Erm, fuck off. #
Ian Symes - May 31, 2008 @ 10:01 am
Isn’t this sort of thing against the rules?
It’s called tapping up, and it’s an incredibly twatty thing to do. No matter what goes on in private, it’s thoroughly disrespectful and snidey to say things like that to the press. Gerrard should know better, but it’s another unfortunate bit of business in what was already a very messy and ugly saga.
No doubt our Liverpool-supporting mates will be here shortly to defend Gerrard’s comments, but honestly - you know that if it was Fat Frank or Rio or the like saying the same things about one of your players, you’d be calling for their heads.
Comments (3) | tags: gareth barry, liverpool
Handy Randy #
Ian Symes - May 28, 2008 @ 11:09 am
Randy’s smart enough to know not to piss about too much with things he doesn’t understand, and I’m sure that he’ll continue to use his minions to keep in touch with what supporters want. The dream team of Randy and Martin O’Neill working together on a daily basis has got to be a good thing, especially during transfer windows.
*knock knock*
“Hello, Mr. Lerner.”
“Martin! What can I do for you?”
“I need a hundred million pounds.”
“OK!”
In other news, Luke Moore’s signed permanently for West Brum, for three million quid. This is a bit of a shame, as I always thought he’d be a big star for us one day. Mind you, I thought the same about his brother, and he’s recently signed for Walsall. It was that shoulder injury last year that probably scuppered Moore’s chances, given that the signings of Carew and Young, plus the rise of Agbonlahor, took place in his absence. Good luck to him, but he’ll need to improve his alleged attitude problems if he’s going to help West Brum stay up.
Comments (3) | tags: luke moore, randy lerner
Season Review - 2007/08 #
Ian Symes - May 27, 2008 @ 8:04 am
First things first, this was a great season. When things are going well, Villa fans tend to take it for granted. We’re a huge club, why shouldn’t we be at the top end of the table? But that simplistic view fails to take into account just how bad a state we were in before Martin O’Neill took us back to where we belong. The bad old days that stretched from the end of Gregory’s reign, through Graham Taylor’s return to David O’Fuckingleary had turned us into strugglers, with players queueing up to leave the club and European dreams a distant memory. We’ve gone from 16th in 2006 to 6th in 2008, and that’s a hell of an achievement.
Any season that sees us rise five places in the league, holding our own against the best teams in the country, scoring 71 league goals and still fighting for a UEFA Cup place on the last day of the season, has got to be regarded as a success. The Intertoto Cup is as valid a route into next season’s UEFA Cup as any other, and in any other season 6th place would have been enough to bypass this extra qualifier. This was a good season.
Comments (5) | tags: 2007/08, season review
Oh, It Must Be! It Is! #
Ian Symes - May 26, 2008 @ 2:35 pm
Hello, and welcome to Oh, It Must Be! It Is!, a brand new Aston Villa fan blog. And if you’re wondering what the title means, or why we’ve chosen 26th May as the launch date, then you’ve probably come to wrong place.
This is a place for two exiled Villa fans to share their thoughts and views on all the current Villa-based activities, on and off the pitch. It’s not a news service - might I recommend the excellent Vital Villa for that sort of thing - we’ll be concentrating on a bit of analysis, reactions, opinions, taking the piss of of the Blues and giving a claret and blue perspective on the wider world of football. We’ll be biased, obviously, but we try to balanced and aim to be enjoyed by Villans and outsiders alike.
During these long summer months, we’ll be largely ignoring all the baseless transfer gossip in favour of providing retrospective-type articles and opinion pieces, as we look forward to Intertwobob Cup action and a league campaign focussed on building on what we’ve achieved so far.
The blog is written by two life-long Villa fans currently stationed at distant outposts from Villa Park - Jonathan Capps and Ian Symes. Cappsy, despite being born and raised in North Yorkshire, eschew his local teams due to family connections to the Villa. Whereas Ian is a born and bred Brummie, who was a season ticket holder from the ages of 8 to 18, when he moved to London to seek his fortune. As we both lack the company of too many like-minded individuals locally, the internet seems a perfect place to let off our Villa-based steam, and give other Villa fans our unique perspectives on the club.
Aston Villa have a proud history and a bright future, and we’ll be here every step of the way from now on.