Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Milner's move to City is final; Aston Villa Welcomes Stephen Ireland

After all of the summer rumors, James Milner is headed to Manchester City. All I can say is "$ talks." I personally believe that Villa let him get away too easy. It was obvious that City was interested and we should have made them pay for him. Oh well. It's a business. Ashley Young will be the man this season anyways!

Welcome to Stephen Ireland after his transfer from Manchester City. He wants to prove to his teammates and Villa supporters that he will be an asset to the club. I look forward to seeing what he can do for the Claret and Blue.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Who is Marc Albrighton?

Marc Albrighton has already made his mark after one regu lar league match. Is he Villa's future? Let's hope so.

Aston Villa: Marc Albrighton challenged to produce dazzling form for the entire season

Aug 16 2010 by Mark Woodward, Birmingham Mail

MARC Albrighton’s Villa elders have challenged him to repeat his Premier class performance another 37 times this season.

Albrighton was buzzing after starring in the convincing 3-0 victory over West Ham in his first top-flight start.

But James Milner has kept the 20-year-old wing wonder’s feet on the ground by advising him to aim to be consistently brilliant.

“I have done it for one game of the season and have to keep my feet on the ground,” said Albrighton.

“As soon as I came off the pitch James Milner said: ‘You have set a standard there, you have to keep that going for 37 games’.

“He is not wrong. He is bang on. He has made a great career from a young age as well. He’s a great player.”

Check out his bio at :

AVFC Player Profile

Wikipedia - Marc Albrighton

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Reports Say Maradona Interested in Leading Villa?

Now this is something that will strike up some discussion. Article in the Sun What kind of match would this be for Villa? A perfect transplant or a rejected organ? My initial reaction is that Maradona represents exactly the opposite of what we expect at the Villa. But then again - maybe this is what is needed. Plus he certainly would draw interest from players from Argentina.

I'm guessing that the facts in this article may be true, but reality it is not. We'll see.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

Villa Wins Opener!

3 v 0Venue:Villa Park

Downing(14)
Petrov(39)
Milner(65)

Match Preview

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Match Highlights

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Friday, July 30, 2010

An American Supporter of an English Football Team

It is quite an interesting adventure to be an American supporter of an English football team. The Premiership is one of the most popular football leagues in the world, so as a football fan, one must choose an English Premier League team to support. Most Americans "support" teams such as Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, or Liverpool. These are the "big 4" and are well know internationally.

I many ways it is like have a long distance relationship with your significant other. You look at photos (read magazines, scour the internet, watch matches at insane hours of the day), your wear clothing or jewelry to remind you of them (football shirt, scarf), and you attempt to gather with others who are also in the same situation (others that support the same team).

But why Aston Villa? I chose to support AVFC for one reason - their relationship with Acorn's Children's Hospice. Of course, my support for the Villa has grown and expanded beyond this (I started an AVFC supporters branch in California for goodness sake), but it did all start with Acorns. I have been a volunteer and supporter of George Mark Children's House in San Leandro, CA - the first of its kind in the U.S. (free-standing facility focused on providing in-patient pediatric palliative and end-of-life care. Although Villa has returned to having a commercial shirt sponsor this year - their partnership with Acorn's will continue. I will proudly keep wearing my Villa shirts that have ACORNS inscribed across the chest.

I am getting excited for the upcoming Premiership season to start. Up the Villa!

Follow Paul Brown's Portugal Blog

Follow the Villa as they train in Portugal

Paul Brown's Portugal blog

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Some 2010/2011 Villa games on U.S. TV

The following are only a handful of Villa matches that are scheduled for U.S. television so far. I'll post a more complete calendar as new information is released. I believe these times are EST.

Sunday, August 22:            8:30am: Newcastle United v Aston Villa, Fox Soccer Plus
Sunday, August 29:            11am: Aston Villa v Everton, Fox Soccer Channel
Monday, September 13:     3pm: Stoke City v Aston Villa, TBD
Sunday, September 26:      9:05am: Wolves v Aston Villa, Fox Soccer Plus
Sunday, October 31:          7am: Aston Villa v Birmingham, Fox Soccer Plus
Saturday, November 13:    7:45am: Aston Villa v Manchester United, ESPN2
Saturday, November 27:   7:45am: Aston Villa v Arsenal, ESPN2

(Courtesy of: http://www.epltalk.com/premier-league-tv-schedule/)

How Did You Become a Villa Supporter?

"I wonder how many fans are actually originally from Birmingham or surrounding area. I am and I'm always interested if someone isn't from near Villa Park, why did they pick Villa as the team to follow." .............................................................................................. "I like Rick's story, he picked Villa as they were 'sponsored' by Acorns Children's Hospice at the time, a cause close to Rick's heart."..................................................................................................................... "I was born in Solihull (12 miles south of Villa Park) and my older bro turned me into a Villa supporter"................................................................................................................ "I am originally from Vauxhall (Birmingham B7) and have followed the Villa since my dad took me to see a game at Villa Park on my 4th birthday. I was a season ticket holder at VP from 1968 until I moved over here twelve years ago."........................................................................................................................"I am from Halesowen which is right next to the black country. Which is tesco carrier bag territory. However my dad is from the city and he always took me and my brother to villa games. I was a season ticket holder in the holte untill 2007 when I moved out here."......................................................................................................................."So why do I support Villa if I've never been to Birmingham? That's a very good question that I've asked myself many times over the years. When I started following the league almost everyone was a Liverpool fan for the same reason almost everyone now is a United, City, or Chelsea fan. Not being someone who follows the crowd I wanted to support a team that was unique and different. When I was a kid, Andy Gray was one of my favorite players and I used to read his columns in Shoot magazine about playing for Villa and thought a lot of the things about the team were unique: the team name, colors, and specially the history."..................................................................................................................."Born just a couple of miles from Villa park, with my father, mother, grandparents and more than half of my extended family with claret and blue blood (you can work out who the rest of that motley crew supported SOTC) it was written in the stars that I was going to be Villa through and through."...................................................................................................................I was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. Played the game for 30 some odd years and have been a Villa fan all my life. I have seen 2 live games(both losses, but a great atmosphere none the less). My grandfather was a steward at Villa Park for many years. My father and brother are members of the Canadian Villa fan club in Toronto. I'm here in the central valley, and know of couple of villa fans here in Fresno................................................................................................................