Villarocker

Hi General, Just wanted to congratulate you on your prediction for last night's game. We were outstanding and the player's thoroughly deserved the win. The defence is looking better and the attack is a real threat when we go forward at pace like we do. I was so confident that we would win whilst watching that game and never thought Spurs would score, no surprise it took a fluke really! I made a prediction to you earlier this season and that was that we will win a trophy of some sort this season. I am really confident of this as we have won a trophy every decade since we were formed and this one will be no exception!

Hi General, Hope you enjoyed the game yesterday. I think that everyone will agree that we let 2 points slip yesterday because that was the best chance we have had to beat Liverpool in years! A point is better than nothing though and at least we kept a clean sheet and saw the great Dane back to his best This is the first time I have felt the need to complain about anything at the stadium but feel that I want to say something about yesterday. I queued for 15 minutes to get a beer at half time in the lower North stand. I was about the 6th person from the front of the queue when a couple of staff showed up with cases of beer. They started selling it to people who walked over to them who were at the back of the queue, without being behind the counter! After a few complaints from disgruntled fans the 2 women refused the other customer's who had gone to them and went behind the counter to help serve. After serving a couple of guy's in front of me they suddenly announced that they had run out of beer, which was very annoying given the fact I and a few other's had waited patiently in the queue. I know you say that the club is trying to improve the match day experience for the fan's but there seems to be an ongoing problem with the catering side of the business that really does need sorting out. It's not the first time we have not been able to get a beer at that end of the ground. I am sure there are other fans with issues regarding the catering side of Villa Park who would like to know how long this may take before being sorted out. A fella rom Coventry came to the game with us yesterday. He has no allegiance to any particular team so he comes to support the Villa with us sometimes and on other occasions he goes to the Coventry games with his brother. He claims that Coventry have introduced a card system whereby you put credit onto a swipe card and use that to pay for your food or drink. He said that he went last week and there were no queues whatsoever. I understand that they have not got as many fans as us and that there stadium is more modern but surely a Premiership stadium like ours can come up with something as technically advanced as that? Sorry for the complaint but I do feel the club could take in a lot more revenue through having a much better food and drink service.

General, UK and US football apart, what other sports do you like and which is your next favourite? Also, who is your favourite ever sportsperson?

General, I think it is a great idea to switch the UEFA Cup game. It means we have home advantage for the 2nd leg and we won't have to travel all those miles in the week leading upto the Liverpool game, which means we will be fresher for when we play them and hopefully will give us a better chance of beating them and sending them North with egg on their faces!

General, Thanks for your efforts on here. Not all of us wish to think you are all hype and spin! I BELIEVE totally that Villa were sincere with the statement regarding GB last Wednesday. Christ almighty, don't people think that some thought would have been put into it before the statement was made? It says that MON had agreed with GB and his agent that, if the deal wasn't reached by a certain deadline, then GB would be staying. GB agreed to this remember! It is quite obvious that HE is the one going back on his word and I am sure that his agent is having a major factor in all of this. Remember that this is GB's first ever transfer and it is all new to him too! MON said on Saturday that GB's head is "all over the place" at the moment. He is caught between staying and trying to realise is dream with us or moving on and getting their quicker with Liverpool. You could see MON's disappointment and frustration at this saga so we're not the only ones. GB obviously gave us the indication he would stay if the deadline wasn't met and now he has changed his mind, probably due to pressure from his agent! That is not important any more. Let him go and get "the price" for him and let's move forward and prove to him he made the wrong decision. Transfers, you just cannot win General! I understand MON trying to get his plan A targets first before going for lesser quality players that we need to fill the positions. Surely that is the most obvious thing to do? It isn't rocket science really is it? You have a list of targets of the quality you would like to add, then if they are not available or choose not to come, you move on to plan B and so on unti you end up with a player for that position. Who in their right mind would go out and buy someone just for the sake of it when someone better may be available instead? The fans would have wanted MON's head if we had bought a couple of journeymen right backs at the start of the window and then along comes a top quality right back who says that he would have loved to have come to the Villa! I read through a few of these last pages and then had to stop because it was embarrassing for me as a Villa fan to read. General, a question to keep in line with the thread. If you had taken a lot of these folks into Vietnam with you, do you think Vietnamese would now be the first language of the USA? BTW, my Niece served in Iraq and a lot of her equipment was faulty (boots melted in the heat etc) but it didn't stop her from going out their and doing her job well enough to come back safely! Come on Villa fans, lighten up and let MON do his job and wait and see what the season has brought us at the end of next May!

General, I would also like to be able to send some sort of get well soon message to Freddie. He was fantastic for us last season and it was his "never give up" attitude that probably led to his injury. The guy is awesome for us and all the fans love his attitude so it would be nice if we had some way of getting messages of good will to him! The result was great General and the goal was worthy of winning any game of football! I thought the reception for GB when he came on was quite warming and hopefully it will remind him just how much the fans actually do want him to stay. I am sure you have seen the game and know as much as the fans do that he is calmness personified with a football at his feet. I hope MON sits him down and reminds him that WE actually want him whilst the Liverpool fans do not rate him very highly. Also, if Benitez wanted GB so much, why the hell is he buying Robbie Keane ahead of him? Come on Gareth, give us another season to help us get to where we ALL want to be!

General, do you have any idea why MON decided to play GB at Walsall? I have been trying to figure out why he would deny a youngster the chance of a run out for the club to gain some experience, in favour of someone who no longer wants to play for us. I am sure a lot of other fans have wondered why he played him too. I understand if there are reasons you cannot answer that question General.

Hi General, Hope you are keeping well and your dad too. Has he got his hands on a Villa shirt before the rest of us as been as you have inside influence at the club? I know I would be asking for one if I was him :winkold: I agree with giving GB our thanks for his years of service for the club. It is a shame that this saga has turned out the way it has but we cannot deny that he served the club well for the past 10 seasons. I look at it this way, Mellberg cost us £5m and left for nothing after 7 years service. Barry cost us something like £1m and will bring in close to £18m after 10 years service so who was better for the club overall? I wish he would have decided to stay and get into the Champions League with us but I guess that his head has been turned in some way and so we have to accept his decision and just hope that it doesn't hinder Villa's progress onwards and upwards. BTW the above is not a dig at Ollie because that guy was and always will be a favourite player of mine. He was awesome for the Villa and his parting gift at West Ham said everything about the player has a man! One last thing General. You say you have no say in transfer policy but Villa have agreed a deal for the USA keeper Brad Guzan. I just wish to know how much the club have paid you in agent's fees! :winkold: Thanks for admitting that even Senior (I mean rank) Military men get it in the neck off the missus just like the rest of us!

Hi General, I firstly want to wish Yourself, Randy and both of your families a very happy 4th of July. I seriously understand why you have held such important posts in your life because you are one unbelievably cool headed man! God I wish I had your stress tolerance with some of the people I deal with at work! The points you made in your last post are very valid points. I can remember the Villa fans moaning like hell about the previous board sticking their noses in with transfer dealings so to have a go at you or other board members about transfers is way out of order. I wish the top brass at my place of work would leave us guys to get on with things, the place would be run a hell of a lot better believe me! I feel sorry for the club regarding the GB saga because I think you are in a no win situation really. If you keep him you keep a player that doesn't want to play for us and if he goes for less than the "asking price" then it looks like we sold him on the cheap. I trust in everyone at VP to do the best for the club and if that means getting a bit less than we wanted then so be it. The club has certainly done us proud with its stance over this, nobody can argue with that, but maybe we don't want to cut our nose off to spite the face hey General! At least we can use the money to bring in someone who does want to play for us and we will all support him instead. There will certainly be no gripes from me whatever the outcome is! General I need to ask you something personal to see if you are actually human like the rest of us. Are you henpecked by the missus just like the rest of us fellas? Keep up the good work and have a great day!

Also sorry to answer for the General but the song you may be referring to is called Club Foot by Kasabian. Well that's the one the crazy lions dance to as the players run on to the pitch anyway General, I also love the idea of the Villa "Pride" lager - pure genius!

Great list! I used to work in a fishmongers in Erdington and my boss was very good friends with Jimmy Macewan, number 80 in the Villa goalscoring list! He was a cracking old Scottish fella with a great sense of humour. I remember Kent Neilsen coming into the shop regularly to buy stuff and Jimmy telling him how he used to play down the wing for the Villa, it was good to see the old timer talking with one of the new breed of player at that time.

General, I am sooooooo pleased with the new sponsorship. I type this with tears in my eyes because I am just so proud of what our football club has done. This is going to help those poor kids so much and will also aid the efforts of everybody involved with the hospice and hopefully help them to help many more sick children in the future. You may get people knocking the board for this but please do not entertain their views because any living human being who thinks that a trophy or a multi million pound player is more important than a child's life is not worthy of having an opinion in this world!! Please General, pass on the accolades to Randy and everyone who decided to advertise the Acorns on our shirts. I cannot wait to get mine Well done to Aston Villa, you really are the greatest board a supporter could wish to have in charge of their club!!

Hi General, I see it's time to get the flak jacket out again hey! We are passionate about our players and losing them to the "big 4" always hurts. I cannot wait until we are up their and courting their best players. It is with that in mind that I would like to suggest to you that, as a way of getting in some practise, Villa make an official bid of £30 Million for Steven Gerrard. After all, he is desperate to play alongisde our club captain and MON is rumoured to be looking for someone to play right midfield, from where Gerrard scored 20+ goals 2 seasons ago!

I just want to say that I hope that the club does go ahead with having Acorns as the official club sponsor. This would be an incredible gesture by Randy and the board and would make me even more proud to be a Villa fan. I also think that a lot of "neutral" football followers, together with fans of lower league teams who like to also follow Premier League teams, will buy the Villa top because they will believe that the hospice will benefit from this! Great for the Acorns kids and great for the Villa's reputation of being a family club! Keep up the good work Villa!

Hi General, Hope you are well and thanks for keeping up the good work. Gareth Barry seems like the perfect example of how a professional should go about his work, on and off the pitch. The guy seems like a genuine family man and it would be a very very difficult decision for him to uproot a young family to move up north. This is the reason I believe that he would prefer to stay and lead Villa on to success at home and abroad. I am sure the club will give him an insight into what the future seems to hold for Aston Villa FC regarding transfers and funds etc. Therefore, if he does decide to leave, I feel this would give a very negative sign to the supporters of this club. It will be very difficult for the fans to watch two heroes walk away at one season's end. Only the purchase of some real top quality players will ease the pain of the fans General!

Hi General, I just want to echo what loads have said already, that I am grateful for all the effort of everybody at Aston Villa. To witness such a success as that against our local rivals was unbelievable and one I remember forever! I hope you had a great experience and have got the bug for many more like that with the Villa. All that the club is doing is amazing and I have never been so proud to be a supporter of this club as I am today. In fact, I am so amazed at the result that I cannot even bring myself to take the pee out of the Blues fans that work with me because I feel so sorry for them!

How about singing a few songs in honour of the General and Randy on Sunday to show our appreciation for all their hard work!!!!

Hi General, Great win on Saturday but one thing marred it for me and I would like to know if you heard any feedback from the players or coaching staff regarding this. At half-time the players were booed off the pitch by a number of supporters and I wondered if they heard it? If so, how did this make them feel? Personally I think it's a disgrace to ever boo the players, especially after the season they have given us so far! One final point general. I read Scudamore's comments about the big 4 wanting to play these games abroad and that they would break away if it doesn't eventually happen. I have the feeling it will be a case of "if you can't beat them, join them" and all Premiership clubs will take part. I just hope they don't go ahead with that seeded nonsense just so the "big boys" don't have to play each other and put their respective images on the line. That to me would be the biggest cop-out and final proof that the league bends over to accomodate those clubs! I just cannot believe the English FA would sell the fans down the river. You would never see the British Open Golf Championship played in Dubai or Africa, or The Grand National run in America etc so why the greatest sport of them all? Overall, I think foreign supporters would much rather see a game played in its natural environment, just like all of those Norwegian folks who came over to watch us win on Saturday! By the way General, any chance of getting these guys over every week if it means big John is going to perform like he did on Saturday? :winkold:

General, do you think this is a good idea personally and do you have any idea of how it will work? I think that in Randy's reign as owner you will find that the top 4 clubs in this country join a European super league with the elite of European football. It will probably work where the bottom of those 4 clubs drop back into our league, with the winner of our league replacing them, or something along those lines. Have you ever heard of such a proposal during your time at the club General? Also, what are your personal thoughts about a super league? I can't help but think that the growing need for greed in our great sport is going to deprive the hard working fan of watching his/her team as much as they would like General!

Fair point General and thanks for the reply! I guess that we have to follow the motto "In Martin we trust". I think the problem myself and others have General, is that a few years ago Villa were in a very strong position in the league and failed to build on it which cost us and we just don't want to see it happen again. If it does happen then we will just have to wait a bit longer and be a bit more patient. May I ask if you are a gambling man General and if you ever have a bet on the Villa? My mates and I have a bet called a "scorecast" every Villa game, where you have to pick the correct score plus the name of the first scorer and I have to say that big Martin Laursen plus a Villa win pays very generous odds

Hi General, I too wish to say that all of yours, the board's and the playing staff's efforts are appreciated. I, like a lot of other fans, am worried at the lack of personnel coming into the club. I understand that MON doesn't want to just go and throw money away just to make up the numbers but in the summer the man is going to have to do some serious business surely! I am not expert on players contracts but surely we will lose Sorenson, Berger, Ollie and maybe Moore in the summer. That leaves us with a squad of just 19 players and Martin recently claimed that he wanted a squad of 26-30 players all of the same sort of quality. That tells me that he will have to buy around 6-7 players in the summer, at around £5m+ if you want the same quality as what we already have. That equates to a lot of money spent general given the fact that we won't be making much on the players leaving! Plus we have to pay for Carson and Davies if we are to keep them so overall that becomes an investment of around £50m and I just cannot see that happening. If it does I will be more than happy of course, and so will others! I have to finally add that I am bitterly disappointed in the sale of Gary Cahill. Considering we are supposed to be developing players through the academy, it is criminal to let go of such a promising young player. I know MON seems to like the younger players so that he can "bring them on" so why pay £3.5m for Knight who is 27 and let go of a 22 year old who the club has invested a lot of time and money in? It is a shame to see him leave! Take care General and keep up the good work! Given that the Gen. has said numerous times that he has nothing to do with transfers, including just above this post it's mildly frustrating to see people still asking about them. Blandy

Hi General, Hope you and your family had a great Christmas and the New Year was seen in with a few beers inside you! I haven't commented on this site for a while but have been reading a lot of what people are saying. I think that you are a man of very high tolerance and I urge you to keep cool and keep coming back for more because you are greatly received and appreciated. I am not against the ticketing price for the Man Utd FA Cup game. I agree with you that this a top class game as it is the 3rd round of the best cup competition in the world and we were playing the current English Champions. There is only one real reason that the attendance was so low in my opinion, that is because the majority of Villa fans knew we would lose to Man Utd and have to suffer the indignity of having their gloating fans sitting amongst us. I know lots of Villa fans who said they weren't going to the game because they knew what it was going to be like. I am sure that if it was guaranteed that Villa would really give them a game and the result could go either way, you could have charged £50 a ticket and the place would have been full! Unfortunately, although the team has vastly improved during Randy's ownership, we are still a long way away from being able to give Man Utd a real game. When that day comes General, you can bet that Villa Park will be full every game! I would like to remind you of past season tickets. We used to get to see the first cup match of the season for free as part of the deal when purchasing a season ticket. It usually used to be the first UEFA cup game, which was usually against a poor team anyway! I mention this because I firmly believe that Villa will be back playing European football next season General. The Man Utd game may be a blessing in disguise as now the team only have the league games to concentrate on and I am sure that all of the negativeness of the FA cup game will be forgotten when Villa fans are going to see UEFA cup football again next season. Finally General, I remember going to the Villa to watch an outstanding defender called Paul McGrath whom Villa fans renamed "GOD". I have not seen a player at the club since worthy of this accolade until Martin Laursen. The man is brilliant and every Villa fan that I talk to says the same. I know so many people who are angry with the club for allowing a situation to develop where we can lose 2 of our very best players, Olof Mellberg included! I know you don't get involved with the playing side of matters General but I beg you to please let MON know just how much the fans love these 2 players. I am sure Randy has a tidy amount in his bank account but no amount of money could replace Martin Laursen in my opinion. You can keep your John Terry's and Rio Ferdinand's and they are both Englishmen! give me the Great Dane wearing the Villa number 5 shirt any day! If there is a God then please let Martin remain an"Aston Martin" Thanks for everything General, Best Wishes Jason aka Villarocker

Hi General, I would like to ask you a friendly question. Does a very successful person and ex war vet like yourself have dinner cooked for him on Christmas day? or do you have to help cook it yourself? I am the latter and glad of it because that way I know I won't be getting any food poisoning off the missus over Christmas! I noticed that a post on page 321 came from a person called Eamonn Deacy, I wondered if you know that a player of the same name played for the Villa from 1979-1984. I remember seeing him as a kid and if it is the guy who played for Villa I think it's great to know he is still fond of the club! I have been ill for the last 3 days and didn't know if I would make it to the game today but my doctor has supplied me with some anti-biotics and steroids for my breathing and now I am all set to go and see us gain 3 valuable points to get us past the 30 point mark! This will be my last post 'til after Christmas so I would like to wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas General. The same goes to all connected with the name Aston Villa. UP THE VILLA!!!!

Hi General, I just want to say thank you for doing your best to ease the fans minds regarding MON and the England managers job. If the previous posters hadn't of asked then others would have so please don't be too offended by their persistence in asking. I hope that you can see the positive out of all the "negativity" General! it is simply that Villa fans love Martin O'Neil and feel that he - along with Randy, yourself and the rest of the staff at the club - are doing a fanastic job. We fans find it hard to trust after previous years of being lied to by the previous board and I plead with you to bear with us all because we are getting their! I think that MON is an honourable man and that he would want to finish what he started with Villa and we should all be proud to have such an intelligent man as our manager, it proves how good he is if the media and FA would prefer him as the next England manager! All of this does prove one thing though - AVFC is in the hands of a very good management team!

General, Do you think that, in time, all 4 sides of Villa Park will be equal in terms of facilities? If so, how long do you think it is likely to take before this is possible? I saw the field goal for the Brown's on tv and couldn't believe that the Ravens players had started to get changed before having to go back out onto the field that must have been a pleasurable victory for Randy! Jase