Eames

It's absolute bullshit isn't it? For all the people that take the piss out of RAWK or Red Cafe, if people gave VillaTalk some serious attention we'd be a laughing stock. Trouble is, just like arguing with zealots or Conspiracy nuts there is no reasoning with them. The notion that AVFC is a "great club" is laughable, they look at "7 League titles" most of which won before indoor toilets became the norm and assume we should be winning the League. That pisses me off too.

I think you are looking at the exception and deciding it proves the rule. It doesn't.

Money doesn't guarantee success though does it? I accept it makes it easier but the richest club in the country is currently mid table. Everton have got by for years barely having a pot to piss in and they consistently over achieve by your logic.

Should? Why SHOULD we? We were under MON with absolutely no financial controls in place but that way only leads to Leeds Utd. We certainly earn less than Manyoo, Arsenal, City, Chelsea, Liverpool, Spurs and Newcastle. I would also imagine Sunderland, West Ham, Everton run us pretty close. With the current investment policy and revenue we are underachieving but mid table is about right for the club.

Trouble is the gap is too wide now. We will never be a major force in English football again. (I'd debate that we have EVER been a major force but thats another story) A new owner would have to be willing to sink £1bn+ into the club over 5-10 years to get us even close to the top where some members of this forum feel we have a divine right to be. Its not going to happen. We are an unfashionable club, in an unfashionable city in an unfashionable part of the country. We have no access to vast foreign revenue streams, and regularly fall 10k plus short on our stadium capacity at games. Any potential new investor into the club is going to be looking at a massive loss making operation, £60m a year from the TV isn't going to tempt your average billionaire owner. We need an arab state or Bill Gates type wealth and it just won't happen. Lerner will keep us in the PL we wont go down (fingers crossed I don't think) and the best we can ever hope for is to be top of the bottom half mini league. Lerner ain't the best, he certainly ain't the worst owner around. Be careful what you wish for fellow Villans.

On Topic in its entirety. Conspiracy Nuts, zealots and chronic over-reactors. You get far more sense in the Religion Thread.

All the ridiculous hype around Goat Simulator.

Goat Simulator is a sack of shit. No content, no game play, no point. Its just bait for muppet lets players to shout "WTF" of YouTube.

Eat at the Banyan Tree. As long as the weather is good its outstanding. We had 2 nights there at the end of our honeymoon - its a fabulous hotel and restuarant.

^^ as a cyclist I concur wholeheartedly. Single file only and ride considerately. The ones that run around in peletons on 30+ thinking they're Eddy Mercyx can just **** off. The whole cycling comminity is rife with try-hards and pretentious bellends.

I thought I heard she was SW London but I may have made it up.

Absolutely. Cameron has really failed here. Weak leadership. She should be sacked, plain and simple - the only reason she hasn't been is because he needs women in the cabinet. The equivilent offence of (even if you give her the benefit of the doubt that it wasn't intentional) for benefit claimants carries a prison sentence. Its scandalous she has been allowed to continue as a minister. There needs to be a wholesale reform on MPs expenses. As a London MP she had no business claiming second home allowance in the first place.

Reading my 3 year old daughters Nursery School termly report at my desk. Tears in my eyes. So proud.

Ok. Consensus is its horrible. Why?

Baiting some random UKIP MEP knobhead on twitter.

Does anyone have a windows phone? Are they any good?

How much? Give us a number?

You can't honestly believe that. PL is such an incredible con artist that he's stealing a living as a professional manager without so much as even giving a vague game plan. You're thinking of Tim Sherwood. Why has the booting not been addressed? It's been happening since August. What is the game plan? It must concern Lambert that if he has been trying to get them to play a certain way, all they still do is boot it? Why are they not carrying out his instructions? He even got Grant Holt in to get more 'proper men' in the dressing room. Tim, what a joker You're assuming that playing direct is bad and small passing is good. Who says we would have won more if the 'booting' had been addressed? Would we have beaten Arsenal, Man City and Chelsea if we had played it around all day? Would we have won against Southampton if we didn't play by 'booting' - the 3 points that have pretty much ruled us out of relegation this season? The Homer Simpson approach has served us well in games granted....but we have lost nearly twice as many as we've won this season which implies the approach isn't all that effective.

But he's only just moved to Canada?! ... yes I suspected that might be the case.

Except I'm not aware that Osbourne had direct influence of the sale price, the priority buyers, the valuation of the asset or the process. The whole matter was dealt with by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills which is clearly well outside Osbourne's immidiate sphere of influence. It would appear then to apply your logic that the suspicion should fall onto Vince Cable and the Lib Dems.

I personally don't care what division Villa are in, I don't care who plays for us and I don't care who manages us. I have no delusions of grandeur, and to me, born in 1982, our European Cup win is about as relevent as 1966 and all that. We are not an especially big club, we are not a key player in the League or in Europe. We have no right to be. I find the arguement that we are the "7th most successful club in England" laughable when most of those titles were won before most homes had running water, indoor toilets and electricity. What I do care about is: a) Effort - that the players are killing themselves everyweek to achieve the best results possible. b ) Entertainment - I'd rather watch decent exciting attacking football than the current "Homer Simpson" approach. The club should have an identity and ethos that "this is the way do things" and that has been lacking for years The trouble for me is Lambert is failing on both of those objectives for me. The football is dire and not everyone appears to be putting the effort in. I accept that may be as a result of Lambert not having the ££ to fully develop his vision but if thats the case, he should be investing what funds he does have far more carefully than he is at present.

I'm sort of with Risso that the bit that missing from the reporting is that those "priority" investors will be large pension funds etc, so a "substantial profit" in those terms is nothing but a good thing for people with pensions. Jumping into a market, and jumping out with a large profit isn't "bad" per se either. I have said before I have some sympathy with the Government on this one because politically its a bit of a no win situation. If you keep the PO you keep the massive pension problem, an inefficient antequated organisation with a militant big noisy union. If you flog it cheap you get grief, if price it too high and it doesn't sell you're stuck with it and you get the political fallout from a failed sale. .

Interesting.....

Emile Heskey Likes This! Am I being thick...wouldn't it have been ruled off side anyway?!