Conference trucks::football;1

Just to get us back on line, results so far :-

Aug 17		Wednesday 2 Villa 3
Aug 21		Villa 0 Man U 1
Aug 24		Villa 3 Arsenal 1
Aug 28		West Ham 3 Villa 1
Aug 31		Southampton 1 Villa 1
Sep 04		Villa 0 Palace 1
Sep 07		Villa 0 Spurs 0
Sep 14		Liverpool 1 Villa 1

Played 8 Won 2 Drawn 3 Lost 3 Points 9

Not bloody good enough is it? Still, our customary point at Anfield.

Could someone reenter the fixture list please?

Bob

	Aug  17 (a)  Sheff. Wed 
	     21 (h)  Man. Utd 
	     24 (h)  Arsenal 
	     28 (a)  West Ham
	     31 (a)  Southampton 
	Sep   4 (h)  C.Palace 
	      7 (h)  Spurs
	     14 (a)  Liverpool
	     18 (a)  Chelsea 
	     21 (h)  Notts Forrest
	     28 (a)  Coventry 
	Oct   5 (h)  Luton 
	     19 (a)  Everton
	     26 (h)  Wimbledon 
	Nov   2 (a)  QPR 
	     16 (h)  Notts Co. 
	     23 (h)  Leeds
	     30 (a)  Oldham 
	Dec   7 (h)  Man City 
	     14 (a)  Sheff. Utd
	     21 (a)  Man. Utd 
	     26 (h)  West Ham 
	     28 (h)  Southampton 
	Jan   1 (a)  Norwich 
	     11 (a)  Arsenal 
	     18 (h)  Sheff. Wed 
	Feb   1 (h)  Everton 
	      8 (a)  Wimbledon 
	     15 (a)  Leeds  
	     22 (h)  Oldham
	     29 (a)  Man. City 
	Mar   7 (h)  Sheff. Utd 
	     10 (a)  Notts Co. 
	     14 (h)  QPR 
	     21 (a)  C.Palace
	     28 (h)  Norwich 
	Apr   4 (a)  Spurs 
	     11 (h)  Liverpool 
	     18 (a)  Notts.Forrest 
	     20 (h)  Chelsea 
             25 (a)  Luton 
	May   2 (h)  Coventry

    
    
    
    Villa lose again
    
    	Chelsea 2  Villa 0
    	Jones
    	Townsend
    
    Chelsea now 3rd.
    
    Vinnie
    

    
    Here's hoping that Villa can do the biz today against Forrest.
    
    	Another draw or loss will leave Ron with a lot to do.
    
    At the moment all I can see is a draw, but maybe a home victory
    1-0.
    
    With McGrath scoring.
    
    Vinnie.
    

    
    
    	Villa 3      Forrest 1
       	Blake        Teale (o.g.)
    	Richardson
    	Yorke
    
    
    Great result for Villa coming back from being 1 down courtesy of
    a Teale o.g.
    
    Vinnie.
     

At 12 seconds Teale's OG makes it the fastest ever in Div 1. Who is this guy?
All I know is Ron bought him in the close season - what's happened to
Mountfield? After last season I thought it was Clark Kent for the chop but
on Saturday it seems he popped up in midfield.

Bob

    Vinny,
    
    Wait 'til we get hold of ye at Highfield Rd on Saturday. Looking 
    forward to a comfortable result for the Sky Blues.
    
    Tom Mc

    
    
    Tom,
    	Glad that you are so optimistic, but don't get you hopes up
    	just yet.
    	With the possibility of players like Martin Hayes in your side
    	I suppose anything else is a bonus........
    
    	Villa to continue where they left off last week and win 2-0
    
    	re -1
    	Shaun Teale came from a lower division, can't remember what team
    	but he seems to be a big favourite of RON, therefore it is very
        unlikely that Mountfield will get back in the side. Have not seen
        him play yet, so I cannot comment on how good/bad he is.
    
        Vinnie.
    

	Grimsby, bloody Grimsby I ask you.........

	What a performance....



			Al.

    >         Grimsby, bloody Grimsby I ask you.........
    
    	It's all very well you 'asking us', but some us haven't got a clue
    what you're on about!

    
    	re .10 (and .9....)
    
    	Grimsby 0-0 Aston Villa
    
    	And in case you don't already know, your boys beat Chester 3-1 at
    	home.
    
    	Andy.

    Thanks Andy.

    
    	Another defeat at the hands of a miserable team.
    
    	Looks like last season all over again, unless the rot stops
    	now. 
    
    	Vinnie.
    

    Vinny,
    
    You have really hurt my feelings....miserable team (sob).
    
    Tom Mc.

    Chins up lads... Guess who you've got next 8-)

    
    
    	Villa 4  Luton 0
        Richardson
        Regis
        Yorke
        Mortimer
    
    
    

		O
		   O
		      O
			 H 
		            H
                              H
			        !
				  !
				    !

				S
			      H
			    I
			  T
			!
		      !
		    !
		  !
		!   

    
    Read in the HAMBURGER MORGENPOST this morning ...
    
    Stefan Beinlich of 3rd Div. club Bergmann-Borsig Berlin missed
    his qualification and evaluation training for the Hamburger SV and
    went to Villa instead, where he has already signed a contract ??
    
    Any information  ?
    
    Heiko_
    

19/10/91	EVERTON 0 VILLA 2  Regis, Daley

2 league wins in a row and 2 clean sheets. Report in the Everton note said
Daley's was a screamer - we seem to have the hex on them at the moment.

Apparently we bought 2 players from Bergmann-Borsig. Here in Germany nobody
I talked to had ever heard of the CLUB never mind the players - how the hell
did Big Ron get onto these guys? 

Bob
 

    
    Re last
    
    I hate to admit it, but Villa were very impressive on Saturday, Regis,
    McGrath, Richardson and Daley were all outstanding. Daley was playing
    his first game after injury and he looked good enough to play for
    England. Villa's main problem this season seems to be inconsistancy,
    they've had a some superb performances - Arsenal, Nottm Forest,
    Liverpool, Everton and a couple of really cr*p days - Grimsby. 
    
    On the whole, they look a solid, well balanced team and if Daley plays
    regulary, I can see them finishing pretty high up the league, and
    possibly winning a cup.
    
    Paul

Thanks Paul for a pretty damned unbiased report.

Wish we hadn't sold you Keown though.

Bob

	Good result against a Cov' last night, bit of Local Derby:

		COVENTRY     0      A VILLA     2
		(HT 0-1)	    Olney    16 
		6,447		    Yorke    72

		

		Well done boys!!!!

			Al.

Glad nobody else seems to have noticed but the Villa are putting together a
nice little run. Latest results :-

	VILLA 2 WOMBLES 1
	QPR 0 VILLA 1

5 straight wins in a row, 4 in the league. Never mind the Reds v Pool v Arse
v Leeds 2nd form crybaby stuff - just keep doing it where it counts.

Bob

    
    	Villa 1   Notts Co. 1
    	Yorke
    
    
    Another great win by Villa, with Paul McGrath and Steve Staunton
    outstanding in the heart of the defence.   Dwight Yorke has got into
    a nice habit of scoring of late, lets hope he can keep it going next
    week against Leeds.
    
    Vinnie.
     

re. 25  That's Notts County NIL Vinnie - nearly ruined my day.

Bob

Last week in the Central League Villa Reserves beat Liverpool Reserves 7-1 -
that's SEVEN one. Apparently one of our ex-amateur Germans scored twice and
looked **** hot.

Any mention of this in the Pool topic - probably not.

Bob

    
    Re. 25
    
    	I must have had a bad day...
    
    
    Still another 3pts next Sat. will do nicely.
    
    Vinnie.
    

re: -1.

The game is on Sunday and it most certainly not be 3 points.


                             James.

    
    
    	Bad day or not, Saturday or Sunday .
    
    
    	Villa will still grab the 3 pts..........
    
    
    	Vinnie.
    

	I think the Villa may well sneak through to be runners-up,
	or damn close, in this the final League arrangement.
	
	Were having a good run of wins at the moment, my only fear
	is some of the 'key' players may get injured or simply
	knackered, i.e. McGrath, Regis and Yorke.

	How does everyone feel about Daley being left out of the 
	England squad, I for one think Taylor must be going a 
	bit 'gaa-gaa'...........

			Cheers Al.

    >>	How does everyone feel about Daley being left out of the 
    >>	England squad, I for one think Taylor must be going a 
    >>	bit 'gaa-gaa'...........

    Tony Daley came on as sub last Wednesday in Poznan.....
    
    I think he's a cracking player and should be a permanent fixture in the
    England team.
    
    Paul
    

Living abroad I'm a bit out of touch with the team. For instance, is that
Les Sealey in goal - what happened to Spink? Also, is this Blake a relative
of yours Vinnie? 

Bob

    
    Bob,
    
    Les Sealey is the man minding the net these days, Man Utd let him
    go on a free at the end of last season. At present he is preferred
    before Nigel Spink and playing quite well.  Mark Blake is not a 
    relative of mine although I a have a 1st cousin of the same name 
    living in Birmingham. I also have a brother called Noel.
    
    I expect a tough game tonight against Forest in the ZDS Cup but am
    confident of a win. (right MJ)
    
    Vinnie.
    
    

    
    	Villa 0  Forest 2
    	         Pearce
    	         Woan
    
    	Villa rested some of their stars last night McGrath, Staunton
    plus a few more.
    
    Vinnie.
    

	Apparently last night's 'derby' was a bit drab and uninteresting
	so far as the footballing went......any reports?!?!?!?!?!?

	Am I right in thinking 'the-Villa' never do terribly well in this
	Zenith Data Systems (ZDS) Cup, I would say they just do 'terribly'.
	Has anyone got any facts and fig's with regards Villa's past 
	performances in this competition.???? Also, what is the history
	and purpose of this Cup competition...????


			Cheers Al.

    I saw the game on SKY....Villa were Sh*T,but they did have a scratch
    side out really.Forest dominated,and scored one brilliant goal,a Pearce
    freekick that flew into the net from 25 yards,and a typical Forest goal
    from Ian Woan,allone touch and a good finish.
     
    Dave...

    
    re: a few back
    
    well you got your wish, Dwight scored again on Sunday, shame Leeds
    were already 3-0 up at the time   :-)
    
    that makes Villa's recent run against Leeds as 1-4, 2-5, 1-4
    
    I'll put further comments in after I've seen the highlights here
    tonight  :-)

	Boo-hoo, Boo-hoo, sob, sob, sob!!!!!!!!!



	I thought we had a chance on Sunday in the opening 20 mins
	to beat Leeds.   I've got to admit, Leeds certainly closed
	Daley down leaving him little room to show his normal
	flair and pace.  Regis had another 'quiet' game, I hope 
	he's not feeling the 'pangs' of old-age.........

	Les Sealey, or Mr Angry, certainly saved the Villa
	'bacon' on more than one occasion.....

	This isn't sour grapes, but on a few occasions I felt that
	Leeds may have been off-side for many of their attacking
	moves.  I must hasten to add that I saw the match on Tele
	so this does NOT give me the justification to 'whinge' about
	possible 'off-side' infringements.....

	The Villa mid-field NEEDS tightening up, some of their play
	could only be described as shoddy and untidy.....Cowans
	never found his form on Sunday, I'm begining to wonder if 
	he ever will this season.

	All in all the better side won, I would like to see Leeds
	in at least the top 8 slots when this season is complete,
	hopefully alongside Vila.

	MotM     got to be either Strachan or Dorigo for Leeds.
	         I may have voted Strachan, but its nice to see
		 Dorigo getting a bit of the lime-light.... Even
		 if he used to play for Villa.  [ Judas ]  *8)..


	P.S. When Big-Ron took over last year, I thought here we
	go, pompous arrogant Ron's usual bul**hit...............
	Although I stand corrected, so far his comments both
	on and off the pitch have been fair and unbiased.


				AL.

    Thought Villa looked very ordinary on Sunday..whether this was Leeds
    not letting them play ..Im not sure.
    
    Does big Ron really think that playing both Daley and Yorke is going to
    worry defences ??  They are both very quick and, at times, skilful but
    they seem to lose possesion too often to be comfortable. Some of their
    crosses are pretty awful too. On Sunday I though McGrath had an
    excellent game, and without him playing as well as he did, the
    scoreline could have been a lot worse.
    
    On sundays performance, Villa can expect a middle of the table position
    at the end of the season.
    
    Paul
    

	Cowans has signed for Kenny Daglish's Blackburn Rovers for
	200,000 pounds....
	
	Apparently Villa will be staging a testimonial match for this
	'Villa-veteran', who appeared over 500 times for Villa.


	I was impressed with Big-Ron's attitude:-
	
		"..It's a smashing move for the lad 
		and a smashing sign for Blackburn."

	I was only just 'not-ing' that Gordon hadn't really settled into
	this season with the confidence he normally displays.
	I will miss this familiar face in the Claret and Blue strip
	at Villa-park, he was a true 'Villain'.


			Cheers Al.

    
    	Another loss away to Oldham, hope this is not becoming a
    	habit after the great run of results up to last week.
    
    	My namesake Mark Blake scored a cracker of a goal and
    	Cyrile Regis scored the other but then thats no good 
    	when we let in 3.
    
    	Man City next Sat. live on RTE 2 this is another difficult
        game and we need the 3 pts. It looks like Leeds and Man Utd
    	beginning to open a gap at the top, and realistically neither
    	Villa or City have the resources to mount a serious challenge
    	but Arsenal are still there after a good win yesterday.
    
    	Vinnie.
    

	Good Luck the Villa against M.C. tommorrow....

	Any conformation about the Number 1 spot..
	I'd heard Spink is back in, as Sealey has flu...????
	It's nice to think that Sealey can catch something, just
	kidding........ *8]

	Any team news anyone, Daley in/out..????

			Cheers Al.

>>	Any team news anyone, Daley in/out..????

	Almost certainly IN, and WHAT a goal... easy
	contender for goal of the season, so far.. *8].

	The Villa are clawing their way back up to where
	the Big-boys sit...

			Al.

	Where have all the Villa-ins gone......


	I know Sheff U was enough to try anyone's patience but c'mon
	we must be used to it by now..   *8]

			Al.

	P.S.  Man Utd are getting a bit sure of an international 
	victory over us, let's hope the Villa can produce the goods
	on the day..........
		

    
    
    	Man Utd. away tomorrow, I think that Utd should be very
    	cautious about this game. Paul McGrath will give nothing
    	away, especially as Utd (Fergie) thought that he could
    	write offf his career a few seasons back. Was Ferguson
    	trying to be clever then I wonder, if he had suceeded
    	in collecting the insurance, then his team would not have
    	to face Paul (the best central defender in British football
    	this past 5/6 years by a mile).
    
    	I predict a 1-1 draw which is a good result for the Villa
    	and another 2 pts dropped bY Utd.
    
    	 Have a very merrrrry Xmas and happppppy New Year to all
    	 noters out there.
    
    	Vinnie.

    The main reasons for getting rid of McGrath were -- his attitude to the
    club, his boozing, and his fitness. The same went for Whiteside, and
    Ferguson was proved right as WHiteside had to retire through injury.
    McGrath's knees have so far stood up to it, and good luck to him. I was
    sorry to see him go.

    
    
    	His Fitness!!!!!!!!!
    
    
    	I would have imagined that he was as fit as Robson ever 
    	was during that period, plus he and Robson were known to
    	enjoy more than the odd beer or two, but Robson is still
    	at UTD as fit as ever as we all know....
    
    
    
    	Vinnie....
     

I read somewhere that McGrath does NOT train fully anymore...and that he keeps
fit by playing...

Is this true..??

    
    
    	A reasonable spell over the holiday period for Villa
    	with good wins over West Ham and Southampton and then
    	spoiling it with a loss at Norwich.
    	What was Chris Price trying, I will never know!
    
    	On to the FA cup against Spurs on Sunday. This will be
    	a big test for both teams, neither of them are very
    	consistent at the moment, but I take Villa to win but just!
    	Hopefully Staunton will be back.
    
    	Vinnie.
    

    
    
    	Villa should have eaten Spurs, they will not have it as
    	easy at WHL.  Villa were the better team but were very
    	lucky to survive at the end, if Paul Walsh had scored
    	but Sealey came to the rescue with a great save.
    
    	The replay will be a totally different proposition as
    	Spurs will be much better at home. I thought the ref was
    	a bit lost at times, he didn't seem to be sure what he
    	wanted to do.
    
    Vinnie.
    
    
    
    	

comming weekend I will be in Birmingham, can anyone tell me if there are
any games in the area? it doesn't matter wich division.

T_

>>  comming weekend I will be in Birmingham, can anyone tell me if there are
>>  any games in the area? it doesn't matter wich division.


	I think:-

	Div 1
	-----
		COVENTRY		QPR
		NOTTS FOREST		NOTTS COUNTY

	Div 3
	-----
		BIRMINGHAM		LEYTON ORIENT
		WEST BROMICH ALBION	BOURNEMOUTH

	Div 4
	-----
		NORTHAMPTON		YORK CITY

			


			Cheers Al.



	P.S. For any Villa'ins    -   any news on Mr Spink......
	     I wouldn't be suprised if he's thinking of leaving...?!?!?!?!
	

rep -1

Al,

thanks for the prompt reply.

T_

	NOTE FROM CEEFAX LAST NIGHT:::


	The Villa Spurs game at White Hart Lane has been brought forward
	24 Hours, from Wed 15, to Tue 14...

	Don't ask me why, knowing Ceefax it could have just been
	interference...8-)

		Can anyone confirm......?????

			Al.

Yes it's true. It is to accommodate BSkyB's request to screen the match live.
BSkyB did not want to screen the game on Wednesday as it would clash with the
Leeds v. Manchester U. FA Cup game which is live on BBC.

Chris

    Its becoming quite good having SKY - Football every night, 2-3 live
    games a week, plus Italian, Spanish etc. highlights.  It will be the
    FA-SKY CUP next year?

	Fellow Villa-ins, I've just been informed by a 'YIDO', that the
	Aston Villa players' have had all their boots stolen...??? *8[

	BIG-RON is not a happy man, obviously he feels this will lead
	to an under-performing Villa at White Hart Lane tonight for the
	FA cup third round replay..


	Mind you, the way Villa have been playing recently how is Big-Ron
	going to get hold of 22 left footed football boots at such short
	notice, c'mon Ron you've got contacts... *8]



			Cheers Al.

    	Congratulations to Villa for a great performance against Spurs.
    From the highlight it looked like a thoroughly deserved win & should
    have been by a greater margin.
    
    	Heard that the boot thief actually returned the boots before the
    match as well.
    
    	Spurs had one of their real off days & as someone said elsewhere,if
    they continue playing like that they will be competing with Luton et al
    for a Second Division spot.They were truly awful & looked very jaded.
    
    

    
    	Yeah Villa looked really good, especially that Dwight Yorke chap.
    Shame about the interview afterwards though! Between him and Dave
    Basset they seem to have taken the Footballese dialect of English a
    step further; "de balls gone feru is legs, an it was my goal".
    
    	Spurs needs someone who can actually "tackle" another player.
    
    
    		Steve

	Watch out Derby County, Villa are on a roll....


	Don't know whether it's UP or DOWN at the moment though, I let
	you know as soon as they make their mind up... *8]


	Derby more that deserve to beat Burnley in the replay..


		DERBY COUNTY   2       0   BURNLEY

		Gee       27		  (HT 2-0)
		Patterson 33		   17,261


	The match was abandoned after 76 mins' had been played due to fog,
	14 minutes left of the match, must have been bad...????

	It would be VERY rough justice if Burnley were to beat Derby
	second time round..  Does anyone know where the replay is to
	be played, and when...??


			Cheers Al.

    
    	Villa play Man Utd tonight at Old Trafford, this should
    	be a real test for Villa. I fancy their chances of at 
    	least taking a point, they are playing quite well at 
    	the moment despite the loss to S.Wed. at the weekend.
    
    	I am sure that both McGrath and Sealey will be in top
    	form, and if Mark Hughes can refrain from giving us a
    	view of his diving skills, then it will be a cracker.
    
    	A draw looks the likely outcome probably 1-1 with Mclair
    	and Parker scoring the goals.
    
    	Vinnie.
    

	Felt for the Lads last night, should have won that game..

	I don't think Yorke, Regis and Daley are working too well 
	'up-front', at the mo....

	I hope they get it together for the next round of the FA, which
	will be either

		Burnley or Derby county.

	They are still playing their 3rd round replay, which I think goes
	to another exciting installment this Saturday, although don't
	quote me one that.. *8]

			Cheers Al.

	P.S. What the hell is going on with Spink pray tell..  Is he
	getting a bit of road work and sparing in before he replaces 
	the mighty, Les-larynz-Sealey..


	P.P.S.  Nothing to do with Villa, or football....  If anyone watched 
	Midweek Sports Special last night, what did ya think of the 
	boxing they showed after the match..  Phew, what a punch that
	British lad dished out, even Tony Copsey would have been proud..

    
    
    		Another defeat last night, Villa played some crap
    	compared to last week, still a lot to do to match the big
    	boys I'm afraid.  
    
    	No game Saturday, maybe they need a break, I hope they put
    	it to good use.
    
    Vinnie.
                       

	Swindon awaits....

	Still NO news on Mr Spink then....????

			Cheers Al.

    
    
             <<< RTODWT::DWDISK01:[NOTES$LIBRARY]FOOTBALL.NOTE;1 >>>
                                 -< FOOTBALL >-
================================================================================
Note 158.0                                                             2 replies
BEAGLE::63700::KING "I'm Martin.......Fly me to Amst" 5 lines   6-FEB-1992 11:20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

	can someone tell me the result from Sunday's league match
	teleised on ITV. It was Aston Villa vs (i think) Leeds Utd

	thankyou in advance
================================================================================
Note 158.1                                                                1 of 2
TRUCKS::SANT                                          6 lines   6-FEB-1992 11:21
                                -< Actually... >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    
    	It was Aston Villa vs. Everton, and it ended as it had started..
    
    	     			nil - nil.
    
    	Andy.
================================================================================
Note 158.2                                                                2 of 2
BEAGLE::63700::KING "I'm Martin.......Fly me to Amst" 4 lines   6-FEB-1992 12:00
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Thanks again

	Mart

    
    The Swindon - Aston Villa game has been selected as the live game by
    the BBC, the Ipswich - Bristol Rovers (or someone else) and Bolton -
    Southampton games are also being televised by BskyB - so they won't be
    played on the Saturday.
    
    Paul

    
    The actual fee was 1.75 million. Around 330,000 has to go to Man City
    as they wanted a cut of the fee if Oldham sold him, not bad considering
    they bought him for 35,000. Still a good buy for Villa and a sad loss
    for Oldham.
    
    Gerry.
    

Read in The Observer that Villa have now gone 1006 minutes and scored one
goal. Two questions : how many matches or bits of matches is 1006 minutes?
And secondly what the **** has happened to our strikers? Ron seems to play
a different forward line every match - is this due to injuries, desperation
or what?

Just interested (and bereft of info out here)
Bob

    
    thats just over 11 matches....
    cant be right surely?
    
    Ian.

God knows why but I've worked it out and I think that 1006 is right!

From the January 11th no score draw at Arsenal to last Saturday's similar
score at Palace, Villa have managed just one league goal - a 1-0 win home to
Oldham on Feb 22. That's 11 games times 90 minutes = 990. The extra 16 minutes
presumably means that Villa's goal in the 2-1 defeat at Norwich January 1st
was scored in the 74th minute.

Why am I doing this?! Does anybody care? (Bloody Atkinson ought to!)

Bob
 

    
    Big Ron was quoted at the weekend in respect of the possible player's
    strike call by Gordon Taylor - something like :
    
    	"I don't know what all the fuss is about, I've been asking my lads
    	 to strike since New Year's Day...."
    
    Rob

	Looks like Spink will finally have the No 1. jersey all to himself:

	Apparently Les Sealey is to return to Coventry, that's the Sky
	Blues incase anyone thought it was a new form of punishment that
	the F.A. have introduced to 'kerb' Mr Angry's outbursts....*8]

				Cheers Al.

	What a result....  AND ABOUT BLOODY TIME.........!!!


	Scorers:-

	Lineker		(5  min	1-0)
	Teale (o.g.)	(13 min 2-0)
	Richardson	(19 min 2-1)
	Olney		(30 min 2-2)
	Yorke		(57 min	2-3)
	Daley		(86 min 2-4)
	Regis		(90 min 2-5)

	I only hope this is the 'taste' of things to come......
	Considering the impressive line up Villa should have being
	pulling results like this all season...   Mind you, Big Ron
	did say that this new-look side would take 'at least' a 
	season to find form and settle in...  Then...  who knows,
	F.A., Premier, and dare I say....    Europe....., c'mon	
	Villa, let's get-it-on.......remember those 70's   *8]

			Cheers Al.

    Anyone out there!!!!!
    
    Villa have made the bargain buy of the close season and no comments.
    Houghton is going to add alot to Villa.
    
    Come on Villa fans let's get writing as they say on sky sports
    
           " 5 more days to go "
    
    Are Villa going to win the league or what

    what

Ye,
	That about sums up your season 8^)

    
    According to the radio Villa have made an offer for TGA.  Surely now
    they'll be unstoppable for the title.  Tough one for Cunno though if
    Aldo faces Liverpool.
    
    Seriously if Villa do sign Aldo he'll score goals.  They are getting a
    nice side together and could do better than 40/1 odds suggest.  At that
    price they're better value than any of the top 4.
    
    Gary.

If Villa get TGA then everybody can set automatic 'next unseen' on this note
'cos of all the f**k it'll generate from certain quarters (I think I mean
FLAK).

I don't think Villa will win the league this season,maybe top five plus a
cup. I presume Ron sees Aldo as a Sid Regis replacement - not in itself a
particularly ambitious approach. I rate Houghton as the best buy since 
Andy Gray ( the Scottish Sky pilot not the pain in the arse). Well maybe
since McGrath anyway.

Here's to a great season,
Bob
 

Does all the talk about Aldo mean that The Greater Cyrille is not going to
feature in Big Ron's plans next season. That would be a shame, IMO. He was a 
transfer who was worth every penny :-)

I think Villa have got a decent shot at a top place come the end of the season. 
Let's face it, they did pretty well last year and the players hardly knew each
other.

Is Dalian Atkinson fit this year?

Mike

Can anybody out there confirm if Aston Villa have made the biggest swoop
in the modern game by signing THE GREAT ALDO. If that's true, then Villa
will have Staunton, Houghton and ALDO from that glorious side of 1988-1990.
Aldo if he has signed for Villa will be top scorer and Villa will finish
second to Liverpool in the title race. This season will have all sorts of
mixed emotions for me with Houghton and Aldo coming to Anfield along with
Kenny's Blackburn.

    Cunno

    If  ALDO = VILLA
    Then Last Note = Last Note * 3000
    Else Peace and Quiet
    End
    

    Villa shouldn't waste their money on a washed-up over-hyped has been
    who couldn't make it in Spain, and was a mediocre scorer for a
    low-to-mid second division club last year!
    
    Cyrille Regis could do more with his eyes closed than Aldo could do on
    his best day....
                                                          
    Tom

re: -1

too right. Go Cyrille!

Who needs another forward anyway. We have already got Dwight, Daley, Cyrille, 
Atkinson, et. al. What more does big Ron want?

I have heard rumours concerning Mark Hughes. What can I say?

Please, please don't do it Ron. I thought Ron was a fan of technique football, 
so exactly where would that overpaid, overfed, welsh bruiser fit in? How many 
goals did he score last season anyway? 1, 2, or maybe even 3?

Just my opinion, y'understand.

Mike

Ipswich 1 Villa 1

A point snatched off every pundit's tip for bottom place - the only one of
the six West Midlands clubs not to win etc etc.

A good start? ( better than a kick up the Arse ;-) )

Since when has Dave Sexton been the coach? I thought he retired to talentspot
on Hackney Marshes (yeah, that's probably what he is doing).

Bob

At least we got a point. It could have been worse. 
I didn't see the game but was under the impression that Ipswich were tipped to 
win.
Does anybody know what side big Ron fielded?

The boy Saunders can't be all that bad. He does score a lot of goals, and playing
for Liverpool at the time, he must be pretty good.

Besides with a midfield like Villa's, even Alan Smith could score goals.

Which reminds me, at least big Ron won't have enough money to buy Smith now. 
Phew.

In my opinion, Saunders will prove all the critics wrong this year, score at
least fifty goals, take Villa to the league title, get knighted, blah, blah...

Time for the medication, methinks

In a dramatic new turn of events, I heard a rumour (which I am assured could be
true) that Villa were going to sell Dalian Atkinson in order to raise the cash
needed to buy Saunders.
Does anyone know any more details, or can anyone lay rest to this perfidious
rumour-mongering?

Whatever they do, I just hope they do it quickly. The sooner we get Saunders the
better, in my opinion. Just because Graham Souness doesn't like him, doesn't make
him a bad player.

MIke

    How is Cyrille Regis playing these days? If they get Saunders, how will
    this affect Big Cyrille's game?
    
    Tom

>>                       <<< Note 67.100 by SALES::THILL >>>
>>                             -< Wot about Regis? >-

>>    How is Cyrille Regis playing these days? If they get Saunders, how will
>>    this affect Big Cyrille's game?
    
    Tom..
	I'd have thought with Big C's potential injury problems, Deano
	may be able to provide some support and stability in the Villa
	forwards..  However, in saying that, I still wouldn't buy him....

	If anyone get's a chance, have a look at the 'Today' newspaper,
	page 33..   Story entitled "Dodgy deals with Podgy"...

	Basically quotes an alleged conversation between Souness and
	Atkinson, discussing the proposed deal for Saunders..
	I thought it was bloody funny.....   If it's true....
	Fair play Souness & Atkinson, you've proved football HAS got
	a sense of humour.. If it's NOT true............unfortunate..
	But still bloody funny....
	If I get a chance I may try to post some extracts............

				Alboy.

Well, the Liverpool fans are crowing that Villa have finally signed Saunders
for 2.3 mill.

I for one am well chuffed. Saunders is a goal machine, and no mistake.
He could be just what Villa need, and I'm sure he will prove to be worth a lot
more to us, than Paul Stewart will be to Liverpool.

We'll see who's laughing come the end of the season.

Fighting against reality,
Mike

    
    
    re:1
         Couldn't agree more, Liverpool at the end of the Season will be
         regreting selling Saunders instead of Rush.
    
         Neil,... 

re .102

Could you justify the description 'goal machine' please?
We are talking about the same Dean Saunders who has yet
to score 20 league goals in a season, aren't we?

    
    Si,
    
    well, as Terry Yorath said, the reason he wasnt scoring enough goals
    was because he wasnt being played in the right position!
    maybe we should have put him in the nets instead of Grobelaar?
    or in the stands?
    or in the middle of Stanley Park?!?
    
    Ian.
    ;-)
    

To clear things up...

by goal machine I of course mean, that he scores goals.

Remember that this is in the context of an Aston Villa forward, and we consider
anyone who scores half a dozen goals in his career to be a prolific goal scorer.

Anyway, you may scoff, but come Saturday when our man Saunders scores a hat-trick 
in the first half against the supposed league champions, you'll be laughing
on the other side of your face.

50 goals this season, guaranteed.

Don't laugh, I'm serious.


Mike

GO VILLA
 
GO DONNY ( Everyone has his cross to bear)

    
    A couple of questions
    
    Is the Manchester United game on Saturday November 7th all ticket?
    
    If so can you give me the number of the ticket office at Villa Park?
    Do they accept credit card bookings?
    
    Any help would be much appreciated.
    
    Gary.

Did'nt Villa sign another well known "goal machine" a few seasons back when
they were in with a chance of winning the league. One Tony Cascarino that well
known regular goal scorer for Ireland.... A similiar fate awaits Saunders.


Martin

    
    Re .107
    
    Gary,
    
    try these from EYP.....
    
    021-327 2299
    021-328 3322
    021-327 2800
    
    Paul

re:107

cascarino?

err...
that was different, Saunders is better and so are we.

Did anyone see the Villa game on Sky?

What line-up did we field?

Were Leeds lucky or what?

Mike

    What was that someone saying about Saunders scoring a hat-trick in the 
    first half..... He'll be lucky if he scores three goals all season..
    
    As I can recall against Leeds Deano was straight through with only
    Lukic to beat and he fluffed it. Villa were one nil up at the time 
    and this would have clinched the game for them. 

The 3-2 away win at Boro was even more pleasing than the 4-2 drubbing of
Sourpuss's lot - we NEVER get a sniff at Ayresome Park.

I never rated Deano either but you can't argue with 5 in 4.

Bob

    Quiet in here! What was the score yesterday against Blackburn.
    
    Keith.

    but it was one of those exciting 0 - 0 draws with the keepers and
    defenders havethe better of the night....
    
    Colin...

    
    Shaun (Sean) Teale (sp) the new Des Walker...
    
    Plus to his credit he is hard but very fair. I witnessed a lot of
    bruising challenges between Teale Newell and Shearer and even when
    Teale could have been judged to have been fouled he still got up and
    smiled and joked with his opponent. His only bad point is that he
    overdoes it with the moaning at ref's and linesmen, but a little smile
    after an onslaught seems to enable him to get away with it..
    
    A pleasure to watch as well as the game..
    
    Gary..

I echo that last reply.

Teale had a bit of a hard time at the beginning of last season after 
Villa bought him from Bournemouth (?), but he is doing really well now.

While we're on the subject, does anyone know what our man Dwight Yorke is
doing these days? Presumably he is in the reserves, but I am not sure.

Is Tony Daley injured?

Mike

After due consideration of the current standard of play in England generally,
I've decided Villa are going to win everything. They've already turned over
the Mancs, Pool, not lost to Leeds (twice) or Blackburn and who else is there -
QPR (oh no we beat them last week), Norwich (oh dear), Coventry (oh dear dear)
Forest (desperate), and the Arse. Unbeaten in 10 games and a nice home tie
with Ipswich in the Pop Cup - Daley should be back for that final. So that's
it - first Premier champions plus 2 cups - the season's over.

Bob

PS. Man U will probably stuff us on Saturday (not).

    Try not being to greedy i can't remember when Aston Villa last won
    something,anything except the 11 bags of crisps & pop they won in the
    Under 12 local soccer competition win them first then brag otherwise
    buy a big zip and a sewing machine anddo the right thing by everyone..
    
    Colin..
    ^^^^^^^

    re .last 
    
    Villa won the League Championship and then went onto take the European
    Cup in the early eighties. 
    
    barry.

    So that would be a decade ago(10 long years) and what have they won
    since then a rattler or the booby prize in the local raffle...
    
    Colin...
    ^^^^^^^^

You should be grateful that the saints of Villa Park decided to let the rest of
England have a bit of fun with cups and the like before embarking on a most
unprecedented period of football dominance. We're not just talking a couple of
manager of the month awards for big fat Ron here. Oh no. Get ready to see 
glorious Villa Park become the permanent home of every cup in English and 
European football.


Perhaps the rest of you should either switch allegiances before the rush, or 
take up cricket.

There can be little doubt...Paul McGrath is the best player in the world.

Just my not particularly humble opinion, you understand.

Mike

    
    
    There is one thing,if Villa do win the League,atleast we wont have to
    suffer another inept performance in the European Cup.Bojangles might
    have some faults,but atleast he gets his teams to pass the ball to a
    player on there own side and not just punt it into the penalty area
    hoping some big donkey might get his head to it.
    
    Dave...

    
    Villa won the European Cup in 1982.
    We have been talking about this today and we cant remember who managed
    them at the time ( John BURTON?)
    
    Can anyone supply a name please.
    
    
                  NICK.

    tony barton.

    Was it Ron Saunders ??

    no, it was tony barton.

Well yeah it WAS Tony Barton but it was "Big Ron with no charisma Saunders" who
won the league in '81, resigned over not being given a job for eternity contract
and then committed the unforgivable sin of managing the Blues. It was his team
that won the Cup though, poor old Tony only lasted a couple of years.

Bob

PS. re 119 - I MIGHT zip it when we lose (Saturday 1-0 over the Mancs).

Had a holiday from German exile last week and went to the Spurs game. Despite
my slight attack of hyperbole in an earlier note this was in fact the first
time I'd seen Villa live this season (yeah ha ha bloody typical etc etc Mr
Casey ;-< ). It was the best 0-0 I've ever seen and the best looking Villa
side for ten years, since the European Cup side in fact. McGrath must be the
best black Irish thing since Guinness - absolutely magnificent. Teale was
strong too, and how Souness could have sold Staunton, Saunders AND Houghton is
completely beyond me - but that's our gain. Villa had about 70% of the game, I
think the corner count must have been about 12-5 but having said that I don't
remember a Spurs side that fought so hard and indeed they could have won it
with a bit of luck in front of goal - fair result would have been 2-1 to Villa
though, just for the sheer class and speed of the flowing moves they created.
Most of it started with McGrath or Staunton, through to Richardson or Parker,
Saunders playing one-twos on the edge of the box, or Atkinson taking command
and pounding through the Spurs defence to power a shot in. Funnily enough for
a game of constant attacking both sides' best player was the number 5 -
McGrath and Mabbutt (combined age about 92). 

I really believe Villa are going to win something this year if they can keep
the momentum going - this side has real class. As for Spurs, they seem a bit
anonymous since Gazza and Gary and the rest moved on but they proved impossible
to break down and Samways in particular came strong in the last half hour -
weak in the box though (Sheringham, Durie).

Bob

	Villa 2 Norwich 3

Narrowly defeated by the league leaders in a game where the entire second half
was in their half. (Optimistic assessment).

Stuffed by Norwich (??????) at home. (Realistic assessment).

Bob

As they say in France, just thought I'd stick this in while we're on top.

Beat Forest, recovered from a cruel blow at Coventry (thanks fellow
Midlanders), destroyed the Arse 1-0, won easily at Anfield and put FIVE past
Boro.

Result - leading the field approaching the final straight. And on merit.
And with key injuries (Daley long term, Atkinson every five minutes).

Bob who predicted all this and got foully abused for it.

PS. Not exactly frenetic activity in this topic eh what. Come on you Brums - 
take an interest for ****'s sake!

    
    
    I'm getting annoyed with players defecting from The Mecca grounds to
    would_be championship teams ( eg Strachan to Leeds and , dare I say it,
    McGrath to Villa ). 
    
    Though some divine footballing intervention, Ferguson finally (by
    buying Cantona) has the team that can go all the way. Sharpe is
    improving with every game and Bruce, Parker, Irwin and Pally are
    providing an excellent last line of defence.
    
    So it's :
    
    	oh-ah <substitute player's name> say-oh-ah <substitute player's name>
    
    -John_I_want_to_sniff_Eric_Cantona's_jersey.
    
     

I think the fairy tale for Norwich is pretty much over now, and Villa and Man U
will begin to pull clear of the pack. Well, Villa will begin to pull clear of 
the pack anyway, not sure about Man U. 8-)

Last night was miserable, but the injuries to all their decent players should 
help us. Any news on Daley's return? Good to see Dwight Yorke on the score sheet 
gain, but what we really need is Atkinson and Saunders in the middle and the 
footballing genius that is Tony Daley on the wing.

Surely with Walker out of the way, there's not a defender in the league that can
keep up with the acclaimed master of low quality hairdos.

Any news on the Henrik Larsen signing? Last I heard was that Pisa were asking too
much for him.

Mike

"Come on you Villains!"

Good Luck Villa for the title and all that, I hope you win it as long as you're 
not Man Utd, but

"the footballing genius that is Tony Daley"
                 ------

You've got to be kidding

Head down, CHAAAAARRGGEE!!!  


Gifted, yes......  genius, definitly not.

 - Kevin

Absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that...

8-)

Mike

	re .133

> I think the fairy tale for Norwich is pretty much over now, and Villa and Man U

	Maybe you should stick to forecasting the weather.

	Tony

Unfortunately I'm not much good at that either.

What did people think of Deano's goal?

Personally I think there was a hint of luck involved, and Dalian Atkinson's goal
of a few months ago was better (the one where he took the ball from his own half,
dribbled round all the opposition's defenders twice (?) and chipped the keeper to
score). The Deano goal did look good though.

Mike

    Can anyone post Villa's remaining fixtures ?
    
    Cheers
    Dave

This does not take into account televised reschedules

Feb  9  Crystal Palace  (A)
Feb 13  Chelsea         (A)
Feb 20  Everton         (H)
Feb 27  Wimbledon       (H)
Mar  6  Blackburn       (A)
Mar 10  Spurs           (H)
Mar 13  Man. Utd        (A)
Mar 20  Sheff Wed       (H)
Mar 24  Norwich         (A)
Apr  3  Notts Forest    (A)
Apr 10  Coventry        (H)
Apr 12  Arsenal         (A)
Apr 17  Man City        (H)
May  1  Oldham          (H)
May  8  QPR             (A)

Al

    
    Whatever happened to Villa's promising young player, Tony Daley ?
    
    

    He is injured at the moment but Villa, I think expect him back pretty
    soon.
    
    
    Gary

Aaarrgghh..

I just heard that Big Fat Ron just offered Liverpool Garry Parker plus
Earl Barrett plus one million pounds for John Barnes. Fortunately Souness
turned us down. What a relief...

He might be good but he's not that good, and he's old to boot.


Mike

    
    Atkinson has denied he offered Parker and Barrett, he said all he did
    was contact Liverpool about Barnes' availability. 
    
    It does sound abit Dodgy, only a couple of weeks ago Atkinson was
    raving about Parker and Barrett on SKY.
    
    Dave...

It does sound a tad unlikely doesn't it, but I am sure I read it on CEEFAX or
TELETEXT or whatever they call themselves now.

The article said the offer was rejected by Souness anyway, so never mind.

Garry Parker is playing a blinder this season. He is one of the few Forest 
players that seems to have carried his form to a different club.

Mike

Villa  0    Tottenham  0

This was possibly one of the most frustrating matches I have watched on telly
for yonks.

I hate surprises so I checked the score before Sportsnight, cursed vaguely at 
yet another squandered opportunity for fame and glory, and sat down to watch the 
match, expecting a dour midfield struggle.

How wrong I was. Villa's attacking posse cuts the Spurs defenses to shreds and 
right from the start we look like winning by several goals to nil.

Then Deano lobs Thorsvedt and I jump in the air for joy. Ha hah, thought I,
CEEFAX was wrong, we are going to win after all. But somehow Edinburgh clears 
off the line and I am left gobsmacked, clutching my head in dismay.

Deano hits the post two more times, and Thorsvedt pulls off a couple of excellent
saves to boot. Final result 0-0, but it was certainly one of the most one-sided
matches I have seen for quite a while. The commentators kept saying that the 
Spurs defense were soaking up the pressure but it didn't look that way to me.

Bum. (Am I allowed to say that in the conference?)

At least it wasn't all bad news. It was brilliant to see the master, Tony Daley, 
return on the wing. He doesn't look to be quite back to the form of his glorious
past when he terrorised defenses up and down the league, but he soon will be. 
Things are looking up, and it should be a good game on Sunday. 

Ryan Giggs versus Tony Daley. Methinks Milan will be less willing to buy the
young Manc after they see him humiliated on his home turf. I'd sell him before
the game if I were Fergie.  8-)

Mike

    
    	It makes me laugh when the commentator says "Saunders did
    	everything right.."
    
    	He didn't - the ball hit the post (twice), and that doesn't count
    	as the target. I think Big Ron will actually be pretty p*ssed
    	with Deano for failing to score twice when he really should have at 
    	least got his shot on target.
    
        That might sound a bit picky, but you never have gotten anything
    	for a near miss....
    
    	Andy.

I don't think you are being quite fair on Deano.

True: if he had done everything right he would have scored, so the commentator is
wrong. That sort of thing winds me up too.

But, remember that Deano had to contend with a) defenders and b) the goalie.
He couldn't hit the ball straight at the target because it would have been saved
so he had to try and swerve it in. He didn't quite manage it, but he was close.

Be reasonable, what sort of a manager would have a go at Saunders for those 
shots? It's not like they were open goals or anything. If they had been, then you
would be correct to blame Deano for missing.

Instead of saying, he hit the post so Deano is crap, what about saying the goalie
narrowed the angle well or the defenders closed him down well.

Ron didn't appear to be very mad with Deano last night. He was more pi**ed off 
with the tactics of Spurs.

Mike

    
    Re- Ron Atkinson on Spurs..
    
    Who cares what he thinks, what, are teams supposed to go to Villa Park
    and let them win just because they MIGHT win the League. His team had
    three clear cut chances to score, and missed them all, thats his problem.
    If you want to win the League you have to be good enough to break
    defences down, and lets face it, Spurs havent got the best defence in
    the world, although its much better than it was. Instaed of going on
    about how the opposition played, Bojangles should cane his own team for
    not scoring after dominating the game. 
    
    Great point for Spurs, well pleased.
    
    Dave...
    
    Dave...
    

    
    	re .148...
    
    	Mike, I didn't say anything about "deano was crap.." 
    
    	And if you think Ron Atkinson is a pussycat, happy to give up two
    	vital points, then think on!!
    
    	Villa should have won. Easily, imo....
    
    	They totally dominated the game. Sherringham? Was he playing? Big
    	Ron will look at all those chances they created, and say something
    	like "look, chaps, if we're to win the title, we must take at least
    	one of those chances."
    
    	The one cleared off the line was I agree very "unfortunate". Maybe
    	one of the others Saunders had was tricky. But the second one,
    	through with Eric to beat - admittedly he narrowed the angle, did
    	all those other things goalies do - he'll be disappointed not to
    	have scored.
    
    	jmo. Don't be so touchy.
    
    	Andy.
             

Fair enough.
You've probably got a point.

3-0 to the Villans on Sunday, 2 for Deano, and a scorching solo piece of magic
from the masterful Tony Daley, Lord of Smart Haircuts.

Mike

Villa 1 : 1 Man Utd.

Scorching game, from which I imagine Ron was happy to emerge with a point. While
it pains me to admit it, we were under the cosh for a lot of the first half and
most of the second half, although I thought we started to take control in the 
last ten minutes. It was a contrast of styles: Villa's passing against Man U's 
viciously rapid attacks. We fought hard for the draw, but Manc fans might say we
were lucky.

We had a lot of time in midfield with Kevin Richardson playing well and Ray
Houghton battling well as per usual. However, our delicate passing movements,
while pretty to look at, didn't create too many goal chances. By the end of the
game we had only had a couple of real chances, but thankfully we scored from one 
of them. 8-)

Whenever Utd got the ball they stormed down at our goal, and I was fair filling
my shorts every time. Bosnich played a blinder and was certainly my man of the 
match. Our defense was tested time and time again, but stood up to it quite
well. McGrath was rock solid (no shocks there) but he did make one mistake, which
is an occasion that will probably go down in history. What a player. I hate to
think how good he would be if he practiced. Teale had his work cut out handling
Cantona, got beat a couple of times, and was fairly lucky not to get sent off for
what some people might have called a professional foul. Barrett was excellent
and did a grand job of keeping the Utd wingers quiet. On the other side of the
defense Bryan Small was okay, but almost gave away a penalty in the first half.

Staunton was superb, and I extend gratitude in humongous quantities to Santa 
Souness for letting us have him, Deano, and Houghton. What a nice man. Staunton
was often to be seen bombing up the wing, and scored an absolute scorcher from 
the corner of the penalty area. Schmeichal (sp?) never had a chance.

Parker played well and was unlucky to get taken off. You always fancy him, 
perhaps more than anyone else in the Villa side, to score from long range out of
the blue. However, he's only human and someone had to go off so that the maestro
himself, Sir Tony Daley, could come on and..... do nothing. Ho hum.

Up front, our chaps were kept pretty quiet apart from a chance that Deano had 
well saved. Dwight ran around a lot and worked hard but was never really given
a chance by the strong Man Utd centre backs.

Perhaps our best player was Bryan McClair who spooned several easy chances into
Row Z of the crowd and was warmly applauded by Villa fans up and down the 
country. Nice one Bryan! 8-)

Mike

Suddenly everyone's a Villa fan - but they only enter notes in the Man. U
topic. I wonder why this should be ? ;->

Hey guys, we don't want or need you - check the Villa gates for how many real
supporters there are around, trouble is none of them seem to work for Digital.
If Villa still need the points on the last day I definitely will not be
supporting Wimbledon to beat United - and if you believe that etc etc etc

I think tonight could decide it. As that Villa fan of many minutes standing
Mr. Cunniffe has already hypothesised (wished, hoped, rambled), I reckon
United will get minimum 7 points from the last games - so Villa need to win
all three. 3 points at Blackburn at this stage is genuine championship stuff,
anything less its over.

Positively speaking, there are only two teams left in it and they are beyond
argument the two best teams in the league.

Bob

PS. Ron Atkinson wants to give that trainee referee United had against
Wednesday a three-match million pound contract.

    
    	Fine speech, Bob.
    
    	If Villa win, I for one will applaud them for their achievement.
    	Just like I did for Leeds last year.
    
    	The best team will win through. Let there be no doubt that they
    	will then be the best team....
    
    	Andy.
 

    I agree Paul..
    
    More clubs should follow the villa's example..
    
    Nige.

    
    Re.155 
    
     Andy...
    
     Only the Gary Lineker of the football notes would come out with that..
    
     (-:
    
    Dave...

re. the last few

over here in Switzerland our local team (Neuchatel Xamax) admit kids up 
to the age of 12 free anywhere in the ground. Means that by the time they've got 
to start paying the kids are confirmed supporters and will probably continue to
go to matches. (it also means that i can get to go to all the home games with the
excuse that i'm taking the kids out :-)).

same thing applies for local basketball and ice-hockey clubs too.

       ray.

Well, here we are, on the verge of a famous victory and there's nary a squeak
from the Villan contingent.

Nice to see that Graham Taylor has recognised the quality of the team by 
selecting such a large number of Villa players for the England squad...

Barrett deserves his call without a doubt, but what about Dalian Atkinson,
Garry Parker, Kevin Richardson, and even Shaun Teale? Not to mention Tony Daley,
who is the accepted king of wingers.

Still, he'll be sorry when we win the European Cup next year...

Mike

Damn.

Well, it was quiet until just before I put my note in.

That will teach me to read all the new notes before entering any.

I would, however, just like to offer my personal opinion on the "Everyone's a 
Villa fan" controversy though.

I think that the reason for this trend is not really that people love Villa just
because they are doing well this season, but rather because they are all that 
stand between the accursed Mancs and the league title. Let's face it, if it was
a run-in between Wimbledon and Man U I'd shed blood for Vinny's mob. Now if
it was Liverpool and Man U it might be a different story...

Mike

>>stand between the accursed Mancs and the league title. Let's face it, if it was
>>a run-in between Wimbledon and Man U I'd shed blood for Vinny's mob. Now if
>>it was Liverpool and Man U it might be a different story...

     I am in total agreement with you on that. Tonight I'm a Palace and Villa
  fan. Anything that will stop the Mancs getting the title and ruining my
  statistics will do.


      Cunno

    Well what can one say Martin ???
    
    Looks like its back to the drawing board for your statistics dont you
    think ??
    
    LONG LIVE MANCHESTER UNITED (NEW LEAGUE CHAMPIONS!!)
    
    Nige..

Oh bum.

Now our only hope is for Blackburn to beat Man U at Old Trafford (not entirely
likely) and Wimbledon to draw on the last day, while we storm to triumphant
victory in both our remaining matches. Hmmm.... Looks like second place again,
and another shot at the UEFA Cup.

However, because I am not completely lacking in sportsmanship, it has to be said
(grumble, moan, whinge) well done Man Utd. Just make sure you win the European
Cup so we can claim to be the second best team in Europe.

Mike

Oh misery.

In one terrible week we go from desperately wanting the Mancs to lose, to
needing them to win to make sure we get into Europe. Is life worth living
anymore?

So where did we go wrong?

There now follows my dissection of our team, and where I think we need to buy more 
players before next season.

Goalkeepers
~~~~~~~~~~~

Bosnich:    Not really in the same league as Schmeichel, but as good as any of 
            the other Premier league goalies.
Spink:      A good back-up, if a little aged.

Verdict: Fair enough.


Defense
~~~~~~~

McGrath:    Words cannot do the man justice. But he is a bit old. One more 
            season?
Teale:      Developed into a top class centre-back. Rock solid, if a little 
            uncultured
Barrett:    International class. Nae worries.
Staunton:   As above.
Small:      Fast, but seems prone to mistakes.
Ehiogu:     Promising.
Kubicki:    When he signed from Warsaw, I thought he would have more inpact 
            than he has. Still, he's worth having on the books.

Verdict: Rock solid, but depends on whether McGrath can last another season. 
         Des Walker anyone?


Midfield
~~~~~~~~

Houghton:   A steal. However much he cost. Many thanks Santa Souness.
Richardson: Ideal Captain. As per Houghton, mucho work-rate.
Parker:     Bit hit-and-miss, but scores some spectacular goals, and on his day
            is a great passer of the ball.
Beinlich:   Continues to develop. Could play a bigger part next season.
Breitkreutz:As above. I didn't see a lot of him this season, but he looked pretty
            useful. Another good buy by Big Fat Ron.
Cox:        Work rate good, but a bit nondescript, IMHO.
Froggatt:   Not quite in the Giggs class, but still not bad.

Verdict: We need a goal-scoring midfielder badly, and one that can play lots of
         through-balls. Parker is okay, but if he's off form, we have no-one 
         else. Roy Keane?


Attack
~~~~~~

Atkinson:   Prone to injuries. Scores spectacular goals, but I'd rather have a 
            league title than all the Goal of the Month Awards in the world. All
            we ask is one fit season.
Saunders:   Fits in well, but a bit prone to runs of bad form. Still excellent
            though. Once again, thank you Mr. Souness.
Daley:      Footballing god. Best player in the league. Best haircut in the 
            league. Not back to full fitness yet. England regular next season.
Yorke:      Can only get better. promising, but a bit of a nancy sometimes.
Regis:      Now entering his nine hundredth year as a professional. Worth every
            penny we paid for him.

Verdict: Nae worries. Atko and Saunders are the best pair of Forwards in the 
         league.


So overall: the message to Big Ron is: Buy Roy Keane.

Villa:  Premier League Champions 1994.


Mike

P.S. well done Man U. Bah humbug.

Villa's problem seems to be scoring goals. Saunders isn't consistent enough; 10
games without a goal from your only goalscorer isn't good enough. Atkinson
misses too many sitters.

Also, it seems that most teams have sussed out your tactics; stiful Staunton by
giving him someone to mark and your push down the left wing has gone.

As for Atkinson & Saunders being the best pair...a joke?

Daley is very exciting to watch but he is like Peter Barnes and Laurie Cunningham
of old -- ineffective.

Okay, so I wasn't entirely serious.

But seriously, a goal drought was what did for us last season as well.

Saunders and Atkinson should score loads of goals, so what are we doing wrong?

I still say what we need is a goal-scoring midfielder to take the pressure off
the front two. Like Merson for example.

Mike

    
    	Well I think Villa have had a tremendous season. Saunders from
    	Liverpool was a steal, and you already had the basis of a good
    	side. Barrett and Teale have been superb. I don't share the
    	orgasmic adulation for McGrath, but I admit he's been excellent
    	this season.
    
    	Your problem has been scoring goals. To be fair, Atkinson was
    	missing for months and came back into the hectic race for the
    	title. You can't blame him for not being quite match-fit and
    	into the groove. Saunders has shouldered the strikers burden
    	for most of the past 4 months with little goal-scoring support
    	from midfield. You will be better-prepared next season even
    	if you don't add to the squad.
    
    	But I'm sure Big Ron won't resist spending a few quid in the
    	summer. Watch out for a mega-bucks signing. Paul Merson ? 8-)
    
    	Andy.

    Mike,
    
    Villa get a UEFA cup place for coming second right? if so won't they
    have a problem finding 11/16 English players.
    
    Mcgrath, Houghton, Staunton are Irish
    Saunders is Welsh
    Yorke is from the Caribbean (is he counted as an overseas player?)
    Bosnich is Australian
    3/4 other players are German, Polish or something aren't they.
    
    Regards,                       
    
    Andrew.D.Wicks

Andrew,

Villa do have a large number of foreign players, mainly due to the irresistable
Anfield giveaway (Saunders, Houghton, Staunton). But I think we could be able to
get away with our normal squad, assuming I understand the rules about foreign
and assimilated players correctly.

I think you get two assimilated plus three foreign players, so we could field
the following team:

Bosnich     (Foreign #1)
Barrett     (English)
McGrath     (Assimilated #1)
Teale       (English)
Staunton    (Assimilated #2)
Richardson  (English)
Parker      (English)
Houghton    (Foreign #2)
Daley       (English)
Atkinson    (English)
Saunders    (Foreign #3)

Subs:
Spink       (English)
Froggatt    (English)
Small       (English)

I could be wrong though. How will Man Utd fare? Not as well, I suspect.

Cheers,

Mike

Villa lose their last three games, and Man Utd win the League by three points.

However, it's not all bad news as Tony Daley appears to be getting back to some
kind of form.

If you didn't watch the special Match of the Day last night you missed a classic
piece of skill and pace from Daley. 

Great goal, crap result.

What more can I say?

I read in the Guardian on Saturday that there was no chance of Villa being fined
points. I hope they're right. It'd be bloody miserable to miss out on Europe
next year.

Mike

Three, ten, what's the difference? 8-)

I think it's my brain trying to protect me from reality (and doing a fairly
good job it would seem).

Mike

Excellent stuff.

How much did Blackburn pay for him when we sold him last?

Mike

    A bit off the topic here, but yesterday a very depleted Australian team
    played A C Milan in Sydney. Heartening though for Aston Villa is that
    Bosnich was absolutely brilliant. I don't know how much Villa paid for
    him, but on last night's performance he should be worth a lot more
    now. The game, by the way, was pretty entertaining and ended in a 1:0
    win to Milan after an unbelievably stupid own goal 20 minutes in to the
    first half. Tonight the teams play again in Melbourne.
    
    
    Gabor
    

From reading other notes it appears we have signed Andy Townsend. If true this
is excellent news, the only small quibble being - he ain't English is he?
Or would UEFA count him as assimilated?  Of course he's actually as English as
hell judging by his accent (London?) but of course the Irish have to find
people from somewhere starting at the manager (sorry Gary ;-) )

Anyone know of any other transfers in/out?  I just know of Townsend and Cowans,
so who'll make way for them - Cowans must be just as cover. Couldn't be
the skipper or Houghton - must be Parker.

I'm back in England the next two weeks so I'll pick up The Sun to not find out.

Bob

Bob,

This is as much as I have heard on the Villa front.

Ron signed Townsend for over two million, and promptly admitted that he wasn't
worth it (he's over 30). However, Ron also said that none of today's transfer
fees are realistic, so he had no choice but to pay. Apparently, he's wanted
Townsend for some time.

The Australian FA are moaning because Mark Bosnich has pulled out of the squad
for two forthcoming World Cup qualification games, and they claim that Villa
forced him to. Ron claims that he had nothing to do with it, and the decision
was made by Mark alone.

Like you, I'm not sure where Townsend will fit in, but he's too good to be left
on the bench so how about:

				Bosnich
	Barrett		McGrath		Teale		Staunton
	Houghton	Richardson	Townsend	Daley	
			Atkinson	Saunders

SUBS (any 5): Parker, Spink, Froggatt, Yorke, Breitkreutz, Beinlich, Cox, Cowans

Not sure about Brian Small. There was some talk about him refusing a contract
because he wants first team football but I haven't heard anything since. There
was also a rumour about Big Ron swapping Teale plus loads of cash for Carlton
Palmer but thankfully it didn't some off. Phew.

Mike

The Australian F.A. are trying to get FIFA to suspend Mark Bosnich for dropping
out of the World Cup qualifiers.

It will be a bit unjust if they manage it. I thought playing for your nation was
voluntary, rather than being an obligation.

Mike

    re-1  He is suspended until th 16th, which basicaly means that he'll
    miss the opening game for Aston Villa. Whether this is unjust or not is
    open to dabate. He can if he wishes so retire from international
    football, however pulling out of a World Cup qualifier a few days
    before the game I think is very unfair on his coaches, team mates and
    supporters and IMHO he deserves the suspension.

    Not only that, but our stand-in goalie Zabica got sent off after 15
    minutes in the 2-1 loss to Canada and the 3rd choice ended up in goal.
    Ica

Any chance of someone entering the fixtures in here please? I tried to buy
a 93/94 Rothmans or Playfair when I was in England but they don't seem to be
out yet.

I agree about the strip Mike. On MOTD last week I could hardly make out which
team were which - and QPR were in black! Maybe Ron wants the FA Cup so bad he
decided to revert to the '57 stripes.

Bob

    Just some notes from Mondays match v Man Utd. which I was at.
    
    Dalian Atkinson's goal was a cracker - hit really hard.
    The first ten minutes of second half it was all Villa - I wonder what Big
    Ron says at 1/2 time.
    Both Utd. goals stemmed from defensive errors.
    Staunton was stupid to get booked for dissent - Teale took Giggs out and 
    admitted as much yesterday.  Staunton went right 'off form' in the
    second half - apparantly he has a calf strain.
    Richardson battled well but was given some real hospital passes at the
    edge of the area - which all led to fast dangerous breaks by Utd.
    Whittingham came on for the last 15 mins but didn't have much chance to
    do anything.
    Bruce kept Deano at bay all match - he just couldn't get behind him.
    Anyway it was a pretty exciting match with some good moves.
    
    I am sitting in the New stand on Sat' against Spurs so I'll let you
    know what that is like next week.
    
    Other news - teh capacity next season wil be reduced to 27,000 whilst
    the Holte End is re-built with seats - so if you want to go you
    will need a season ticket!!
    
    BFN - DC
       

    
    Where's the new stand at Villa Park ?
    
    Paul

    
    	I thought Monday nights was a superb game. And as City man it pains 
    me to say it, United and Villa will, on that form, be 1 and 2 again this
    year. But hopefully the other way around! United just deserved their
    2-1 win and I thought Ince played a blinder. 
    
    	I think Villa would have copped better with Townshend in the team
    because they were over-run in midfield for periods of the match. 
    
    
    		Steve

    The new stand is on the Witton lane Side, opposite the Trinity Road
    Stand.  Only the bottom tier is open now, the top tier wil open at
    Christmas.
    
    They also seem to have extended the roof of the Trinity Rd. stand -
    the Aston Villa sign is not as visible as it was - (They may have done
    this when they changed the floodlights and I didn't notice because I
    sat in that stand for the games I saw last year).
    
    Next year the Holte End will be re-built (with seats!)
                                     
    Dave C.

    1st half was good skilful football by both sides.
    2nd half was scruffy (Motson described it as soporific on MOTD) 
    - Villa just about deserved to win - the penalty was clear and the ball was
    in the net anyway so Spurs can have no complaints.
    
    Daley didn't seem to want the ball and hid for a lot of the time. 
    Staunton and Richardson had good games.
    
    The new stand seats were OK, the view was OK, getting in and out was fine,
    catering facilities were OK. However when the sun was out it was right in 
    your eyes.
    
    Whittingham had a mixed 10 minutes - fell over, ran into his own
    player, was hit by the ball in the box for a 1/2 chance, but did hit a
    rasper from 25 yds in the last minute.
                                    

It was certainly a good result on the basis of the first half hour when we got
stuffed.

Saunders says his goals come in bursts, so let's hope he has one soon.

I have been told that Tony Daley has requested a transfer. Plese say it's not so.

Mike

    Yes - Tony Daley has requested a transfer - he wants a new footballing
    challenge.
    On the basis of the game against Spurs I saw, he has lost his
    confidence - he was hiding behind players and not pushing forward - you
    could see Staunton looking for him and having to do something else.  -
    maybe he is intimidated by Big Ron?
    
    Re last night; Both sides finishing was poor.  Villa were a) lucky
    not to concede a goal b) unlucky not to get a penalty 

Finally watched a tape of Villa v. Bratislava 1st leg.

0-0 away can't be argued with but especially in the first half we lost it
badly in midfield. I think Ron has got a problem with the balance there -
Townsend, Cowans and Houghton seemed to be playing in the same position and
hence running for the same balls. Staunton was overlapping on the left but
there was no link supporting him - if we tried to play Glenn's diamonds we
would end up with a straight line. I like Townsend but I think Parker gives
us more width in the middle. Significant that Cowans was man of the match -
he elected to play deeper and thus figured in more distribution to Atkinson
and Saunders. The recent goal famine is also a result of the midfield not
backing up quick enough.

I think we'll win tomorrow but probably only by one.

Bob

Villa have drawn Depritivo Corona (Spain).

    
    	Tough draw for Villa.

Nay worries. We'll smack 'em.

At least we came out of it better than Norwich.

Mike

    
    Deportiva La Coruna...........1  Aston Villa ................1
    
    Another excellent result. Here's hoping the UK's other UEFA cup
    side can beat Sporting Lisbon !
    
    

    re:-1
    	great result, Bosnich saves a 4th minute penalty, Saunders gives
    them a 1-0 lead *an excellent interchange of passes with Dalian),
    unfortunately Deportiva equalise with 3??? minutes remaining...
    
    M.J.

    
    	I think that's a better result than Norwich's. I really thought
    Villa would get knocked out. Great result against a very good side.

    I saw a small news item in an Italian newspaper today to the effect
    that Deportivo de Corunna (sp?) were lodging a complaint with UEFA
    about Villa fielding four foreigners. The players cited were Saunders
    (Welsh), McGrath (Irish), Bosnich (Australian) and Townsend (Irish). 
    
    I would have thought that 3 out of 4 of these would qualify as
    assimilated, especially Andy Townsend (born in England, played his
    youth team soccer in England). Anyone else heard anything?
    
    Dom 

I thought McGrath and Townsend were both assimilated, and our foreigners were
Bosnich and Saunders. Even if we had Dwight Yorke on the bench (?) we should
still be legal. I think it's just Deportivo whining because they're going out
and we're not. 8-)

I though the mighty Paul looked very old and desperately slow on Tuesday, but
Teale played a blinder. He must have given away at least three penalties. Small
is crap. I thought we were going to transfer him? 

In the return leg we need Stevie Staunton back in defence. We should also drop
Cowans because he is older than several very old things put together. How about
Bosnich, Barrett, Staunton, Teale, McGrath, Richardson, Townsend, Breitkreutz,
Daley, Atkinson, Whittingham?


Mike

    The Spanish have been told to go and read the rules properly; Townsend
    is assimilated.
    
    Its about time UEFA dropped this stupid & restrictive rule.

    
    I had a similar thought during the Bayern-Norwich game.
    
    Jorghino (Brazilian), Labadia (Brazilian ???), Valencia (Columbian??)
    and Wouters (Dutch) were all on the pitch at the same time.
    Is one of those players assimilated?
    
    BTW I'm not sure that Labadia is brazilian though. 
    
    Maybe Norwich can get another German team expelled ;)
    
    Paul

I agree. Let's face it: who cares where the players come from?

It's ridiculous to say that you qualify for the European Cup, for example, by
having the best team in your domestic league, but then say that you can't play
that same team in the cup itself. If Man Utd (or Villa) can't play the same 11
players that earned them qualification for the cup then the cup isn't a
competition between the best teams from each country is it?

Mike

    
re: .210
    
    >I agree. Let's face it: who cares where the players come from?

    Weeeell, I don't totally agree. I'm becoming aware of a certain
    "levelling out" of standards across Europe; the 11-0 thrashings seem to
    be a thing of the past. Galatasaray (Turkey) managed a 3-3 draw with
    Man. Utd. yesterday evening and Aarau (Switzerland) narrowly lost out
    in the first round to AC Milan after having the better of things for at
    least half the tie. 
    
    But what would happen if AC Milan could field Papin (France), Van
    Basten (Holland), Raducuoiu (Rumania), Boban (Croazia), Savicevic
    (Montenegro) and Laudrup (Denmark) at the same time? Six of Europe's
    best (and most expensive) players. Each competition would become a two
    or three horse race - hardly good for football.
    
    Dom

But if you say "you can't play your best players because you'll win easily" then
you're just taking the mickey surely? 

If AC Milan have got six awesome players in their squad why can't they play
them, regardless of where they come from? It's supposed to be AC Milan in the
competition after all, not some subset of AC Milan designed to give bad teams a
chance.

Personallly, I quite like watching 11-0 thrashings. 8-)

mike

  Paul... Bruno Labadia is German.....  I think the Bayern team has four
Internationals in their squad... Jorginho, Mazinho (both from Brazil) Valencia
from Columbia, and Wouters from Holland.... Mazinho has hardly played this
season.....

                                                                   -dave-

P.s Good luck to Aston Villa in the second leg, their keeper had a few excellent
    saves, and yea Paul Mcgrath did look a bit slow...but he's still a good one.

Mike,

;If AC Milan have got six awesome players in their squad why can't they play
;them, regardless of where they come from? 

You should keep in mind, that they are only allowed to play 3 foreigner players 
in the Italian League (well that's how it was last season). So if they did
field all 6 foreign players then they would not be playing the team that
they field every week in Serie A. So the FIFA restriction is no greater
than that of the Italian league, unless things have chenged since last season. 

Personally, I don't blame the Italian league for restricting the number
of foreign players per team. Teams like AC Milan could buy their version
of the world XI, without necessarily playing any Italians at all. AC Milan
having 6 foreign players shows that they have money to burn. 

Would a squad made up of foreign players be good for English football?.
No doubt many have their thoughts on this.

Phil.

    
    Labadia, Mazinho. Whats the difference? :-(
    
    I knew bayern had two brazilians. 

Phil,

I still don't see what difference it makes where they come from. Even with the
three foreigner rule AC Milan have been doing pretty well recently. 8-) They
have already bought themselves a World XI, they just aren't allowed to play them
all the time. Besides, that's a domestic rule so why should it apply to
non-Italian teams? The FIFA rule isn't the same as the domestic Italian rule
anyway.

Lots of English teams play week in and week out with more than the allowed set
of foreigners and I don't think it spoils the English game in any way. On the
contrary everyone goes on about how good it is to see players like Cantona,
Giggs, etc. in English football.

Mike

Does anyone more in the know than me have any idea when Dwight Yorke will be
returning to the ranks of the first team? I saw him come on as sub a few weeks
ago but have heard nowt since. Is he injured again, or is Dean "no goals"
Saunders keeping him out of the team?

I read in the Guardian at the weekend that Dwight was involved in a punch up
with Brian Lara, the cricketer, but presumably that wasn't recently. 

Villa have a surplus of top notch attackers, so I'm surprised tottenham haven't
been asking after either Whittinghasm or Dwight.

Mike

Staunton is now out for six (?) more weeks after limping out of the Tranmere
game. No wonder we lost. No Shaun Teale, and Super Stevie injured. Not to
mention the fact that Tranmere were much better than us. 8-)

Bolton on Sunday and it's live on telly. Should be a cracker, and I predict 2-0
to Villa. Atko to get both.

The mindmeltingly excellent Tony Daley appears to be back on form. In fact he
was probably the only bright spot in the desperate quagmire that was Wednesday's
defeat. 

Dalian Atkinson is still as brilliant as ever, but I heard a rumour that he
wanted to leave the club because he is not respected at Villa Park. I hope we
get lots of money for him. Perhaps we could try offloading Andy Townsend while
we're at it, because he is, when all is said and done, crap. And old. And
foreign.

Finally, in traditionally charitable fashion, kindly Ron Atkinson has smiled
condescendingly upon West Midlands minnows West Bromwich Albion and loaned them
Graham Fenton. Obviously, Graham isn't nearly good enough to make it into
Villa's first team but apparently he is the best player ever to step out in a
green and yellow shirt, and the Baggies owe their recent revival entirely to our
chap. Deadly Doug reveals his heart of gold yet again. 8-)

mike

    Re 218
    
    I saw a good advert in the Sports Argus on Saturday.  It said "Follow
    Villa to Wembley".  Ha ha ha nice one......
    
         
    /Gary

    How did the might Villa get on yesterday???   
    
    There's only one Dean Saunders.....ho ho..
    
    
    
    /GAry

    Exactly..... And Deano Saunders missed a penalty.  Graham Fenton is
    their only good player and I doubt he played last night.
    
    
    
    /GAry

    Actually, Fenton played for most of the match & was their best forward.
    Saunders came on a sub & promptly missed a penalty. Shame that, it
    would have really nailed Horton's & City's future as a 1st division
    team.

    I knew it....
    
    I knew that Fenton wouldn't be any good without Bob Taylor alongside
    him to do the work.  I just knew it...
    
    
    /GAry

Apparently Villa are being investigated by the FA for fielding an under strength
side for the game against Man City. Yeah right. Seeing as how our only hope is
to sneak a UEFA place via the league I very much doubt that we'd start throwing
games. After all, what have we got left that's worth protecting our players for?

mike

================================================================================
Note 67.225                      Aston Villa FC                       225 of 225
FORTY2::FOWLERM "Old football is rubbish"             6 lines  24-FEB-1994 09:42
    
    
>> After all, what have we got left that's worth protecting our players for?
  
    don't forget that you will have 4 of our players going to WC94 with
    Ireland. Good man, Big Ron!...I'm sure he realises the prestige
    associated with having players from his own team playing on the world
    stage....
    
    You still have a chance in the Coca-Cola cup, don't you?
    
    
    Ray....

    Talk about being jammie gits... Ol' Bosnich shouldn't have been on the
    pitch to save those penalties.. ;->
    
    	Well I don't fancy your chances against ManU.. if they get
    through.. Could this be the start of ManU's wobbly period??
    
    	I do hope so... :->
    
    	Rick.

Oh come on, there's no way Bosnich should have walked. Aldridge was looking for
the penalty and Bosnich went for the ball. Penalty fair enough. Yellow card
possibly, but red? No way. Besides it wouldn't have been nearly as good a game
(particularly for the Villa fans) without our superhuman Aussie.

After our humiliating defeat at Bolton in the FA Cup I was subjected to abusive
phone calls from so-called friends, so when Kevin "Penalty King" Richardson
stepped up to take his I leapt to the phone and wrenched the cord out of the
wall. Lo and behold, in an exact replica of his effort against Wimbledon in a
shootout last year, Kevin blazes nonchalantly over the bar. It's nice to know
that in an ever-changing world some things remain constant. 8-)

Bosnich should have been man of the match by a thousand miles taking into
account the heroics he performed for us, and so a big thank you drifts gently in
the direction of Old Trafford for giving him to us. Cheers lads.

My day was made perfect by Shaun Teale scoring a brilliant diving header.
Whattaguy. Let me bear your children John Wayne. 8-)

My only regret was that Atkinson didn't score after his most excellent run in
the second (?) period of extra time. 

All that and Tottenham lost again. Oh rapture.

mike

    I see Fenton wasn't that good yesterday.  I don't think the lad will be
    any good without the likes of Bob Taylor and Darren Bradley to do the
    work for him.  Put him in a poor side like Villa and the lad struggles
    straight away.
    
    
    Hope you enjoy your loser medals when Man Utd beat yer...
    
    All the best Mike...
    
    
    /GAry               

Apparently Fenton's quite a shy chap and in the same team as strikers like
Saunders, Atkinson, and Daley he naturally feels quite nervous. He fears being
compared to the aforementioned masters and consequently his performance suffers.
This would obviously not be a problem at the Hawthorns, where he would always be
the best player by a mile.

I hope that clears things up. 8-)

mike

    Not a very good answer Mike.  I don't think Fenton is that shy.  When
    he scored against Sunderland he ran over to their fans.  They didn't like it
    though.  I thought it was good.  
    
    Also Bob Taylor (rated at 2 million plus) is in a different class to
    Dean (nice perm) Saunders.  Taylor is a natural goalscorer whilst
    Saunders has struggled this season.  Also that Dalian Atkinson is
    over-rated.  Put him up against someone like Raven, Burgess or Marden and 
    the lad would struggle.   He wouldn't get up from a challenge with
    Marden.  
    
    Also that Townsend is a right donkey.  He thinks he's Darren Bradley
    with the shirt tucked out.  Only he isn't a gifted player like Bradley. 
    
    I think Albion proved on Saturday (see note 177 a bit later on today for my
    unbiased report) who the best team is in the Midlands.    
    
    
    /GAry 

    As i've said earlier.  Enjoy your loser's medals.  How long is it since
    you last won a trophy???    
    
    As for Saunders being better than Super Bob.....  Yeah good one...  I
    haven't laughed so much since Saturday...      
    
    Enjoy your day.... Come on Utd or the Owls..
    
    
    
    /GAry
    
    

    Hi peeps,
    
    I've just popped in to see the abuse being thrown around about my team.
    
    On your bike's the lot of you.
    
    It's easy to slag of the better team when they're playing in a tougher
    league and 'appear' to be losing it.
    
    Sure Tranmere and Bolton have beaten us, but Villa is a good team with
    a sound defence.  So when you take out two key players it takes time to
    adjust.  Adjusting is not something that can happened through a cup
    run.
    
    Although Leeds (Richard) and WBA, Wolves, Coventry, B'ham wouldn't know
    much about that.
    
    Sure Utd. will be tough, if they get past Wednesday, but don't kill us
    off just yet.  Who ever is in the final with Villa it will be a good
    match.
    
    Enough for now.
    
    AndyH
    
    I'll await the abuse *8-)
    

    Andy,
    
    I hope you're not upset when United win the final.  
    
    
    
    /GAry

    Hi Gary,
    
    I'll let you know after I've got back from Wembly.  My ticket is
    booked.
    
    Sure I'd like to see Villa win, but if the match is a good one who
    cares.
    
    It'll be the Wembly atmosphere and a good game, what more could you
    ask.
    
    Sort of cake and eat it scenario.
    
    I'll just be glad to see us their.
    
    AndyH
    
    What will you be doing that weekend (other than supporting Utd) ??
    

    What weekend is it???  I'll be cheering for United on the Sunday....  
    I'll go and see West Brom on the Saturday.
    
    That'll be the size of it.  Yes Wembley is great to visit but if you
    lose you'll be so gutted that you'll forget everything else.  
    
    Come on United, (or the Owls)
    
    /GAry  

    
    Gary,
    
    	from the sound of the last few replies, it seems to me that you'll
    be a lot more gutted if Villa win than Andy will if they lose! Sour
    grapes boyo!
    
    JBG

    You've figured me out, Mr Goode.  I'll be soooo gutted...
    
    
    
    /GAry

Villa have sent Guy Whittingham to Wolves on a month's loan. Big fat Ron said he
could afford to do it because of the emergence of Graham Fenton and the return
of Dwight Yorke.

mike

Well, the supersonic Aussie has saved us again. Two more penalty saves, making 5
in 4 days. Not bad.

Neil Cox, who was gutwrenchingly poor on Sunday and was substituted in the
second half, was dismal yet again prompting questions as to why the Big Fat One
keeps picking him. This time Cox gave away both penalties.

What's wrong with Selwyn Froggatt? Is he injured or something?

We have obviously got no cover at all for our full backs, so we should buy
someone. I suggest Ruthless Rufus Brevett of QPR, because he used to play for
Donny.

Once again our mega-bucks forward line failed to score.

Ho hum.

mike

Well, apparently Selwyn played in midfield yesterday. Cox was immediately
substituted after he gave away the second penalty. His replacement was Stefan
Beinlich. I thought he was another midfielder, but if he can play full back that
would be a bonus.

The Guardian also said that Bosnich saved a point blank shot from Dozzell. All
of which begs the question, why did Man Utd let him go for nowt?

Puzzled but happy,

mike

    Re:-1  
    
    I thought Utd had to let Bosnich go because of problems with his work
    permit.  Villa, it seems, have had the same problems but were prepared
    to pay the fine !

Oh fair enough, that explains it.

Surely the fine wouldn't have exceeded the possible transfer fee though? And
let's face it, if Villa can afford it so can the Mancs.

Still, what's done is done.

Mike

Okay, that explains things. He would have been a pretty scary back up for
Schmeichal though. Mind you, Les Sealey is pretty scary himself, just not in the
same way. 8-)

Got to be disappointed at not beating Spurs given their recent run of form, but
we'll hope for bigger and better things on Sunday against Coventry. Coventry
have been a bit of a bogey team of late but they must surely be too crap by far
to trouble us this time. And I'm sure Phil Neal would agree. With anything.

Tony Daley to score a fantastic solo effort and lead us to a 3-0 victory. Other
goals from Richardson and Saunders.

Mike

John Toshack got off to a blinding start in his international management career.
I think he made two big mistakes:

1) Replacing Terry Yorath, Wales' most successful manager for yonks

2) Playing Ian Rush in midfield

And one colossal suicide note of a mistake:

1) Playing Nathan Blake instead of Dean Saunders

And here's the evidence:

Wales without Deano	0 : 3	Norway
Wales with Deano	1 : 0   Norway

It's all rather conclusive, isn't it? 8-)

Mike "Call me Cunno" Fowler

    
>>Wales without Deano	0 : 3	Norway
>>Wales with Deano	1 : 0   Norway
    
    	I'd say that but......
    
	Transitive relations and football have not , do not and never will
        mix.
    
    Back to the game ...its all very well saying that Venables is doing
    things at a more reasonable pace than Toshack but England don't have a
    competitive match for nearly 27 months. Wales will be playing GERMANY 
    for REAL in a few months time. Tosh may have made a few blunders in
    doing this and doing that but rather now than in 6 months when it will
    matter.
    
    I think people are forgetting that the Euro '96 is just around the
    quarter for everybody EXCEPT England.....
    	                  
	Dezzz.

Big Fat Ron has given Wolves permission to play Guy "No Goals" Whittingham on
Sunday in their FA Cup match with Chelsea. Let's hope he performs and they buy
him. 8-)

Mike

    Can anyone tell me how Villa got on at the weekend???  Any match
    reports???
    
    
    
    /GAry

    Am I missing something???  Did they lose Andy???
    
    
    
    /GAry

    OK Andy.  Can anyone else tell Andy and myself the score of Aston Villa
    at the weekend???
    
    
    Thanks,
    
    Mr Gary Waite

    
    Aston Villa lost one nil at home to Ipswich on saturday.
    They are now seventh in the league just below Leeds.
    
    			Steve.

    Re 257
    
    Ha ha.... Losing at home to Ipswich is a bit bad for the so-called best
    side in the Midlands.  Even Coventry managed to beat them.  
    
    Thanks Steve,
    
    /GAry

    Re 259
    
    >>>And Villa beat Coventry
    
    But lost at home to Ipswich who (Boring) Arsenal easily beat 5-1 and
    even worse Wolves managed to beat them.  Maybe you need Guy Whittingham
    in your side.  
    
    
    /GAry

    Its going to be a good game on Wednesday.... could decide who goes into
    Europe if ManU win everything!! :->>
    
    	Rick.

    I think you under-estimate yourself Rick.  I think Leeds will win 4-1.
    
    
    /GAry

    What... Brian Deane... scored again!!!!! 
    
    	Arrrrrrggggghhhhhhhh... I don't believe it... ( Said in the voice
    							of Victor Meldrew.. ) :->
    
    :->>>>>>>>>>
    
    Rick.
    

    .264
    
    
    Look out for no Villa noters today.  They only note when they're
    winning which lets face it, isn't much.
    
    Mind you the rubbish they come out with is pretty boring.
    
    
    /GAry

    Hi Gary and Richard,
    
    Just for that, I'm leaving Digital today.  I hope that you still note in
    this note occasionally in my memory.
    
    I would like to say that it's been nice noting with you, but.....
    
    			#############################
    		      ##                             ##
    		    ##                                 ##
                   #                                     #
                  #                                       #
                 #          _________   _________          #
                #          /         \ /         \          #
                #          |   ***   | |   ***   |          #
               #-----------|  * $ *  |^|  * $ *  |-----------#
               #           |   ***   | |   ***   |           #
               #           \---------/ \---------/           #
               #                                             #
                #               -------------               #
                 #             /   _______   \             #
                  #            \--\       /--/            #
                   ##              \     /              ##
                     ###            \___/            ###
                        #####                   #####
                             ###################
    
    Not a bad picture of Richard after all.
    
    Seriously, enjoy.
    
    ANDY HAIGH - contractor to the world

    All the best Andy. Its been fun laughing at you and the Villa.
    
    
    
    Hugs,
    
    GAry

    Talk to ya soon Andy.... hahahahaha!! :->
    
    	Good luck at ICL... :->>
    
    	Rick.

Cheers Andy,

Perhaps I'll see you for Villa's triumph in next year's UEFA Cup. 8-)

Mike

    re. -1
    
    What a sense of humour this lad has... :->
    
    Rick.

    ASTON VILLA  1
    
    OLDHAM ATH   2
    
    
    Discuss....
    
    
    /GAry

    
    Villa were doing their bit to keep the Premier League relegation race
    open 8-)
    
    JBG

    
    Bosnich in particular. great positioning for the second goal.
    
    G.

    
    
    
     Great performance at Wembley today in defeating Man. Utd 3 - 1
    to win your first trophy in 17 years.
    
     The way Atkinson set out his team, it was very important for Villa
    to get the first goal. They managed that, defended brilliantly and 
    always looked like scoring a 2nd goal on the break.
    
     Only disappointing thing was watching the game on STV, as soon as the
    game finished, they rush into commercial breaks and don't show the
    celebrations that go on after the game.
    
    Danny.

    
    
    Hey Mike,
    
    	typical of Mr Waite to run off now. The lad's obviously got no
    bottle! Only saw the goals on Sky news and it looked as though Villa
    deserved the win. Congrats to you & your team and hopefully Mr Waite
    will slink back & take some stick sometime ....... on second thoughts,
    hopefully not! 8-)
    
    JBG

    Re 275
    
    Superb performance by Villa.  Well done.  Its always nice to see a
    small club win something.
    
    Bye,
    
    GAry

>    Only saw the goals on Sky news and it looked as though Villa
>    deserved the win. 
    
    If you only see the goals in any game, the team that won will always
    look as though they deserved it !
    
    Terry

    
    Sorry Terry, but I have to disagree. Let me give you an example.....
    had Palister scored 3 own goals, I would have considered Villa a little
    lucky! 8-)
    
    JBG

re .274...

   Danny didn't Villa win the European Cup back around 81-82???? I believe 
Peter Withe scored the winner or was that for Forest... Anyway congrats to Villa
and Iam sure Utd will win a trophy this year, they deserve to... Cunno stop
copying my note personal name, and how did Ronnie do against thye Arse on 
saturday!!!!!!!


                                                                -dave-

Jon,

Cheers. Villa certainly did deserve to win the game. Ferguson had no answer to
Ron's tactics, and resorted to slagging Villa off after the game for sneaking a
goal and then defending. Pah, a pox on you and your frenchy no-good players. He
(Fergie) just doesn't understand courage, commitment, desire etc. because
they're none of the things the mancs are good at.

Best players of the game for Villa were Shaun Teale and Kevin Richardson.
Richardson in particular made one stunning tackle to rescue Villa when one of
the innumerable Manc attackers had broken through the defence. The only thing
they could have done better was to let Teale take the penalty. 8-)

The reds had more goal attempts according to ITV's statistics, but I don't think
that's an accurate reflection of things because I certainly can't remember
Bosnich making more than one or two actual saves. The Villa defence stuffed Man
Utd's attack out of sight. Giggs was never in the game and neither was Cantona.

Oh joy. 8-)

Mike

    
    Dave, 
    
    	you're wrong and right.....
    
    	It wasn't Villa
    	It was Forest 8-)
    
    JBG

I think Villa won the European Cup less than 17 years ago (14/15??) but it was
17 years ago that they last won at Wembley.

Al

    What a save at the end by Bosnich! Save of the season....
    
    Up here in Scotland we missed all the post match interviews. What was
    said and by whom?...
    
    A great match to watch. I thought Keane played a blinder, by the way,
    as did the Black Pearl of Inchicore, Paul mcGrath....
    
    Ray....

    Peter Withe scored for Aston Villa (with his shin .. and off the post!) 
    from a Tony Morley cross, who was put through by Gary Shaw.
    
    Nigel Spink is the sole survivor of that team (he came on as sub after
    5 or 6 minutes for Jimmy Rimmer) in the squad yesterday.
                                     

re .281

   JBG according to note .285 I was right concerning Villa winning the European
cup back in 82 and with Peter Withe.... Not bad for a Pool supporter eh????!!!!
I can't remember though who they beat Iam sure Villa fans remember though????

                                                         all the best....

                                                              -dave-

P.s How did the Irish players play yesterday?????

It looked good Dave,

Mcgrath had a great game , Keane had a stormer , Irwin played his usual
brilliant best , Staunton had a good game also , Townsend played his best game
for a long long time.

Peter.

    They beat Bayern Muenchen

    I think I saw this on the Champions League programme on Saturday.
    
    Aston Villa , Europeans Cup Winners , 1992
    
    Aston Villa 1  Bayern Munich 0
    
    Scorer , Peter Withe.
    
    ...Sandy.
    

    Note 67.289
    
    OOps, the year should be 1982 of course, not 1992.
    
    As far as the game goes, It was great to watch, edge of the seat stuff.
    Although thinking back on it there wasn't a lot of goulmouth incidents/
    action. I cant remember either goalkeeper making saves other than
    Bosnich's save from a great Mark Hughes shot in the last few minutes.
    
    Utd seemed to suffer from several players having bad games, notably
    Cantona,Giggs and Ince. Although that said I think that Villa played 
    very professionaly and had great tactics from the manager, to counter 
    Utd's normal attacking game.
    
    Whenever Ive seen Utd play this year ( On TV ), it seems that Keane and
    Ince battle/control the middle of the park and then release Giggs or
    Kanchelskis on either wing. It seems that big Ron had that sussed 
    yesterday, as whenever either winger had the ball, there was
    immediately two Villa players marking (the fullback and the left/right
    side midfield player). I thought that Fergie might have changed
    formation/tactics at half time, but no. 
    
    This defeat might steel Man Utd for the run into the League
    Championship.
    
    Finally well done to Villa again for not lying down and taking the
    beating that the informed Media <-- sarcasm were telling us they 
    would.
    
    Sandy.
     

>>>>>
P.s How did the Irish players play yesterday?????
>>>>>

McGrath played very well. His name wasn't mentioned as often as the great Shaun
Teale's but Villa's defence was uniformly solid. The Guardian said he was
"resolute."

Townsend was good, and along with Richardson helped Villa to dominate midfield.
He helped make Villa's first goal by lobbing the ball to deano, who then passed
square for Atkinson to finish it off.

Staunton was brilliant considering he wasn't really fit. He looked a bit shaky
against kanchelskis' pace in the first quarter of an hour, but Big Ron told
Daley to hassle the winger (can't be arsed to type that name in again 8-) ) and
after that it was all plain sailing.  He was substituted for neil Cos after 79
minutes, and united scored 3 minutes later.

Houghton was on the subs bench but didn't get a game.

As for the Man U irish, Keane was okay but that's about it. He had to drop too
deep all the time to get the ball, and wasn't very effective.

Cheers,

Mike

        
    Whilst we're reminiscing over Villa's European Cup win a few years
    back, I think it's fair to point out that..............
    
    It was the worst European Cup Final I've ever had the misfortune to
    watch !
    
    Well.....maybe Forest's win over Malmo (I think ?) around about that
    era was worster !
    
    

    
    Hey Mike,
    
        what with the European Cup in '82, and now the League Cup in '94,
    one of these days Villa are gonna be as great as WBA. 8-)
    
    JBG

Jon,

Oh, if only. I can but dream of the day when we too might win the 2nd Division
play-off championship, rather than just the poxy League or European Cup. 8-)

Mike

    Re 295
    
    ZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz
    
    
    
    
    /GAry

    re -1
    
    The ghost of /GAry is a poor substitute for the real thing. He'd have
    been having a good old rant trying to wind up Mike Fowler by now.
    
    Paul.

    Hi Gary....
    
    	Andy Haigh says also says "Europe should look nice in the autumn!"
    :->
    
    	Rick.

    Re 298
    
    Well I for one can't wait for Villa to get knocked out again by some
    second rate Spanish side.
    
    
    /GAry

    
    Why.....
    
    
    ......Pescara, Padova, Fiorentina, and Cosenza of course; all of these
    top class Italian sides beat The Baggies this season.
    
    In that most prestigious of tournaments - The Anglo-Italian Cup
    
    Rob

    Re 301
    
    Well done Rob.  You've pointed out that The Baggies were beaton by fine
    Italian sides not like the Villa.
    
    
    
    /GAry

    
    .... I clearly misunderstood Rob's reply...... I though he was taking
    about types of Pizza..... been watching too much Teenage Mutant Ninja
    Baggies cartoons.... 8-)
    
    JBG

    Ok I'm back now, you can stop talking about me.
    
    After an extremely brief excursion to ICL, I've returned to the
    promised land.
    
    I thought my dreams had come true yesterday with Oldham, but it was not
    to be.
    
    Ah well three points to Blackburn tonight should set Utd a wobbling
    again.  After all what is three points if Blackburn take the title,
    Oldham kick-ass on wednesday and Villa still get into Europe.
    
    Thats all for now.
    
    AndyH
    

    Welcome back Andy.. :->>
    
    Did Gary give you a ring before he left??
    
    Rick.

    Before anybody else has a go.
    
    What a great result for Utd last night, NOT !
    
    Now that they have contributed to an exciting Premiership race, could
    a Villa player please put the ball legally in the back of the net.
    
    Big Ron wants Villa to be atleast 6th (from bottom if they don't score)
    
    Cheers
    
    AndyH

        
    I put my match report in 202 but my post match meeting with some Villa
    boys was great.
    
    After a serious alcohol frenzy one large brummy pinned me to the wall
    and insisted on knowing why Noel Brotherston wasn't playing. I said it
    was because Noel was scared of Earl Barrett, he smiled and let me go !
    
    Cheers,
    
    Andy

    Apparently, Paul McGrath has done another runner!!!! He has been
    missing since the Coca Coal Cup final. It was in the Sun so it must be
    true. They've even given a phone number to ring if anyone sees him....
    
    
    			
    RAY....

Well he was in Dublin on Saturday. I saw him and got him to sign his
(Auto)Biography for me. In newspaper interviews he has said that he is off the
booz until after the world cup. He was also involved in the custody case for his
children lately so I'm sure he can be excused for keeping a low profile.

Don't believe the hype !!!


Peter.

    Frankly, I'm glad he isn't playing.
    
    Not that he isn't the greatest player to grace that position, but his
    knee won't last forever and the sooner Big Ron gets a replacement the
    better.
    
    Unfortunately, Cox_head doesn't quite gel with Teale as can be seen be
    the number of clean (NOT!) sheets recently.
    
    Enjoy
    
    AndyH
    
    ps: I think he'll retire after the World Cup anyway.

    Well to Villa on their result against Newcastle last night, NOT!
    
    Pathetic.
    
    Fancy giving away 5 goals, one of which was a yet to be confirmed to me
    Neil Cox penalty.
    
    If it was him, then he should be sold, NOW.
    
    Enjoy
    
    AndyH

Cox should still be sold anyway. If he hadn't been on the pitch, Stevie wouldn't
have been under as much pressure.. Knowing that your central defender is about
as useful as a battered haddock can't help your concentration.

Mike

    I agree Mike. Surely a crispy crumb coating would be better.
    
    Paul.

At least Villa scored the best goal. Beinlich's rasping drive was from a
different planet, if not solar system, to the poxy two yard knock ins that have
typified Newcastle's failure to qualify for Europe. We'll let you know what it's
like to play in the UEFA Cup. 8-)

Who needs fat boy Dalian when you've got unknown German schoolboys in your squad?

Mike

Now, Mike, you know I'm too easy to wind-up. Can't speak for our chances of 
bettering Villa's mighty record in the UEFA Cup recently - but if we qualify 
we'll be most of the way there!

But we might just have to settle for another 6 points from you next season.

Chin up!

grahame

Oi! Villa have consistently performed well in European competition. 

Let's take a look at the last few years:

Year	Villa				Newcastle

89-90	Second in First Division, 	Who cares?
	despite having common garden
	vegetable posing as manager,
	AND Ian Ormondroyd up front.

90-91	Edged out by Inter Milan 	Fighting to stay in the English		
	at the San Siro after beating	second division.
	them at Villa park.

91-92	Rebuilding after the dismissal	Still languishing in the English
	of super crap manager Dr Jozef 	second division.
	"Call me anything you like 
	because I can't speak English" 
	Venglos

92-93	Second in Premier League.	Buying success in English first 
		 			division.

93-94	Knocked out of the UEFA Cup 	Third/fourth in Premier League.
	by Spanish champions-to-be.

94-95	We're in Europe.		You're not.


Aaarghh, I've turned into Cunno. Er, Ronnie Whelan rules..... 8-)

Mike

    looks like Tony Daley is off to Bari, providing they get promoted to
    Serie A. Fee will be approx. 2.5 million quid, (1.3 squillion lire)....
    
    Ray....

Wahay, I reach the heights of euphoria.

Kevin Richardson gets long overdue England call-up. 

Venables: "We have lots of players with ability but we need someone with
stability."

Hmmm, not sure I like the implication, but who cares.

Mike

    
>Kevin Richardson gets long overdue England call-up. 

    Best of luck to him, although I think he'll have his work cut out to
    oust Ince/Batty. Anyone have details of the full squad?
    
    Dom

I don't think Batty is in the squad. Is he injured?

I'm realistic about his chances of making the first 11 but it's good to see him
getting some recognition.

Mike

    
    re:.322
    
    Yes, Batty is injured, broken bone in his foot, it was kept quiet while
    he tried to play a few matches with it bandaged up but he was forced 
    to miss Blackburns last few matches.
    
    Cheers,
    
    Andy

    .321
    
    seaman,flowers,jones,pearce,adams,bould,pallister,parker
    le saux,anderton,wise,richardson,platt,ince,merson,le tissier
    beardsley,shearer,wright,ferdinand
    
    stand-by
    
    pressman,barton,scales,sherwood,wilcox,lee

    
    re: .324
    Thanks a lot, Ray.
    
    >pressman,barton,scales,sherwood,wilcox,lee
    
    It might just be the lower case, but at least two of those names aren't
    familiar with me: Barton and Lee (Newcastle?).
    
    And while we're about it, I have a big confession to make. I didn't
    bring this up before because I seemed to be the only one who wasn't
    "in" on the joke, but.....
    
    
    
    ...can some kind soul explain to me the reasoning behind the Graham
    Taylor "Do I Not Like Orange" comment that gets you guys hooting so
    regularly? Some of these titbits don't find their way out to Italy and
    I've been feeling very left out of late.
    
    Dom
    
    P.S. Given that Graham Taylor is the ex-manager of Aston Villa/England,
    I don't think I can be accused of ratholing!

    Warren Barton of Wimbledon and Robert Lee Of Newcastle ?
    
    The 'do I not like orange' joke.
    
    Taylor did a Yellow Pages commercial where he phones up to order a cake
    for Venables to celebrate his appointment as manager. The woman baking
    the cake asks what colour of icing he would like, orange perhaps ?
    He says, ' Do I not like Orange'. And hence the world wets itself
    whenever the phrase reappears.
    
    
    Yours helpfully,
    
    kev...

    to clarify on -1
    
    Graham Taylor was asked what colour track suit to put on Terry Venables
    cake in a Yellow Pages advert. The girl suggested orange, and Taylor
    replied with that infamous line. The reason being Holland play in
    Orange.
    
    
    Rich.

    re: -1, -2
    
    Thanks, both of you. A track suit on a cake? I guess I'm still missing 
    something!
    
    Still, good for Graham Taylor that he is able to joke about it...
    
    Dom

    Dom,
    
    I believe that the "Do I not like Orange !" remark really took off as a
    result of the Channel 4 programme about Graham Taylor's career as
    England manager. In fact, I believe that the recently released video 
    of the programme in question is entitled "Do I not like Orange !".
    
    The actual ad started with Graham Taylor phoning Bobby Robson to
    suggest that they should get together and make a gesture to wish 
    Terry Venables luck on his appointment as the nes England manager.
    Bobby agrees, so Graham pulls out the Yellow Pages on finds an ad 
    for a confectionery shop that b"bake to order". He calls them and
    tells them that he wants a cake with a football theme. The girl
    suggests that they could put a player's tracksuit on the cake. He
    agrees and she says "How about orange icing?". He says "Do I not like
    orange!!!". She says "Pardon", and he says, "Eh, nothing, how about
    blue".
    
    At least that's the version of events that found its' way to
    Switzerland.
    
    Jerry.

O.K Dom ,

Full explation.

Add opens...

Scene one.

Bobby Robson on phone to anoymous person asking about getting a good luck
present for someone.

Scene Two.

Grahame Taylor on phone obviously talking to Bobby robson.
Conversation continues and they decide to buy a cake.

Scene Three.

Taylor looks up the Yellow Pages and calls a cake shop.
He is ordering a cake. Girl asks what colour to have the tracksuit in. Orange
perhaps?

Taylor responds. "Do I Not Like Orange" ( side spliting Laughter )


Scene Four.


Terry Venables recieves cake and opens up the box. The marzipan design on the
top of the cake is of a guy with his head stuck in this Huge lions mouth. The
guy is wearing a tracksuit ( in red white and blue )with "El Tel" emblasoned on
the back.


Very Funny :-))))))))))))))))))

Cheers,

Peter. 

Ahhhhhhh !  Bloody hell Jerry. 

I've just spent the last 15 minutes typing that bloody note in and then I see
you've beaten me to it. Never again ;-)


Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh !!!!!!!!!



bye,

Peter.

    I thought that the ad was making light of a quote Taylor had made
    earlier. I thought he'd said it after the Holland v England fiasco. It
    was given in response to the question by the Football Correspondent of
    the fruit and vegetable retailers magazine Vegetables Weekly, "Graham,
    what is your favourite citrus fruit".
    
    Ok, I made the last bit up, but I presume he'd been asked what his
    favourite team at that moment.
    
    I'm sure the quote came before the ad (it would be a very crap ad if
    not) but if I'm wrong I'm going to throw all my Nicorette patches away
    and start smoking again. I can do without inventing fake events in
    history. Hmmm, perhaps that's why my match reports never seem to be
    even vaguely similar to those in other notes or in the papers.
    
    Paul.
    

    It's alright Peter, 
    
    Some of us are just quicker than others ;-)
    
    And anyway, I had forgotten about the Lion etc. so your effort wasn't
    wasted. At least Dom can't say we weren't helpful ;-))))))))) I bet
    he's sorry he asked !
    
    
    Jerry.

    Has anyone heard the result of the Kevin Moran testimonial? How's about
    a match report, teams etc.?..
    
    Ray....

The game wasn't televised over here, so unless somebody went or has todays
paper...


Peter.

Premier league XI

				Flowers

	Rob Jones	Hendry		Berg		LeSaux
	
	Strachan	McAllister	Sherwood	Barnes
			
			Cole		Shearer

Subs Rush for Cole,May for Hendry,Flowers for O'Neill (LOI goalkeeper)


Republic of Ireland XI

				Bonner

	McGoldrick	Moran		Kernaghan	Phelan

	Houghton	Townsend	Sheridan	Staunton

			Aldridge	Kelly

Subs Coyne for Aldridge,Kelly for Bonner,Townsend for Babb


Result 5 -1

Terry Phelan and John Aldridge both hit the woodwork in the early minutes.
Bonner had to make an excellent save from Shearer after a nice move with Andy
Cole.  (El Tel was in attendance)
Sheridan hit a glorious shot after 47 mins from 20 yards which took a deflection
on the way from Henning Berg.
After 56 min a defensive mistake let in Tommy Coyne but Flowers tipped the shot
over the bar.
It was not all one way traffic with John Barnes having a great shot superbly
saved by Kelly on the hour mark.
David Kelly gave Flowers no chance from 10 yards after a good passing movement
on the 70 th minute
Eventually the English XI broke through when Cole was denied by Terry Phelan's
goaline save, but with the follow up Shearer gave Kelly no chance.
moran then knocked in a penalty, Flowers didn't seem to bothered to save it.
Ray Houghton then chipped O'Neill to make it 4-1. 
Kelly then knocked in the fifth and last of the evening making the final score
5-1.
Memorable match with two teams playing attractive and imaginative football with
a crowd of over 42,000 in attendance, making Moran 400,000 pounds richer.
Kenny Daglish later congratulated the Irish team and said that they would be
very hard to beat in the World Cup.


Nice to see the team playing well in preperation for the World Cup

GS in Dublin

67.336 
    
>>> Memorable match with two teams playing attractive and imaginative football with
>>> a crowd of over 42,000 in attendance, making Moran 400,000 pounds richer.
    
    I wouldn't begrudge Kevin Moran a penny of that money. He has been a
    great servant to Irish football, I hope he goes to the States with the
    squad....
    
    thanks for the report, GS. Sounds like it was a great occasion....
    
    Ray....

Kev gave the whole lot to charity !!!


Peter.

    re: last few
    
    OK - thanks, lads (no more versions, I take it?!) 
    
    It does sound quite a laugh (Hmm, I might even suggest an equivalent
    version to RAI TV for when Italy get knocked out of the World Cup, with
    Arrigo Sacchi saying:"Do I not like green/yellow/blue...")
    
    Dom

Never let Ireland down. Very brave with the head, forgot to mention that he also
hit the woodwork last night from an in swinging corner from Steve Staunton in
the first half. Well worth his 70 caps for Ireland

    Did Big Jack have a say in the selection of the Republic's side. If not
    was he there to watch??
    
    Thanks,
    
    PAul.
    

Jack did pick the squad.
Kernaghan needed a game as he has missed the last few internationals as has
Aldridge and Houghton.  mcGoldrick played right back as neither Kelly or Irwin
were available.
Houghton and Kelly played well, obviously pushing forward their claims to be in
the squad for the world cup.
Cascarino was also unavailable as well as Keane due to the cup final.


G.S in Dublin

    GS
    
    How did Sheridan play. He's hasn't been seriously considered by Big
    Jack before so I'm suprised to see him in the team in the run-up to the
    WC (perhaps Big Jack has been reading my notes in the Wednesday file).
    How do you rate his chances of playing in the WC. That would be a big
    extra incentive to be cheering on the Republic.
    
    Cheers,
    
    Paul.
    
    BTW Good to see such a turnout for a testimonial. Best of luck to
    Moran.
    

Keane was not available due to the cup final match on sat
He played in the last friendly match against Holland and played very well in a 5
man midfield with Coyne up front.  Setting up the only goal for Coyne to score.
He also played against Spain in the qualification match and scored in our 3-1
loss. That goal scored was precious as Ireland gained qualification from the
group on goals scored over Denmark.
Jack may be thinking of employing 5 men in the midfield in the US as Ireland
have lost Niall Quinn.
Sheridan is a good quality midfield who did not always fit into charltons plans
but he seems to have been playing well lately for Sheff Wed and Ireland so he
should be going to the WC in June.
Good luck to Chelsea on Sat and hopefully Cascarino can get a game.


GS 

Richardson wasn't put under a lot of pressure by the Greeks, but Brooking said
he ran about a lot and did okay. I've always thought Trevor was prone to
understatement. 8-)

It wasn't, in all fairness, the kind of dynamic debut that Anderton and le Saux
made but then it wasn't the right sort of game for it. If he was given a run
against a good attacking team then I think he would prove his worth under
pressure. However, I suspect that Ince will be back in on Sunday, and I can't
really dispute that kind of decision. I'm glad Kev got a cap though. He's
deserved it for this season's performance. 

I think he's a good quality reserve for Ince and Batty in future.

Mike

Me thinks Ince is having a Hernia operation so is he still available for Sundays
game ?

Peter.

    How is the seals tour to south Africa going??  I heard the lost to
    Liverpool.  Fill me in with some details, Mike.
    
    
    /Gary

We lost to Liverpool.

Mike

    Villa lost 2-1 to Liverpool in S Africa.
    
    I think that Cox scored for Villa and I think that he was playing in
    midfield. 
    
    Daley hasn't played yet - he is injured.
    The Birmingham Evening Mail is saying that the Atkinson/Atkinson split
    is serious - Dalian can go if an offer of 1.5m comes in - if not - he
    can sweat it out in the stiffs.  Dalian is not too happy and has been
    crticising Ron, his wages etc. etc. in the paper and thus looks to have
    sealed his fate.
    
    The most interesting story is around Deano - who looks like being in
    serious trouble for his tackle at Liverpool which ended Paul Elliot's
    career.  A string of pros, managers and refs have given evidence
    sayiong that he must have gone in to get his man.  Note that this is in
    the High Court, not the FA, so any sentence would not be a ban, but a
    fine or maybe a prison sentence!!
    
    Dave Clarkson  

    re - 1
    You may be surprised to hear Daley mentioned in -1.
    
    He has signed for Wolves for 1.3m but has been allowed to travel
    with Villa, as they have so many other absentees (all the Irish boys,
    Deano, Dalian etc.)

Villa drew 0-0 with Kaizer Chiefs at the weekend. Kaizer used to be the best
team in South Africa until this season, so it's not a bad result considering.

Mike

    Considering what Mike,
    
    That this is the team likely to start next season.
    
    McGrath retired - missing
    Staunton talking personal terms with Liverpuddle
    Houghton wanting to move South
    
    Atkinson - who cares
    Daley sold
    
    Saunders in jail (b....y hope not)
    
    Considering we're going to Europe, there's alot of players who want to
    go with us, NOT!!
    
    Ah well, maybe we'll get into the second round *8-)
    
    Enjoy
    
    AndyH

Maybe the Big Fatto knows something we don't and is dismantling the side for a
good reason. It could be that Beinlich, Breitkreutz, Froggattt, Yorke, etc. are
ready to take the Premiership by storm without all the old boys from last year.

I doubt it, but you can't let reality intrude too much can you? 8-)


Mike

P.S. Where did you hear this story about Stevie going back to Anfield? I still
haven't heard a whisper.

    I heard the news in the midlands this last weekend.  However my source
    was doubtful, my brother-in-law (a liverpuddle supporter).
    
    AndyH

Super Stan and McGrath have signed new contracts for Villa, and even more
amusing, Dicks wants to leave Liverpool because of all the effort they put in to
sign Staunton. 8-)

Now all we have to do is get rid of Neil Cox and we'll be sorted. Alternatively,
we could send him on loan to the Baggies and demand him back as soon as he plays
well.

Mike

    He's going to retire at the baggies if you want to wait that long.
    
    Couldn't we get Dicks and complete the Liverpuddle to Villa team
    transfer.
    
    AndyH

    
    
    Cox goes to the Boro , any comments on him ?

Yep.

He is absolutely crap. See note 67.359 (proof that Big Ron cares about the fans)

He gives away penalties like there's no tomorrow.

I've never liked him, but he's an England U-21 international and you paid a
million for him so he can't be all that bad. 8-)

Mike

    Villa (sorry Ireland) for the World Cup.
    
    Great goal, great team.  Sparkling (Villa) individuals.
    
    Enjoy
    
    AndyH

Villa have lost Selwyn Froggatt to Wolves. No fee has yet been decided but Villa
look to gain about a million. Ron pigging Atkinson, what are you doing?

Harrumph.

Mike

Villa have signed Nii Lamptey, a 19 year old Ghanaian forward who currently
plays for Anderlecht. At the moment he's on loan, but el Big Fatto wants to sign
him permanently using the money from all the other players Graham Turniphead has
stolen from us. 

Mike

rep -1

He was on loan with PSV last season, they had a very bad season so he could 
never impress, he is a good player so ........


T_

Villa are looking to pay about a million for him. Hopefully we can sell Deano
and Guy Whittingham and line up like this:

				Bosnich
	Barrett		McGrath		Teale		Staunton
				Richardson	
		Townsend			Yorke
				Fenton
			Lamptey		Atkinson

SUBS: Spink, Small, Beinlich, Breitkreutz, Houghton

And no Neil Cox. 8-)

The only real problem will be in the UEFA cup. Only five of our starting 11 are
English. 8-(

Mike

    Why have we still got Atkinson (Dalian) after the end-of-season
    outburst.
    
    And I thought that Guy Whittingham disappered off to Wolves.  Didn't he
    do well their either (wonder if Pompey want him back) ?
    
    Ah well...
    
    AndyH
    
    ps any fixture lists ???

Whittingham was on loan at Wolves but I don't think they've signed him, and I
doubt they will now. Atkinson is free to leave if anyone will have him but so
far I've not heard anything about it. The last I heard was Athletico Madrid were
interested. I hope they both bog off, and give us some money to buy a decent
forward.

I haven't seen the fixtures list yet either.

Mike

                      <<< Note 67.368 by UPROAR::HAIGHA >>>

    
>    And I thought that Guy Whittingham disappered off to Wolves.  Didn't he
>    do well their either (wonder if Pompey want him back) ?
    
     Rumour has it , that Whittingham is trying to buy his way back into
     the army.

     Stuart

      .367
      
      Ray Houghton must for sure not be put on the bench in Villa after his 
      performance in WC.
      
      Christer

    No indeed.
    
    He should be sold to some 3rd division club who needs a striker who can
    hit the target once in ten shots.
    
    Rich.

    Hi
    
    Just a few words.  "Half-time Houghton" as thats about as long as he
    can last during the game.
    
    He's getting on and doesn't look much like a stayer, especially as he
    runs himself stupid when he is playing.
    
    Enjoy
    
    AndyH

Houghton strikes me as being the sort of player who might start whining if he
doesn't get a regular place. I'd sell him and start giving Matthias Breitkreutz
some more games, unless we can convince Ajax to sell us Okocha, the Nigerian
midfielder. BFR was creaming his shorts every time he got the ball so maybe an
offer won't be far away: the other commentator accused Ron of spending every
hour on the phone while they were in the States.

Mike

Shouldn't big Ron be after someone who is english for the european games ??????

Just a thought with the number of so called foreigners in the squad.


Bosnich,McGrath,Houghton,Lamptey,Staunton,Townsend,Saunders and Yorke to name
but a few.



GS in Dublin

Hopefully the fact that Hagi was complete crap last night should put Ron, and
any half-decent manager, off buying him for good. So he'll probably be off to
Spurs then. 8-)

I reckon we should buy Michael Laudrup from Barcelona, because a) he is
brilliant, and b) he never gets a game for them.

Looks like Garry Parker to Swindon is a done deal. They're obviously not too
bothered about getting back into the Premiership this year. Maybe we could sell
them Guy Whittingham as well.

Mike

Apparently, he's the Ghanaian Pele. 8-)

I think he spent all last season on loan somewhere so he can't be that good.
This means that we're laden down with forwards (Atkinson, Saunders, Whittingham,
Yorke, Lamptey, Fenton) and still have no midfielders or Englishmen.

Maybe we're going to bring David Platt back to the ancestral home of football.
Dreams.......

Mike

Hi,

Lamptey was discovered by Anderlecht; came in the first team at 16. 
A few years ago he was predicted a great future. But he didn't succeed, though 
he got no real chance in proving himself.
Technically he is very good but I'm not sure if his physical condition is good 
enough for the English league. 
Last year he was hired out to PSV Eindhoven.
I thought he was hired out to Villa too and not sold ?


Jo

That's what I thought had happened orignally, but I heard that Big Ronno wanted
to buy him, so the exchange of money seemed to indicate that he was ours for
good. Bwah-hah-hah.

Does this "hiring of players" happen a lot in darkest Europe then?

I wouldn't worry too much about his physique being a problem, because he will
never get a game. 8-)

Mike

This part of Europe seems rather clear to me nowadays. But I admit it's 
exceptional,as it rains here most of the time.

Hiring of players only happens when the club can't sell the player for a 
reasonable price. I think 1 million is quite reasonable for the young (?)
Ghananian.

Jo 

It's fair enough. I just hadn't heard of it being done in England before. If
fatto wants to buy him for good, is the potential transfer fee decided on before
the hire period begins? Otherwise, if he plays well, you could end up paying
bucketloads more cash than if you'd bought him without the loan period. Does the
hire price come out of the eventual transfer fee?

Mike

Better ask fatto

Jo

Nii Lamptey scored for Ghana yesterday (at least I think it was yesterday) as
they got beat 2-1 by Japan.

Mike

>Nii Lamptey scored for Ghana yesterday (at least I think it was yesterday) as
>they got beat 2-1 by Japan.

	I watched the game on TV yesterday. It was a very good goal, I think.
	I'm not impressed by Ghana team, except Lamptey.

Katsuhiko 
from Japan

Did Anthony Yeboah play for Ghana? He's supposed to be pretty good.

What's Lamptey like? Is he fast, strong, etc?

Cheers,

Mike

>Did Anthony Yeboah play for Ghana? He's supposed to be pretty good.

	No. I expected to see him, but he did not come to Japan;-)

>What's Lamptey like? Is he fast, strong, etc?

	Fast and strong;-) His shot is like a cannon.

	I feel very sleepy because WC final began at 4:30am in Japan...

Katsuhiko

Andy Townsend is having a knee operation. He is expected to miss the game
against Athletico Madrid but should be fit for the start of the season.

Mike

    Any fixture dates yet ?
    What of Villa in Europe ?
    Who have they already played in the warm-ups (and stats) ?
    
    Cheers
    
    AndyH
    

The only warm-up games I know of were Villa 1 Liverpool 2 (Cox) and Villa 0
Kaizer Chiefs 0. We are playing Oxford in oxford on the 5th August, and we have
a game against Athletico Madrid in a few days I think.

The draw for the UEFA Cup 1st Round won't be made until the 24th or 25th.
They've only sorted out the preliminary round so far, and we're much too good to
be involved in that. 8-)

I've looked all over the internet for the fixture list but haven't found it yet.

Mike

Man Utd clubcall seemed to be suggesting that Villa are after Lee Sharpe. Does
anyone have any info about this rumour? Personally, I can't see it happening.

Mike

    
    Is Dalian Atkinson still at Villa Park ?
    
    

    What still no fixtures *8-)
    
    Where's that Waite fellow, doesn't he have a home in the Midlands to go
    to.
    
    I'll type it in if I know where to look.
    
    Cheers
    
    AndyH

I've mailed some bloke in Australia for them, but he hasn't replied yet. They're
probably in 90 minutes or something.

Mike

Carling Premiership Fixtures 1994/95
------------------------------------

Sat 20 Aug 94	Everton		- Aston Villa
Wed 24 Aug 94	Aston Villa	- Southampton
Sat 27 Aug 94	Aston Villa	- Crystal Palace
Wed 31 Aug 94	Coventry City	- Aston Villa
Sat 10 Sep 94	Aston Villa	- Ipswich Town
Sat 17 Sep 94	West Ham Utd	- Aston Villa
Sat 24 Sep 94	Blackburn 	- Aston Villa
Sat 1 Oct 94	Aston Villa	- Newcastle United
Sat 8 Oct 94	Liverpool	- Aston Villa
Sat 15 Oct 94	Aston Villa	- Norwich City
Sat 22 Oct 94	Aston Villa	- Nottingham Forest
Sat 29 Oct 94	QPR		- Aston Villa
Tue 1 Nov 94	Wimbledon	- Aston Villa
Sat 5 Nov 94	Aston Villa	- Manchester United
Sat 19 Nov 94	Spurs		- Aston Villa
Sat 26 Nov 94	Aston Villa	- Sheffield Wednesday
Sat 3 Dec 94	Leicester City	- Aston Villa
Sat 10 Dec 94	Aston Villa	- Everton
Sat 17 Dec 94	Southampton	- Aston Villa
Mon 26 Dec 94	Arsenal		- Aston Villa
Tue 27 Dec 94	Aston Villa	- Chelsea
Sat 31 Dec 94	Man City	- Aston Villa
Mon 2 Jan 95	Aston Villa	- Leeds United
Sat 14 Jan 95	Aston Villa	- Queen's Park Rangers
Sat 21 Jan 95	Notts Forest    - Aston Villa
Wed 25 Jan 95	Aston Villa	- Tottenham Hotspur
Sat 4 Feb 95	Man United      - Aston Villa
Sat 11 Feb 95	Aston Villa	- Wimbledon
Sat 18 Feb 95	Sheffield Weds  - Aston Villa
Wed 22 Feb 95	Aston Villa	- Leicester City
Sat 25 Feb 95	Newcastle Utd   - Aston Villa
Sat 4 Mar 95	Aston Villa	- Blackburn Rovers
Wed 8 Mar 95	Aston Villa	- Coventry City
Sat 11 Mar 95	Crystal Palace  - Aston Villa
Sat 18 Mar 95	Aston Villa	- West Ham United
Sat 1 Apr 95	Ipswich Town	- Aston Villa
Sat 8 Apr 95	Aston Villa	- Manchester City
Sat 15 Apr 95	Chelsea		- Aston Villa
Mon 17 Apr 95	Aston Villa	- Arsenal
Sat 29 Apr 95	Leeds Utd	- Aston Villa
Sat 6 May 95	Aston Villa	- Liverpool
Sat 13 May 95	Norwich City    - Aston Villa

    My hero

    Andy (Haigha??)
    
    How's it going down there? Things are stil pretty busy up here.
    
    re Phil King. The last note sums it up really - I think the confidence
    thing is what will be most important. He had a bust-up with Francis and
    has never been considered since - think he may have been injured as
    well. Could be a very good buy at hat price. I'm not sure who brought
    him to Hillsboro' but he was certainly their when The Rotund One was
    manager so he knows what he can do.
    
    Paul.
    

    Sorry that should be "there".
    

    Paul,
    
    Re:  >  Sorry that should be "there"
    
    
    Does that mean that "hat money" was not a typo, and if so, how big a
    hat are we talking about ?
    
    Jerry. ;-)

    re "hat money"
    
    Sorry Jerry, I didn't know you were hanging on my every word. It should
    have read "shat honey" which was a reference to the fact that my local
    curry house put sugar instead of salt in the Vindaloo this weekend.
    
    Hope that helps,
    
    Paul.
    

    Come on Paul you know the way IS works.
    
    Paul Lem = LemP
    Andy Haigh = HaighA
    
    Haigh_A or A_Haigh would make more sense, but when did IME IS have sense.
    After all what is a '_' between friends.
    
    AndyH

    Head on the radio that Villa have signed John Fashanu from Wimbledon
    (unless Radio 5 have suddenly started doing wind-ups).
    
    What is The Sparkling One doing??
    
    Paul.
    

    
    WHAT...???
    
    Big fat ron's been out in the Sun too long, how much for..??
    
    Dave... 

This is brilliant - after all the time Ron spent in the US drooling over the 
skills of the Nigerians . . .

g

>This is brilliant - after all the time Ron spent in the US drooling over the 
>skills of the Nigerians . . .

    
    Grahame,
    
    Well Fashanu really got on my nerves by referring to the Nigerian team
    as "we" all the time so maybe Big Ron got his man after all.
    
    re a few back: the price was 1.35 million.
    
    Paul.
     

Fash will only play in Europe (I hope).

Despite all that I'd heard about transfer deals, we've still got Garry Parker,
so maybe we'll be alright after all. 8-)

Bosnich, Barrett, McGrath, Teale, Staunton, Richardson, Townsend, Parker,
Lamptey, Atkinson, Saunders

Mike

    Don't cry now, but another scum-bag contractor is about to abandon
    ship.
    
    Seriously, I need some training so I'm off to the big city and a nice
    stock exchange, to do some hard work (for a change) and some heavy
    training.
    
    Then...
    
    I'll be back 8-)
    
    May all my dreams be happy ones and nightmares to you all.
    
    AndyH

    Good Luck Andy,
    
    >May all my dreams be happy ones and nightmares to you all.
    
    Yes you've given us a few nightmares to remember you by  (smiley
    thing).
    
    Cheers,
    
    Paul.
    
    PS you may bump into Mike Clarke - he's working for Warbug's now.
    

Hope the improved rates compensate for the loss of football note file ?

Peter.

    Improved rates I wish.
    I'm abandoning the world of contracting to persue a more lucrative
    career *8-)
    
    I need some good experience on my CV and these nice city people are
    going to let me acquire it, at their expense *8-))))
    
    I'm Rich Morrell will entire some well timed comments into the notes
    conference, to keep this note alive.
    
    Enjoy
    
    AndyH 

    Villa beat Rapid Beucharest (sp?) 8-0 in a friendly at Bescot Stadium.
    
    Dwight Yorke scored 4 and Ugo apparantly played a blinder. Both are
    probable to start against Everton at the week-end.
    
    Teale is still not fully fit.
    Dave C.

Wahay, Dwight is back. That's more goals then he got all last season. Who did he
play up front then? No Nii Lamptey?

Mike

   re:-1  I think Lamptey was 1 of the scorers.

    There were lots of substitutions - Fashanu played the first 45 and
    didn't score.
    Saunders got 2 and Ugo got another.
    Dave C

===============================================================================

                        A  S  T  O  N    V  I  L  L  A

                                  Chris Lee

===============================================================================

Transfer Activity Close Season:
-------------------------------

In:  John Fashanu         (thug)     from Wimbledon             (1.35 million)
     Nii Lamptey          (striker)  from Anderlecht (BEL)      (1.30 million)

     Phil King            (fullback) from Sheffield Wednesday   (0.20 million)
  
Out: Tony Daley           (winger)   to Wolverhampton Wanderers (1.35 million)
     Stephen Froggatt     (winger)   to Wolverhampton Wanderers (1.00 million)
     Neil Cox             (fullback) to Middlesborough          (1.00 million)
     Matthias Breitkreutz (        ) to Hertha Berlin (GER)     (0.13 million)
     Stefan Beinlich      (        ) to Hansa Rostock (GER)     (0.13 million)
     Dariusz Kubicki      (defender) to Sunderland              (0.10 million)


Squad for 1994-95:
------------------

 1 Nigel Spink          (reserve goalkeeper and very, very old)
 2 Earl Barrett         (England international fullback)
 3 Steve Staunton       (Irish international fullback or midfielder)
 4 Shaun Teale          (stopper and very hard indeed)
 5 Paul McGrath         (Irish international superhuman being - may be God)
 6 Kevin Richardson     (England international midfielder)
 7 Ray Houghton         (Irish international Scotsman and midfielder)
 8 John Fashanu         (thug)
 9 Dean Saunders        (Welsh international striker)
10 Dalian Atkinson      (enigma and lazy b*****d)
22 Feb      Leicester City      H
11 Andy Townsend        (Irish international Englishman and midfielder)
12 Nii Lamptey          (Ghanaian international forward)
13 Mark Bosnich         (Aussie international and world's best goalkeeper)
14 Garry Parker         (midfielder)
15 Phil King            (fullback)
16 Ugo Ehiogu           (understudy for McGrath)
18 Dwight Yorke         (Trinidad international striker)
19 Graham Fenton        (promising striker - England U21 international)
20 Bryan Small          (crap fullback)
21 David Farrell        (winger)
22 Guy Whittingham      (striker)
30 Michael Oakes        (third string goalkeeper - England U21 international)


Aston Villa Football Club plc,
Villa Park,
Trinity Road,
Witton,
Birmingham.
B6 6HE

Chairman:     'Deadly' Doug Ellis (bless him)
---------

Manager:      R.F. Atkinson (aka Big Fat Ron)
--------

Villa Park:   For the first part of the 1994-95 season, capacity is down to
-----------   27,000 while the new all seater Holte End is built. When this
              is complete, the ground capacity will be 40,500 (all seated),
              down from 46,000 last year.

Club Colours: The famous Claret and Blue. Unfortunately, a ghastly mixture of
------------- black and green has been chosen as the team's away strip.

Year Formed:  1874, by members of the Aston Villa Wesleyan Church in Lozells,
------------  Birmingham. These were mostly expatriate Scotsmen working in
              the area and looking for a game of footie.

Club Honours:
-------------
European Cup Winners:       1981-82
European Super Cup Winners: 1982-83
Premier League Runners-Up:  1992-93
Football League Champions:  1893-94, 1985-96, 1896-97, 1898-99, 1899-1900,
                            1909-10, 1980-81
Football League Runners-Up: 1888-89, 1902-03, 1907-08, 1910-11, 1912-13,
                            1913-14, 1930-31, 1932-33, 1989-90
Division Two Champions:     1937-38, 1959-60
Division Two Runners-Up:    1974-75, 1987-88
Division Three Champions:   1971-72
FA Cup Winners:             1887, 1895, 1897, 1905, 1913, 1920, 1957
FA Cup Runners-Up:          1892, 1924
League Cup Winners:         1961, 1975, 1977, 1994
League Cup Runners-Up:      1963, 1971


Recent History:
---------------

Season 1993-94 was a strange one for Aston Villa. The team finished 10th in 
the Premiership and never hit the heights they achieved the previous season, 
when finishing runners-up in the first Premier League and playing some 
scintillating football at times.

However, the team did win the Coca-Cola (or League) Cup, beating Manchester 
United 3-1 at Wembley. At last the Villa Park cleaning ladies have something to 
do; this is the first silverware seen in the Villa Park trophy cabinet since 
1983.

A promising run in the FA Cup came to a halt in the 5th Round, when the team 
played abysmally and were beaten 1-0 at Burnden Park by Bolton Wanderers, the 
season's giant killers.

In the UEFA Cup, Slovan Bratislava were comfortably beaten before the team were 
knocked out of the competition in the rain at Villa Park where Deportivo la 
Coruna won 1-0. This after the Spaniards had been held to a 1-1 draw in Spain.  
Once again, this defeat saw a terrible performance by the team.

In season 1993-94, a total of 609,355 people attended the club's 21 home 
Premiership games, giving an average attendance of 29,017 per game. The highest 
gate was 45,347 for the game against Liverpool and the lowest was 16,180 for 
the visit of Southampton. The biggest crowd at any game involving Aston Villa 
was 77,231 in the Coca-Cola Cup Final at Wembley. The smallest was (surprise, 
surprise) 7,533 for the away fixture with Wimbledon.

1993-94 saw the sad demise of the much loved Holte End terrace where I 
personally have spent most of my football watching life. This was the largest 
enclosure in England with a capacity of 22,000 cut to about 18,000 by 
over-zealous police after Hillsborough. A replacement all-seater stand is under 
construction behind the Holte End goal which will seat 13,500 spectators. This 
stand will have some of the architectural splendour of the Trinity Road stand, 
in particular the 'twin towers' effect and staircase leading up to some of the 
turnstiles. It will also house a new supporters' club and other facilities. 
Further to this, construction of the new two tier Witton Lane stand was 
completed last season. This stand, tastelessly renamed the Doug Ellis Stand, 
has a capacity of 10,000 people. The club claim that, when complete, the total 
expenditure on ground improvements in order to comply with the Taylor Report 
will be in the region of #14 million.

The club made an operating profit of #4.1 million which, after transfers, 
taxation and the rest left 509,000 quid extra in the bank.


Last Season's Performance:
--------------------------

In a word, unpredictable. The Premier League season started well enough with a
4-1 win over QPR but tailed off badly. Although Aston Villa finished the season 
in mid-table, up to Christmas we were never out of the top five in the Premier
League. Indeed, at one time it seemed possible that the team could mount a 
challenge to Manchester United.  Sadly, this promise was never fulfilled.

A big problem for Aston Villa last season was scoring goals. 46 goals in 42 
Premier League games was a poor return. Dean Saunders finished top scorer with 
15. Hence the arrival of Fashanu for the new season in an attempt to beef up 
this area of the team. The defence by and large played well throughout, so that 
many games finished 0-0 or in a 1-0 defeat. Of the new signings, Andy Townsend 
started slowly but got better as the season progressed while Guy Whittingham 
was never given a chance and finished up on loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Our home record was the worst for many seasons (7 games lost) and the Villa 
Park faithful were 'treated' to some dire performances, especially towards the 
end of the season once the Coca-Cola Cup had been won. Indeed, if the away 
record had not been so good, Aston Villa may even have flirted with relegation.

It sometimes appeared as if certain members of the team lacked motivation. 
Games were lost towards the end of the season without so much as a fight. For 
example, our visit to Newcastle United in April (when Teale was injured early 
on) was like lambs to the slaughter, Villa losing 1-5. This attitude caused 
considerable anguish on the terraces. 

The best performances were reserved for the Coca-Cola Cup competition. Both 
Tottenham and Arsenal were beaten away from home in the early rounds. The 
second leg of the semi-final tie against Tranmere Rovers was an emotional 
experience for Aston Villa fans. What a game! The Rovers fans were great and 
the match was played in sporting fashion. The rest is history, Manchester 
United being well beaten in the Final tie.

This all left the fans asking why the Coca-Cola Cup form was so often absent 
in the Premiership.

Expectations for This Season:
----------------------------

Consistency, and preferably consistently better than last season in the 
Premiership.


Key Players for Next Season:
----------------------------

Forget Schmeichel and Flowers and take my word for it. MARK BOSNICH is simply 
the best goalkeeper around. Mark has lightning reflexes, is a great shot 
stopper and a renowned penalty saver. He controls his area well and is not 
afraid to come off his line when necessary. He also takes a cross well, despite 
being small in stature for a goalkeeper. Mark must give the rest of the Villa 
defence great confidence.

If JOHN FASHANU performs the job he's been bought for, he could make a world 
of difference. BFR has finally realised that Saunders is not a centre forward 
and that he needs a big man alongside him to lay the ball off, especially high 
balls. The attack last season was not sharp, so let's hope that Fashanu's 
arrival means good news for the Welsh wizard beside him. Fashanu must, however, 
be made aware that some of the antics he indulged in for Wimbledon will not be 
tolerated at Villa Park. Incidentally, Fashanu's arrival could also mean that 
Dalian Atkinson ('sicknote') will drop back to midfield where he will be forced 
to get more involved in the game.

What more can be said about PAUL McGRATH? He's 35 in December, a piss head, has 
dodgy knees and he never trains. But he's one of the finest stoppers in England 
and probably in Europe. Performed magnificently for Ireland in the World Cup, 
especially against Italy. He's vital for the Villa because, quite simply, we do 
not have any cover of any calibre for him. Ugo Ehiogu is being groomed by BFR 
to replace him but this lad is far from the finished article. If McGrath 
cracks, the club will have to buy to replace him. But how much longer can he go 
on for?

In a midfield containing Townsend, Richardson and possibly Houghton, GARRY 
PARKER is the one player on the books with real footballing ability and flair 
who can control a ball quickly and pass it 40 yards to feet. He was not really 
given a fair chance last season, and there was even talk of Garry leaving the 
club in the summer. If the team is to be more inventive in midfield, then 
Parker must play a more prominent role this season.

Last but not least, STEVE STAUNTON. Why Liverpool ever let Steve 
go is a mystery but he's probably the best left back at the club in the last 30 
years. Like Bosnich, Steve signed a new 4 year deal in the summer after rumours 
that Liverpool were preparing a bid to take him back to Anfield. He gives the 
team strength down the left hand side of the field either from fullback or 
midfield and is a great crosser of the ball. Struggled in the heat during the 
World Cup.

Young Unknown Player to Watch Out For:
--------------------------------------

GRAHAM FENTON is a young Geordie who has been on Aston Villa's books since he 
left school. Last year he broke into the first team picture after an impressive 
loan spell with West Bromwich Albion. He is a striker with a quick turn of foot 
who can beat opponents at ease and has good ball control. Definitely a name to 
watch. Graham is already an Under 21 cap for England and looks to have a 
promising future.

Carling Premiership Fixtures 1994/95
------------------------------------

Sat 20 Aug 94	Everton		2-2  Aston Villa	Fashanu, Saunders    8th
Wed 24 Aug 94	Aston Villa	 -   Southampton
Sat 27 Aug 94	Aston Villa	 -   Crystal Palace
Wed 31 Aug 94	Coventry City	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 10 Sep 94	Aston Villa	 -   Ipswich Town
Sat 17 Sep 94	West Ham Utd	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 24 Sep 94	Blackburn 	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 1 Oct 94	Aston Villa	 -   Newcastle United
Sat 8 Oct 94	Liverpool	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 15 Oct 94	Aston Villa 	 -   Norwich City
Sat 22 Oct 94	Aston Villa 	 -   Nottingham Forest
Sat 29 Oct 94	QPR		 -   Aston Villa
Tue 1 Nov 94	Wimbledon	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 5 Nov 94	Aston Villa	 -   Manchester United
Sat 19 Nov 94	Spurs		 -   Aston Villa
Sat 26 Nov 94	Aston Villa	 -   Sheffield Wednesday
Sat 3 Dec 94	Leicester City	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 10 Dec 94	Aston Villa	 -   Everton
Sat 17 Dec 94	Southampton	 -   Aston Villa
Mon 26 Dec 94	Arsenal		 -   Aston Villa
Tue 27 Dec 94	Aston Villa	 -   Chelsea
Sat 31 Dec 94	Man City	 -   Aston Villa
Mon 2 Jan 95	Aston Villa	 -   Leeds United
Sat 14 Jan 95	Aston Villa	 -   Queen's Park Rangers
Sat 21 Jan 95	Notts Forest     -   Aston Villa
Wed 25 Jan 95	Aston Villa	 -   Tottenham Hotspur
Sat 4 Feb 95	Man United       -   Aston Villa
Sat 11 Feb 95	Aston Villa	 -   Wimbledon
Sat 18 Feb 95	Sheffield Weds   -   Aston Villa
Wed 22 Feb 95	Aston Villa	 -   Leicester City
Sat 25 Feb 95	Newcastle Utd    -   Aston Villa
Sat 4 Mar 95	Aston Villa	 -   Blackburn Rovers
Wed 8 Mar 95	Aston Villa	 -   Coventry City
Sat 11 Mar 95	Crystal Palace   -   Aston Villa
Sat 18 Mar 95	Aston Villa	 -   West Ham United
Sat 1 Apr 95	Ipswich Town	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 8 Apr 95	Aston Villa	 -   Manchester City
Sat 15 Apr 95	Chelsea		 -   Aston Villa
Mon 17 Apr 95	Aston Villa	 -   Arsenal
Sat 29 Apr 95	Leeds Utd	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 6 May 95	Aston Villa	 -   Liverpool
Sat 13 May 95	Norwich City     -   Aston Villa

Carling Premiership Fixtures 1994/95
------------------------------------

Sat 20 Aug 94	Everton		2-2  Aston Villa	Fashanu, Saunders    8th
Wed 24 Aug 94	Aston Villa	1-1  Southampton	Saunders	    12th
Sat 27 Aug 94	Aston Villa	 -   Crystal Palace
Wed 31 Aug 94	Coventry City	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 10 Sep 94	Aston Villa	 -   Ipswich Town
Sat 17 Sep 94	West Ham Utd	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 24 Sep 94	Blackburn 	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 1 Oct 94	Aston Villa	 -   Newcastle United
Sat 8 Oct 94	Liverpool	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 15 Oct 94	Aston Villa 	 -   Norwich City
Sat 22 Oct 94	Aston Villa 	 -   Nottingham Forest
Sat 29 Oct 94	QPR		 -   Aston Villa
Tue 1 Nov 94	Wimbledon	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 5 Nov 94	Aston Villa	 -   Manchester United
Sat 19 Nov 94	Spurs		 -   Aston Villa
Sat 26 Nov 94	Aston Villa	 -   Sheffield Wednesday
Sat 3 Dec 94	Leicester City	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 10 Dec 94	Aston Villa	 -   Everton
Sat 17 Dec 94	Southampton	 -   Aston Villa
Mon 26 Dec 94	Arsenal		 -   Aston Villa
Tue 27 Dec 94	Aston Villa	 -   Chelsea
Sat 31 Dec 94	Man City	 -   Aston Villa
Mon 2 Jan 95	Aston Villa	 -   Leeds United
Sat 14 Jan 95	Aston Villa	 -   Queen's Park Rangers
Sat 21 Jan 95	Notts Forest     -   Aston Villa
Wed 25 Jan 95	Aston Villa	 -   Tottenham Hotspur
Sat 4 Feb 95	Man United       -   Aston Villa
Sat 11 Feb 95	Aston Villa	 -   Wimbledon
Sat 18 Feb 95	Sheffield Weds   -   Aston Villa
Wed 22 Feb 95	Aston Villa	 -   Leicester City
Sat 25 Feb 95	Newcastle Utd    -   Aston Villa
Sat 4 Mar 95	Aston Villa	 -   Blackburn Rovers
Wed 8 Mar 95	Aston Villa	 -   Coventry City
Sat 11 Mar 95	Crystal Palace   -   Aston Villa
Sat 18 Mar 95	Aston Villa	 -   West Ham United
Sat 1 Apr 95	Ipswich Town	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 8 Apr 95	Aston Villa	 -   Manchester City
Sat 15 Apr 95	Chelsea		 -   Aston Villa
Mon 17 Apr 95	Aston Villa	 -   Arsenal
Sat 29 Apr 95	Leeds Utd	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 6 May 95	Aston Villa	 -   Liverpool
Sat 13 May 95	Norwich City     -   Aston Villa

Read elsewhere that Villa have drawn Inter in the UEFA Cup, so that was lucky.

I suppose we'll just have to retain the League Cup and get back into Europe next
year. 8-(

The perfect end to a perfect week.

Mike

    >Read elsewhere that Villa have drawn Inter in the UEFA Cup, so that
    >was lucky. 
    >I suppose we'll just have to retain the League Cup and get
    >back into Europe next year. 8-(
    
    O ye of little faith!
    
    Inter have only made a couple of changes to last year's team that
    finished near the bottom of the Italian Serie A (the only important
    change is Pagliuca for Zenga in goal). They were pretty jammy
    in beating Norwich in the UEFA Cup, and struggled in literally every
    round...although they were the eventual winners ;-)
    
    Pretty tough for a first round draw, but I'd say it hardly calls for 
    desperation.
    
    Dom

    It certainly should be interesting to see Fash The Bash getting in
    amongst 'em. 
    
    Paul. 

Carling Premiership Fixtures 1994/95
------------------------------------

Sat 20 Aug 94	Everton		2-2  Aston Villa	Fashanu, Saunders    8th
Wed 24 Aug 94	Aston Villa	1-1  Southampton	Saunders	    12th
Sat 27 Aug 94	Aston Villa	1-1  Crystal Palace	Staunton	    13th
Wed 31 Aug 94	Coventry City	0-1  Aston Villa	Yorke		     9th
Sat 10 Sep 94	Aston Villa	 -   Ipswich Town
Sat 17 Sep 94	West Ham Utd	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 24 Sep 94	Blackburn 	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 1 Oct 94	Aston Villa	 -   Newcastle United
Sat 8 Oct 94	Liverpool	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 15 Oct 94	Aston Villa 	 -   Norwich City
Sat 22 Oct 94	Aston Villa 	 -   Nottingham Forest
Sat 29 Oct 94	QPR		 -   Aston Villa
Tue 1 Nov 94	Wimbledon	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 5 Nov 94	Aston Villa	 -   Manchester United
Sat 19 Nov 94	Spurs		 -   Aston Villa
Sat 26 Nov 94	Aston Villa	 -   Sheffield Wednesday
Sat 3 Dec 94	Leicester City	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 10 Dec 94	Aston Villa	 -   Everton
Sat 17 Dec 94	Southampton	 -   Aston Villa
Mon 26 Dec 94	Arsenal		 -   Aston Villa
Tue 27 Dec 94	Aston Villa	 -   Chelsea
Sat 31 Dec 94	Man City	 -   Aston Villa
Mon 2 Jan 95	Aston Villa	 -   Leeds United
Sat 14 Jan 95	Aston Villa	 -   Queen's Park Rangers
Sat 21 Jan 95	Notts Forest     -   Aston Villa
Wed 25 Jan 95	Aston Villa	 -   Tottenham Hotspur
Sat 4 Feb 95	Man United       -   Aston Villa
Sat 11 Feb 95	Aston Villa	 -   Wimbledon
Sat 18 Feb 95	Sheffield Weds   -   Aston Villa
Wed 22 Feb 95	Aston Villa	 -   Leicester City
Sat 25 Feb 95	Newcastle Utd    -   Aston Villa
Sat 4 Mar 95	Aston Villa	 -   Blackburn Rovers
Wed 8 Mar 95	Aston Villa	 -   Coventry City
Sat 11 Mar 95	Crystal Palace   -   Aston Villa
Sat 18 Mar 95	Aston Villa	 -   West Ham United
Sat 1 Apr 95	Ipswich Town	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 8 Apr 95	Aston Villa	 -   Manchester City
Sat 15 Apr 95	Chelsea		 -   Aston Villa
Mon 17 Apr 95	Aston Villa	 -   Arsenal
Sat 29 Apr 95	Leeds Utd	 -   Aston Villa
Sat 6 May 95	Aston Villa	 -   Liverpool
Sat 13 May 95	Norwich City     -   Aston Villa

    The Palace game at Villa Park was one of the worst matches I have ever
    seen...
    
    Villa's defence was too casual, the midfield lacking in ideas and the
    attack lacking in bite.  Saunders was about the only one you could
    excuse, I don't think he got a single pass where he wanted it.
    
    Disapponted Dave

I watched the first half of the Villa Coventry game on Sky Sports, and that was
rubbish too. Apart from Dwight Yorke, Villa didn't seem to give a toss about
anything. Fortunately, I care very little at the moment because Donny are doing
well for the first time in years.

Mike

I saw the second half on Eurosport (Sky pictures, French commentary) and was 
desperately disappointed with Villa. Saunders buzzed around as usual, but 
Yorke seemed to be the only other one with any control or idea. Almost every 
time the vaunted Villa midfield got the ball, it was aimlessly hoofed up the 
park. BFR certainly  talks a better game than his team plays.

g

BFR should drop Fashanu, Houghton, and Townsend and play the following team:

		Bosnich
Barrett	    Teale      McGrath    Stan
		Richardson
Yorke   Lamptey   Saunders  Fenton   Atkinson


Not original, I know, but at least we might score occasionally, and our
defensive side is a ton better than Spurs. 8-)

Mike

    Hi Chaps,
    
    Is there a nice Villa season ticket holder, or member who would care to
    get me (3) tickets for the game against Newcastle on 1st October?
    
    If so please mail me at Peter Hardy @olo
    
    They don't go on sale to the general public until the 26th.
    
    thanks
    
    Peter

    
    Thought there might be some action in here this morning. Missed the
    match on tv - someone got a report?
    
    Paul.
    

Errr.. I missed most of it too due to getting caught in a torrential downpour.
8-(

Regardless of how the game went, 1-0 is as good result as could be expected for
Villa. It was fortunate that we got to play them away first, because this way
there was less incentive for them to turn us over in the San Siro, like they did
last time. Good to see Dalian back in for Houghton, but it would be even better
to see Bosnich back in goal.

Mike

    I saw the game on Italian TV, and I thought the result was just about
    fair. Villa gave as good as they got in the first half, but sat back a
    little in the second and were punished 15 minutes from time (a
    Bergkamp penalty).
    
    However, on the evidence of last night they look a far more solid team
    than Inter, who are desperately missing a centre forward. The Italian
    press were fairly impressed with Villa too; no real stars, but
    well-organised, quick and difficult to break down. I thought McGrath,
    Richardson, Staunton and Saunders were the pick of the Villa team; I've
    always considered Stephen "Up-and-Under" Staunton to be the sort of
    player that gives British football a bad name, but last night he proved
    me wrong. Dalian Atkinson, playing very deep, posed a lot of problems
    in the first half with some mazy dribbles, but faded in the second
    half.
    
    The second leg looks pretty open. You'll have to be careful of Ruben
    Sosa and Bergkamp on the break, but I think Villa now look overall
    stronger than Inter, which wasn't the case when they met 3/4 years ago.
    
    Dom

  well done "the veeee-lah". this was an absolute belter of a game and
  more than compensated for the moribund matches I watched the two previous
  evenings. Its a shame it had to go to penalties ( who would have thought that
  Sosa would miss? ), but I firmly believe it was a just result. If I was BFR,
  my only complaint would be the performance of Dalian Atkinson, a player 
  of obvious talent, who I feel just does not deliver enough, often enough.

  Stuart

    
    Congratulations to Villa on a truly excellant performance. What a
    change from the dross we had to suffer from Blackburn & Man U.
    Here's hoping both Villa & Newcastle can make it all the way to the
    final.
    
    

    well done the Villa, one of the best performances by an English team in
    Europe for yonks and well done to Inter for trying to play football
    instead of trying to hammer out a 0-0 draw....
    
    Man of the Match???? had to be Razor Houghton....

    I bet Phil King is really disappointed about being dumped by Trevor
    Francis now? Well done Villa! Again I didn't see the match, just caught
    King's penalty and the celebrations.
    
    Paul.
    

    
    I think Blackburn and Man Utd should be hanging their heads in shame
    this morning over their lack of comparitive effort!
    
    What a fabulous performance.
    
    Ian.

    
    	I concur with the last 5 notes. Absolutely magnificent performance
    	by the Villa last night. Shame on United and Blackburn. Villa and
    	Newcastle blaze a worthy trail for English clubs in Europe.
    
    	Well done to Arse and Chelsea too. 4 out of 5 in the ko
    	competitions progressed.
    
    	Andy.

    
    	Come on chaps, gives us a match report, please!
    
    JBG

We were dead ace, they weren't bad. Big Fat Ron pulls another stormer out of the
hat. If only he could do it in the League once in a while.

The team was:

			Spink
Barrett		Ehiogu		McGrath		King
Houghton	Townsend	Richardson	Staunton
		Saunders	Atkinson

Saunders was subbed for Guy Whittingham early on. Richardson for Parker later.

Due to the infinite wisdom of carlton I had to watch the first half on a snowy
ghost-ridden very weak Meridian signal, which was a tad annoying. I also missed
the first 20 minutes so I didn't see Deano get injured. I thought we were
buggered when whittingham came on but the boy done alright, and he must be
better than Fash the Cash.

The first half was fairly even with Villa just edging the latter stages. The
commentators moaned on about Houghton having beaten Pagliuca in the World Cup,
and lo and behold he did it again, with a searing half volley from about four
feet.

The second half wasa  story of Villa pressure At tone point Ehiogu almost let
some Inter forward in, but recovered just in time to knock the ball out for a
corner. It was good to see Garry Parker come on in the second half, but it's a
shame Dwight didn't get a chance. Poxy UEFA rules.

We hit the cross bar once and pressed throughout extra time without scoring.
Penalties came and I once again started to lose hope. Pagliuca being rather an
ace goalie and Spink being, well, rather ancient. But anway the first three were
put away by either side and then I think Fontalan skyed his for Inter. Our chap
missed, can't remember who it was btu pagliuca saved with a dive to his left
Parker? Sosa in the greatest piece of justice for manya year botched his and
Phil King smacked his in to win the tie. Adios Inter and hello second round.

Ruben Sosa was guilty of some disgraceful dives and rightly got booked for a
particularly crappy effort late in the game.

Can't remember much else because most of the time I couldn't bear to look. 8-)

Mike

Count me in as well - I didn't think they could do it, but they did, 
deservedly. Inter weren't allowed to play, and looked shell-shocked most of 
the time. Brilliant performance.

>put away by either side and then I think Fontalan skyed his for Inter. Our chap
>missed, can't remember who it was btu pagliuca saved with a dive to his left

Whittingham.

grahame (hoping we avoid you in today's draw!)

>Whittingham.

That's the fellow. I knew we shouldn't have bought him. 8-)

Still at least we didn't have kev on the field at that point. Just imagine if
he's had to take the last kick. 8-)

Mike

    One of the best games I have seen in ages.  Who's playing Villa on
    saturday, it'll be a walkover, the Villa players put so much in last
    night I'd be surprised to see them out of wheelchairs by the weekend.
    
    An absolute credit to British football, it was also good to see Inter
    adopt this style when it became obvious the Italian patience game was
    not going to work.  Soza is a cheat and his penalty miss was justice,
    why do such talented players (mostly continentals) have such an evil
    side to their game ?  I thought Atkinson had a superb game, always
    putting the defence under pressure and forcing them into mistakes. 
    When Saunders went off, I was hoping for Basher to come on, he would
    have stirred them up even more.  Whittingham was so unlucky at the end
    of extra time, and how did Houghton miss the rebound (knackered !).
    
    
    Nev

Villa are playing Newcastle on Saturday, which is a scary thought (but not for
them).

Stan was superb last night and was unlucky not to score. Ugo looks to be a
developing megastar and John Wayne will have to fight his way back into the
side. Phil King has also been playing well. At about 1/20th of the price of Phil
Babb he was a steal, and it's a good job Wednesday could spare him from their
talent-laden defence. 8-)

Atkinson was patchy but played a great one-two with ???? at some point, after
using his strength to steal the ball from an Inter defender. 

Anybody know what time the draw for the next round is?

Mike

    Well, here in Italy they only showed the game in crypted format on one
    of Berlusconi's pay-TV channels. The owners of a nearby bar obviously
    have a decoder because I could the cheers, especially during the
    penalty shoot-off. Even then, I had no real clue as to how things were
    going because there were cheers from the Inter supporters when
    Wittingham missed...and cheers from the Milan supporters when Fontolan
    and Ruben Sosa missed!
    
    Fortunately, they showed the highlights afterwards in normal (decoded)
    format - and it certainly did look a cliffhanger. Wittingham's chip
    against the bar was the highlight for me, although Staunton, Townsend
    and Houghton looked to be involved in everything. A great result for
    villa, especially as Inter appear to have just hit form in the Italian
    championship.
    
    The after-match analysis on TV was interesting. The two channels I
    tuned in to had differing views. Tele+2 thought that Villa thoroughly
    dominated and deserved to win well before extra time. Fulvio Collovati,
    who played centre half in Italy's 1982 WC-winning team, said: "We got
    the Aston Villa we expected - but we didn't get the Inter we
    expected..." (apologies for the approx. translation).
    
    Italia 1, on the other hand, thought that Inter were the better team
    "over the 180 minutes" (?). To be fair, their judgement was probably
    clouded by the fact that chose to interview the Inter president,
    Pellegrini, immediately after the game. After paying tribute to Villa,
    he then went on to say that Inter were terribly unlucky, should have
    sewn the game up at San Siro, etc, etc. The TV commentators then
    followed suit, said that Villa were little more than workmanlike, and so
    on. 
    
    The press seem to have given 7s and 6.5s to the Villa players (in
    particular, Staunton, Houghton, King and Wittingham), and 6s and 5.5s
    to the Inter players (with the exception of Pagliuca who got 8). Not
    that you should ever read too much into these things.
    
    Dom

>side. Phil King has also been playing well. At about 1/20th of the price of Phil
>Babb he was a steal, and it's a good job Wednesday could spare him from their
>talent-laden defence. 8-)
    
    Come on Mike, it's bad enough seeing all these ex-Wednesday defenders
    doing well without being reminded about it. Mind you, Tricky Trev did
    have the foresight to get rid of two naturally left-sided full backs
    (King and Worthington) and replace them with a right-footed one from
    Tranmere!! So things must be getting better.
    
    Good luck to Villa in the next round.
    
    Paul (who wishes BFR was still at Hillsborough).
     

    I wa sat Villa Park last night - the atmosphere was brilliant and the
    result right.
    
    I probably didn't get as good a view as the tv but it was brilliant to
    see Sosa booked for diving, taking so long over a free-kick that the
    half-time whistle went and then missing his pen!!
    
    Phil King was excellent defensively but his passing lacked a bit of
    accuracy.  
    Barrett and Ehiog were also outstanding and Staunton as good as ever.
    
    Some of the oldies (Richardson, Houghton, McGrath) may suffer a bit
    after that and it wil be interesting to see the team and the
    performance against Newcastle on Saturday.
    Regards abd farewell
    Dave Clarkson 

When we bought Phil King I admit that my first reaction was who? It'll teach me
to trust BFR's judgement in future. 8-)

All the other clubs spending millions made me fear for the season, but I think
we've done alright to get King and Lamptey. Fash I won't mention. 8-)

Why did Francis get rid of King? 

mike

    Big bust-up with Francis and bad injury has kept him out of the team
    for the last couple of years.
    
    Paul. 

    
    Trabzonspor V Villa in the next round.

Ouch! You deserved better than that.

g

This is a bit of a mare of a draw for Villa. Are all Turkish teams as hospitable
as Galatasaray? If so this brings with it all the danger of playing Real Madrid
and all the glamour and commensurate financial rewards of playing Scunthorpe.
Harrumph. Still, it could have been worse I suppose. 8-(

Mike

    
    	Nonsense. This is a good draw for Villa if you were looking for
    	progress to the next round. You've avoided the big names, and there
    	are plenty in this competition....
    
    	Andy.

    The problem is that there is a general paranoia about Turkish teams
    after ManU's adventures(!) last year. Technically, I don't think that
    the Turks are superior to English teams and certainly if I was a Villa
    fan I think I would be jumping through hoops at avoiding Real Madrid
    etc.
    
    

I see Villa (fans, at least) are concentrating on Europe now?!

grahame

We don't have to concentrate that hard to win in Europe, Grahame. 8-)

Mike

Hello,

     Firstly congratulations on your magnificent performmance versus Inter

     Does anybody know what date the second leg is on and what would the 

     chance of getting 2 TICKETS be as i will be in Birmingham that week and

     i would like to take in a few games also any chance of picking up tickets

     for the game v The Mancs on Sunday 6th i would appreciate any help

     info etc.

      Tony......
     

Can some kind soul tell me who we've got in the next round of our cup?

Mike

    
    Middlesborough

Not Mansfield then?

Mike

Good news for Villa. Trabzonspor's "top" striker B Orhan had his legs broken
during the international with Iceland in a challenge with the Icelandic goalie.

Mike

That last note probably sounded a bit callous didn't it? For the record I'd just
like to point out that Orhan has my deepest sympathies and I am not at all over
the moon that he'll be watching the game from hospital rather than running rings
round our defence.

Mike

    
    What, both legs...Some challange.....
    
    Neil..

Maybe it was only one leg.

Mike

    I know that BFR is worried about the opposition but asking one of
    Deadly Dougs' lackeys to "do" the guy seems a trifle excessive 8-)
    

Hello,

      Does anybody know the date and time for the 2nd leg.



                                                 Rgds,

                                                 Tony.
    

    Tony,
    
    2nd leg is today (18th) in Turkey at about 6.00 GMT I think (that's
    8.00 local time?)
    
    Paul.

Hmmmm. I suspect that today's match is actually the first leg, it being the
first match played and all. I would imagine that the second leg will be played a
fortnight from today.

Mike

    Sorry, got my legs and rounds mixed up, as usual. This can cause loads
    of confusion at Pubs ("I'll get them, it's my leg") and when buying
    trousers ("My inside round is 34 inches")....
    
    Paul.

    
    Re 67.472
    
    I thought this was a message from one of "Dougs" hitmen asking when 
    to finish the job.8*)
    
    Davie

Losing 1-0 is a decent enough result because we should be good enough at home to
put one or two past them. I don't think (based on what's being said in the net)
that they're the sort of team that can defend a lead so it might be goals
aplenty at the Park. Guy Whittingham needs to be shot, but I suppose he gets a
thin veneer of credit for at least being in the right place. I would certainly
drop McGrath in favour of Teale for the return leg and play either Yorke or
Bosnich. I'd also put Dalian in because he's our only flair player. My team for
the reurn:
	Bosnich
	Barrett, Ehiogu, Teale, King
	Townsend, Richardson, Staunton/Parker, Yorke/Lamptey
	Atkinson, Saunders

Mike

What total crap. Even the Villa fans at the end were singing "We are shit".

I have never been to a more depressing football game (and I used to go and watch
Grimsby Town).

Villa's team was as follows:

			Bosnich
Barrett		McGrath		Ehiogu		Staunton
		Richardson Townsend Parker
	Lamptey				Yorke
			Saunders

We started off okay, with Yorkey skinning the QPR full back once or twice only
for the crosses to go nowhere near our players. QPR at this point looked really
bad, and the Villa fans were expecting a good victory. Lamptey missed an open
goal, and Saunders was very industrious.

The defence looked good until a pitiful pass by some QPR midfielder drifted
slowly towards Paul McGrath after about half an hour. Paul kindly moved out of
the way, presumably expecting Bosnich to be stood directly behind him. He
wasn't, but fortunately some long haired grebo type QPR forward was (Dichio?)
and he scored.

Villa were rubbish for the rest of the game. Parker was completely useless,
Richardson was eventually subbed for Fenton, but it was no surprise when QPR
scored another comedy goal at the end of the match. 

If that's your Premiership, you can keep it. Give me Rovers any day of the week.

Mike

    
    Mike,
    
    	if its any consolation Mike, Sky Sports claimed that Bosnich called
    for the ball which is why McGrath let it go........
    
    ......no, I didn't think it would be any consolation. Bosnich doesn't
    look too good in midfield either. Maybe you should look to sign that
    Austrian keeper old Heribert was on about! 8-)
    
    Just trying to be helpful.
    
    JBG

    
    	re .478..
    
    	Mike, your note was hilarious. Cheered me up no end. When you
    	can laugh at and criticise your own, you're half way there.
    
    	Cheer up. You're only playing for Europe, after all.
    
    	We're behind you on Wednesday? against the Turks. Give 'em 'ell!!
    
    	Andy.
  

Well, it's the (next) big one tonight. I hope BFR has given the team an absolute
roasting for the way they're been playing recently. The midfield is mostly to
blame, and I wouldn't be too disappointed if Ron were to drop most of them. I
definitely would for the Man Utd game on saturday because the half hearted toss
we've been churning out recently is going to earn us nowt but a smacking against
the mancs.

My team for tonight would be (I can't see BFR agreeing though) Spink, Barrett,
Ehiogu, McGrath, King, Yorke, Houghton, Fenton, Farrell, Saunders, Whittingham.

Mike

Hi Mike,

Sorry about Saturday, but at least after last night it puts you in the 
Liverpool class!

Re your team for tonight - too many foreigners? (Yorke, McGrath, Houghton, 
Saunders)

All the best - Atkinson to get 2 to take you through.

grahame

    Apparently BFR is going to play Dalian Atkinson tonight due to injuries
    to Whittingham and Fash the Bash

That's probably good news. Atkinson has the potential to be our best player by a
mile if he could be bothered to drag himself out of the Pie shop.

Mike

    Commiserations I suppose, but how you missed having a goalscorer on the
    pitch (or even someone who could make contact with the ball in the
    penalty area at one stage!). Saunders was horrendous and Townsend
    probably worse.
    
    Big problems at Villa and our last hope in Europe is the Mancs. joy of
    joys.
    
    Ian.

    Oh well there's always next year, eh lads.
    
    Saunders needs shooting (practice) as does Townsend and Ehiogu for the
    chances that they missed. Nobody but themselves to blame really
    although I didn't think that Dalian Atkinson was offside when he put
    the ball in the net but thems the breaks.
    
    Never thought I'd ever have to say it but hopefully the Mancs will get
    a good result tonight so that we can keep up the number of Uefa Cup
    places or even increase them. 
    
    I think that Arsenal could have a similar problem to Villa when it
    comes to scoring on Thursday but fortunately we've got a couple of away
    goals to play with....

    Re: -2
    
>   Big problems at Villa and our last hope in Europe is the Mancs. joy of
>   joys.
    
    It's good to see that your happy to have us representing you Ian ! 
    
    However, let's not write off Arsenal and Chelsea just yet. They both 
    play their second leg games on Thursday.
    
    
    Jerry.     

    
    > However, let's not write off Arsenal and Chelsea just yet. 
    
    Big problems at Villa and our last hope in Europe is the Mancs. joy of
    joys.
    
    :-)
    
    Ian.

    
    > ... our last hope in Europe is the Mancs.
              ^^^^
    
    Surely that should read lost 8-)
    
    Stuart

    
    Villa Supporters...
    
    BFR purchased Nil Lamptey in the summer, is he ever going to play
    him in a game that matters..?
    
    Saunders and Atkinson are sh*t. Lamptey has scored in both games he has
    played hasnt he..?
    
    Deadly Doug won't put up with much more of this, maybe BFR has lost it,
    the signs were there when he bought Fashanu..
    
    Dave...

>    Stuart
     ^^^^^^
    
    
    Surely that should read Smartass 8-)
    
    Jerry.

You realise that that was a compliment for him, don't you?

Lamptey played against QPR on Saturday and was useless apart from one decent run
but even that was followed by a Paul Ince special row Z shot. Saunders works
hard and I think that's what BFR wants these days. Atkinson is just a crap lazy
git who would probably be brilliant if there was some kind of performance
related pay in the Premiership. Fortunately I am a raging Marxist so I despise
that idea and I'll just have to put up with him never being any good. As for
Townsend, Ron should have read my note and dropped him. 8-)

Mike

Well, much as I love his highlights, I must say that the first United goal on
Sunday was entirely Andy Townsend's fault. When Ince got the ball, Townsend
closed him down as if to block the shot. Why he bothered I'll never know because
everyone knows that Ince always misses when he shoots from outside the area.
Unfortunately, unable to see the goal Ince couldn't aim and consequently hit the
target. Worse still, having closed the blighter down Andy dove out of the way of
the shot. What a big girl's blouse.

We dominated the game for the last forty minutes of the second half, and Walsh
made a couple of really spectacular saves from Dwight Yorke. BFR not picking
Dwight will always be a mystery to me because I think he's been our only decent
attacking player this season.

Oh well, at least we didn't go down any places. 

Villa at Wimbledon on Wednesday but I won't be able to see it because I agreed
to go and see a friend in South Pacific at the Reading Hexagon. $!@*&%! 8-(

Mike

    
    
    Latest...
    
    Ron Atkinson has been SACKED!!!!
    
    
    
    Aron....
    
    
    p.s Should be Saunders and Co!!!!

You are joking aren't you?

BFR sacked?

Should I be happy? Probably, so why aren't I?

Mike

    
    Its true. Atkinsons gone due to a poor run of results.
    
    Ian.

So all we need to happen now is for Wednesday to get rid of Francis, and then 
BFR can go back there again, tearfully adding it's the only club he ever 
REALLY wanted to be with - honest.

Or possibly not.

g

    
    	This is not a rumour. Ron Atkinson has been officially relieved
    	of his duties as manager at Aston Villa.
    
    	Deadly Doug Ellis strikes again, although to be honest I knew it
    	was on the cards after the exit to Trabzonspor.
    
    	He won't be unemployed for long. I reckon this makes him favourite
    	for the Everton job...
    
    	Andy.

    
    Andy, 
    
    Watty told me that Joe Royle had already signed up for Everton, but it
    was only a rumour.
    He's leaving DEC again in 3 weeks. Time for a bevvy i think (after he's
    gone! :-)
    
    Ian.

    I DO NOT AGREE WITH THE SACKING OF BFR. AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED THE
    PLAYERS ARE TO BLAME. BEING A CELTIC MAN , I CAN UNDERSTSTAND HOW THE
    FANS FEEL BUT AFTER WATCHING THEIR LAST FEW GAMES ON TV THE EVIDENCE
    IS CLEAR.CERTAIN PLAYERS NOT GIVEN A CHANCE PLUS A FEW THAT NEED A GOOD
    KICK IN THE BACKSIDE.
    ALL THE BEST TO BFR AND IF HE LANDS UP AT A DECENT CLUB , PUT A FEW 
    BOB ON THEM WINNING SOMETHING SOON..
    
    

    
    re. last GET THE CAPS OFF !
    
    Big surprise the sacking of BFR. Doug Ellis has certainly pressed the
    panic button. Atkinson was on radio 5 tonight and although everything
    he said was dignified you could tell he was bitter and slightly
    surprised. IMO he should have been given at least the next 3rd of the
    season considering what he's done for Villa. In the 3 seasons he was
    there they were runners up in the league championship,league cup
    winners and qualified for Europe 2 seasons out of 3. NOT the record
    of a bad manager. Although 4 go down this season Ellis has jumped the 
    gun a bit. Granted recent results were poor, but I reckon thats more to 
    do with the players letting BFR down rather than BFR letting Villa down.  
    It was only a month ago Atkinson was being congratulated for the way
    his side had knocked Inter Milan out of the UEFA Cup. How quickly things 
    change. Trabzonspor was a disappointment but you can't legislate for
    players of the quality of Townsend and Saunders missing gilt edge chances.
    
    He should have been given longer.
    
    Del.

    I'm surprised by the news and I can understand Atkinson being bitter
    about it. I wish he'd stopped at Hillsborough where he had already
    built a team that had won one trophy and went on to third place the
    season he left.
    
    With this new legislation that the PL has just passed it's going to be
    difficult for all these teams to get a new management team. Is the
    league covered by the new rules or will the PL teams just pick off the
    best managers from the lower divisions?
    
    I'd fancy Bruce Rioch to get one of the jobs on offer.
    
    Paul.

Gerry Francis is odds on for the replacement, apparently they wanted him when
Graham Taylor did the off.....

    Rather unfortunate to put it mildly. BFR for all his faults is one the
    best managers about, in that he brings the best out players who were
    otherwise heading for anonymity, ie Saunders, Richardson.
    
    The new Tottenham manager?

    >>best managers about, in that he brings the best out players who were
    >>otherwise heading for anonymity, ie Saunders, Richardson.
    
    What has Saunders ever done?

I reckon (given his record) that Atkinson must be the unluckiest Premier
manager to get the chop. Apparently he had only recently agreed a new two
year contract, but hadn't signed it... so maybe that charming man Ellis thought
he'd better get in quick to save on compensation.

Norman

re : .507

Scored goals?  Made tackles?  Won Matches?  Raised Morale?

Quite a lot, I would have thought.

    Actually, he has brought back the art of shooting whilst poking your
    tongue out. That usually stops when you're 13/14 but Deano has made it
    to the top and still does it ;-)
    
    Stuart

Even though he looks like Desperate Dan, half the time.

    Given the money that has changed hands for Saunders, and for someone
    who is supposed to be a goal scorer, his scoring record is pathetic. 
    He's on a par with the other Deano for being a flop.

Some people have got extremely short memories.  He's turned many matches in the 
last 3 seasons, and was not simply bought as a finisher a la Lineker.  His 
passing is good, as is his vision and anticipation.  People don't point the 
finger at Mark Hughes just because he doesn't score as often as he'd like.  It's 
a lot more than just scoring the goals.

    
    	..and he's Welsh, Matt. 8-)

Not only is he Welsh, but he's from Morriston, in Swansea!  i.e.where I was born

        <<< Note 67.515 by CHEFS::GEORGEM "Sinning with a safety net" >>>

>Not only is he Welsh, but he's from Morriston, in Swansea!  i.e.where I was born

Thank you for sharing that with us,

Stuart

pleasure, I assure you.

CEEFAX this morning were claiming that Graham Souness is in line for the Villa
Park hotseat. I welcome this news, because I've always thought that he was a
good manager, and his appointment should mean I get to see Donny-Villa a lot
sooner than I would have done otherwise.

If life was perfect, we'd appoint Ron Saunders and make Gordan Cowans his
deputy, but I doubt that we'd be able to convince Ron to make a return. 8-)

Mike

IT ALSO SAID IN THE DAILY RECORD THAT DOUG ELLIS CAN'T PERSUADE
SOUNESS TO TAKE IT STEVE COPPELL IS NEXT IN LINE.

CHOPPERS THE TIM
C.T.T.

    Stop shouting.....
    
    
    Take the caps lock off..!!!

    ok what's happening at the Villa? is Souness the manager yet?
    has an injury list been announced already
    
    regards
    
    Andrew.D.Wicks

Steve Coppell would be good, Souness a nightmare. Luton have told us to leave
David Pleat alone. Suits me. Who wants a manager with a quiff like that?

I've booked my ticket for Saturday's game at Spurs, although I can't for the
life me think why. Have we even bothered to appoint a caretaker manager yet?

What's the best way to get to White Hart Lane from Paddington?

Cheers,

Mike

    I should think that Mr Pleat would love a big city job where the red
    light district is the size of Luton ;-)
    
    Stuart
    
    ps
    
    >What's the best way to get to White Hart Lane from Paddington.
    
    Taxi! Failing that, go to Kings Cross and change to the Victoria line
    to 7 sisters and then get a taxi.
    

    Taxi? Someone is being paid too much. It's about 10-15 miles across
    central London and would cost a fortune.
    
    Circle line round to Kings Cross, catch 73 bus right outside station
    (they go to more than one destination so make sure it's got Tottenham
    on the front). Doesn't go al lthe way to the ground so ask the
    conductor or get off when you see lots of newly optimistic faces
    heading in a certain direction.
    
    Paul.

Thanks very much for the info. My bike got nicked last week, so I haven't got
enough money to afford a taxi. Not that I would have anyway. 8-)

Mike

    
    On the way you might like to purchase a copy of the autobiography
    "Perryman: My life as a Spurs manager".
    
    Apparently its being sold in a rather unique Postage stamp format.
    
    Andy

Mike,

Seven Sisters Tube is a bloody long walk, we're talking rucksack and hiking
boots, possibly a compass as well.  A better way is to got to Paddington on
the Thames Turbo (35 mins approx), should arrive on platform 8 or 9. Platform
10 and 11 is the Hammersmith and City line, get first tube, and get off at
Moorgate, following signs to Moorgate British Rail, then any local train going
North will stop at Tottenham Hale, this is the nearest station, it's less hassle
and less crush, plus you don't meet so many of those delightful tottenham fans.

Where did you bike get nicked? or were you joking?,

good luck on Sat....

Mark D.

    Sorry but I still maintain that Taxi is the best way to WHL 8-)
    
    Stuart

You big southern jessie. I'm tempted to walk all the way from Reading. Probably.

mike

    Oooh you northern folk are soooo butch 

Mike,

how about a taxi all the way, it's about 68 quid if booked in advance.

    >..it's about 68 quid
    
    Why not go with some friends and cut the cost. You could also take a
    packed lunch with lots of Cucumber sandwiches, oodles of choclate cake
    and lashings of Ginger Beer...
    
    Oh I think the stress and strain of life is getting to me
    
    Stuart

(Where's Gary Waite when we 'need' him?)

After last night's result in Belfast, I'm sure I can here BFR screaming 'why 
couldn't the b*****s play like that for us?'!!

grahame

Villa are just unlucky in front of goal. I confidently predict an avalanche of
goals at WHL after Super Andy's stormer last night. It's a shame that we won't
be able to sing big fat ron's claret army anymore though. 8-(

I wonder who will pick the team....

Mike

    > I wonder who will pick the team
    
    Simple. Deadly Dougs missus. 

David Pleat should be avoided at all costs, the only thing his fit for is
picking up innocent girls off the pavement and replacing his double glazing at
his home in Luton, he has such a great rapore with some of the Luton Fans.

>favourite is ex-Villa striker Brian Little, currently with Leicester City. This
>is great news. I've always rated him as a manager since he took Darlington from
    
    Damn, I was hoping that Little would be taking over from TF at
    Hillsboro' after we beat West Ham. We'll have to make do with Bruce
    Rioch or BFR.
    
    Paul.

After the way BFR parted company with Wednesday last time, I doubt he'll go back
in a hurry. I think BFR has signed his Premiership management death warrant by
spending so much time farting about on telly, eg in the last world cup BFR was
commentating while the rest of the Prem bosses were spending millions buying new
players.

An article in 90 minutes this week claims that Villa are in deep financial sh*t
if we don't sort ourselves out, so we need to get a quality manager soon.

Mike

re .538

	Paul,

	Don't worry, you'll either lose or draw with West Ham which
	means you'll be stuck with TF until you beat them sometime
	in the long distant future -).

	Phil.

>After the way BFR parted company with Wednesday last time, I doubt he'll go back
>in a hurry. I think BFR has signed his Premiership management death warrant by
    
    Mike,
    
    At the time there was a lot of bad feelings about BFR going to Villa
    but the fact that he was in two minds about going to manage the club he
    supported as a lad says a lot about his feelings for Wednesday. Francis
    had the advantage of taking over a successful and settled side (albeit
    an old one like Villa's now) and he's also had a lot more dosh to spend
    on the team. I don't think he's done very well and it's getting worse.
    
    I think quite a few Wednesday supporters, myself included, feel that TF
    doesn't have much more time left and if BFR was prepared to come back
    then I don't think there would be too much dissent. After all it was
    Atkinson who formed the team that won the Run Cup and it was
    essentially the same team that went on to third place the next season.
    However, as I don't live in Sheffield now it's difficult to judge
    everyone's feelings.
    
    Paul.
    

Paul,

It's interesting that you mention the fact that BFR's Wednesday team was old,
because that's exactly what he's done at Villa. Deadly Doug even offered him
money to get some new players in but he seems to prefer sticking with hardened
professionals. From a supporter's view I don't think this is particularly
exciting, because it means there's never anything new about the team. Dreary old
farts like Richardson, Townsend, Houghton, et. al. don't exactly send shivers
down your spine do they?

I'll be happy if we sign Little, because at least he might take the occasional
risk.

Mike

    Mike
    
    Stop complaining. It's only when you have dull and uninspiring players
    like John Jensen, Martin Keown, Andy Linighan, Paul Davis and Ian Selly
    that you are allowed to whinge, moan and whine ;-)
    
    Stuart
    
    ps Before any says anything - yes I know that there are 15/20 other
    players in the Arsenal squad but the above named are most talentless
    that sprang immediately to mind

I'd never thought of that. I suppose I should be counting my blessings really.
Mind you Richardson was an Arsenal player when he was any good, and didn't GG
try to buy Townsend when he left Chelsea? At least you've got nicer shirts than
we have. 8-)

Mike

    >At least you've got nicer shirts than we have
    
    Mike
    
    I always knew there was a reason for supporting Arsenal. It has to be
    their fashion concious kits. Yep, I love having Arsenal splashed all
    across my backside... (Not that I have bought either of the new kits)
    
    Stuart

Arrived a few seconds after the kick-off, thanks to Mark for directions to
fictional train station. Didn't miss any of the action though, so he's still
walking. 8-)

Upon arrival Spurs were on the attack, so I settled down to another Loftus
Road-esque personal disaster. Oh me of little faith.

A great cross from the right by Earl Barrett after about 10 minutes was met by a
fantastic near post header from Dalian Atkinson, leaving Walker stranded and the
Villa fans going mental. Chants of Big Fat Ron's Claret Army erupted across the
Park Lane end, whatever it's called, which must have made Jim barron feel really
appreciated.

After about another quarter of an hour, in which Villa had all the play, Fenton
finished superbly from a great Garry Parker cross. 2-0 and the Villa fans are
stunned. Despite all I said about Parker after the QPR game, he had an absolute
stormer this week, and was behind most of our attacks. Fenton scored again six
minutes later and it looked like being a romp.

Houghton and King continued to destroy Kerslake down our left flank, with
Houghton in particular looking lethal every time he touched the ball.
Unfortunately, things tuned a bit sour just before half time when Sheringham
pulled one back. Kerslake went off injured, to be replaced by Nethercott and my
dreams of a seven goal thrashing were revived. 

The second half began, I think, with some foreign type forward diving in the
area and getting booked for it. I think Barmby came on for Caskey about that
time as well. Sheringham was pulled back by King and Klinsmann scored from the
spot. The Villa faithful were a tad upset about the penalty and lots of stewards
appeared from nowhere. There was a little bit of trouble a bit later, but nowt
serious.

After 75 minutes Klinsmann scored again after a goalmouth scramble, and I
thought we'd had it. Parker missed a sitter, Bosnich pulled off a miracle save
from Klinsmann, and then Deano shredded fat Gary Mabbutt and shot with the
outside of his foot after 91 minutes. 4-3, much happiness in the Villa end, and
the final whistle went shortly afterwards.

After the final whistle Bozzy threw his gloves into the crowd, and the players
stood around like they'd won the World Cup or something. The fans sang BFR's
Claret Army for several minutes after the whistle went. Keeping my gob shut in a
tube train full of miserable cockneys was difficult, but the ones we did talk to
seemed okay about it, so maybe I should have just rubbed it in.

Or maybe not. 8-)

Mike

ooops!

The Leicester chairman is refusing to let Brian Little speak to Villa. This is
probably because Little is going to leave, and Leicester want as much money as
possible in compensation. I doubt deadly Doug will be put off what he wants by
anything short of the apocalypse so I just hope they sort it out soon.
Personally, I wouldn't mind too much if Jim Barron were given the job and I
think it will be a shame if Brian sacks him when he gets the post.

Mike

    A sticking point seems to be DD's lack of willingness to put any
    compensation package to Leicester. 

	A bit like Fergus McCann!

CTT

    
    	Is there any premier league football at Villa Park tomorrow night?
    	I'm in the area and could (easily?!) persuade Mr Ferraro to stop to
    	catch a game in Birmingham....as long as it isn't against
    	Wimbledon ! 8-}
    
        Andy.

    Obviously Villa want to make sure that they can get on the Leicester
    bandwagon & play 1st Dividion football next year... :->
    
    IMHO.. the only way Villa are going to stay up is to appoint someone
    like David Pleat... otherwise they've had it...
    
    Rick.

    Why does everyone think that the sun shines out of David Pleats ar$e?
    He isn't that good a manager. If he was, Luton would be a major force
    in English football, even with their limited budget. 
    
    If memory serves, Tottenham got beaten at Wembley by a not particularly 
    good Coventry side in 1987. Personally, I rate Brian Little higher than
    Pleat but then again BFR was better than both of them. DD may yet
    regret his haste.
    
    Stuart 

David Pleat would take us straight into the Endsleith league. He is the last
person we want. If football teams were run by the fans (what a dream that would
be) Deadly would reappoint Big Fat Ron.

We're too good to go down. 8-)

Mike

    According to one seriously pi**ed-off Leicester fan, Brian Little has
    resigned this afternoon.

Little has said that he doesn't know what he's going to do next, and it might
not be management. If Villa appoint him now, I suppose we are likely to get
accused of poaching.

Mike

    Apparently Villa have approached the Premier League to ask guidance on
    how to deal with Mr Little.
    
    Rather ironic that he is on the PL committee that is looking into the
    registration of managers to stop poaching during a season...
    
    Stuart
    

Is it really poaching then? We are, at least, trying to do the right thing.

Anyway, here's our season so far.

Mike

FA Carling Premiership Fixtures 1994/95
---------------------------------------

20.08.94  (A) 	Everton		2-2   	Fashanu, Saunders		 8th
24.08.94  (H)	Southampton	1-1  	Saunders			12th
27.08.94  (H)	Crystal Palace  1-1  	Staunton			13th
31.08.94  (A)	Coventry	1-0     Yorke				 9th
10.09.94  (H)	Ipswich Town	2-0  	Staunton, Saunders		 9th
17.09.94  (A)	West Ham	0-1					 9th
24.09.94  (A)	Blackburn	1-3   	Ehiogu			       	 9th
01.10.94  (H)	Newcastle Utd   0-2					12th
08.10.94  (A)	Liverpool      	2-3	Whittingham, Staunton		14th   
15.10.94  (H)	Norwich City    1-1	Saunders			15th
22.10.94  (H)	Notts Forest    0-2					16th  
29.10.94  (A)	QPR    	        0-2					19th 
05.11.94  (H)	Manchester Utd  1-2	Atkinson			19th    
09.11.94  (A)	Wimbledon       3-4	Parker, Saunders 2		19th
19.11.94  (A)	Spurs	        4-3	Atkinson, Fenton 2, Saunders	19th
26.11.94  (H)	Sheffield Weds     
03.12.94  (A)	Leicester        
10.12.94  (H)	Everton      
17.12.94  (A)	Southampton      
26.12.94  (A)	Arsenal	         
27.12.94  (H)	Chelsea      
31.12.94  (A)	Man City         
02.01.95  (H)	Leeds United      
14.01.95  (H)	QPR     
21.01.95  (A)	Notts Forest     
25.01.95  (H)	Spurs      
04.02.95  (A)	Man United       
11.02.95  (H)	Wimbledon     
18.02.95  (A)	Sheff Weds      
22.02.95  (H)	Leicester City     
25.02.95  (A)	Newcastle    
04.03.95  (H)	Blackburn Rovers      
08.03.95  (H)	Coventry City      
11.03.95  (A)	Crys Palace      
18.03.95  (H)	West Ham United      
01.04.95  (A)	Ipswich Town     
08.04.95  (H)	Manchester City      
15.04.95  (A)	Chelsea	         
17.04.95  (H)	Arsenal      
29.04.95  (A)	Leeds Utd        
06.05.95  (H)	Liverpool      
13.05.95  (A)	Norwich City


Coca-Cola Cup Fixtures 1994/95
------------------------------

1st Round
---------
21.09.94  (H)   Wigan Athletic  5-0	Yorke, Saunders, Lamptey, Atkinson 2
06.10.94  (A)	Wigan Athletic	3-0	Lamptey 2, Whittingham

2nd Round
---------
26.10.94  (H)	Middlesbrough	1-0	Townsend

3rd Round
---------
30.11.94  (A)	Crystal Palace


UEFA Cup Fixtures 1994/95
-------------------------

1st Round
---------
15.09.94  (A)   Internazionale	0-1   	
29.09.94  (H)   Internazionale  1-0	Houghton
		Penalties:	4-3	Parker, Staunton, Townsend, King
2nd Round
---------
18.10.94  (A) 	Trabzonspor	0-1
01.11.94  (H)	Trabzonspor	2-1	Atkinson, Ehiogu


Scorers
-------

		    League  FA Cup  CC Cup  UEFA Cup	Total
		    ------  ------  ------  --------	-----
Saunders	       7	      1		       	  8
Atkinson	       2	      2		1         5
Staunton	       3			       	  3
Lamptey				      3			  3
Fenton		       2			       	  2
Ehiogu		       1			1         2
Yorke		       1	      1		       	  2
Whittingham    	       1	      1		       	  2
Fashanu		       1			       	  1
Parker		       1			       	  1
Houghton					1      	  1
Townsend			      1		       	  1

    Why is it managers can do this sort of thing but not players? This is
    exactly like the Walker - Everton fiasco when Everton poached Walker
    via the media.

Except that Villa haven't poached Little via the media.

villa are making sure that they can't be accused of poaching, and it's by no
means definite that brian will join Villa.

Mike

    
    And Everton didn't poach Walker via the media - the Villa/Little
    situation is exactly the same - big club have vacancy for manager,
    small club manager is interested, small club chairman puts stupid
    barriers in the way, small club manager resigns, THEN speaks to big
    club and becomes manager - small club whinge to the FA.
    
    Paul

    The problem is that the media fill positions for the big clubs. I can't
    understand how Everton were found guilty when Walker was linked to
    every big club when it became common knowledge of his dispute with
    Robert Chase. Villa are in a no-win situation if Leicester complain as
    the circumstances are exactly the same as the Everton-Walker situation.
    
    Stuart

Hopefully Leicester won't have a leg to stand on, legally speaking, because
Deadly Doug has actually taken the precaution of asking the FA what to do.

Mike

    Surely Leicester should be sueing Little for breach of contract! 
    
    Paul.

The Leicester chairman seemed to suggest that the decision was pretty mutual.

Mike

    Mike,
    
    Why are Leicester seeking compensation if the parting was mutual. Are
    they pissed off because before Little's name was connected with the
    Villa job he was quite happy where he was?
    
    Paul.
    
    BTW how are Donny doing - you don't seem to have giving us any reports
    recently - last I saw they were still third.
    

    re: last few.
    You may take the pious stance that everything is honourable and above
    board, and that Walker leaving and taking a vacant position at Everton 
    [and its odds on for Little and Villa to do the same] was just sheer
    coincidence but the realists amongst us know it was poaching [and so
    did the FA].                             

Paul,

Donny seem to be getting better and better. We beat Hartlepool 3-0 on Saturday.
we are still in third because Bury and Carlisle win pretty much every game, but
I think we are opening up a gap between us and the rest of the division. 
Unfortunately, I haven't been able to get up and see them which is why I've had
to settle for inferior quality premiership football. 8-) The next possibility is
Northampton away on Dec 10th, although I should be able to catch a game over
Christmas. Hopefully, it'll be the Scunny derby.

Sean Parrish (Donny winger) was one of the 90 Minutes young eagles this week.

Mike

    
    I had a rather bizarre dream the other night whereby I was trying to
    recite the Aston Villa side that won the Championship in 1980-81(?).
    
    In the dream I managed to name the following,
    
    Jimmy Rimmer, Allan Evans, Ken McNaught, Kenny Swain, Denis Mortimer,
    Des Bremner, Gordon Cowans, Gary Shaw, Peter Withe and Tony Morley.
    
    I am a full-back short. Someone suggested the missing link is John
    Gidman. Can anyone confirm this? 
    
    Fanks
    
    Andy

Unfortunately, sad fair weather fan that I am, this is well before my time.
Gidman sounds familiar, but it might not be because he played for Villa. 8-)

I remember Jimmy Rimmer because I could never get him for my football 80 sticker
book, or whatever it was called. Nigel Spink was reserve goalie I think.

Mike

Actually, I think I'm talking rubbish. Spink was reserve goalie the year after.

Mike

    
    > I remember Jimmy Rimmer because I could never get him for my football
    > 80 sticker book
    
    Mike,
    
    I'd have swapped you for John Wark and the Clydebank badge!
    
    Ian.
    

Bugger. I had three John Warks. 8-)

Mike

    shock news...Big Fat Ron is in line for one of the top managerial jobs in
    Serie A....
    
    can't remember which one....
    
    Ray....

    
    Davie,
    
    I thought it was Livingston United ?
    
    

Leicester are trying to get a High Court injunction to prevent Brian Little
carrying on as Villa manager. What a bunch of petty gits.

Palace tomorrow in the Coca-Cola Cup. I hope we've got a manager for the game
because I doubt Jim Barron will come back after being fired despite having a
100% record.

Mike

    Jesus, football getting really litigous at the moment. Presumably,
    Brian Little would then issue a counter-claim for restraint of trade
    against Leicester which would seem to have an excellent chance of
    succeeding and hopefully he would win substantial damages against them
    and teach the greedy sh1ts a lesson. What is needed is this code of
    conduct that the PL keep talking about. Then again that could
    constitute a restraint of trade so we would be back at square 1. 
    
    Stuart
    
    

    
    Mike,
    
    	I won't mention Crystal Palace if you don't mention Milwall, Ok.
    
    JBG

re:-1, okay, although at least Palace are Premiership and higher than us in the
table. On current form it can hardly be considered an upset. 8-(

Harrumph. Bring back Big Fat Ron.

Mike

Fair comment by Brian Little after the terrible reception he got at Leicester's
ground on Saturday. He pointed out that he's taken the club into the
Premiership, and done as good a job as he could while under contract there.
Leicester "fans" seem perfectly happy to forget all that he's done for the club
after the mess that David Pleat left them in and vent their fury on him for
"betraying" Leicester. Their chairman even seemed to justify the abuse that
Brian got. What a bunch of gits. They deserve each other. I hope they go down.

Big Fat Ron was on the Danny Baker show, and hinted that he might write a book
about his time at Villa. I was surprised to hear him say that he'd go back, but
glad that he was aware of the fans' support for him.

Still 19th, but unbeaten in the league for the lat three games. Maybe we're
turning the corner that BFR said we would. 8-)

Mike