About Us
Oh, It Must Be! It Is! 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 we 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 Villains and outsiders alike.
Ian Symes
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t a Villa fan, which is what comes from growing up with a Villa-obsessed dad in various Birmingham suburbs. My earliest specific memories are of the 1994 Coca-Cola Cup campaign; running around the house in delight having watched the Tranmere game on ITV, despite not being quite sure how that penalty shoot-out malarkey worked.
I went to my first game shortly after - a dull 0-0 against Everton - and I rarely missed a home game between then and 2004 when I moved to London to find my fortune. Being an exiled Brummie surrounded by Arsenal and Chelsea fans, I’ll be using this site to say all the things I’d say to my mates in the pub if I was still in Brum.
Jonathan Capps
My Villa fandom began in the tail end of the disastrous 94/95 season (some may ascribe Villa’s survival that season and the following year’s 4th place finish to Brian Little, but I still maintain it was all me), at a time when my step brother succeeded in his attempt to get me properly into football. He supported the Villa, so *I* supported the Villa, despite my living a not inconsiderable way North of Birmingham. 163 miles North, to be exact. Overriding memories include the 3-0 drubbing of Leeds in the 1996 Coca-Cola cup final and the horrendously ram shackle yet eventually joyous penalty shoot-out win against Bolton in the 2000 FA Cup semi-final. I’d include that year’s final in my list, were it not for the fact it was a miserable, miserable game.
By trade I am web developer and hope to use these mad skillz of mine to build up this site into some sort of information gold mine full of Villa related stuff and things in the near future. Look forward to *that*, why don’t you!