brummie

Unfortunately, I think the first time one of the "big four" look like not qualifying for the CL (which could be sooner rather than later according to Platini), they will stamp their feet and get the rules changed to make sure they qualify. Clubs like newcastle, villa, spurs, everton etc will be fucked, frankly.

Who doesn't? That is one thing that NUFC has going for us, I don't know of any club, even the Man Utds who could pull in 50K plus crowds having went over 50 years without a domestic trophy. Say what you like about us as fans, but we support our club through thick and thin, in the main anyway. Regarding Villa, I thought with Ellis gone, Learner in and MON in, your own attendances would rise but still the masses of empty seats, why do you think that is Brummie and do you see fans coming back any time soon? Not that empty seats are unique to Villa mind, I think that's the case up and down the country and has been for the past few years now (we've had below 50K attendances this season in the league). I blame prices, fixture meddling, TV and apathy myself for the falling attendances, although a few clubs will always have empty seats regardless ala Wigan. Much debate on that. When they get an attractive side playing decent football with some half decent players there, things will improve. Years and years of neglect take their toll, and don't forget, MON has been saddled with O'Dreary's squad. It will take time but it will improve. Incidentally, I think our average so far this season is about 37,000, so it isn't as if things are that bad, it is just that the lowest crowds have been particularly bad. Villa at the moment is not unlike NUFC shortly after SJH kicked McKeag out. There is promise there, things are looking up, and things will happen, it will just take time. It is much harder these days than it used to be to attract people back once they've stopped going, as it just costs so much. There is, as you say, also an element of football starting to implode, to be honest, and I blame Sky. Our worst crowds have been for games against Fulham and Bolton, both of which were played at 5.15 on a Saturday, and in the case of the last one, shortly before Christmas. Anyone who thinks there isn't a link between those factors is barmy. I reckon it is going to get worse - the more money Sky pay, the more rights they want to move matches around. Example - we're soon to play Liverpool at home, at 12.35 on a Sunday. What kind of time for a match is that? i think what will happen - and it will happen every club, just at some it will take longer to happen - to league games is what happens at the moment with FA Cup games. People start thinking "why pay this largeish sum of money to watch a largely meaningless match". Then when you factor in the fact that you play games at stupid times, people stop bothering. I mean, tonight is an example - why are we playing a match at the other end of the country on a wednesday night ffs? A season or two ago, we had you away then sunderland away on consecutive games. Over christmas this year, we were at Spurs on boxing day, despite there being no public transport. Do fans ever get considered these days? Do they feck. Sorry. Rant over.

Who doesn't?

;D That's a pretty unbiased sample, isn't it?

Don't be taking the name of the Lord God in vain there, Jonny. In vain mate, he's one of my favourite players of all time, the best centre half I've ever seen play over here in my time that's for sure. His autobiography is excellent.

Don't be taking the name of the Lord God in vain there, Jonny.

Villatalk is indeed the Villa equivalent of gg-chat. Actually, it probably has more in common with the Newcastle footymad.net site, which is possibly even worse. The article did make an interesting point about Roeder's thinly veiled jibe at MON, though. Oh, and I'm not a poster on Villatalk, out of conscience. I post on their more cerebral rival site.

Thats more sad then funny tbh.. Speak for yourself.

With all due respect, this is not actually true. The location of the first casino is not about what kind of punter it attracts, it is entirely about being able to measure the social impact it will have, and use that (when the figures inevitably stack up in favour of the government) to open them everywhere. If it were about what kind of punter it would attract, then there wouldn't even have been a selection process, it would just have been opened in London. Hence the choice of a particularly disadvantaged part of the country.

He is one of those people who is actually pretty inarticulate, but probably thinks he is the exact opposite.

Nothing is worse than being a 'nose, Bonk, nothing

Like previously stated, he almost threw it in the net. Has that ever happened? Ask Brummie. I forget what happened, care to enlighten? http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/photo_galleries/football/2263084.stm Check it out. It would be bad enough in any match, the fact that it was against the blue scum from the other side of the city just made it about as bad as it gets on a football pitch. I see, I remember it faintly now. I imagine you wish you could do the same. Harper vs. Pool earlier this year was almost as embarassing. That nutter who ran on the pitch deserves a right bollocking, though. he got more than that, he got a prison sentence. :thup:

Like previously stated, he almost threw it in the net. Has that ever happened? Ask Brummie. I forget what happened, care to enlighten? http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/photo_galleries/football/2263084.stm Check it out. It would be bad enough in any match, the fact that it was against the blue scum from the other side of the city just made it about as bad as it gets on a football pitch.

Like previously stated, he almost threw it in the net. Has that ever happened? Ask Brummie.

Gloryhunters turn my stomach, no matter how old they are, no matter which club they attach themselves to. And for all the bleating of parents "ooh, little johnny is Chelsea mad, he idolises Fat Frank", that kind of thing would be absolutely unacceptable in my house, and met with extreme violence until it was at an end.

Best player ever. And belgium agree. http://www.vivadiego.com/belgio_82.jpg

Why would a chairman let a manager compile a list of players so massively out of step with what is actually available funding wise?

Disagree with this. If you let the top 4 teams in the league from the previous season, then the current CL competition will almost certainly have the league champions from the current season competing. Hence, its the Champion's League - it will almost certainly have at least one team from each country that will win their respective domestic league title in the same season. Otherwise, it would be pointless if one season a team wins the Premiership or La Liga or the Portugese/German/Dutch league for example, sells a few players or picks up injuries, then turns out to be shiite the following season - yet theyd be in the CL solely representing their country if it were the old format. Likewise, if a team finished 4th, then considerably strengthens the team to the extent that theyre going to be serious title challengers, and end up winning the title, its alot better if theyre in the CL for that season too. Take ManU this season for example - last year they looked like they were slipping, far from a top side, yet this campaign they look like champions, and they probably will be if they maintain their form. Its only fitting that theyre in the CL at same time, in the same season that theyre hitting top form. I think this way is alot better, and its still a competition for champions, just that its gone from past champions to including potential champions and hence current champions for that season. But surely the 4 teams that will enter, from England anyway, will be the same four teams for the foreseeable future? How dull is that? And the first time one of those 4 fails to qualify, I'll be interesting to see how much shit they kick up about it. And when we won it, that year we finished 11th. We still won it, though. But the concept then was for national champions to compete. Now it has become some kind of de facto "let's keep all the money here" league. Jonny2J is right, too. Bring back the Cup Winners Cup.

I'm a bit of a purist in that sense. I still object to clubs being allowed to enter the "Champions" League without having actually won their league. Bring back the old EC format. (and commentary done over the phone, crackly pictures from abroad, and teams from communist countries who wouldn't have a single player you'd ever heard of but were really, really good)

They'll only then point to the two occasions when they won it without needing a bye. Of course, we all know the UEFA cup is mere pish comparied to the proper trophy. Especially since it was devalued by the format change.

Carlton Cole is a dreadful player with a very inflated opinion of his own talent. Whilst on loan to us, he gained the nickname "Can't Control". I was quite impressed with Ekotto when we played Spurzzz

SBR is a legendary manager, but not for what he did or did not do at NUFC. The near Stalinist rewriting of history by the shitty tabloids after the 1990 World Cup was just incredible. He's a top, top man, and i really think you'd struggle to find a supporter of any club who'd disagree with that assessment.

Some weird choices here. I'll address the ones I am most familiar with. Enckelman was a decent keeper who just so happened to drop a colossal bollock in the worst game he could possibly have done it. A bit harsh to label him as one of the worst players in the premiership. Sorensen? FFS. Not even worthy of a response. Good, solid keeper. Djemba-Djemba = absolute gash. Paul Robinson? Massively overrated, but one of the worst in the premiership? Get real. And as for David James, he has, for my money, been one of the most consistent, reliable keepers this season. The only keeper who has impressed me more has been the lad at Bolton.

Villa don't want rid of him. Levante want him, they wanted him in the summer, the answer then was to tell them to cock off, and that will be the answer now. He is an absolutely quality player, rock solid, classy and is loved by the fans. Only Gareth Barry is more popular at the club. And the following quote is probably the most ridiculous thing I've ever read on a football forum.

I think you may have a point there re the Black British population. At our place we've got Agbonlahor, Moore, Osbourne, all local black kids. Prior to that there were players like Vassell, Tony Daley, Mark Walters. One thing i will say is that a good Geordie mate of mine always used to lament the fact that newcastle traditionally missed local talent, only to see it snapped up by other teams which had good, solid scouting networks in the north east. So players like Steve Bruce, Bryan Robson, young Shearer would traditionally get missed and snapped up by other teams. That was obv the 80s, but have things improved at local level?