers like Emre and Parker his first priority. Ok £50 it is. OK, you're on. The Bonk shall be our witness.

Strictly speaking, true.

The bet is only for Parky. I'm trying to test his optimism. No matter who you appoint (and we knew this would be the case, and were proved right, when we appointed God's man on earth last summer), next season will be about getting the club in the shape he wants it, and consolidation. It'll take time. Possibly forever if he doesn't make shipping out garbage like Bramble, Ramage and Carr, shirking piss takers like Dyer and Duff, and underachievers like Emre and Parker his first priority.

Klose's gannin neewhere Signed a new contract last week, didnt he? I reckon Toni would be the best suited for the English game.

We got to 7th under Roeder with a totally demoralised side in danger of relegation. There is no reason we can't challenge for top 4 next year. Yeah, fair enough. I suppose I was just assuming that we're going to have a couple years of rebuilding ahead of us. All this stuff about re-building is oft regurgitated on here and yes it has its place....Tell me how much rebuilding had Pompey done when they were 4th in the first 1/3 of the season? None. That means nothing, tbh. We were 3rd at one point and hovered around places 3-6 for a while, it means nish. The only thing that matters is the place at the end of the season. FWIW, the top four are light years ahead of the likes of Villa, Newcastle, Everton. Spurs are closest to catching up, but i reckon it is going to take one of the top four to actively screw up and drop out as much as it is about another team stepping up. I honestly don't see the cause for thinking Newcastle are the best placed to challenge, seems like boundless optimism to me. Certainly compared to, say, Spurs (much as i dislike the idea of bigging up Spurs), when you're on course for a bottom half of the table finish. ....and what would happen if Ronaldo or Henry or Drogba we're missing all next season? Ring any bells? If my granny pissed through a cock, she'd be my grandad. And even if you'd had Owen all season, you'd have had that shite defence still. We had to borrow a tracksuit bottomed Eastern European mentalist from Crystal Palace as we didn't have a proper goalkeeper for a chunk of this season. What if we'd had a proper goalkeeper? If this, if that, it counts for nowt at the end of the season. I do like a bit of optimism though so I'll bet you 50 of your English pounds that Villa finish above Newcastle again next season.

Any logic behind that or just taking a wild guess? If it's wrong tell us why. You said it, so the burden of proof is surely on you to prove it, not him to disprove it. *adjusts wig, fiddles with gavel*

We got to 7th under Roeder with a totally demoralised side in danger of relegation. There is no reason we can't challenge for top 4 next year. Yeah, fair enough. I suppose I was just assuming that we're going to have a couple years of rebuilding ahead of us. All this stuff about re-building is oft regurgitated on here and yes it has its place....Tell me how much rebuilding had Pompey done when they were 4th in the first 1/3 of the season? None. That means nothing, tbh. We were 3rd at one point and hovered around places 3-6 for a while, it means nish. The only thing that matters is the place at the end of the season. FWIW, the top four are light years ahead of the likes of Villa, Newcastle, Everton. Spurs are closest to catching up, but i reckon it is going to take one of the top four to actively screw up and drop out as much as it is about another team stepping up. I honestly don't see the cause for thinking Newcastle are the best placed to challenge, seems like boundless optimism to me. Certainly compared to, say, Spurs (much as i dislike the idea of bigging up Spurs), when you're on course for a bottom half of the table finish.

Precisely, and doesn't that prove the point that different people measure it by different things, and that they relate most to things they've seen? I've seen with my own eyes my club win the League and the European Cup. Does it bother me that it was before 1992? Nope. Is it lessened by the fact it was before 1992? Nope. A 20 yr old Villa fan would have a different outlook entirely, probably, but that's not really surprising. Tbh I think we are saying the same thing in different ways! I think you're probably right, tbh

Precisely, and doesn't that prove the point that different people measure it by different things, and that they relate most to things they've seen? I've seen with my own eyes my club win the League and the European Cup. Does it bother me that it was before 1992? Nope. Is it lessened by the fact it was before 1992? Nope. A 20 yr old Villa fan would have a different outlook entirely, probably, but that's not really surprising.

Why's that then? Why, say, is 1991 any more than one year less relevant? If you take it that way, then Liverpool are a bit of a nothing club too, as they haven't won the "new" league. That's the problem with the entire "big club" argument, everyone has their own criteria, everyone has their own time limitations, everyone has their own interpretation. Personally, i just want my club to be successful.

Not entirely sure that the big four is "press created". Since the Premier League began in 1992, English clubs have won 66 trophies, using the widest definition of the word (so including Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Community Shield, Champions League, UEFA Cup, Cup Winners' Cup and European Supercup). Of those 66 trophies: Manchester United have won 20. Arsenal have won 14. Chelsea have won 11. Liverpool have won 11. Everone else combined have won 10, as follows: Aston Villa 2 (League Cups) Blackburn Rovers 2 (Premier League, League Cup) Everton 2 (FA Cup, Community Shield) Leicester City 2 (League Cups) Middlesborough 1 (League Cup) Tottenham Hotspurs 1 (League Cup) so if people want to talk about "bigness" by virtue of what they win, nobody outside the big four has a leg to stand on. Also, if we're using this criteria, the second tier of English football consists of Blackburn, Everton, Villa and Leicester. That's assuming you accept the day Sky got the rights as the day football was invented, of course.

Nail / head interface.

Anybody who doesn't think we're a bigger club than them, is a total w***, simple as that really. You're doing it again, Stevie. That whole "we're a big club nonesense". PLEase god don't base it on stadium size again. I base it on many, many things. Infinitely bigger fanbase, infinitely better resources over a 15 year period, a recent history of competing seriously for Champions League places, a larger wage pool to attract new players, a far bigger turnover over a long period, far better facilities, only an idiot could doubt we're a bigger club. Everton ramshackle of a ground, top 5 once in 15 years, Tottenham, have their best side since 1991 and are still no where near the Champions League, it's a ridiculous argument. Nicely chosen criteria, Stevie. This whole "we're a bigger club than X" thing is so fucking small time. Surely the best criteria to be a big club is that big clubs WIN THINGS. That's the one criteria you mysteriously left out, though. Funny that. I wonder how the big 4 feel as they're mopping up the trophies year after year, and the second tranche of clubs are involved in petty point scoring and bickering about stuff that really does not matter. They'll be pissing themselves laughing, one imagines .... "ooh, they've seriously competed for CL places 10 years ago, how nice" whilst they go back to polishing their trophies.

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if he did have a release contract with a (relatively) low figure in his contract, the general opinion when he came back being that he didn't really want to be at Newcastle in the first place, it was just being in England prior to the WC that counted. Given what has happened since, though, if he exercises it, then he's a total cunt of the highest order. I doubt it'd be to go to Spurs, though. Much more believable if it was Man United.

I think that'd be a very risky move. You've got to get (well, FS has got to get) this appointment right. So why take a chance on a foreign manger who, although he may have an excellent record in the very, very different environment of the Primera Liga, may very well fail to settle in the UK and fail to adapt to our game, regardless of his ability. For every Arsene Wenger there are plenty of Jo Venglos's. Allardyce is imho the right appointment - he's proven, he's available, and he'd take the job. But I get the impression reading through here that he's seen by many as somehow not quite "glam" enough.

No offence, but i suggest you go and get your head examined then. If Newcastle got Van Gaal as their manager, it would be an eyebrow-raising coup to say the very least.

Sven's club record is absolutely up there with the best. His England record (as in games won) is almost the best, and let's be honest, that job is a graveyard for most managers.

I just edited the post slightly too late, but yes.

Oooh. Good shout.