151

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: Opposition View

« on: October 23, 2011, 07:53:19 PM »

OOOOHHH!!! Little old Albion beat you 2-1 again, second time in a row now isn't it? Are you bothered about that 'villans'?

Not really I can't bring myself to care at the moment, just so disillusioned with Villa and football in general at the moment. It seems thousands agree with thousands of empty seats at VP and the ones there generally not seeming bothered and very unexcited. I actually laughed yesterday at just how poor we were, that was never a sending off but thats no excuse. That second half performance was so limp it was embarassing, we played like we had 8 men not 10. Fair play to you lot though, you deserved it. One step closer to McLeish going is how i see it, the bloke is absolutely clueless.

152

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: Opposition View

« on: October 19, 2011, 09:46:58 PM »

Wanking over Albion? Haha i haven't said one thing about them, only about how poor we are.

Everton and Newcastle completely outplayed us and QPR were slightly unlucky to only draw with us. We've won two games against relegation fodder and got battered against the only good team we've played. Wait until December comes round, we'll do well to win once in that month and we'll see what you and the few others who like him think about McLeish then.

153

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: "You only sell out for take that"

« on: October 19, 2011, 09:15:49 PM »

Also winning tropheys with hibs and motherwell, finishing 2nd with them and won more tropheys than mon despite being well outspent
For us finishing 9th is nothing, for a team like Blues its huge. The 1st time he got sent down let's be honest, they were pooh and already dead and buried.
I agree mon wasted millions, but he also found some gems, finished 6th 3 teams, got us into europe (albeit not far), took us to wembley for a final where we was robbed and took us to an fa cup semi final. Considering what we had been through before and where we was before we joined, it was a great acheivement

I can't afford a 400 pound season ticket, if I could I would have got one and ill be getting one next season no matter what league were in.  I'm glad your boycotting, less boo's and whines when were not 10 nil up v man yoo at half time

Dead and buried? He took over in November. A good manager would have turned things round but his tactics are rubbish and he only know how to play one way. He took them down last season playing the same dross for 38 games and didn't change a thing because he can only play in the same negative way.

You say i'm biased against him but you're either McLeish himself, his wife or his agent. He's a sub-standard manager who plays garbage football and if you want to pay £400 next season to watch the tripe he serves up then more fool you. Look on the bright side, you'll have your choice of seats in the ground because our crowds will dwindle even more if he's still here.

As for the bit about Man Utd at the end, nothing like a bit of exaggeration to try and make your point when you're struggling.

154

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: Opposition View

« on: October 19, 2011, 08:52:36 PM »

How can you say that things have not got better??? is your bias to AM clouding your judgment??

Alex is that you?

Come on then, enlighten me as to how things have got better?...

155

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: "You only sell out for take that"

« on: October 19, 2011, 08:45:40 PM »

I haven't boycotted because i don't like the manager, i'm staying away for all the reasons stated on the previous page.

McLeish is a terrible manager. His tactics are laughable, he plays players out of position and his style of play is dire. He took Blues down twice and played the worst football in the league, ok they finished 9th but so did we last season and we were rubbish. Says it all about the fantastic achievement of finishing 9th. He won trophies in Scotland, anyone on this forum could do that. You've got a 50-50 chance of winning trophies up there. Lets not forget he finished 3rd with Rangers in a 2 team league. He won't be a success here, any run of three defeats and the fans will turn straight away. Lerner's ambition is for us to stay up so McLeish might just buck his trend and manage to keep a team in this league.

Lerner did back O'Neill yes but he was an imcompetent idiot who wasted millions on average players and gave dross like Beye big contracts. However if Lerner hasn't got the money or ambition to maintain the spending and maintain our top six status then he should look to sell up. Hoping to stay up whilst spending as little as possible isn't good enough and if you want to pay up to £47 for that or £400+ for a season ticket then you're mental and i'd rather be childish and fickle.

156

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: "You only sell out for take that"

« on: October 19, 2011, 01:42:45 PM »

You know what BCV, that's probably the most balanced and fair post i've read from a Villa fan for ages. Fair play.

This is the same anywhere you go these days. I sit at the back of the Brummie, back row and i'm told to sit down. The debate will rumble forever with that and sadly we have got to learn to accept it.

Another fair point. What really got my back up were the fans that didn't want him because he was Blues. If he's good enough it don't matter where they come from. Personally I feel McLeish will keep you in the premier league and that is all Randy Lerner wants at the moment. He is cutting his cloth as you have said.
 He bought Bent though?

The clubs want the fans creating a good atmosphere though but then the stewards are on at the fans as soon as they stand up, the clubs can't have it both ways.

Re: McLeish. If he'd done a good job at Blues i'd have loved us stealing him off them but the fact is he took them down twice playing the worst football in the league. Our board were so determined to get someone with 'premier league experience', even though that experience was two relegations. I said then i'd rather we took a gamble on Paul Lambert, he'd have got us finishing higher and playing bettr football.

He did sign Bent yes which is fair enough but i still maintain he only signed him to keep us up (which he did). £20m was a small price to pay compared to relegation and without him we could easily have gone down. I still maintain if we'd have been about 10th and clear of relegation he wouldn't have spent 20m on Bent. It's spot on what you said, these days Lerner is happy for us to stay up, spend as little as possible and make a profit.

157

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: "You only sell out for take that"

« on: October 19, 2011, 11:22:41 AM »

Just checked the attendance stats for Villa's home games in the PL this season, wtf?

Some games they have struggled to hit the 30k mark. And I thought their stadium capacity was like 42,000?

Anyone know if Seal Park has lost any seats, or just fans? Whats going on?

Blackburn - 32,319
Wolves - 30,776
Newcastle - 34,248
Wigan - 30,744

Theres many factors: Lerner, he's asset stripping the club and has more or less said his priority these days is the financial side of things not the football side. He hasn't got a clue about football decisions as shown by helping balls it up with O'Neill, appointing Houllier and now McLeish.

Selling our best players and not replacing them. In other words, no ambition what so ever.

McLeish. Not because he came from Blues but because he's useless. To be fair thousands of our fans (myself included) warned Lerner we wouldn't attend if he appointed McLeish, he did it anyway and the fans have stuck to their promise.

The style of football. We saw his style of play at Blues, now he's made us Bluesmk2. People looking in will think 'they've only lose once, he's started well' but he hasn't. He hasn't won anyone over mainly because the football we've played has been the garbage we all predicted before the season started. We were very lucky not to lose against Everton and Newcastle, and the only teams we've beat are Wigan and Blackburn who are shocking. Even if he starts winning games the ground won't be anywhere near full because the entertainment value of his style of play is zero.

The cost. £43 for two mid table teams on saturday is a disgrace. When we play Man Utd and Liverpool it's £47! We're a mid table team at best, our manager is rubbish, our squad is very average, we haven't done anything on the pitch for years to warrant such a price so how can we justify charging £47? Many people have found other things to spend their money on. I'll be watching the game in the pub on saturday, it will be a lot cheaper and more enjoyable.

The atmosphere. There isn't one, and if you do stand up the stewards threaten to throw you out. If the football was poor but the atmosphere was good i think a fair few fans would still be encouraged to attend, but you have to sit in silence for 90 minutes and be subjected to the football on the pitch.

158

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: Just for Fun

« on: October 19, 2011, 11:11:18 AM »

1. 12th-15th
2. 10th-14th
3. Hitzlsperger
4. Robinson's header and the 0-0 game in the hail at VP, worst game ever.
5. No, i'm not going all season for many reasons. Lerner, McLeish, rubbish football, too expensive (£43 to watch that rubbish? No thanks)
6. Well on saturday there will be a fair few empty seats again and the atmosphere will be non-existant. Thousands of fans are disillusioned and are staying away, and the fans that do go aren't inspired or excited by the garbage football on show.
7. Bore draw all over it especially if we score first, we'll then retreat to the edge of our own box and try and defend it (see Newcastle at home and QPR away)
8. Blues, although Albion has always been a big one for me being brought up in Wednesbury. Most of my mates are Albion fans, nearly everyone in the pub i drink in is Albion and my girlfriend and all her family are Albion. They tried to give me plenty of stick last year after the defeat but what wound them up was that i didn't care and i'd told them all before the game that we'd lose 2-1.

159

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: Opposition View

« on: October 19, 2011, 11:00:13 AM »

We are a team in transition Mate, but things are slowly getting better!

No they're not. We've only beat Wigan and Blackburn and we've played dire football in the process, and things will only get worse with ginger bonce in charge.

160

General Football & Sports / Re: Football rules you hate

« on: October 17, 2011, 02:12:24 PM »

Players who recieve treatment for an injury then having to leave the field of play meaning they get punished for being injured and their team is at a disadvantage. It really irritates me, especially when the injured player's team is defending a set piece and is then a man light.

161

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: Predictions

« on: October 17, 2011, 10:10:22 AM »

Draw, at least 8,000 empty seats, no atmosphere and a rubbish game. Absolutely nailed on.

162

Albion Matchday Forum / Re: Villa memories

« on: October 17, 2011, 10:08:13 AM »

Magic: 4-0 in the FA Cup. I remember Collymore toying with you and scoring against you aswell like he always did and goading your fans in the North Stand.

Hitz's last minute winner. I had two Albion mates with me in the Holte, one of them is wbatesy on here. I remember jumping all over them when it went in and them standing there clapping pretending to look happy but really wanting to cry 


Tragic: That fat pub player Robinson's header and i suppose the defeat last season, although we were awful last season and i expected to lose before the game so wasn't really gutted. The worst Villa v Albion memory for me is the 0-0 around April time in 06. One of the worst games of football i've ever seen played out in front of 10,000 empty seats and torrential hail all game. How we didn't lose that one i'll never know and i genuinely thought we were going down after that game, but we beat Blues 3-1 the week after to save our skins.

163

General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa

« on: June 16, 2011, 12:03:03 PM »

I had a text this morning off my mate in London and he reckons Albion v Villa is the first game of the season. Obviously it could be wrong and don't shoot the messenger but he was right last year and knew we'd got West Ham. Others he said were Norwich v Wolves and Blues v Millwall.

164

General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa

« on: June 15, 2011, 06:13:11 PM »

Theres around 250 there now with more still arriving.

165

General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa

« on: June 13, 2011, 10:33:06 AM »

If Lerner wants a massive backlash, and i mean massive, and wants gates below 30,000 then McLeish is the man. Our message boards have gone into meltdown at the mere prospect of him becoming manager, if Lerner is stupid enough to employ him the rubbish will hit the fan big time. The vast majority have said they will take their season tickets back or won't renew and everyone i've spoke to has said the same. Lerner will lose the fans if he does this, he will completely alienate everyone and show he doesn't understand us and the majority will turn against him. The fact Mcleish was at Blues is a big thing for some, for me the issue is that he's a poor manager. The Blues fans are hoping we get him and are laughing at us which tells you everything, he got them relegated twice and every nose i've spoke to says he played the worst, most negative football ever seen at The Sty (and they've seen some garbage in their time). His record in the Premier League is shocking and that above anything else means he isn't good enough for us.

166

General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa

« on: June 11, 2011, 09:35:20 PM »

McClaren would never work at Villa. 95% of our fans don't want him and would have been on his back from day one. Everyone would have ripped the p*ss out of him; our fans, opposition fans and especially the press. The press would vilify him if he was doing poorly and would jump on any criticisim of him from our fans and i think he'd be fightin a losing battle from day one. When he was favourite for the job every Villa fan i know said they wouldn't renew their season ticket if we appointed him, and if he had a poor start our crowds would have dropped even more. Randy probably didn't want to take that risk. Don't believe the papers that we cancelled his interview because of fan feedback though, his reps said he's interested in the job but they've had no contact with us.

167

General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa

« on: June 11, 2011, 09:04:56 PM »

Alright calm yourselves down. Gerrym, Martinez turned down the chance of an interview, not the job. We will have approached several managers to interview, it's just that the papers only know about the Martinez approach because of Dave Whelan. Do you really think we would have only approached one manager and offered him the job straight off? However i do agree that it's worse that we couldn't even lure the manager of Wigan to attend an interview.

I think we're still a big job and realistically we should still be in the top 8 every season but it's a bit of a poisoned chalice. Our fans are very demanding and still have ideas of grandeur, they think we have the divine right to be challenging in the top four but we're not that big anymore. We're still big but we're not very good these days, but any manager coming in would be expected to get us into Europe and win a trophy in the first season. Martinez knows at Wigan he can finish 17th and be worshipped by Whelan and the fans. As for saying we can forget about challenging the top four, i never wanted us do. Under O'Neill when we were challlenging for top four and finishing 6th with rubbish football i always said i'd rather finish 8th playing decent football.

As for Ashley Young, i'm glad he's leaving. The media will make out we're gutted by it but a lot of our fans have been frustrated by him and really disliked him for 2 years now, i'm one of them. I've been saying for two seasons he's a cheat, a whinger and one of the most overrated players i've seen down the Villa.

Oh and Simon Grayson, what a joke! We'll have sunk lower than shark excrement if we go for him.

168

General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa

« on: June 11, 2011, 02:20:59 PM »

I didn't say Ancelotti or Rijkaard would definitely come but i'd at least try and approach them, the worst that can happen is they say no. I'd rather them turn down an interview than the manager of poxy Wigan.

I'd also be very surprised if Moyes left Everton for us. The only reason he'd leave is if we promised him loads of money to spend and i'm not sure we've got it.

It's one thing Fulham being happy with Hughes but we're not Fulham. I wouldn't be happy with him and i know a lot of our fans wouldn't be, he'd be seen as the safe, unambitious option and we'd end up drawing more games than we win and being bored to tears.

McClaren is just a no go. Despite the paper's rubbish story about Randy cancelling his interview because of our fans on the message boards we haven't spoke to him, McLaren's reps said so. If we appointed him season ticket sales would drop massively and i'd say 95% of our fans don't want him.

I'd rather take a punt on someone like Lambert than go for Hughes or McClaren. And i certainly don't want McLeish, O'Neill's style of football was bad enough but McLeish makes him seem like Guardiola.

169

General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa

« on: June 11, 2011, 01:02:57 PM »

Just a few points:

Martinez didn't turn down the job. The board have got a list of candidates and are conducting interviews, we approached Wigan and asked for permission to speak to him. They agreed and he took a day to decide whether or not to attend an interview, he decided not to and wanted to stay at Wigan. We never spoke to him or interviewed him so how can the papers make up their nonsense that he was our first choice and now supposedly we're panicking? He could have had an interview and stood out and then been our first choice or he could have been our 2nd or 3rd choice after the interview process. The only reason we know about the Martinez approach is because Whelan revealed it, we will have approached several other managers to interview but don't know about them because noone has revealed them.

Personally i'd go cap in hand to Rijkaard or Ancelotti and offer them any money they wanted. Failing that i wouldn't be too disappointed or too happy with Moyes. If we were to take a gamble i think Lambert is the best up and coming manager. Mark Hughes is too boring and plays rubbish football. And if it's Mcleish or McLaren i won't be going next season.

170

General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa

« on: April 07, 2011, 02:34:42 PM »

lol I know exactly which bit you mean. I nearly fell off my chair yesterday and the boss was giving me funny looks when I saw it.

Trinity Road, and I won't be taking a scarf. It's bad enough having to sit in a $%£@ hole, let alone wear $%£@ as well. 

I bleed blue & white. Fortunately, I seem to have a record of every time I visit Villa Park in the home end as a ‘neutral’ (cough ), Villa seem to lose and I would like to keep that tradition going.

We seem to lose everytime i go aswell.

171

General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa

« on: April 07, 2011, 02:33:16 PM »

It all just seems like some plastic, internet driven attempt at getting some kind of identity to the club and from the outside looks terrible and cringeworthy. When people ask us why we sing Psalm 23 there is normally a story behind it, the most popular I have heard is the theory that we were one of the first teams to play on a Sunday and the fans rather jokingly decided to sing something biblical for it and it akicked off from there. Blues have their stories of the team singing KRO being sung by the Cup Final team in 54(?). If it does kick off and in ten years time people ask 'why do Villa sing that song about the bells?', it's going to look lame when people say 'oh well we got this poll going on a messageboard, and then the club let us sing outside the ground on a tuesday afternoon...'. There is just absolutely no folklore to it and it looks plastic.

Real identity comes from the terraces. Not the messageboards.

Back in the day whenever we won at home Aston church would ring it's bells after the game, and our fans sung that song all through the 60's, 70's and 80's and then it died out. The recording of the song has got the Aston church bells ringing on it. So it may have started up again on the internet but there is history and folklore behind it.

Like i say any fans who try and get a bit of atmosphere in their ground are fine by me, look at Chelsea last night, a massive game against a big English rival and they barely mustered a song. Support, especially at home, is on it's backside in this country.

172

General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa

« on: April 07, 2011, 12:01:43 PM »

We'll have to agree to disagree on that one then :-)

I've been to Villa Park on a few occations this season and to be honest you are right about the atmosphere at Villa Park, with the exception of Spurs on boxing day, I thought the fans were ok that day to be fair.

I have had some good fun rubbing it in with the current situation. But anything to help the atmosphere should only be a good thing, right?

I am not sure about the choice of song to be honest, as it does come across as cringeworthy and I got the impression from the video not everyone knew the words.

I shall be there on Sunday (obviously hoping for a Newcastle win) but I cannot see this idea working to be honest.

We shall see.

The song was chosen because it has lots of history with us. Our fans used to sing it back in the day and there are many tales of it being sung for 30 minutes plus at places like Anfield, and whenever we used to win a home game the Aston church used to ring its bells which is where the song came from. It may not get everyone singing on sunday and it may take a while to take off properly, we'll see. Either way though, some noise is better than no noise and it will be another song for us to sing at away games aswell because imo our away support is up there with the best in the country, like we were fantastic at Everton but our song book can get a bit repetitive.

Where you sitting on sunday? I hope you're taking a scarf

173

General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa

« on: April 07, 2011, 11:25:50 AM »

From the information I was given, it was suggested by the club that the fans would get together and get some kind of initiative together. The song choice maybe from the fans, but the initial idea and work was done by the club. I'm not going to name the person who told me but I know several people at the club.

As for the bring a scalf day, wasn't that a facebook group with about 700 fans on it?

As I say it crys out desperation to me.

Polls were done on our message boards and it was decided TBAR was the best choice, a few guys off different boards then pushed it and pushed it and contacted the club with the idea. The club said they would publicise any fan initiative and back it but wanted it to be fan organised, and the fans wanted it that way aswell. The same guys then asked the club if it would be possible to get fans down at VP and get a recording of the song done, and again the club said yes. Like i said the fans have done all the work and it was all the fans' idea, the club have just backed it and supported the idea.
As for the scarf idea, a lad suggested that everyone should take a scarf on sunday to add a bit more atmosphere and it just took off from there. Again the club put it on the website publicising it, but it was all fan organised again.

As for how i feel about it, i think anything that adds a bit of noise to VP can only be a good thing. Theres been zero atmosphere this season, and for most games for years, and anything has to be better than that and the negative booing.

174

General Football & Sports / Re: Seals watch - Anything Villa

« on: April 07, 2011, 10:45:54 AM »

lmao. They are a desperate, desperate club.

As I have said on another site, this song is a club orientated thing and I am told no fans have been involved in the organisation of it.

They really need to be relegated. They deserve it on this song alone. 

It has all been organised by the fans, not the club. The fans are organising the 'bring a scarf' for the Newcastle game and the fans have organised the Bells Are Ringing song. It used to be sung by our fans in the 60's, 70's and 80's and it was decided thats the song our fans wanted brought back. The fans arranged the meeting on monday and the recording, all the club have done is allow the fans to use the Holte Suite on monday, publicised both initiatives and said they'll play the song before the game on sunday.