brummie

I said this elsewhere, you are not going down, and neither are we, but it is at least interesting that the potential relegation list is so big this season. By the way, I'm saying "neither are we" in a casual, blase' manner, but our last few games have been utterly awful, nervewracking affairs to watch. We too are counting points and running through various different scenarios, but I really think both clubs will be fine. Incidentally, my main reasoning for the above bravado is that you have enough points already, and we aren't actually losing many games, just drawing them. Oh, and Man City and Charlton drawing, and Fulham currently losing helps too

Indeed he is another Parker? I think this bit highlights the pointlessness of these statistics.

A friend of mine was telling me the other day that they did a straw poll in his office (software developers in Birmingham) of the club with the most supporters in the office, and Legia Warsaw were second, they've got so many Polish programmers working there.

There are comparatively few overseas - comapred to various red shirted scum and Chelsea. Even fewer Villa fans. Although admittedly THE best pub to watch football in the US is owned by a Villan. Mad Dog in the Fog in San Francisco? Been there. He doesn't own it any more, I don't think. Although I think there were two of them, maybe it is just one who has sold out. Aye the Mad Dog - quality place. Shame if he's sold out. He posts on one of our boards. Sure I remember him saying there that he had sold up. This was a while back. Mate of mine (Villa fan) walked in there to find the entire first team squad and the newly signed Stan Collymore there having drinks whilst on a US pre season tour.

There are comparatively few overseas - comapred to various red shirted scum and Chelsea. Even fewer Villa fans. Although admittedly THE best pub to watch football in the US is owned by a Villan. Mad Dog in the Fog in San Francisco? Been there. He doesn't own it any more, I don't think. Although I think there were two of them, maybe it is just one who has sold out.

I'm pondering making a jokey comment about the irony of reading Newcastle fans boasting about how few of you there are rather than how many for a change, but I think it might set Stevie off, so I'll desist.

They definitely contributed to the trouble in Lens the other month. Their practise of "jibbing" their way in, sitting where the fuck they want and treating it all like some kind of god given right is going to end up with someone getting killed sooner or later. I fucking hate them.

Lazio, fascisti di merda, Mussolini's club, horrible extreme right wing fans, horrible racist players like Mijailovic. Vile, vile, vile.

Yes, but I hope he doesn't. Not yet, anyway.

Patrik Berger is out of contract at the end of the season. Snigger you may, but he turned the game for us on Monday, and has look absolutely fucking awesome every time he's come on as a sub. If we don't nail him down for another year, I shall start to despair. PS: Jloyd Samuel. Beware.

Surely it is often nigh on impossible to spend money in January, no matter how much of it you have got, as teams don't want to sell their best players halfway through the season?

I don't mind Liverpool winning it. I'd rather United didn't win it, as they've both won it before, but just so long as it isnt won by Chelsea, that's fine by me. I think Bayern will win it, though.

Quality, quality player. £2.5m in the summer of '04, he would have been playing for City. But KK had already spunked all our cash on a load of s**** Liverpool are gonna win it btw. No-one else has stamped their authority on the cup like they have tonight and in Barcelona (Apart from perhaps Roma in Lyon, who I still have hope for...). Sorry, but I'm rooting for United. I've had two years of this 5 times nonsense 24 hours a day. I think my head would explode if they won it again. I can only begin to imagine how shite it must be to have to share your city with such succesful neighbours. See also Man City.

Personally, I think this would be a great idea. Let Man U, Arsenal and Liverpool go and play in a breakaway league, and they can take Chelsea with them. Then maybe, just maybe, we'll have a competitive league here again. Fuck them, let them do it. Lets see how those Man United fans enjoy the banter with PSV Eindhoven fans in the office on a Monday morning. By the way, don't kid yourselves that there'd be some form of promotion to this league. That's what they want, to protect their business interests by ensuring they play European football all the time.

I agree, it does say a lot. You lot can probably see the improvements made and that he is taking the club in the right direction. Wouldn't be surprised to see you finish top 6. I'd be surprised to see it next season, but it is hard to express properly to people who haven't witnessed it at close quarters just how much the club was run down by Ellis over the last 10 years or so in particular. There are a lot of things to be put right off the pitch as well as on it, and the progress off the pitch thus far this year has been nothing short of staggering. So long as the fruits of this success are then aimed at getting things right on the pitch, and evidence so far suggests they will be, then things are looking very bright indeed. Anyone (Villa supporter or not) who thought that MON was going to put things right in the first season is way wide of the mark. so what you're saying is it's reasonable to accept poor performance from a new manager, even possible relegation, because you're looking for a long term rebuilding exercise of a totally f***** club? radical I didn't say anything about relegation. But the suggestion that some degree of short term pain is necessary for long term gain, whilst making me sound vaguely like Thatcher, is appropriate in this situation.

I agree, it does say a lot. You lot can probably see the improvements made and that he is taking the club in the right direction. Wouldn't be surprised to see you finish top 6. I'd be surprised to see it next season, but it is hard to express properly to people who haven't witnessed it at close quarters just how much the club was run down by Ellis over the last 10 years or so in particular. There are a lot of things to be put right off the pitch as well as on it, and the progress off the pitch thus far this year has been nothing short of staggering. So long as the fruits of this success are then aimed at getting things right on the pitch, and evidence so far suggests they will be, then things are looking very bright indeed. Anyone (Villa supporter or not) who thought that MON was going to put things right in the first season is way wide of the mark.

Incidentally, Vic, as an addition to the above post, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We're incredibly optimistic and really looking forward to next season, despite this season. I think that says it all, really.

absolute tosh MON has brought in more players than Roeder FFS have a look at MON's career. He is the f****** definition of the 'wait till next year' man MON has brought in Petrov at the start of the season. He then brought in Agathe and Sutton on short deals, purely because the transfer window had closed and he could only sign unattached players, and we needed bodies. Sutton has been injured since October, Agathe is long gone. So that's one permanent signing pre-season. Then in January, he swapped Carew for Baros, bought Maloney and Young. Maloney has only played three times and not played a complete match due to lack of match fitness (at least initially). Carew has played 5 or 6 times as has Young. Since we played you on the last day of the transfer window we have only played 5 matches. He's not really had much of a chance to make his signings count. So that's 3 players in in January, one in in August. 4 players in, and Milner and De La Cruz out. Oh, and Baros out, too. As for wait till next year, there wasn't a huge amount of waiting till next year required at Celtic, was there?

with that logic you'll be saying West Ham should be winning the league because they beat manure. Oh, its you I should have guessed mackems.gif It IS quite canny to see the great Martin O'Neill not doing so well mind. It might be canny to see him struggling at the moment, but it would also be sensible to judge him at the end of next season when he's had a season with his own squad rather than struggle with dross like Gavin McCann. It makes me chuckle the people who said when he took the job, "oh, he's got a job on his hands to keep them up" then when he really does show he's got a job on his hands, express some kind of surprise.

Is Duff really on 100kish? I'll be absolutely fucking speechless if he is.

I don't have a problem with people not from the natural catchment area of a club supporting them, not at all, so long as the club they choose doesn't happen to be largely successful. Bandwagon jumping is evil. I'd rather my kids turned out to be Birmingham City fans than Man United fans. Example: kid in Devon decides to support Man City for some screwed up reason. Fine. Kid in Devon decides to support Man United. Not fine, not under any circumstances. I'm adopting a Sopranos style "dead to me" facial expression whilst writing this.

Hmmm. Decent UEFA cup run, and if the luck goes his way in the remaining games, a not-too-terrible Premiership finish. Not sackably bad, anyway. I think you may sadly be stuck with him for longer. FWIW, I don't think sacking him between now and the end of the season is going to help.

Where do you stand on the bluetooth headset issue?

And putting a bit aside for his Craig, obv

truth. Van Der Saaaaaar, Frieldel, Given and Robinson make up the rest of the top 5. Agree on Friedel, but Robinson is one of the most overrated goalkeepers I've ever seen. Not a bad keeper, nowt special.