Business owner, Family man,
#AVFC
podcaster.
#AVFC
supporter for 45 years and counting! Similar timespan, loving English Cricket also. Youth team Football Coach
I’m pleased the narrative of “the project is dead” if Jack is sold is disappearing. Of course it isn’t! We are
#avfc
and we have the best owners we have have EVER had since the clubs founder, Sir William McGregor. They will ensure we keep moving forward. Keep the faith
#vtwd
So impressed with Watkins this season. In 45 years of watching
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I’ve seen some top strikers but rarely if ever seen one that works harder than Ollie. His constant running off the ball, pressing etc is so key to our play, never more evident than last night. Top signing.
#utv
About 5 weeks ago, my wife Lorraine discovered a lump. Fast forward here we are, first day of chemo, in a cancer fight. Big battle ahead and not what you expect, but she’s very strong. Not really fair but life isn’t always fair is it? Just remember what is important.
From the Championship and the brink of bankruptcy, to qualification for the Champions League in 6 years. Now that’s what you call incredible owners. Thank you so much Nas and Wes. ❤️⚽️💪🏻🙏🏻
@JackGrealish
You gave nothing but 100% every time you put on our famous shirt. You lit up our lives in the darkest of times. You always had time for fans healthy and poorly. You aren’t perfect. Who is? I understand you have a career to fulfil Now go and show the World how brilliant you are.
Villa fans, all over the world, enjoy this day... It’s one that we’ll always remember, like December 17th, 1976, when we beat an equally mighty Liverpool, 5-1... No TV cameras that day, no fans today, but Oct 4th 2020 is now folklore in our history. So proud!
#dreamland
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For a club that hasn’t finished in the top 10 in the premier league since 2010/11 season and was only out of the bottom 3 on goals scored, after 13 games, the job Emery has done is a victory for coaching and how it’s still so important in the modern game. He’s brilliant.
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9 in a row for the first time since 1910, takes us v close to the playoffs, somewhere that looked a long, long way off, 9 games ago! Well done to all connected with
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Dean Smith, his coaching team, the players, CEO and us the loyal fans! Finish the job and win promotion!
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Ings signing reminds me a little of when we signed Dublin after selling Yorke. We needed a proven premier league performer and leader then and we do now. Yeah we won’t sell him on for a profit but like Dion was, his class and experience are going to be invaluable.
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After almost 2 weeks in Hospital and a near death experience from severe typhlitis, brought on by a rare and severe reaction to chemo, Lorraine is home tonight. We still have cancer to fight + now, no further chemo allowed, but a successful op will put her on the right road. 🙏🏻❤️
This man was a superstar tonight. After a pretty grim time here so far with an iffy start, manager sacked who signed him, then a horrible injury, he has come back and played great. Main reason we are going to Wembley, particularly over these 2 legs. Well done
@OrjanHNyland1
#avfc
40 years ago today, my 3 year old brother Charles, woke up on our 1st day on holiday. We were happy as
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were playing Anderlecht that night in SF of European Cup. He had new AV shorts on. By lunch time he was gone, drowning tragically in a terrible accident. Life is precious.
Happy 26th Birthday
@OfficialTM_3
You’ve been superb in the Villa shirt, since u arrived. Here’s to a win tonight, that can get us closer to the top 6 and continue our momentum, which will hopefully lead to a late charge for promotion and you signing for us permanently. 💪🏻🤞🏻
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Mega congratulations to every Villan on reaching the promised land of the CL. We’ve been through so much together, especially these last years with the decline that led to relegation, near bankruptcy, but the intro of NWSE + latterly Unai has resulted in a new golden era.
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Big Ron Atkinson is 80 today! What a fantastic manager he was. Gave us some lifelong memories at
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that’s for sure. Happy Birthday to the big man!
#bigfatronsclaretandbluearmy
Danks throwing his hat in the ring! Seriously though, look what happens when you set up properly, with a 4-2-3-1 and pick the right team. Everything Gerrard failed to do. Well done to Danks, Cuts and all the players involved today.
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Douglas Luiz goals in the run in V Brentford away, Spurs at home and yesterday V Brighton + his assist V Liverpool, utterly pivotal in
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reaching our goal of European football. Rightly the supporters and players player of the season. ❤️
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A year ago,
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lost the playoff final and Liverpool lost the champions league final. 12 months on, both become winners in their respective finals. Chances of that?
#fate
We finally have a world class player in Coutinho and now some think he isn’t good enough or too much of a luxury?! You have to add more players of this standard to make the step up not get rid of them imo. City started with Robinho and built from there. Build around Phil.
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Shakespeare has already got us playing like Leics did, when they won the league. Low possession but great defence and lightning quick counter attacks that knock out, even the best sides, like last night. Early days but this looks like a team going places with great balance!
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Another poor result. I guess u either buy into Smith as a coach who can repair Villa long term, or you don’t? Ultimately whenever present day results are poor, it builds pressure + doubts grow to his ability to do the job. My view is, judge him next season, with his team.
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Our beloved
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is having big cash flow issues. The owner
@Dr_TonyXia
is doing everything he can to resolve this. It is to do with China foreign currency release hence similar issues at the Milan clubs. I am doing all I can to help him and the club.
#sticktogether
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#utv
V satisfying result. A victory for the way football should be played. Such a relief to have a coach that takes the game to the opponent. We may not win every week, we may have bad spells, but firmly believe the way Smith sets up to play, is far better than Pulis and the like
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@AlanBiggs1
This “victim” narrative has to stop. He was paid £1.7M a year + £1.7M in compensation to leave. He was heavily backed, culminating in him increasing the wage bill to £73M per annum, a huge number in the 2nd tier. Promotion had to be achieved with those numbers. It wasn’t.
Rarely seen a more undeserved defeat. Absolutely outplayed a very ordinary West Ham. No luck at all with bloody VAR again. But... If you concede diabolical goals, miss easy chances, including a penalty, you make it hard for yourselves!
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4 wins out of 4 including fixtures V Liverpool and Leicester. Only 100% record in the division. Absolutely fantastic. 3 clean sheets as well. Got the balance between solidity and goal threat/creativity just right. The Villa are well and truly back!
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Been at Villa Park tonight and I am soooo proud of our team. We made the Champions of England and Europe look second best from minute 1 to 95.. Bailey, Mcginn, Tielemans, Digne, Torres, Ezri all outstanding. In fact all were brilliant. The noise from the crowd was deafening!
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So close to a tremendous result. So much effort all over the pitch. We pushed the European Champions all the way. Atmosphere/noise magnificent from the
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faithful. Very, very cruel to lose but we are better than plenty in this division so please don’t despair.
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Purslow has got Suso, Lange, Gerrard all wrong and got lucky with Smith as was far from first choice. We paid a fortune to get Gerrard + staff from Rangers and now another fortune to get rid of them. How many CEO’s would survive such expensive mistakes in other businesses?
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5 premier league wins in a row for the first time since 1998.
38 points from 18 games.
Battered a team who had only lost 3 times all season, before today.
50 points on the board, with 7 games to go..
Welcome to the world of Unai Emery’s Aston Villa! ❤️⚽️
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We’ve met with the surgeon and he gave us the news that the necessary margin has been achieved from Lorraine’s cancer surgery. She will need radiotherapy + ongoing hormone treatment. We’ll be living with it for life, like all Cancer sufferers but this is v positive development 🙏🏻
I gave Steve Bruce plenty of stick in September. Even asked for him to be replaced. We had 7 points from 7 games at the time. Since then it’s 52 points from 24 games which is superb form, over a long period of time. He deserves all the plaudits for turning it around. 👋🏻
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Emery’s league record at
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is now 64 points from 32 games (25 games/ 49 points, last season and 7 games/ 15 points this season). Absolutely phenomenal form over a period approaching a whole season. What a sensational manager we have. ❤️
Please
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just get the Grealish saga over with either way ASAP as we are kicking off for real in 2 short weeks and this huge distraction is in danger of derailing our season before it’s started. Our squad needs work still with or without Jack. Obviously a lot more, without.
Almost a year ago I had spat with Alex Bruce. Remember what I said? “I know the financial consequences if we don’t go up”. He just told me to “Pipe down and you know nothing about promotion”. Here we are a year later, having nearly gone bust, witnessing Groundhog Day.
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My wife’s cancer is back. A 60MM legion in the sacrum bone. Life is v cruel at times. I haven’t met a kinder, sweeter person than her. A brilliant Mother, Daughter, Sister and Wife. I will do everything in my power to help her but ultimately this disease has a mind of its own. 😢
Amid all the chaos and cheating (from Bamford) that was a truly masterful performance from
@OfficialTM_3
and Axel. They are the dream ticket as a CB pairing. Brilliant, brave defenders + also superb going forward! What a brave save at the death, when injured by Steer also.
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One of the most incredible turnarounds in a season. Truly amazing. From the shambles of Gerrard to the genius and huge work ethic of Emery. In the 46 years of supporting the club, never seen such contrasting fortunes in one season. Thank you King Unai. Back in Europe!
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Unbeaten league runs in derby matches:
Liverpool over Everton - 16
ASTON VILLA OVER BIRMINGHAM - 14
Norwich over Ipswich - 12
Sunderland over Newcastle - 9
Burnley over Blackburn - 6
Lincoln over Grimsby - 4
Sheff Utd over Sheff Wed - 4
Pompey over Saints - 3
Sad news re DS leaving
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Wanted Dean for the job and I think he has more than vindicated his appointment, winning promotion and settling us back in the top flight. Many AV managers come unstuck after 3 years and sadly it’s happened again. He can leave with his head held high
Today we won our 8th league game in a row for the first time since 1975, without our best player and best defender, on the 13th of the month, beating the MOTM curse, against a team in the top 6. Playoffs are very close now. Absolutely buzzing!
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#deansmithsclaretandbluearmy
Be cheering
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on from my hospital bed today. Wishing I was at beautiful Villa park, the cathedral of English football. Suck it all in and suck the ball into the net for Villa. Best of luck to all Villans.
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Not so long ago, a lot of
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fans, after WBA defeat, were questioning Smith. “Job was too big for him, Brentford success had been nothing to do with him, only ever finished 9th etc.” All I can say is, I hope your minds have been put to rest! Last night was down to him!
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As Smith says, that’s 10 premier league games played and we’ve only been outplayed and deserved to lose one. We look a proper premier league side now and it was great to see our players still looking for the win, after the red card, despite being away from home.
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Well said, Michael Dawson. Jamie doesn’t believe in us, but Daws said it right. We have earned the right to be in the conversation, as 84 points from 41 games under Emery proves and especially after this week’s wins against City and Arsenal.
#UTV
You know you are doing something right when
@henrywinter
is in town to do a piece on you. This is a good article and a revealing one about Dean Smith, the man, as well as the coach.
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Robbed tonight. A combination of disgraceful referring and awful finishing by us. Still a superb performance by El Ghazi, McGinn and Chester. Deserved the win. We have gone to 3 top 6 teams in our last 3 away games and dominated. Anyway we are
#deansmithclaretandbluearmy
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Lorraine has had her op. Have seen the surgeon and he said it went well. Will have to wait for lab results (up to 2 weeks) to know how well but he was pleased. Thanks from both of us for all your wonderful well wishes. 🙏🏻❤️
Without doubt our best performance of the season. Utterly superb. So very unlucky with the woodwork but we never let it bother us, we just kept playing and second half, we dominated Arsenal on their own patch! Not forgetting Emi’s amazing save at 0-0. We were brilliant!
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Lovely article on our gaffer. What a decent, humble man he is and he is Villa through and through. He is also a hard working, modern thinking, attack minded, football coach. Everything we have needed for years. Hope he is here for a long time.
#deano
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Been going to Villa Park for over 40 years. I have rarely, if ever, witnessed a game like that. Some terrible defending on display but also some superb attacking, from both sides. Rich entertainment. Grabben + Abraham both top strikers in this league.
#incredible
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Gutless performance from
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Wasn’t fooled by lucky win on Thurs. Saints, Norwich +Watford (with 10 men for 35 mins) have comfortably outplayed us. No character out there. DS showing no signs of learning from his mistakes. Needs to fast otherwise he’ll be gone and so will we☹️
A gutsy, top win. Missed a pen, lost our best defender and still came back to win. Kodjia gets some stick on here, but he’s been instrumental tonight. Getting closer all the time to the playoffs now. 7 wins in a row! 4 points behind WBA in 4th. 3 more wins from 5 needed
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My late brother, Charles Hodgson, would have been 40 today. We lost him to a drowning accident, when he was just 3 years old, on the 1st day of a holiday in Thailand, back on April 7th 1982. 1 min he was there, then he was gone. Tonight we’ll celebrate his Birthday
#pain
#love
❤️
In a season so far, where there really has been very little to smile about as a Villa fan, this guy has been the one shining light. What a pro, Ashley is.
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Be proud Villa fans. Be very proud. This was a team effort and we have dragged our club back to where it belongs and we never left their side. Huge gates throughout our 3 years in the second tier and today, we got the day, we deserved! Love you all!
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Home at 2AM… So worth it!!!! Right up there as one of the best, most complete performances I’ve ever seen from an
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team..My mate, Martin, a City fan, said we were easily the best side they had played this season. Still, utterly buzzing! The atmosphere was incredible.
#UTV
It’s been a long time since we stood up to the so called bigger clubs and put two fingers up at them. Feels bloody great!
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#nassef
#wes
#thanks
Another big win against a rival. Only 2 points off 6th + 4 points off Boro in 5th, who we play next. Still a way to go, but it’s really opening up for us, with confidence restored, now JG is back and defence is so much better. Keeping everyone fit is key! McGinn outstanding.
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On such a joyous day after that incredible performance last night, this is very sad news. Benjamin adored
#avfc
and was a patron of the Villa Supporters Trust. A very talented man.
#RIP
#HEITS
The fact us Villa fans are all so pleased Brighton just beat Spurs demonstrates perfectly our fast progress. This would have been a very bad result, only a few months ago!
#progress
#lookingupnotdown
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Think we can all agree Fulham are absolutely awful but we are starting to look like a compact and organised premier league team, with weapons to hurt teams at this level. Away clean sheet... Finally! Well done
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6 points on the board.
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Merry Christmas to all
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fans. 99% of my followers are Villa fans after all! Hope you all have a great time with your families/loved ones. Enjoy every moment as it’s over in a flash! Then on to Swansea and hopefully see the lads bounce back!
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Unai Emery’s
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took 49 points from 25 games last season when he took over from Gerrard. This season we have 49 points from 25 games.. Model of consistency!
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Just got home. Well done to all of us at Villa Park today, who gave Dean a great welcome and gave Doug a great send off. It was a beautiful sight. Great to get the win and a clean sheet! Would have been more comfortable if Tammy had scored the hat trick he should have!
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Quality performance/result. 16 points from 8 games for Smith and the transformation in style, with the same players, is there for all to see. Should have got the job in July but no matter, we keep playing like this, we can still go up, despite the rancid start under Bruce.
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Bruce should have gone the min NWSE walked through the door. No future with this manager. He’s had good players at his disposal and simply hasn’t achieved what he was employed to do. He’ll prob get more time and we will jam a few wins but ultimately, we’ll underachieve imo
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It would have been a honour, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t very disappointed when it didn’t happen, but it led, eventually to NWSE buying the club. The aim was always to get
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in safe hands and they are the definition of that and more.
#utv
#AVFC
currently have a lifelong supporter as head-coach and captain.
In 2015 they almost had another on the board as he took the lead on a takeover bid that came so close to completion.
The full story revealed for the first time
@TheAthleticUK
OK so Jack is going. I accepted it a while ago and I understand it. He’s a fan but he is also a pro. It’s a career. His career. I wish him well and thank him for some unbelievable memories in a
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shirt. Now we move on. Buendia, Bailey, Cantwell, Axel, Tammy can make us 💪🏻 ⚽️
Outstanding result and performance from
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tonight. Best in a long while which kind of puts to bed all the theories about fatigue etc We had lost our way, but last week there were signs of better play and tonight, especially first half, we were excellent.
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Been off for a bit whilst I recovered from back surgery. Almost 6 weeks later, doing well. Great job by my surgeon. Re
#avfc
always harder to sign quality + takes longer with more competition for signings etc. I’m sure we’ll get our business done. Better than panic buying
#utv
We have had some real tragedy at
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Losing Ugo so young was a real heartbreaker for all Villa fans. Already 6 years on. He should be still here, enjoying his family and his promising coaching career. Gone but never forgotten big man. ❤️
#ugo
#HEITS
My poor Lorraine really suffering. In hospital with urine and bowel infection brought on by very low white blood cell count from the chemo. Excruciating pain, high temperature and will be in hospital for a number of days. Not a great start to our cancer battle. 🙁
Well done
#avfc
That all important first premier league win. Rode our luck in the second half, but we earned that in the first two games. Wesley was immense. The noise in the famous old stadium was just fantastic. I could hear you all the way in France!
#upandrunning
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❤️
Since Bruce came in, Wolves were 12th, Fulham 14th and Cardiff 23rd! All promoted yet apparently because we were 19th, it was the impossible job?! Do us a favour, Steve. We aren’t daft. You have had lots of resource, especially wages, yet haven’t achieved, what they have.
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