This one seems to be splitting opinion at the moment....
Saturday, 30 May 2009
New Villa White Away Kit 2009/2010
New Villa White Away Kit 2009/2010
This one seems to be splitting opinion at the moment....
This one seems to be splitting opinion at the moment....
Tuesday, 26 May 2009
Villa 1 Newcastle 0
Aston Villa 1 Newcastle United 0
So we ended up finishing 6th and playing fairly well I thought. Clearly everyone's focus was on the opposition and for me, having big Sunderland & some Hull roots in my family tree, I was quite happy to see them go down. My Grandad was Sunderland born and bred - I was proud to see a match at Roker Park with him when, unfortunately for him that day, Villa won 4-1 and sent them down. He would have loved yesterday seeing Villa return the favour and giving Sunderland the chance to be the only North-East team in the Premier League.
Don't believe the SKY myth everyone, Newcastle United are not a big club, what they are is a well-supported club and have been for some time. There is a big difference. I thought I'd be delighted at seeing Shearer (who was hated as a player at Villa Park) and co. drop down but actually felt strangely apathetic - much like their squad of players.
Newcastle's players were so bad, especially in the second half, it was almost as if they didn't have the will, urgency or desire to get back in the game. Some of the shots of Michael Owen I saw later make him look completely unfazed by what is happening. Maybe that's modern day footballers for you - most of them will jump ship and leave the mess they made behind them.
The performance highlighted the areas where we need to strengthen, defence and midfield especially, though I'm beginning to think that breaking the top four monotony is not going to happen anyway, certainly not for us - Maybe Man City with their billions, but not us. Sixth for me would have been acceptable at the start of the season but to be so strong just 3 months back and to completely capitulate was obviously disappointing.
The CSKA Moscow fiasco left a sour taste, especially from a manager who I really like and hope stays for many a year, and proved resting players made no difference whatsoever - those "rested" couldn't see out 92 minutes at home to Stoke City with a two goal lead and I feel our season ended right there.
The UEFA Cup/Europa League beckons again - countless games by the sound of it if you're keen on winning the trophy - what it will mean is another European trip somewhere later this year for me, hopefully somewhere exciting and hopefully as good as the trip to Slavia Prague was late last year. Congratulations to Slavia by the way who are Champions again having wrapped up another Gambrinus liga title with a game to spare.
This season saw Daniel see his first Villa game - today, just for a short while he wanted "to be John Carew" playing football in the back garden! It saw near neighbours West Brom go down but two more local rivals come back up. It also see's another famous old club, Burley, back in the top flight after beating Sheffield United at Wembley - I had many Burnley friends from years gone by and was "on't Turf" the night they only beat Torquay 1-0 and lost in the play-off Semi Final when a Blackburn fan hired a plane with a message for all to see - it read "Staying Down 4Eever - Love Rovers".
Michael Duff or "Duffer" as he was known at Cheltenham scored a header against Yeovil Town at Whaddon Road just over 10 years ago which put Cheltenham Town into the Football League for the first time in 107 years! Now he's part of a Burnley side in the Premier League - after seeing Duffer play against many, many non-league teams, I can't wait to see him up against Torres, Ronaldo, Anelka, Adebayor and Carew!!
Welcome back Burnley!
This season has come and gone - and we're all another year older!
Tuesday, 5 May 2009
Daniel Is 4
Happy Birthday Daniel - You Are Four!!
5th May 2009 - Four years on!
Daniel has had loads of presents and got to enjoy his birthday with his friends at nursery and then with us at home today. The photo above shows him wearing his new away kit and blowing out his four candles on the Spiderman cake - Many gifts were Spiderman related but his big present was being taken to his first Aston Villa game against Hull last night.
I have to admit to being a little nervous of his reaction bearing in mind how old he is - I thought he'd get bored and maybe play up a little, especially as by kick-off time he'd normally be in bed or be close to going to sleep.
He did way better than I thought. By half time he was still wide awake, clapping along and helped his Dad celebrate John Carew's goal. We were sat in Row B of the Upper Trinity so the view was great and it was fairly quiet up there - so ideal for him. He tired during the second half but by the end had a surge and was wide awake again cheering the final whistle and walking back to the car with me.
So even if he ends up supporting someone else for whatever reason he'll always have that first game etched in stone! I must also say a huge thankyou to IanB for pointing me in the right direction of contacts at Villa Park. Sheila Maybury was fantastic and got my Mum a parking space at very short notice in the Villa Village as the days of her walking any sort of distance are gone.
May 4th 2009. Aston Villa 1 Hull City 0: Goalscorer - John Carew. Att 39,607
The Conservatory
It started like this as the builders dug out a trench and started laying bricks.
The frame, roof and windows are now all in and the builders are back tomorrow to level the floor off. The John, our builder, will be back to plaster and finish the room and electrics off. Daniel thinks it's great fun! I'd be laughing too if I wasn't paying for it!
Within just a few weeks it looked like this!!
5th May 2009 - Four years on!
Daniel has had loads of presents and got to enjoy his birthday with his friends at nursery and then with us at home today. The photo above shows him wearing his new away kit and blowing out his four candles on the Spiderman cake - Many gifts were Spiderman related but his big present was being taken to his first Aston Villa game against Hull last night.
I have to admit to being a little nervous of his reaction bearing in mind how old he is - I thought he'd get bored and maybe play up a little, especially as by kick-off time he'd normally be in bed or be close to going to sleep.
He did way better than I thought. By half time he was still wide awake, clapping along and helped his Dad celebrate John Carew's goal. We were sat in Row B of the Upper Trinity so the view was great and it was fairly quiet up there - so ideal for him. He tired during the second half but by the end had a surge and was wide awake again cheering the final whistle and walking back to the car with me.
So even if he ends up supporting someone else for whatever reason he'll always have that first game etched in stone! I must also say a huge thankyou to IanB for pointing me in the right direction of contacts at Villa Park. Sheila Maybury was fantastic and got my Mum a parking space at very short notice in the Villa Village as the days of her walking any sort of distance are gone.
May 4th 2009. Aston Villa 1 Hull City 0: Goalscorer - John Carew. Att 39,607
The Conservatory
It started like this as the builders dug out a trench and started laying bricks.
The frame, roof and windows are now all in and the builders are back tomorrow to level the floor off. The John, our builder, will be back to plaster and finish the room and electrics off. Daniel thinks it's great fun! I'd be laughing too if I wasn't paying for it!
Within just a few weeks it looked like this!!
Saturday, 25 April 2009
Thomas Land 2009
Thomas Land At Drayton Manor 2009
Daniel loved his surprise visit to Thomas Land on Thursday. His excited sqeals when he realised where he was made it worthwhile in an instant.
Being nearly four and much braver than last time, he went on everything - including eight trips on the "Troublesome Trucks". It was sunny and not busy at all due to the kids being at school so we could go on everything as often as we wanted to. Which was nice!
We sort of insisted he looked at the other parts of the park too, so he saw some of the animals including the tigers, penguins and monkeys. He went on the cable car ride completely unfazed by the height and seems to have little fear when it comes to the rides.
Everything reverted back to Thomas though so that's where we finished up. The video below shows our trip on the "Troublesome Trucks" and how much he loved it.
We left about 3.30 after having "one more go" on all the rides - safe to say Daniel was asleep within minutes for the return journey.
Conservatory 2009
We've decided to go ahead with our addition to the house, I mean you can only worry about money for so long - so we decided f*ck it. The builders were only here for a few days and the job was done - now the glass will arrive next week. Here's a photo of Daniel sitting on the bricks.
He likes his new sun hat, I decided to buy one too so he took to weraing it more easily!
Daniel loved his surprise visit to Thomas Land on Thursday. His excited sqeals when he realised where he was made it worthwhile in an instant.
Being nearly four and much braver than last time, he went on everything - including eight trips on the "Troublesome Trucks". It was sunny and not busy at all due to the kids being at school so we could go on everything as often as we wanted to. Which was nice!
We sort of insisted he looked at the other parts of the park too, so he saw some of the animals including the tigers, penguins and monkeys. He went on the cable car ride completely unfazed by the height and seems to have little fear when it comes to the rides.
Everything reverted back to Thomas though so that's where we finished up. The video below shows our trip on the "Troublesome Trucks" and how much he loved it.
We left about 3.30 after having "one more go" on all the rides - safe to say Daniel was asleep within minutes for the return journey.
Conservatory 2009
We've decided to go ahead with our addition to the house, I mean you can only worry about money for so long - so we decided f*ck it. The builders were only here for a few days and the job was done - now the glass will arrive next week. Here's a photo of Daniel sitting on the bricks.
He likes his new sun hat, I decided to buy one too so he took to weraing it more easily!
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Hillsborough - Twenty Years On
Hillsborough - Twenty Years On
April 15th 1989.
Anyone, especially football supporters will know where they were and what they were doing on that awful day.
I was at Deepdale, home of Preston North End, watching a League game with some friends of mine who lived there. Preston obviously had a deep dislike of Blackpool and Burnley but for some reason also had no love for Liverpool or scousers.
At half-time the PA announcer told the ground that the FA Cup Semi-Final had been abandoned due to a pitch invasion by Liverpool supporters. The PNE fans were unanimous in condemning Liverpool - how little anybody knew at that time.
We got back in the car after the game to hear Peter Jones on the radio start the football round up by saying that a gym at Hillsborough was now being used as a mortuary. The four of us in the car fell silent and just listened. It was horrible. As a pretty hardore, every game Aston Villa fan I was used to terraces and terrible away grounds and disgraceful treatment by police from all around the country. I was used to being treated like an animal and cages, pens and the like were the norm for us all.
Only weeks before we had been to a League Cup game at Upton Park where Villa had taken thousands upon thousands for this midweek game - more than West Ham had expected. My feet had barely touched the ground 10 feet from the turnstile and the crush was intense once inside. We got near to the front and just swayed about with no control over what we did - a policeman shouted "move back". We just told him we couoldn't.
Luckily for us all that night, West Ham didn't have fencing and the police were alert enough to open up some of the pen to our right to relieve the crush. For the 96 Liverpool fans, the South Yorkshire Police didn't offer them the same protection.
That night we were all going out in Preston Town centre but before we did we headed to a local pub where my girlfriends Dad liked to go. The guy had the news footage playing on the TV - it was so horrifying he actually turned it off and a normal bustling pub was very, very quiet.
Every normal football fan realised it could have been them. As far as I can recall, our next away game was at Norwich - Carrow Road fell silent for a minute before the match and both sets of fans sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" before the game started. Like many others, I'd sent my Villa scarf up to Hillsborough via some Sheffield Wednesday friends of mine who lived in Foxhill near the ground.
When you look back at some of the photo's of Hillsborough then it looks pre-historic. When Villa played Sheff Weds in the first game of the 1991/92 season we were the first set of supporters to sit in the Lower Leppings Lane since 1989. We walked through that tunnel and everyone just shuddered at the thought of what went on that day.
Now, because I've mentioned this one here before, is not the time for me to apportion blame. Everyone knows where it lies but justice will never be done. I looked at the mothers and fathers and despair for them - if it was my son I would fight until my last breath and never ever give up hope of seeing someone pay for the targic events on that day.
Today at work has been very strange, everything being normal until the afternoon as I looked at some of the awful pictures on the BBC site - they warned that some photo's would cause distress and they weren't wrong. Everything got put into perspective. It makes me very, very sad.
RIP. Justice for the 96.
April 15th 1989.
Anyone, especially football supporters will know where they were and what they were doing on that awful day.
I was at Deepdale, home of Preston North End, watching a League game with some friends of mine who lived there. Preston obviously had a deep dislike of Blackpool and Burnley but for some reason also had no love for Liverpool or scousers.
At half-time the PA announcer told the ground that the FA Cup Semi-Final had been abandoned due to a pitch invasion by Liverpool supporters. The PNE fans were unanimous in condemning Liverpool - how little anybody knew at that time.
We got back in the car after the game to hear Peter Jones on the radio start the football round up by saying that a gym at Hillsborough was now being used as a mortuary. The four of us in the car fell silent and just listened. It was horrible. As a pretty hardore, every game Aston Villa fan I was used to terraces and terrible away grounds and disgraceful treatment by police from all around the country. I was used to being treated like an animal and cages, pens and the like were the norm for us all.
Only weeks before we had been to a League Cup game at Upton Park where Villa had taken thousands upon thousands for this midweek game - more than West Ham had expected. My feet had barely touched the ground 10 feet from the turnstile and the crush was intense once inside. We got near to the front and just swayed about with no control over what we did - a policeman shouted "move back". We just told him we couoldn't.
Luckily for us all that night, West Ham didn't have fencing and the police were alert enough to open up some of the pen to our right to relieve the crush. For the 96 Liverpool fans, the South Yorkshire Police didn't offer them the same protection.
That night we were all going out in Preston Town centre but before we did we headed to a local pub where my girlfriends Dad liked to go. The guy had the news footage playing on the TV - it was so horrifying he actually turned it off and a normal bustling pub was very, very quiet.
Every normal football fan realised it could have been them. As far as I can recall, our next away game was at Norwich - Carrow Road fell silent for a minute before the match and both sets of fans sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" before the game started. Like many others, I'd sent my Villa scarf up to Hillsborough via some Sheffield Wednesday friends of mine who lived in Foxhill near the ground.
When you look back at some of the photo's of Hillsborough then it looks pre-historic. When Villa played Sheff Weds in the first game of the 1991/92 season we were the first set of supporters to sit in the Lower Leppings Lane since 1989. We walked through that tunnel and everyone just shuddered at the thought of what went on that day.
Now, because I've mentioned this one here before, is not the time for me to apportion blame. Everyone knows where it lies but justice will never be done. I looked at the mothers and fathers and despair for them - if it was my son I would fight until my last breath and never ever give up hope of seeing someone pay for the targic events on that day.
Today at work has been very strange, everything being normal until the afternoon as I looked at some of the awful pictures on the BBC site - they warned that some photo's would cause distress and they weren't wrong. Everything got put into perspective. It makes me very, very sad.
RIP. Justice for the 96.
Saturday, 11 April 2009
Red Dwarf
Red Dwarf - Oh Yes, They're Smegging Back!
One of my favourite shows, Red Dwarf, is back with some new stuff this Easter Weekend! Yes! Will the new episodes sit alongside classics and my personal favourites such as "Back To Reality", "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" and "Meltdown"? Should be fun finding out.
The cast are to reunite for a new two-part storyline which will see them finally return to Earth. Back to Earth will air on UKTV digital channel Dave.
It will sit alongside two further new episodes, an improvised Red Dwarf: Unplugged, which will feature the cast dealing with no sets, effects or autocue, and Red Dwarf: the Making of Back to Earth, a behind the scenes look at the new production.
The new two-parter will begin a decade on from when the crew of the Red Dwarf were last seen, with a "shock development" throwing Rimmer, Lister, Cat and Kryten back to Earth.
Chris Barrie will return as Rimmer, Craig Charles as Lister, Danny John-Jules as Cat and Robert Llewellyn as Kryten, with the new storyline written and directed by Red Dwarf co-creator Doug Naylor.
Red Dwarf originally launched on BBC2 in 1988 and went on to air for eight series and 52 episodes, as well as a number of specials
One of my favourite shows, Red Dwarf, is back with some new stuff this Easter Weekend! Yes! Will the new episodes sit alongside classics and my personal favourites such as "Back To Reality", "Gunmen of the Apocalypse" and "Meltdown"? Should be fun finding out.
The cast are to reunite for a new two-part storyline which will see them finally return to Earth. Back to Earth will air on UKTV digital channel Dave.
It will sit alongside two further new episodes, an improvised Red Dwarf: Unplugged, which will feature the cast dealing with no sets, effects or autocue, and Red Dwarf: the Making of Back to Earth, a behind the scenes look at the new production.
The new two-parter will begin a decade on from when the crew of the Red Dwarf were last seen, with a "shock development" throwing Rimmer, Lister, Cat and Kryten back to Earth.
Chris Barrie will return as Rimmer, Craig Charles as Lister, Danny John-Jules as Cat and Robert Llewellyn as Kryten, with the new storyline written and directed by Red Dwarf co-creator Doug Naylor.
Red Dwarf originally launched on BBC2 in 1988 and went on to air for eight series and 52 episodes, as well as a number of specials
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