Aston Villa Football Club - California Supporters

Monday, July 18, 2011

GK Given Signs with Villa for 5 Years

Shay Given signs a 5-yr contract with Villa.

Friday, July 8, 2011

Carew and Reo-Coker released. Friedel to Spurs. Young to Man Utd. Is Downing next?

"Mirror: Stewart Downing will today deliver a hammer-blow to new Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish - by insisting he wants to join Liverpool. Villa have ordered want-away England winger Downing to report for pre-season training this morning. And chief executive Paul Faulkner has firmly told both Liverpool and Downing's agent that they will not be pressurised into selling such a prized asset."

Shan Givens and Scott Parker:

"Birmingham Mail: Shay Given is poised to become Alex McLeish's first signing next week with Villa close to striking a deal for the Manchester City goalkeeper. The clubs are likely to agree a fee of around £3.5 million for the 35-year-old stopper, who is set to replace Brad Friedel as the claret and blues' No.1. Villa are also confident of Given accepting their personal terms, even though his £80,000-per-week City wages are expected to be cut to below £60,000.

The Sun: Aston Villa hope to seal a £4million deal for Manchester City keeper Shay Given by the end of the weekend. Villa are close to agreeing a fee for the Republic of Ireland star after 40-year-old Brad Friedel left on a free to join Spurs. Given, 35, is behind Joe Hart in the City pecking order but they wanted Villa to up their £2.5m bid.

Mirror: Aston Villa are ready to make a move for Scott Parker - as Stewart Downing prepares to tell manager Alex McLeish he wants to leave. Parker had talks with new West Ham boss Sam Allardyce yesterday, with his future yet to be resolved. Harry Redknapp was red-hot favourite to land Parker, but the Spurs boss is under strict orders to sell before buys and his squad is overloaded with midfielders."

Thursday, June 23, 2011

2011-2012 Away Kit Unveiled

Hmmmmm...chess anyone?

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Genting is new shirt sponsor

Genting, international resort and leisure company, is the new shirt sponsor for Villa. Personally, I still miss having "Acorns" across the front of the Villa shirt. I hope that Acorns can be placed somewhere on the new kit. Will just have to wait and see.

Friday, June 17, 2011

McLeish @ Villa

So Villans - there has been alot of "hate" surfacing because of the talks with ALex McLeish (former Birmingham CIty manager) leading to his eventual hiring.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2003740/Aston-Villa-fans-backlash-Alex-McLeish-hits-new-heights-Bluenose-scum-welcome-graffiti.html

What do California Villans have to say? Personally, I don't support any kind of hate. My only experience with this involves my alma mater, the University of California at Berkeley and our hated rivals, Stanford University. Cal hired former Stanford basketball coach Mike Montgomery as head basketball coach. I'm still not use to it, but he does have the team generally playing well.

Also - current Cal baseball manager, David Esquer, has taken the Bears to the College World Series AND he is a former Stanford baseball player.

I say let's give McLeish a chance.

Monday, June 6, 2011

2011-2012 Fixtures

The 2011-2012 fixtures will be announced on June 17th!

Saturday, June 4, 2011

Thanks Brad!

The word is out that Brad Friedel has signed with Tottenham Hotspurs for 2-years (free transfer). He leaves Villa with a record 275 consecutive Premiership matches. He had a great run at the Villa and will be missed by many. Prior to Villa he played at Blackburn and before that Liverpool.

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................................................................................................................