Villarocker

Hi General, I would like to make a suggestion regarding the Villa Park fixture between Villa and Blues in April. As we Villa fans have continually been charged over-the-odds prices to attend their stadium for the local derby, can Villa PLEASE charge them an inflated entrance fee when they come to Villa Park in April? the General has already answered this a few pages ago. We won't and can't do this. There is no doubt in my mind that there will be trouble at the game that day, both inside and outside the stadium. The police force will be mostly made up of the same officers who were unable to control the thuggery on Sunday so the chances are it will happen all over again. Newspaper reports said that the thugs were a "minority of around 200-300 people", I would say that the vast majority of those will be present at VP in a Birmingham contingent of around 3,000, which would then see them making upto around 10% of their away support, not such a minority! Now if these "fans" are happy to cause mayhem outside their own stadium imagine what they will be willing to do at VP! Graffiti and the breaking of seats is surely to be expected and this will be at a cost to AVFC! I am not sure how the payment of the policing works but surely the cost will be higher after what happened Sunday, if only because more officers will be present! Can any other Villa fans that agree with this please add your support. NO. This a thread for Q&A for the General not an ad hoc petition for the club to break the Premier league ticketing rules.. Blandy

Hi General, First of all I want to say that I am at work today and I am sooooooo happy! I watched the game in a hotel in Sutton coldfield with loads of other villa fans and the atmosphere in their was electric and everyone went home very happy with the result and performance. I think that we weathered a couple of storms during the game but class prevailed in the end. Gabby was already a hero but now he is like a god to Villa fans, a Villa fan scoring the winner against the Blues! it doesn't get any better than that General! I am sorry to hear that the Browns narrowly missed out on victory but I am sure that Randy will be very proud of their efforts. If ever you needed proof that your comments were right about David Gold then it must have been yesterday when his own fans didn't show up and fill their stadium for their biggest game of the season - what a joke! the guy his fleecing his own supporters and I feel sorry for the genuine fans but not the ones who brought shame to their club by using violence to try and spoil the day for the celebrating Villa fans - they are a disgrace!

Hi General, I agree with the last post that there is certainly no need to apologise about the non-attendance at the Villa v Blues game, after all it's a major thing to have your team go top of the league and if it were Villa with that chance you would have people missing weddings and funerals! I am sure that someone at the Blues will have something to say in the press about you not being their but that's because they have no class. What else would you expect from a club run by a poor imitation of Hugh Hefner? their is an article in today's Sun newspaper where he says he is fuming more than ever and that your apology was a "load of waffle". It's not your fault General that he doesn't have the intelligence to realise that people from other countries have different ways of expressing themselves and that what we take to mean one thing, can mean another thing somewhere else! Don't worry because you will have the biggest and most intelligent part of Birmingham to back you up Just a quick mention about the firefighter who lost his life "VillaAsh post above". I am sure you know what it's like to put your life on the line and without those brave firemen there would be a lot less people alive fortunate of watching their beloved football club so it would be nice if Villa AND Blues could have one minutes applause to praise the efforts made by those poor firemen who perished in Warwickshire this week. Hope the back gets better and the Browns win along with the Villa! Good luck to us all!

Hi General, I just want to say that it was great to get back to winning ways on Saturday and, although the performance was not of the high standards we have previously set this season, it was great preparation for the game against our biggest rivals next Sunday! I am personally wishing away the next days of my life and cannot wait for 1pm on Sunday. I know Martin is the manager and knows best but I'm hoping he plays all the brummie lads so they can show just what it means to have passion and claret and blue blood running through their veins! Come on you lions!! PS: Have you ever given a speech to the players? I can just imagine that being a General you must give a mean, motivating speech!

You are welcome General - thanks for the acknowledgement! Glad to see that the stewards will be more proactive in the future. There has always been a record of good behaviour at VP and it would be a shame to spoil that because of abusive away supporters taking up seats that should only be taken by the Villa Park faithful! General, have you ever experienced the Villa v Birmingham City derby before? even if only on dvd? The pride and passion is immense and it means so much to us fans when we beat them it certainly makes it a lot easier to attend work the next day!

Hi General, This is my first post on this site and I just spent a couple of hours reading through the previous questions and the answers from yourself - which I found very good and quite unbelievable! to think that you do actually come on here and communicate so much with the fans is amazing and very much welcomed. I am a 35 year old Birmingham man who is Villa through and through, I had no choice as I was born in Church Road - Aston to a family whose blood runs claret and blue! I have to say that Yourself, Randy, Martin, the players and the rest of the board and backroom staff are doing a fantastic job and long may it continue. I have a season ticket and sit next to a friend and my uncle and we have loved it this season, the great atmosphere has finally returned to Villa Park and if you think it's good now then wait until we have the nights of European football back - they are out of this world! I am so glad that you have kept your cool and continued to post on here because it seems like you repeat yourself over and over. I'm afraid us Villa fans have been promised so much in the past and suffered so much disappointment that we are never quite sure whether we are being misled but I'm sure all Villa fans will agree that this time we have a group of genuine people running the club who we can trust totally and it feels so comforting to know that. A few things at the stadium will never change unfortunately because Man Utd fans ALWAYS get into all areas of the ground. Three members of my family all sat together in the North Lower for that game and they said they witnessed a Man Utd fan smack a small boy in the face just because the lad asked him to sit down. Apparently a steward was called to sort out the situation but he ignored the request and so a couple of Villa fans dealt out their own kind of "punishment" to the culprit. My Niece was so shocked by this that she called over more stewards and police to help and they then escorted the man and his friend out of the stadium. I think the only answer is for better quality stewarding in such cases as to avoid serious injury to people. Apart from the odd poor result (not always fair i.e. Gerrard's dive for Liverpool's match winning free kick), this season is looking like a very promising one although I would hope for Martin to invest some of Randy's hard earned money on a good quality right back so that we can have Ollie back in the centre of defence with the Great Dane! I don't know how often you talk with Martin and I know you have said that you don't influence future playing staff but could you PLEASE mention the name of Brazilian striker Alfonso Alves from the Dutch Club Heerenveen to him or one of the scouts? They may think he is rubbish but his goalscoring record at the moment is phenomenal and he looks perfectly suited to the challenges of the Premiership. I hope you have the time to read this and I thank you in advance if you do. Thanks also for giving us fans hope for a bright and successful future! Jason aka Villarocker